I just cannot get behind third act breakups that emotionally destroy the characters. Yuck. Otherwise, cute and not obscenely cringey for being what it is. ( )

Good minimally paranormal story but should have been at least 100 pages shorter. Too much internal dialogue and repetition. Definitely not doing another Ferguson audiobook since I can’t skim forward. Also, audiobook a bit annoying due to FMC’s dramatic adolescent-adult interpretation. Not sure I’ll try another book by this author (got bored by and DNFed “The Nanny”). ( )

In the world of this book, wolf shifters exist alongside humans and are generally accepted, although there are some stereotypes about alpha and omega wolves. Mackenzie is an omega wolf shifter who's tired of being set up on bad dates by her well-meaning grandmother. In order to get her grandmother off her back, she makes up a fake boyfriend and finds herself instantly backed into a corner when she's asked for a name and the only one she can think of is Noah Taylor, aka a wolf shifter and the grumpiest cardiologist at Mackenzie's hospital. Mackenzie asks Noah for help making the lie more believable and ends up agreeing to be his fake mate - he's just been outed as an alpha and must somehow combat stereotypes about violent unmated alphas in order to keep his job.

This was a delightful grumpy/sunshine romance. Noah was viewed as a terrifying ogre by most of the hospital, but as Mackenzie got to know him, she realized he was just intense, introverted, and bad with people. The blend of contemporary romance "fake dating/marriage" with light wolf shifter paranormal romance aspects (they have to scent each other to make their relationship believable, and Mackenzie goes into heat once) was perfect. I loved the lack of weighty pack politics - Mackenzie and Noah were just regular people worrying about their jobs and families. They just happened to be a bit biologically different from humans.

For some reason, reading this reminded me of reading manga. I could absolutely imagine it as a fluffy romantic workplace manga with lead characters whose wolfy aspects led to things between them getting a bit steamier than they expected.

The obstacles standing between Mackenzie and Noah's romance weren't really that solid. Yes, Noah was considering a new job in Albuquerque, but it wasn't a done deal. And Mackenzie didn't necessarily have anything against relationships and dating in general (although I expected her to freak out a bit more once she realized that the stories about alpha and omega relationships maybe had some truth to them). Honestly, everyone in this book complicated things way more than necessary. Did that make this any less fun to read? No, it did not.

I'm curious about whether I'd like Ferguson's purely contemporary romance stuff as much as I enjoyed this - the paranormal aspects made it fairly easy to accept the speed with which Mackenzie and Noah started lusting after each other, and the scenting stuff (basically, nuzzling each other's necks) gave them lots of believable opportunities for very close physical contact. I could have done without the knotting thing, though, despite Mackenzie's assurances that it was actually pretty enjoyable.

All in all, this was a lot of fun, and I'd happily read another blend of contemporary and paranormal romance from this author. I may even give one of her regular contemporary romances a try.

(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.) ( )

Is this book tooth achingly sweet? Yes. Did I gobble it up anyway? Absolutely.

Who'd have thought grumpy Noah would be so damn adorable?

Love how despite the book is taking place in a paranormal werewolf universe, the author has managed to turn it into something new. Very refreshing.

I also loved the chemistry between Mack and Noah, and thoroughly enjoyed how they acted contrary to their designations.

Definitely a cozy, steamy read. Thoroughly recommend it, if you're in the mood for a slightly cheesy hospital romance, that ticks all the right boxes. ( )

This is the spicy werewolf romance that I didn’t know I needed! Fake dating romances can be a lot of fun and this one certainly was just that. Mackenzie needs a fake boyfriend so that her grandmother will stop setting her up on awful dates while Noah needs a mate when his Alpha status becomes known at the hospital where they both work. It was incredibly entertaining to watch this pair try to figure things out.

I liked Mackenzie and Noah and thought that they made a great pair. As they spend time together, they find that the attraction between them isn’t fake at all. I thought that the chemistry between them was very well done and it was obvious pretty early on in the story that they both felt more for each other than they had planned when they made their fake dating arrangements. I thought that the secondary characters were really well done and added a lot to the story as well.

I listened to the audiobook and thought Samantha Summers and Joe Arden did an amazing job with this story. I thought that their voices complimented each other’s very nicely. Both narrators did a great job of bringing the characters to life through their reading by adding just the right amount of emotion to their narration. I am certain that their narration added to my overall enjoyment of this story.

I would recommend this book to others. I enjoyed Lana Ferguson’s previous book, The Nanny, and was excited to give this one a try. This story had a bit of a different feel since it had some paranormal elements but it was just as entertaining. I cannot wait to read more of this author’s work in the future.

I received a review copy of this book from Berkley Publishing Group and Penguin Random House Audio. ( )