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A review by darkstarsbookcavern
Mate Me by Aurelia Jane, Kel Carpenter
3.0
3.5 Stars - (written while reading) - The full concept of the story is fully explored in the first ten chapters so not sure what is left in the story as it seems like we know the basics already. There is a big information dump but not so much that it is overwhelming. Although, there is no spice for these first ten chapters it doesn’t suffer for it. Give me intense eye contact loaded with forbidden promise over straight smut any day. The world building is intense, with so many different creatures and supernatural aspects in just the few characters, but then it is a story stretched across two different worlds.
The character of Caius in the beginning is just broody enough to be intriguing but not highly annoying but I didn’t vibe with the puppy love, golden retriever persona development because for me, that didn’t vibe with who he was made out to be. Reagan is no shrinking wallflower but I feel that in the first quarter of the book, before she went to Tartarus, she was more independent and utilised her common sense in situations and was kind of a badass rather than the rest of the book where she relies on her internal unicorn to save her. I had more chemistry with the sun while I was reading than the main characters did together. Give me long lingering sizzling gaze that develops into something meaningful and not just no interest until the words ‘fated mates’ gets dropped then suddenly they are the only person for you.
So much information was dropped that could have been relevant, if it had been explored. The Primordials, the witch cult, grave robbing, there’s mention of the other supernatural creatures roaming the Earth but then this never gets mentioned again. I mean wouldn’t the other Primoridial gods get themselves involved in what is happening with Caius as there was so much underlaying conflict and tension when he was banished in the beginning. Since none of this was explored it just seemed like filler for filler’s sake and ultimately shows this books wattpad origins more completely as those stories too have just filler events around the sex. But you expect it there. And speaking of the sex, given what this book is, its origins and its look (I took the discreet cover to read in public) I expected more smut. There were only a few scenes and they weren’t as hot as I expected. There was only one scene which was the ‘mating ritual’ not as hot as you would expect from the name but it was heatedly romantic. The other scenes were like fucking with no finale.
The entire epilogue could have been scrapped, it had no bearing on the story and as this book is a stand alone it has no bearing on future events. There was just no need to have it included. This book leaned too much into its wattpad origins for it to be higher than a 3.5 star read. The whole fated mates issue could have been deeper and more of a catalyst than just ‘this is what we are so deal with it’. I found Reagan’s character too blinkered for a character who in the first couple of chapters was actually intuitive and intelligent. We never get an explanation as to why a god would have a fated mate when it is supposed to be impossible and the character behind the conflict was too obvious too early on.
That isn’t to say that I didn’t enjoy reading it. This book in parts was well written and the dialogue was humorous in parts so much so that I found myself smiling down at the page. The banter between Raegan and Caius was fun to read at times. This one is more of a guilty pleasure read and I will probably find myself picking it up again at some point.
Video Review = https://youtu.be/mx6TFmSa4TE
The character of Caius in the beginning is just broody enough to be intriguing but not highly annoying but I didn’t vibe with the puppy love, golden retriever persona development because for me, that didn’t vibe with who he was made out to be. Reagan is no shrinking wallflower but I feel that in the first quarter of the book, before she went to Tartarus, she was more independent and utilised her common sense in situations and was kind of a badass rather than the rest of the book where she relies on her internal unicorn to save her. I had more chemistry with the sun while I was reading than the main characters did together. Give me long lingering sizzling gaze that develops into something meaningful and not just no interest until the words ‘fated mates’ gets dropped then suddenly they are the only person for you.
So much information was dropped that could have been relevant, if it had been explored. The Primordials, the witch cult, grave robbing, there’s mention of the other supernatural creatures roaming the Earth but then this never gets mentioned again. I mean wouldn’t the other Primoridial gods get themselves involved in what is happening with Caius as there was so much underlaying conflict and tension when he was banished in the beginning. Since none of this was explored it just seemed like filler for filler’s sake and ultimately shows this books wattpad origins more completely as those stories too have just filler events around the sex. But you expect it there. And speaking of the sex, given what this book is, its origins and its look (I took the discreet cover to read in public) I expected more smut. There were only a few scenes and they weren’t as hot as I expected. There was only one scene which was the ‘mating ritual’ not as hot as you would expect from the name but it was heatedly romantic. The other scenes were like fucking with no finale.
The entire epilogue could have been scrapped, it had no bearing on the story and as this book is a stand alone it has no bearing on future events. There was just no need to have it included. This book leaned too much into its wattpad origins for it to be higher than a 3.5 star read. The whole fated mates issue could have been deeper and more of a catalyst than just ‘this is what we are so deal with it’. I found Reagan’s character too blinkered for a character who in the first couple of chapters was actually intuitive and intelligent. We never get an explanation as to why a god would have a fated mate when it is supposed to be impossible and the character behind the conflict was too obvious too early on.
That isn’t to say that I didn’t enjoy reading it. This book in parts was well written and the dialogue was humorous in parts so much so that I found myself smiling down at the page. The banter between Raegan and Caius was fun to read at times. This one is more of a guilty pleasure read and I will probably find myself picking it up again at some point.
Video Review = https://youtu.be/mx6TFmSa4TE