The Mating Game, Lana Ferguson (Review by Aura Johnson)

Rating: 4.0/5 Stars

Tess Covington has a lot to handle: financial strains in the family, newly accepted contractor job, handling her brothers in said contractor job, and, well of course, a massive flu that lands her in ER. Turns out, it is not flu and in fact, she is now –surprise— an omega. Aka, a shapeshifter. Aka, a wolf. The so-called “late presentation” happens rarely to betas who occasionally become shape shifters later in life, and experience quite painful processes, especially females, when in heat.

So, none of this was convenient when Tess took on a contractor job to renovate a remote cabin in Colorado so that it would attract more people, and help out a local businessman, who just happens to be an alpha…something her ER doctor warned her to stay away from, or it would induce some serious hormone side effects. Unfortunately, close quarters is part of getting the job done, and nothing is going to distract her from completing the renovations to ensure the money is secured for her family. Not even an alpha wolf who happens to wear flannel well.

I was very surprised by this book. Definitely was not expecting the wolf angle, but I think it worked well in this book, though I wish the author added more about it. Tess did go in heat *a lot* so expect quite a few scenes where the alpha wolf, Hunter, is present and very helpful to ensure she is not in any pain. The story did flow well in general, I liked the interactions of all the characters and while the focus was on the two main protagonists, I think it brought in other characters pretty well. This is a sequel of a few characters who show up in the book, but can easily stand alone as a story. As mentioned, it would have been nice to read more about the wolf form and how it felt like since the book itself was a new concept for me to read. Overall, I would recommend this as a fairly entertaining read.