As far as fated mate shifter romances go, this isn’t too bad. Nothing overly special, but I had a good time. This is the second book in the Timberwood Cove series, and we’ve already met Lincoln before. Both he and his eight-year-old son Cole are back in this book, which picks up more or less where the last book left off. Linc is an alpha wolf shifter who has been waiting a long time for his fated mate. He and his son’s mother parted on good terms years before, and he hasn’t been with anyone else since. Enter Shawn, a human omega and labour and delivery nurse at the local hospital. They meet by chance while Linc is visiting Bryce and Jaxon (from Book 1) after the birth of their daughter. It doesn’t take long for Linc to realize who Shawn is to him, but that doesn’t necessarily make wooing him any easier. Shawn has no idea that shifters exist, and on top of that he has emotional scars from a previous relationship gone bad that are hard to overcome. One good thing in this book was that Linc told Shawn about shifters and fated mates pretty early on in their relationship, removing any need for lies and secrecy. But then the main conflict then becomes that Shawn believes that he is infertile and that makes it hard for him to believe that he’s worthy of any alpha, never mind Linc. Of course, Shawn gets pregnant the first time he and Linc have sex, which leads me to question the whole infertility business (and really, the whole background for that was pretty suspect anyway). Though I suppose the issue is less about the infertility itself, and on how believing he was infertile did a number on Shawn’s psyche. Seriously, dude has some stuff to work through. But he and Linc do try to work through it and come out stronger together on the other side, though it’s obviously not easy. I liked Linc and Shawn together, and fated mate nonsense aside, I enjoyed their relationship. But something I enjoyed maybe a bit more was just the dynamic that the different characters had with each other, especially Cole and his best friend Liam. They read pretty accurately like rowdy, ridiculous eight-year-old boys and they really were just a delight. Loved all their scenes. And I loved how Cole’s relationship with Shawn developed. They’re both sweet. Also Shawn’s dog Lulu was also a delight. There was a lot to like here. Sometimes both Linc and Shawn’s different anxieties could get a bit much, and I think the plotline about Shawn’s perceived infertility could’ve been explored a bit more, but overall I did enjoy this and look forward to future series installments.