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What do you do when your mate teaches you that fate is a curse to be broken?

You run, that’s what.



I dream that my mate will give me the home I never had. Will give me the life I never had.

One day, my dream comes true. The finding-my-mate part. That’s it.

Now I’m stuck with a mate who’s already taken. One who views me as worthless, and who never lets me forget it. Every. Single. Day.

As an omega, I never had a place in my pack. It doesn’t take me long to learn that I don’t have one with my mate either.

I might just find one in Winter Lake. If my mate doesn’t track me down, and if the alpha of the pack that shouldn’t exist doesn’t learn what and who I am.

But staying is impossible. Not in my condition.

Only, the brown-eyed shifter who saves me is making it harder and harder for me to remember all the reasons why I can’t stay.

When you break your curse, where do you run? Who do you run to?

Due to mature themes and steamy scenes, this book is recommended for 18+

Warning: ends in a cliffhanger

222 pages, ebook

First published November 7, 2021

1322 people are currently reading
878 people want to read

About the author

Eve Bale

49 books238 followers
Eve is a paranormal romance author from London.

www.evebale.com

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5 stars
862 (37%)
4 stars
576 (24%)
3 stars
608 (26%)
2 stars
203 (8%)
1 star
67 (2%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 108 reviews
Profile Image for daemyra, the realm's delight.
1,327 reviews37 followers
June 6, 2022
RTC! Was finally able to finish a romance. Guess I was in the mood for angst >:)

Full Review:

I ate this up, and I highly recommend the Mate Rejected series overall. These types of romance serials (which I like to think of as one novel that's been split off into 200 page volumes) work best with a good cliffhanger, each book adding on to the world-building, without any sacrifice to the deepening of the relationship between the MCs. And that's what we get with the Mated Rejected series!

The only other serial I've been head over heels about this year, so far, has been S.T. Abbey's Mindf**k series. Not at all about werewolves or, really, angst but a great serial.

One thing about me. Vampires over werewolves buut I was in a rabbit hole into rejected mates trope, and I saw this pop up. It supposedly had a lot of angst and I was very intrigued by the first page.

The angst in this was SO GOOD. The heroine does not have physical trauma but emotional abuse trauma. Her mate had a love before their alliance was arranged by their fathers, the alphas of the pack. Aerin is also a highly prized omega. Omegas function as healers in the pack, so they can calm down aggression. When packs get too aggressive, they can implode. Omegas diffuse the situation before it gets there.

However, Aerin has been emotionally abused by her mate. She knows that her mate loves another, tries to fight their mate bond. She catches them making love in the woods, and she sights the mark he has on her. She becomes horrified at the symbol of that, and she catches his gaze and he purposely continues on. Well. That's the straw that broke this camel's back and Aerin's like F THIS. I'm running away.

Aerin ends up in Winter Lake, a small town, after she's been on the road for about 3 weeks. She ends up with a leg injury that could have been worse had a shifter not saved her life. Aerin ends up recuperating with the Winter Lake pack...

Every now and then I see a tweet pop up that says to the effect- I just want to live in a romance novel. To which I always snicker a little bit because as someone who reads bodice rippers and things of that nature, the last thing I would want is to be in is a romance novel. Even a romance novel with the good angst and a HEA. Hell no. There's a reason I want to read it, not live it.

But Mack?

I created a new GR bookshelf for him! Because I realized that I would date the hell out of Mack if I ever met him IRL. He was so... caring. Kind. Thoughtful. Well adjusted. But also capable of emotion and holding back some information, but never lashing out towards Aerin.
Profile Image for Nikki ღ Navareus.
1,096 reviews63 followers
December 6, 2021


I came across this story over in a FB group and even though I knew it ended with a cliffhanger, I was desperate for some yummy 'rejected mate' angst. I could not wait until the series was finished so I dived in immediately. I LOVED this story. This one sucked me in from the very first page and kept me glued until the cliffy ending. I hated this story to end. The rejection angst was awesome, the new love was so sweet and that ending....Holy Shit. According to what was posted by the author over on Facebook, this is the first of a 3 part series. The next should be out December 17th.

Can't wait for the next story to come out to see what happens next with these awesome characters.
Profile Image for Deborah.
3,857 reviews500 followers
December 13, 2021
2.75*

This one was okay. I found it slow and while I generally love epilogues I hated this one. I mean it wasn’t a surprise we knew it was coming but still I didn’t like it.

And yes I should have checked. It never occurred to me that the next book wouldn’t be out 🤷🏻‍♀️
Profile Image for Sabrina.
4,339 reviews2,396 followers
September 8, 2022
Honestly this was only an okay story for me. It was really slow and lacking in a lot of romance and detail. The inner dialogue was also very repetitive which got annoying. But what killed it for me was the fact that it ended on a cliffhanger that seemed really pointless. I did see that it was going to have a cliffhanger when I started it but I figured there would be some overall story arc that kept the story going on. Not the sudden surprise ending in the epilogue that will only lead to drama and not much else.
Profile Image for Michelle Claypot_Reads.
2,517 reviews61 followers
November 21, 2021
Fantastic Shifter storytelling but wowsa that ending was brutal! Cliffhanger on steroids.

I enjoyed the author’s take on fated mates and power struggles between packs.
Profile Image for Serial Romance Librarian.
1,214 reviews298 followers
May 26, 2022
DNF 69% because Aerin is annoying af. This book had such potential, but I just can’t go on with this. I liked a lot of aspects of the world building and the secondary characters were interesting. Aerin keeps acting like an idiot with her impulsive decisions and now she’s putting her unborn baby at risk. She keeps hurting herself with her clumsiness and she’s being demanding even though she’s actually helpless. She assumes the worst of Mack even though he’s done nothing to deserve it. She’s not perceptive at all. It’s too much!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Trouble.
44 reviews2 followers
November 23, 2021
Epilogue killed this one for me

Epilogue killed all the enjoyment for me, I’m now not interested in the next book. X xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx
5 reviews
November 9, 2021
I enjoyed the story for the most part until the end which included a really mean spirited cliffhanger.
167 reviews
December 18, 2021
25% — okay I don’t hate it so far but... I have questions. So, you’re telling me this h is an omega who has the ability to read emotions and souls or what the fuck ever, BUT she can’t tell the difference between an alpha and a beta? The math ain’t math-ing on this one (note: I haven’t gotten to the part where it comes out that Mack is the alpha but it feels like a safe assumption at this point).

50% — it’s getting very hard to empathise with the h at this point because of the way she keeps talking about Bennett. I get that victims (even of emotional abuse sans physical) can mess with logic sometimes, I truly do... but this seems extreme. She’s spent all of, like, half an hour in total in Bennett’s presence and she keeps talking about “the way Bennett is”. He hasn’t actually done anything towards *her*, so it’s starting to get weird. Like annoyingly irrational and difficult to put aside. Because victim or not, you can empathise with someone’s trauma-triggered bad logic, but I’m not particularly fond of excusing that to treat people badly. She’s getting rude and prejudiced and at some point, it’s not unreasonable to just tell a victim “hey I understand, but this is not okay and we need you to not take your shit out on people who deserve it” yknow? Anyways. Onwards.
Profile Image for Tina.
960 reviews6 followers
March 20, 2022
Wow what a read, I was drawn in from the very first page. Aerin is living a prisoners life with a mate who doesn’t give a crap about her, her feelings or whether she lives or dies. His only care is getting her pregnant to please his father while he continues his relationship with another female. Aerin’s hurt is pushed to the brink forcing her to take matters into her own hands, and leading her into Mack’s waiting ones.
Great story, plot and characters. The pain and suffering at the hands of a tyrant are so well written you can feel it. It made me want to hurt Shane so badly. Loads of angst in so many forms, Aerins mistrust is so bad that you almost want to slap her into trusting Mack but it’s something she needed to realise herself. Some really cute moments, and some steamy love scenes. A bit of banter, but overall a gripping story which left me reeling at the end, moving swiftly onto the next book to see what happens next. Loved it.
Profile Image for Aplis.
582 reviews51 followers
December 7, 2021
Here's me thinking this was a standalone and coming across one of the worst cliffhangers. Like why?!!
Profile Image for Alex.
326 reviews51 followers
April 7, 2025
2.5 stars, not bad just a bit slow at times and a lack of communication between the characters
Profile Image for Amy.
134 reviews2 followers
December 21, 2021
WTF 🤬 I should have predicted. Now I’m gonna have to read the next book. What a cliffhanger. Overall this book was okay, it had its moments of ups and downs, and I wish it was written a bit better to really get into the storyline.
Profile Image for embright15.
866 reviews6 followers
March 14, 2022
This book was ok. There wasn’t a ton of angst over the rejection which is sort of what I was looking for.
The h was so nervous and scared all the time the plot was a little thin for lack of action. The H didn’t show us much personality in the time that the two of them “fell in love” so for me I didn’t connect to the romance. I think this book had potential but ultimately wasn’t written to its fullest. That frustrated me. Everything that happened made for an OK plot, but it could have been so much better with a little more work


ALSO: this book should have been a stand alone the epilogue was completely unnecessary and I don’t even have the desire to read the next two in the series
Profile Image for ♥♣Mary♦♠ If She So Pleases.
1,446 reviews5 followers
October 30, 2023
Rejected mates is one of my favourite genres, when written well. And this book is written well. Although, I very much like it when the alphahole grovels to no end, this book is different but oh so good and satisfying. I'm not sure I'm going to read book 2 after that annoying cliffhanger. HEA.
Profile Image for Serialbookstarter:Marla.
1,232 reviews89 followers
May 28, 2022
Skimmed a lot. The h Aerin runs away from
Her cheating fated mate. She winds up
In Mack’s pack. She thinks he’s the beta not the Alpha pack leader/ she’s an Omega. Mack is a sweet guy. She doesn’t trust Mack’s friend who
She thinks is the alpha. That’s the plot. I found it a bit of flimsy.
Profile Image for Melissa.
638 reviews7 followers
February 16, 2025
Meh book. A light read. No real desire to continue the series.
Profile Image for Jennifer Kae.
112 reviews4 followers
November 25, 2021
You had me until the epilogue

I laughed, I teared up, I felt Aerin’s pain. Then I felt her triumph, and it was awesome. But then the author threw on that crazy epilogue. What in the world?! I can’t even. I dislike cliffhangers when the next one isn’t already out, and I really dislike when the author teases with such twisted confusion. I could have done without those last couple of paragraphs.
Profile Image for Tarra Woosley.
33 reviews
June 5, 2023
Meh

There is oblivious... And then there's Aeirn.....
It was very obvious from the very beginning as soon as she met Mack that he was what he was. The romance was like watching a car wreck it happened so fast. The epilogue was redundant, literally just a way to continue on the story into another book with more drama. Honestly I only give it like one and a half Stars but rounding up to two.
Profile Image for Dew.
762 reviews63 followers
February 6, 2023
too much s3x, not enough story

The series didn’t resonate with me. The character development was that the protagonist started out weak and became the single most powerful omega shifter in existence over the course of 3 books that take place in a 6-month time span. The motivation of the antagonists was that they simply enjoy harming others. It made for a rather dull storyline.
Profile Image for BAG of Books.
1,124 reviews35 followers
August 10, 2025
Aerin is mated to Shane, an Alpha's son. Shane already has a girlfriend but his father pressured him to accept Aerin to produce an heir, because Aerin is an omega, which gives her special powers. Aerin caught Shane having sex with the OW, and she ran away. On the journey, she figures out she's pregnant.

She ends up in the town of Winter Lake. She meets another shifter (Mack), and realizes it's a town full of shifters. She tries to run away from Mack, and he has to push her out of the way of a truck so she doesn't get run over by a car. But she breaks her ankle. So he takes her back to his house to heal.

For some reason, it takes her about a week to heal, although she should have faster healing. She only meets 2 other shifters at the house, Bennet the Alpha and Adela, another omega.

She's terrified Bennet will make her stay there, so they can use her like Shane's pack did, if they figure out she's an omega. But she also hears Bennet telling Mack they should send her back to her mate (not knowing she's an omega.) She tries to sneak out of the house, but can't because her ankle isn't healed.

She overhears Mack and Bennet talking. They've been lying by omission, letting her think Bennet is the Alpha when it's really Mack. She tries to run away but her ankle's not healed.

They keep reassuring her they won't force her to do anything and will let her leave when she's able, she doesn't believe them. This topic repeats several times.

Eventually, she falls for Mack. He's very calm and not volatile like Shane. She's worried about his mate showing up but he says it won't change how he feels about her, and mates don't have to be together, the way she and Shane don't have to be together.

But then Shane shows up and kidnaps her, intending to take her and the unborn baby back to his pack. He says a Beta called him and told him Aerin was at Winter Lake, (Bennett). When they stop for gas, she runs away and eventually Mack finds her (because of her cell phone), and takes her back to his pack house.

He challenges Shane to a fight. Aerin's nervous because Shane is the best fighter anyone's ever seen. But Mack defeats him (but not to the death.) Aerin feels like Shane is about to kill her so she defeats him with her omega powers. Mack reveals he's so strong because he's the son the most blood lusting alpha ever.

They forgive Bennet with no trouble.

Cliffhanger at the end when Mack's mate shows up.

This story was a lot of tell without showing.

Mack never told her anything about his pack or himself. She barely talks about herself. They barely talk at all.

She just spent the whole time scared and trying to get away from them, so not a lot of interaction.
Profile Image for C. Erani Kole.
1,710 reviews51 followers
February 8, 2022
not bad

3.5 for me. My enjoyment with the drama and the end neared a 4-star rating but then I remembered how this book totaled about six days with the first three days taking up a little over 50% of the book. Which means there was a lot of inner monologue going on and that, no, it hadn’t just felt long.

It started off good. Right off the bat though, and the author pretty much dumped us on the day she leaves her mate. Which I’m cool with. The baby itself wasn’t really relevant, but their existence was, to an extent. It was almost an after thought that she was preggos, and no wonder, since half the book took up three days.

So this wasn’t exactly “secret baby romance” in the usual sense that the dude is the daddy and wants a second chance. Oh no. This reads more like “I’m escaping a toxic relationship and finding a better one and oh I’m pregnant by the way.” Which isn’t a problem unless you specifically got this book for trope aforementioned (before mentioned? Whatever).

Mack was good. Chill and almost normal. If anything this almost read like that Sparks movie Haven. Except it’s werewolves and someone’s pregnant.

I think the author did a good job at keeping Aerin so restrained with trust. She flipped here and there and it was hard to read through but it did its job. There were two things that irritated me in the moment but I can’t recall them now so they must not have been that bad.

Overall I like the author’s writing. I think Aerin talked a little too much that it slowed the pacing for me, considering how fast the storyline went, but it wasn’t bad. I like the author’s challenge on the mate bonds and I like the world she’s built so far, however brief of a glimpse we see outside the small town we already barely see outside their home.
Profile Image for Sara Ann.
814 reviews5 followers
March 19, 2022
2.5/5 stars

I think I saw this on Facebook, and was like hey I'll give it a shot, I'm a sucker for a shifter romance novel. However, I felt the whole book was rushed, instead of us getting to see her backstory with her mate, we only ever hear about it because she runs away after the first 5 pages. Also, the MMC falls for the FMC only after knowing her for days. I feel like there is no real connection, I didn't get to see them bond/know why the fell for each other. Like yes Mack was nice, and supportive, but we didn't get to see them learn about each other. Also, it has the pregnancy trope from the start, and I honestly thought I don't think I will be continuing on in the stories due to the epilogue of the first book. I read the reviews of the next two books, and I know it's not really a love triangle but I just I don't feel connected enough with the characters to continue on in this journey.
Profile Image for Sui.
157 reviews6 followers
March 19, 2023
2.5 stars ⭐️⭐️✨

Summary:
This is the story of Mack Winters and Aerin Boone who met as Aerin fled from her supposed mate. Few broken bones left her stuck in Mack’s care as she hides her omega nature and her real pack whom she run away from.
Safety: relatively safe

***
This was written well and good world building.

It was just lacking in excitement. Some parts were unpredictable but most of it was.

I kept reading to get to the good part but it was only a few pages when Mack revealed what his secret.

I’d usually love FMCs like Aerin but maybe there was too much telling rather than doing or showing.

Neither do I feel like I want to continue the following books, which imo I can predict what’s going to happen. And well Mack was already great here and I wouldn’t want to blemish that.
27 reviews
November 6, 2023
I honestly picked up this book looking for angst, but apart from a little in the beginning and a blast in a singular line at the end, I mostly found it fluffy. I found myself skipping through a lot of the parts because it honestly did not seem substantial enough to read and skimmed through a lot of the book.
The internal monologue was too much, not enough background information provided for either of the characters provided to get me invested and the twist at the end was just annoying (like she literally ended up in the same position as the person who hurt her- I just felt like what the point of the whole thing was)
It’s like the first book was fluff, and all the angst meant for the follow-ups (I don’t think I will be reading what lies ahead because I’m not a fan of this trope and I did not find myself invested at all)
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for SunandBooks.
278 reviews1 follower
May 18, 2022
An ok read. I struggled getting behind the new love interest. The book is big on true mates, and I can't help but feel like she is stealing someone else's mate. The new guy is interested in her wellbeing, loving, caring etc. but he is rejecting/replacing his true mate. The main female character was brutally rejected by her mate because he loved someone else. Instantly, we are made to hate him and yes he has done horrible things. However, horrible things aside how are the two males different in their choice? Her true mate loved another woman his whole life and the new mate candidate seems to have a hero complex...

Will read next in series so 3 🌟.
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