The Mating Games: Rejected Mate

by Katie French, Ingrid Seymour

I was supposed to mate with a werewolf. Instead, I fell in love with a vampire.

The Mating Games are a timeless werewolf tradition, one I’m sucked into no matter how old-fashioned. It’s how powerful couples are created. Yet, I’m not ready for a mate. The problem is… I have no choice. It’s my duty to my family, and family is everything.

But when I arrive, I’m met with disaster. Bloodthirsty vampires kidnap us and tell us our plans of mating with the strongest, most desirable mates of our kind are ruined. The other female contestants and I find ourselves trapped in a giant castle and unable to shift to defend ourselves.

The insanity doesn’t end there. The vampires say they want to… eh hem… “mate.” With us.

Um… nope. Not on their lives, which I’m happy to help end.

Except when their leader, Ares Raith—who’s sexier than I’d like to admit—sets his sights on me, something changes. His dark gaze sends shivers up my spine every time he comes near. But no matter how delicious and mysterious he is, I will never belong to a vampire—not when my family’s future and safety depend on it.

Soon the games and the vampires’ cruelty take their toll, and Ares reveals secrets that change the games completely.

Alliances will be made and broken. Passion will reign, and my life will never be the same.

** Enemies-to-lovers romance best suited for ages 17+ readers.

Genres: Vampires, Werewolves, Shapeshifters, Romance, Paranormal, Paranormal Romance, Enemies To Lovers

202 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 7, 2022

About the author

Katie French is an Amazon best-selling author in Young Adult dystopian romance. Her book, The Breeders, has had nearly 50,000 downloads and counting and was a semi-finalist in the 2014 Kindle Book Awards. It's currently free on Amazon. She also has a kids series starting with Portia Parrott and the Great Kitten Rescue for ages 5-9.

She works as a high school English teacher, a job that she loves even when it exhausts her. In her free time she writes manically, reads great books, and takes care of her two beautiful and crazy children. She aspires to spend as much time in yoga pants as possible. You can join her mailing list at www.katiefrenchbooks.com and receive two free full-length novels. Contact her at katie@katiefrenchbooks.com.

Reviews

[Debbie Eyre · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is such a great read! The mating games are a time old tradition for the werewolves whether they want to participate to not. The vampires have decided that this year that it’s not gonna happen and they kidnap the girls who are supposed to take part and lock them up in a castle with other vampires. It’s an exciting and very entertaining read and is a great enemies to lovers story. It’s a fantastic collaboration and the authors have done a fantastic job with the storyline and the world building and I just adore Wren and Ares. Fast paced this drew me in so much so that I read it in one sitting!

[Lynsey is Reading · Rating 2 out of 5]

I picked this up based on all the 5 star reviews and now I blame you all for wasting my finite reading time on this Earth.

The set up - werewolves on a pseudo reality TV style competition/dating show. The blurb didn’t convey this effectively.

Characters had no depth. Deep friendships can apparently be formed from exchanging 5 words. World building is nonexistent. No amount of cliffhanger could make me read the next one.

[Em Tol · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not what I expected

I really liked this one. With the title and description, I expected the book to be one way but it definitely zigged when I thought it would zag and held my attention. I worried at the beginning that we might be stuck with a character that didn’t develop over the course of the book but I was proven wrong. The female MC proved to be a strong badass and I’m looking forward to the second book.

[Jas · Rating 4 out of 5]

As this book opens we are introduced to Wren Ravenmoon, the 19yr old granddaughter of the Supreme Alpha of the Werewolves in the region. They are heading to what is known as ‘The Mating Games’ an archaic ritual in which the most eligible Werewolf Bachelorettes are offered to the most eligible Werewolf Bachelors in the hope of making a powerful match, and thus creating a powerful offspring. This is obviously particularly important for Wren’s family given their status as the head of the Clan’s. Wren of course thinks this is a load of misogynistic rubbish, and would rather do something far more enjoyable to each of the male werewolves, like drop them off a cliff.
She hates ‘glamour’, prefers a good workout, and her comfy clothes.
This is a ‘Dystopian Urban Fantasy world’, one in which the world is aware of Vampires, Werewolves, and in which these Mating Games are televised just like a aeries of the Bachelor would be (in fact, it is expected to be highly rated by both Human and Supernatural viewers).
So it is of great surprise when on arrival, the games are taken over by a commando group of Vampires, and the Werewolf Bachelorettes taken hostage, with everyone else locked out of the proposed game site, Raithborrow Castle, ironically the home of the current head of the Vampire Coven William Raith.
We quickly learn that the Vampires have taken over the games, that they are to go ahead, televised as normal, but now, instead of being with Werewolf Males, the women will be paired off against Vampire Males. To make things worse, they have used magic to make it so the women can’t shift, locking them into their female forms.
Of course, initially there is outrage, as these two are long time bitter enemies, blood rivals, who want nothing more than to end each other. They have only come together a few times under rare treaties in the past (and it is worth noting that there is some great world-building in the story with fantastic background story to fill in this history of this particular version of the ‘Werewolves/Vampires saga’ – I will also add, I am really happy to note that the Authors, although having their ‘own’ story, have stayed with traditional and ‘true’ things such as sunlight, holy water, etc for the vampires and silver for the werewolves – something that just should NOT be messed with – you know – no twinkly bits).
The Vampires claim that they want (need), to mate with the Werewolf women for the sake of both species, but Wren will not have a word of it, and initially tries her hardest to not play along. At the head of the Vampire Bachelors is Ares Raith, who is known around the world as the most eligible and sexist, well, Vampire (not a man as such), not alive.
There are also 9 other Vampires from the worlds leading Covens that have come along, all being filmed and ‘produced’ by the most powerful Vampire of them all, William Raith – who was Ares Sire.
Initially this appears to be a story that is going to be like a game of the Bachelor or Bachelorette with Vamps and Werewolves, but we quickly find out that there is far more to this story, as both the Vampires and the Werewolves have dark secrets, ones that threaten the very existence of the futures of both Vampires and Werewolves, and the only way to help save them is the potential mating of a Vampire to a Werewolf.
Things are only made harder for Wren when she actually gets near Ares and decides that he is actually a lot hotter than she thought, and even worse, he is actually a lot nicer to.
The character work is brilliant – Wren is just awesome as the headstrong, powerful and beautiful granddaughter of the most powerful Clan in the region, desperate to keep her Family safe, but threatened on all sides. Ares is scintillating as the hottest undead man not alive, the man every women wants (well except Wren), but even he is hiding things and has an agenda. There are some other exceptional characters, the demure Violet, Wren’s roommate, who, whilst looks like a delicate flower, is stronger than she seems. Laurel, the daughter of the Grimhowls, the clan snapping at the heels of the Ravenmoons for power, she is pure bitch in every sense of the word. I don’t want to spoil the Vamps, you can sink your teeth into them yourself.
This is an intriguing story, but mostly, it is just a lot of fun, as Wren must face one challenge to the next, including other rival Werewolf contestants doing everything they can to stop her getting Ares, even though she is not even sure she wants him, other Vampire contestants trying to stop her, again, even though she has no idea what is going on. On top of this, she has her Family telling her to do the right thing (meaning potentially mate with a Vampire?? Like have they lost it?? And then of course, there is Ares himself, who, she can’t help it, she seems to just get weak at the knees (and other places), every time she sees him – but OMG – HES A VAMPIRE!!!
Part Urban Fantasy, Part Mystery, Part Humour, but all Fun, this is the Bachelorette with Vamps and Wolfs (well, Beautiful Women who can normally shift but can’t right now….), with the existence of both sides on the line – as well as Wren’s heart… It is an absolute must read!!

[Daniela · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the first book in a brand-new series by Ingrid Seymour and Katie French and you better hold on tight as you are in for a fantastic ride. Do you love the Bachelor series, the Hunger Games, as well as werewolves, and vampires? Then here you go.

Werewolves are required to fight for the bachelor and create a perfect match – yes bachelor right here but with a twist because you won’t just have one bachelor. Now we are talking what will that twist do to us?

Now instead of dates to meet the bachelors it is fighting to show how strong you are and giving the bachelors the idea of who is the strongest female – Hunger Games right here only the strong will survive and who will pair up with whom to have an ally to watch your back.

The twist what do Vampires have to do with this. This year’s werewolf games are hosted in the vampire mansion but when the females show up all those bachelors, they find are not werewolves. Does that mean the games are still on? YES, but the price is now a vampire will that change the attitude of the females competing.

Wren is a werewolf who is forced to participate in something she doesn’t believe in, but she would do anything for her family. So, when her grandfather tells her she needs to participate in the mating games to mate with the strongest male werewolf and save her lineage she puts on a brave face and gets in the car. As much as Wren despises the game, she will try her best but once she arrives at the castle where all this is taking place one hurdle after another is thrown at her. Will Wren be strong enough to overcome her disgust of the prospect to mate some werewolf to make her family happy or will she give up? And does her attitude change once she meets Ares the hottest vampire she has ever come across.

[Katherine Paschal · Rating 4 out of 5]

**3.5 Stars**

I found this to be a very interesting plot idea, with a competition to determine mates- AND it is interspecies between werewolf women and vamp guys- as well as the whole forced compliance/hostage aspect of the story. I enjoyed the delivery of the clues as to what was really going on peppered through the action aspect of the story with the competition. The story itself was fast paced to keep me engaged enough and set over a very short period of time which is also appreciated in my books.

I will say though that this book is VERY light on world development as well as pretty minimal character development. There is basically no back story as to the world this is set in, which I kind of put together that humans know about supernatural creatures (and there are lots, including dwarfs and such) since this mating games is being televised (??) but really I have no idea. Also, only the main character Wren is given a small amount of character development, no real back story or personality, we only see her desires once she is in the competition. No other side character is really given a deep personality- we have a bland but attractive love interest, a manipulative mean girl, an evil vamp overlord, a ditzy roommate... and that is really all I can say about the characters which bums me out since I love detailed characters I can root for.

I will say that I am intrigued enough to want to know what happens next since the ending basically dropped a bomb and then ended but this was not my favorite read by these authors. This is probably a good choice for anyone who likes urban fantasy stories, paranormal romances as well as vampire and werewolf fans.

[Kreela · Rating 4 out of 5]

Maybe it was the full moon 😜. I didn’t like the main character, but neither did most of the characters in this book! Normally I would not finish a book where the MC is rude, asocial, and bull-headed. I could not understand how the J. Crew model, aka Ares, could be interested in her.

However, the plot was so well done, and it held one of my triggers: mating game, or The Bachelor. I like to think of it as princess trials. Several girls from different wolf shifter packs arrived at a former vampire castle for match-making, but the twist came when a bunch of vampires arrive instead. Whether they wished for vampire mates was irrelevant. Despite expecting a prom, they wer subjected to boot camp races and coal-fueled balls of fire. This is exactly what I want in a read: excitement, betrayals, and a dubious outcome! LOL.

Strangely enough, I found Callan, Ares’s rival, more interesting. While Ares was the immaculately dressed player, Callan was the guy with wind-blown hair and unbuttoned shirt, the bad boy, the guy who wouldn’t color-code his book collection and might have socks on the floor. His motivations were murky and so he was the wild card.

• Forced proximity
• The Bachelor
• First Person POV
• MF, not Reverse harem

This plot type is similar to “The Healer to the Ash King”, or Tate James’ “Imposter” series.

[Lene Blackthorn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wren was reluctant to participate in the Mating Games even under normal conditions, when the expectation would be to find a werewolf match. But with this twisted form, when she is expected to mate with a vampire? She is disgusted and determined to get out. Yet fate might intend a different route for the stubborn wolf. Ares Raith, the most eligible vampire bachelor, is definitely seen as the prize by the other contestants, especially by Wren's ruthless archenemy Laurel Grimhowl. And Wren is not resistant to his charms either. If they could find a way to work together or find more, that's the question though..
This fast paced story is full of drama and follows a kickass heroine who is stubborn and refuses to accept her own feelings because they are turned toward her sworn enemy. Writing is brilliant as usual, the world building interesting, and the rejected mate trope spun in a way that drives the tension in the book high. I enjoyed the interactions between Ares and Wren, the development of their characters and getting to know their personalities. I am very much looking forward to the next book in this series.

[Fawn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Once mortal enemies, a group of vampires must compete in a batcheloresque style competition to claim their choice of a werewolf mate… all in some sort of twisted plan their vampiric lord has devised, only for things to flip whenever he gets bored and comes up with a new game and new rules. The heat between one couple more than a spark in the dark as they work together to try to solve a mystery only he seems to have the answers to as they play the game he forces upon all contestants. Will they figure it out and have their HEA? Spoiler, cliffhangers are abound.

[Marilyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

This first installment of The Mating Games introduces us to the story of Wren and Ares, a wolf and vampire who must become participants in the games, with the endgame being that the winners become mates in order to save their race. But there’s definitely more to these games than is being revealed, and soon Wren and Ares find themselves immersed in the middle of a battle that could not only threaten their lives, but those of their families as well.

[Aletia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I admit I started reading this unsure of how it would go. I really thought the heroine was going to be vapid and stoopid. Thankfully, that is not the case at all. The main character, Wren, is grounded and feisty and a real fighter. She was trained well and mostly kept a cool head. The rest of the cast is fun, except that damn arch nemesis; like a cat, with nine lives. My first book by either author and I fully recommend it. I am anxiously awaiting the sequel!

[Christinaraven · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this story. Had action, good characters, surprises and banter. Hooked from the beginning and found it hard to put down. So many good scenes and the game show feel made it interesting. Then add in the paranormal aspects and made the story even better. Loved it. Cannot wait to see what happens next and how it comes out. So many interesting characters and setup. Ares and Wren were great.

[Mak · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is like Twlight meets The Bachelor. I was so invested in how things would turn out, I couldn’t put this book down. While some of the FMC’s actions were so frustrating, I was dying to see how she would handle the next situation! I already can’t wait for the next book to come out. Warning, there is a cliffhanger. I recommend this book for fans of YA paranormal who enjoy a dash of romance (there were no major explicit scenes).

[Camille Blais · Rating 5 out of 5]

The mating games is kind of a Blend between the batchelorette and hunger games. The wolf though they were getting matched with their own but end up having to be matched with vampires, their sworn enemies. The relationship building between wren and Ares is beautiful and intriguing. I cannot wait to read the next book !!

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This had an interesting plot. It was like a paranormal “The Bachelor”. It was a fast, fun read. Relatively predictable, but ends on a cliffhanger that has me eagerly looking forward to book two. This is spicier than a lot Katie French’s previous books.
It also has a lot of my favorite tropes: enemies to lovers, fated mates, vague prophesy interpretation, etc.

[Bekah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Action-Packed and fast-paced Paranormal Romance

I stayed up late into the night reading this book and oh my gosh what a rollercoaster. I was on the edge of my seat. This is like Hunger Games meets The Vampire Diaries/The Originals. Mystery, secrets, love, anger, sorrow, family loyalty, sacrifice, ect. This book has it all. I can't wait for the next one.

[Toni A.-J. Williams · Rating 5 out of 5]

I haven't had the pleasure to read an Ingrid Seymour and Katie French book yet, I am so glad I got to start with this book! It has everything, shifters and vampire, struggle to survive and love. I can't wait for the next one! I have very few that I consider instant buy authors and Ingrid Seymour was already one, I am so happy to add Katie French to that list!

[Tutsie Kativhu · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book and for once I didn't start off hating the protagonist! 🤣 Wren's spunky and impulsive, not the best combination but she definitely has spirit and that gets her through enough of the nonsense around her. I want to read more of her story, I'm so hooked.

[Joanne H · Rating 5 out of 5]

When these two authors' get together the book almost talks by itself. The writing is contagious and epidemic!
The female wolfs were of mating age and was supposed to meet with male wolves but all went wrong. Let the games begin! Great reading.

[Noxwitchbooklife · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was pretty cool. A different take on the war between wolves and vampires for sure.

I really like how this wasn't all fluffy romance but was gritty and full of action.

It was an enjoyable read as something easy to read with a fast pace.

[Suzanne McNeill Taviner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read

This was an interesting read. I enjoyed the premise of the story, it was an interesting twist on the usual enemies to lovers tale with lots twists in the story. Looking forward to the next book in the series.

[Christy ❤'s Books · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the enemies to lovers trope however being new to the romance genre I wasn't really sure I'd enjoy this but it was a fun read however I dont see myself reading it again and I felt it was a bit slow at times .

[Wendy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ok

This book was ok. I can’t imagine me reading the next book anytime soon, but it’s not completely off the table.
The whole story was kind of all over the place and didn’t make sense. I finished the book in a ‘what was the point’ kind of mood.

[Michelle VanDaley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic characters and detailed world building had me captivated from start to finish. Tons of action and suspense. There was no boring filler parts. Excited for more

[Sheila Ryals · Rating 5 out of 5]

😻

William and Lauren def need to be taken down. I still kinda like Callahan though. So who knows who will actually win in the end.

[Jessica Campbell · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the start to another amazing series by Katie French and Ingrid Seymour. This book sucked me right in and wouldn't let go. I can't wait for more.

[Jackie · Rating 5 out of 5]

An amazing brand new series. Vampires aplenty to keep you hooked forever. Well written and definitely binge worthy.

[ArrowBreaker · Rating 2 out of 5]

There wasn't a lot of world building so I have more questions than answers. I feel like most of the characters could have been fleshed out more.

[Ellie Scothern · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oooh exciting

Talk about the twists and turns!! I enjoyed every bit of this book and I cannot wait to read the next instalment!!

[Candy Laine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting plot. The characters seem to have unclear motivation. Also the main character is too much within her own angst