Lilian always thought she was broken. Her mom had died during childbirth and her own dad didn't think she was worth living for. Not only was she on her own with chronic pain from a body that hated her, but she was also one of the few seniors in her pack to not have a mate still.
She always thought she was too broken to be lucky enough for a mate, that is until she meets Dylan who is the next in line for Alpha. Knowing she isn't Luna material, she must keep Dylan away. Or are Alphas too stubborn for "No"?
Who wrote this? A ten years old girl? That was the worst childish writing as in story and style I've ever read... I don't have words... If you think you have a badly written book in front of you and consider dnf, please have a look at this and you will cherish your current reading.
It was… OK. Clearly the author knows her shit when it comes to endometriosis. But everything else was just meh. The werewolf thing doesn’t have anything to do with the story at all.
High school romance written by high schoolers. If you like your characters immature in more ways than one, go nuts—I sure don’t. I had to google the author to make sure I wasn’t making fun of an actual child for childish writing, but her blurb says she’s married with three kids, so I figure she was prooooobably a grown-up when she wrote this. But that just makes it even more embarrassing in a way, that she seemingly hasn’t grown up since.
FMC is a 17-year old with undiagnosed endometriosis who lets it completely define her life, to the point that she can’t even conceive of being worthy of her fated mate because she’s so wrapped up in being “broken”. She has no parents or guardian or income. Does she know that she has health insurance through the pack? Nope 🙂↔️ Has she gone to any physicals in the last 5 years? Heavens, no! Has she spoken with anyone in her community, even other teenagers about her issues, so that they could advise her about things such as the free pack grocery store a few miles up the road or the free health care? Aaaaahahahaha 😂😂😂 why do you ask?
Where are the adults in her life who are supposed to ensure children like her do not fall through the cracks? Busy doing soccer mom stuff, whoopsie, but she’s suuuuuper sorry about it for reals 🙃
So along comes her fated mate and she’s all like… being weird to him and stuff. He smashes into the classroom, chastises her bully who happens to be his younger brother, and then he goes “u ok?” And she deadass says “You can’t want me. I’m broken.” And then goes to curl up in a quivering ball and sit at the side of the road for him to come scoop her up in his big stwong awpha hands uwu 🥰🥰🥰 and take her home where he helps her walk up to her front door, orders groceries for her and shows her funny videos on his phone until her heart “slowly melts” because no one has ever been this gentle or kind before. 🙄 Amazing. 🤩 Basic human decency. 🥹What a star. 😍 Take me now, daddy. 🙄
She tells him why she doesn’t shift (spoiler alert: it’s a dumb reason that makes no sense) and he oohs and aaahs about how brave and independent she is for being an orphaned and abandoned seventeen-year-old in a pack with no foster care system. She bursts into tears and then they kiss 🙄🙄🙄
The FMC has never had Chinese food before. Two whole pages are dedicated entirely to the creation of the novel delicacy of French toast. I was honestly a bit surprised when they went on their date to the movies that she even knew what popcorn was.
He takes her back to his parents, where the bully kid gets another dressing-down from his mother, to FMC’s smug satisfaction (I’m inferring this; the FMC is clearly too pure and self-sacrificing to experience such emotions) and then the MMC takes them to the WHOLE-ASS HOUSE he built with his own two hands (!!!) where they have awkward under-the-covers sex and she agrees to live with him after knowing each other for 24 hours (bless your hearts) (but what about all the groceries he just picked up for her place??)
“He’s so romantic, lighting candles to woo me even though we’re already in love after 48 hours,” she thinks. “I washed the dishes after dinner and there wasn’t even any stuck-on food to scrape off. Maybe I would make a decent housewife,” she thinks. “Watching movies with you is my new favorite activity,” she thinks (they’ve watched one movie together).
This relationship is ready to go all the way! She quits in-person school because BULLIES are at school (forgetting that the only bully we’ve heard of is her BIL now) but she has no friends anyway so it’s no great loss. Goes through major surgery for the endo, gets pregnant at the ripe old age of 18, HEA. Good thing, too—what good story has a person with a condition that often causes infertility having to actually deal with infertility? Let alone being childfree. No, meaningless worry should continue throughout the whole book only to result in an easy pregnancy they weren’t even trying for. That’s what the people want to see 😉
I picked this up because I was excited to see a main character dealing with endo. Having endometriosis/adenomyosis myself I was curious to see how it would be portrayed. I was happily surprised that her being a shifter didn't magically fix it. I will say her getting surgery was a lot easier than human women have to deal with. Even getting meds was easy for her. This was a very quick read with little details outside of her pain and him caring for her. My main issue with the entire book though is the fact that at 12 when her father passed they left her alone. No guardian, no fosters, no pack orphanage, literally no one to care for her at all. And the Luna knew about it, was checking on her at first. What adult leaves a 12yo alone, in pain, and doesn't check on her? Ever? The teachers bully her, the students bully her, her main bully issue (her mate's brother) is never resolved, her pain is quickly resolved, her pack called her a stray when her parents were actually packmates, and ignored a child in need. It was just such a weird tone to set and then ignore.
I wanted to pick this up after reading half of the blurb because the heroine has chronic pain. But I didn’t know this was set in high school and that the heroine is a teenager. Sigh…but decided to give it a try since it is less than 100 pages. The cover models look wayyy older than the characters.
Lillian is considered the outcast in school with her constantly having stomach pain and keeping herself apart from others. She is bullied by the Alpha’s son and no one steps in until his older brother from college, Dylan rebukes him.
I felt that the story was unrealistic: her shifter mate swoops in and starts taking care of her if not nice to read because who doesn’t love care taking? This was okay and basic. The cover gives an impression that the story has a darker vibe when it really isn't and at times felt slice of life-y and surface level. The writing was cringe-y at times.
But I did enjoy the concept of the alpha, his mate the Luna and the worldbuilding. Plus the endometriosis rep was eye opening and unique as Lilian is a wolf shifter. Nice that this is own voices too.
I was so excited for the endo representation but this whole book felt rushed and very cringey. Everything just ended up so perfect each time and that’s not life.
It had the potential to be a good story but cramming everything into under 100 pages means the character development gets left out.
Also I wish we’d give warnings for pregnancy tropes cause big oof would not have read it if I’d known.
The story was enjoyable, but the writing was simplistic and not very descriptive. Some parts I had to read a few times to even understand who the conversations were between. It got worse as the story progressed... a little fleshing out of the story would have made it more enjoyable.
This novella opened my eyes to endometriosis, which I had heard of before, but not known about truly. I felt for Lilian and really enjoyed her relationship with Dylan. A quick and enjoyable read :)
This is a short, easy read and lovly book about mates. But I cant give a 5 stars, for some reasons. Everything in the book happens in a hurry and I really belive this book would have been mutch better witten i povs
Was it great? No. The writing wasn’t the best, the story could have (and should have) been longer and more fleshed out. But I still enjoyed it and if super short, low conflict, easy to read Instalove (fated mates) is your thing then it’s a 10/10.
The FMC Lillian is such a strong character and I loved how i can relate to all the medical problems she had. Having Endometriosis and getting the exact same surgery she had, I can relate to the pain she felt and went through.
As someone with endometriosis I think this has really good information about what's it's like to live with the disease. I do wish the story didn't jump so much and that you were able to read more about different treatment options. But I did really enjoy this book.
- Fated Mates - Endometriosis - Feeling Not Good Enough - Instalove
A very sweet cute read. Our FMC believes she's broken - her mother passed away early in her life and her father never seemed to give a single f*** about her afterwards. She's constantly in pain and struggles to make it through the day. After a chance encounter at school, he entire life changes. An instalove type of novella but mixed in the the feeling of not being good enough - it made for a cute and wonderful read when you just need something sweet.
I’m going to be honest this novella took me like an hour to read, so this review will be shorter than normal. No spoilers though.
The plot - fated mates, shifter romance (it’s wolves, for context), deals with themes of death, bullying, endometriosis, infertility and found family. This book was a very quick read, fast paced, with a HEA. I didn’t love how easy the issues in this book were resolved, but it is a novella so it is what it is.
The MC - Lilian is a difficult FMC to describe. At times, she came off as immature and whines a lot. Other times, she is resilient and a badass and a sweetheart. She was a good FMC for this story.
The male counterpart - Dylan is too good to be true. Honestly, a man born from the Moon Goddess herself DAMN where do these men come from? He’s awesome, no criticism, 10/10 love him.