Do I need to read Bride before Mate?

Ali Hazelwood describes Mate as a companion novel to Bride rather than a direct sequel: it moves the point of view from the Vampyre Misery Lark to her foster sister and lifelong best friend, Serena Paris. You can follow Mate on its own, but Bride sets up the world's Were/Vampyre/Human politics and Serena's disappearance, so reading it first makes the stakes and the returning cast land harder.

Who narrates the Mate audiobook, and how long is it?

The unabridged Penguin Audio recording of Mate is narrated by Ellie Gossage and Teddy Hamilton, and runs about 14 hours and 29 minutes. It was released alongside the print editions on 7 October 2025.

Mate

Reader reviews of Mate

Tash🖤 · 2026-10-19T22:31:57.000000Z

Like so many others, this sequel was soooo highly anticipated for me and I'm so happy to report, it hit everything I needed it to. Serena's POV is so charming. She feels very real as a character - with enough contemporary aspects without feeling dated in the setting it's written. Her internal monologue was SO funny that it made her banter with Koen even better. I was feeling for her so much as she was going through her struggles. Especially with all the secrets and lies she was keeping, the ones towards Misery HURT because I understood exactly why she was doing it. Ugh and Koen. I loved him. He just wants to take care of people and be with his Mate, even if things are keeping him away. He was sooo funny and down bad, just how I like them. His little insights at the beginning of the chapter made me want ALL of his POV. His interaction with his pack and his seconds was so cute. I loved that they would remind Serena that while they were Were's they had very similar human tendencies. The plot itself, was admittedly a little slow for me to get into, I think because its been so long since I've read Bride. But once they got to the Den, things really picked up. Especially the familial plot line, I have to say I wasn't expecting that. Overall such a good book. I think I may have enjoyed it even more than Bride!

Paranormal Vampire

Pages: 464
Published: 2025
Language: English

Synopsis

Serena Paris is the first known Human-Were hybrid, and simply existing makes her dangerous. When she comes forward about what she is, she becomes a target for Vampyres, Weres, and Humans alike, some of whom suspect she may be something even rarer and more powerful than a hybrid. Caught among factions that would use or destroy her, she has few people she can trust.

One of them, unwillingly, is Koen Alexander, the formidable Alpha of the Northwest pack, who is convinced Serena is his mate and is determined to keep her alive whether or not she returns his feelings. As conspiracies tighten around her and old secrets from her past resurface, Serena has to decide who she is before others decide it for her.

A companion to Bride, Ali Hazelwood's Mate returns to her paranormal world of vampires and werewolves. It leans into fated-mates tropes, banter, and heat, an unabashedly fun supernatural romance for readers who like their werewolves protective and their heroines stubborn.