witchbuns

Ali Hazelwood, 2025

4.75 Stars for Unhinged Delights

Fantastic. Can’t wait to re-read as audiobook and spend more time in this world.

This sequel to Mate goes straight into Northwest wolf den territory. In Bride, the big reveal was that they are mates, but this book starts there, at Go. Koen is forthcoming about the mating bond, but he shrugs it off. We hear that he’s 100% not interested with her and it takes a bit to unravel why, and there’s a great progression to that moment. The supporting characters in this (and Bride) are A+ and both books are more supernatural than romance. Because Koen is keeping himself away from her while being completely tethered (so much agony, so much burn), we spend more time in mystery and learning about the Were world with Serena. 

I love that Ali redraws the map for this book and we follow another mystery (Serena’s parentage) and some wacko cult behavior. This was a delight to escape in and I really enjoyed Serena as a FMC. There were plenty of scenes with her and Misery that just aced their chemistry as friends, and the way Koen interacts with each of them is just delightful. The whole reveal about Serena and her body that I will not reveal here is just freaking hilarious and unhinged and I’m just buckled in. Ali Hazewood writes about enchanting weirdos and I support her. I think I want to hold her hand.