In the mood for: Fated Mates
Hands up if you love the Fated Mates trope? Yes? You do?? Me too!! We should be book buddies. The Fated Mate trope is common but spectacular when done well. My favourite is when the characters fight the attraction, building up the longing, tension and anticipation of when they finally give in - the ultimate in slow burn romance! So with that said, here is a selection of Fated Mate books I’ve read and like below:
Callypso Lillis is a siren with a very big problem, one that stretches up her arm and far into her past. For the last seven years she’s been collecting a bracelet of black beads up her wrist, magical IOUs for favours she’s received. Only death or repayment will fulfil the obligations. Only then will the beads disappear.
Everyone knows that if you need a favour, you go to the Bargainer to make it happen. He’s a man who can get you anything you want … at a price. And everyone knows that sooner or later he always collects.
But for one of his clients, he’s never asked for repayment. Not until now. When Callie finds the fae king of the night in her room, a grin on his lips and a twinkle in his eye, she knows things are about to change. At first it’s just a chaste kiss—a single bead’s worth—and a promise for more.
For the Bargainer, it’s more than just a matter of rekindling an old romance. Something is happening in the Otherworld. Fae warriors are going missing one by one. Only the women are returned, each in a glass casket, a child clutched to their breast. And then there are the whispers among the slaves, whispers of an evil that’s been awoken.
If the Bargainer has any hope to save his people, he’ll need the help of the siren he spurned long ago. Only, his foe has a taste for exotic creatures, and Callie just happens to be one.
Meet Celaena Sardothien. Beautiful. Deadly. Destined for greatness.
In the dark, filthy salt mines of Endovier, an eighteen-year-old girl is serving a life sentence. She is a trained assassin, the best of her kind, but she made a fatal mistake. She got caught.
Young Captain Westfall offers her a deal: her freedom in return for one huge sacrifice. Celaena must represent the prince in a to-the-death tournament - fighting the most gifted thieves and assassins in the land. Live or die, Celaena will be free. Win or lose, she is about to discover her true destiny. But will her assassin's heart be melted?
Feyre survived Amarantha's clutches to return to the Spring Court - but at a steep cost. Though she now has the powers of the High Fae, her heart remains human, and it can't forget the terrible deeds she performed to save Tamlin's people.
Nor has Feyre forgotten her bargain with Rhysand, High Lord of the feared Night Court. As Feyre navigates its dark web of politics, passion, and dazzling power, a greater evil looms - and she might be key to stopping it. But only if she can harness her harrowing gifts, heal her fractured soul, and decide how she wishes to shape her future - and the future of a world cleaved in two.
When Mum died, I inherited a lot more than a pack of lies.
I landed a $410,000 debt.
Discovered her previous surname.
And her real place of birth.
Desperate to uncover the truth, I drive to a tiny dot on the map called Deception Valley. Coincidental name? Nope. There, I find her secret family—because she had one of those too. How many lies are we at? Honestly, I’ve lost count, but local gossip captures my attention. Apparently, Mum’s other family play laser tag every Wednesday. Not even joking. Laser tag. What the hell is this place? In hindsight, the massive guy with honey irises was my first major clue. Unusual eyes for a human, right?
Perfect eyes for a werewolf. But sexy supernaturals, thongs, and mounting financial strain aside, Mum’s past is buried somewhere in this valley, and I need to dig up the truth or find a way to live with her lies. What do you do when neither option will leave you unscathed?
Magic. Isn’t. Real. At least that's what I thought. But now, my story is changing...
You know you’re invisible when even your bullies forget to pick on you. That’s me, Bettina Blair, hidden in plain sight. No matter how hard I try I just never fit in with my classmates. Now I know why. I’m a witch...apparently. One little demon attack and my parents confess their ugly secret…and ship me off to an elite academy of magic - for witches only. I can't summon magic. I can't fight with my hands or my fists. I just don't belong here, and Jackson Lancaster keeps reminding me every single chance he gets. This boy is the most insufferable, intolerable, unbearable, judgmental person to ever have the right to be that gorgeous. I don’t care how sexy his British accent is, or that literally everyone else on campus adores him. He hates me, and the feeling is mutual.
Suddenly, I’m sent on a quest into the Old Lands to find the only thing that can save Eden from a demon invasion. I’m in way over my head, and my best chance of coming back alive lies in the hands of the guy who wants me gone.
I’m a Gemini. Impulsive. Curious. Headstrong. A twin. Heir to a throne I know nothing about. And it turns out, I’m Fae. But of course there’s a catch - all I have to do to claim my birth right is prove that I’m the most powerful supernatural in the whole of Solaria. And sure, technically that’s true as I’m the daughter of the Savage King. But the bit they didn’t put in the brochure was that every single Fae in this Kingdom would claim my throne if they could.
The school they’ve sent me to is both dangerous as sh*t and one helluva party. Vampires bite weaker students in the corridors, the Werewolf pack has orgies in the Wailing Wood at every full moon and don’t even get me started on the dark and twisted ways the Sirens use their powers on people’s emotions, or how my sinfully tempting Cardinal Magic teacher hosts detentions that leave people needing therapy.
Classes are totally interesting if you manage to live through them. And that Gemini star sign I mentioned? It now determines my elemental magic and affects my destiny, so learning astrology is essential if I’m going to beat down my classmates - which is actively encouraged by the way. My biggest problem is the drool worthy Dragon shifter who has his eyes on my throne. He and his three psycho friends are determined to make my time here hell. All I’ve got to do is survive. But fate might have other ideas. Dammit, why couldn’t I have gotten a letter to Hogwarts?
Welcome to Evermore Academy where the magic is dark, the immortals are beautiful, and being human SUCKS. After spending my entire life avoiding the creatures that murdered my parents, one stupid mistake binds me to them for four years. My penance? Become a human shadow at the infamous Evermore Academy, finishing school for the Seelie and Unseelie Fae courts. All I want is to keep a low profile, but day one, I make an enemy of the most powerful Fae in the academy.
The Winter Prince is arrogant, cruel, and apparently also my Fae keeper. Meaning I’m in for months of torture. But it only gets worse. Something dark and terrible looms over the academy. Humans are dying, ancient vendettas are resurfacing, and the courts are more bloodthirsty than ever. What can one mortal girl do in a world full of gorgeous monsters? Fight back with everything I have - and try not to fall in love in the process.
There are three rules to surviving the Fae—and I’m about to break every single one.
Rule #1. Never cross into Faerie.
When I’m chased across the enchanted border and caught by its sinister ruler of the sky, the pretty trickster with a clever tongue offers me a deal.
Rule #2: Never bargain with a Fae.
But I don’t have a choice. For thirteen days, I have to survive in his mountainous maze of crooked bridges, deceptive stairways, and devious inhabitants. Refuse, and my sisters will suffer as punishment.
Rule #3: Never fall for the enemy.
I should have known my sexy captor wouldn’t play fair. The deeper I plunge into this dangerous world of Solitary Fae, the more I’m entangled in their ruler’s seductive web of desire - and the forbidden temptations he offers.
The price of losing this wicked game is everything I love. But winning might just cost me my heart.
As a wolf shifter growing up in a strong pack, I should be living my best life. But after my father tried to kill the alpha, I’m labeled an outcast, traitor, less than dirt. When I can't take pack life any longer, I run, but apparently they don't like losing their punching bag. Torin, the alpha’s son, drags me back before my first shift... a shift that will reveal my true mate. I never could have predicted who mine would be, but the moment my wolf looks upon him, I’m filled with hope for a brighter future.
After all, no one ever rejects their true mate, right? Wrong. Very wrong.
When the wolves attack, my soul screams for vengeance, and somehow I touch the shadow world. Somehow I bring him to our lands. The Shadow Beast. Our shifter god. The devil himself. Turns out being rejected by my mate was only the beginning.
The dice are rolled at midnight. As the twenty-one-year-old heiress to the Le Spyre fortune, my life should consist of strawberry mojitos and golf carts. Right? But I’m determined to forge my own path. Desperate to escape the meaningless games of the rich, I flee my family’s estate.
Secret alias - check.
Place to sleep - uh, kind of?
Job - crap!
I’ve bitten off more than I can chew, but that’s the least of my worries. My city is a giant board game. The players are supernatural - freakin’ vampires - including an overbearing crown prince whose unwanted attention could spell my demise. Now, I must play their deadly game, or my grandmother and best friend will pay the ultimate price.
I thought magic was make believe...but I was way wrong.
I was nobody. No matter how hard I tried, I never fit in with anyone at my high school. Now I know why. Turns out I'm a witch. A scary powerful one, too. Except The Coven that claimed me won't teach me how to use my magic. Suddenly, I'm selected by the Goddess to hunt down a mythical locket needed to save the world from destruction. The only person who actually tries to help me is the alarmingly attractive Tennessee. He has immeasurable power and breathtaking mismatched eyes. I'm drawn to him on a level I can't explain...and he's forbidden from getting too close to me.
When the quest takes an unexpected dangerous turn, I have to improvise. This supernatural world is unraveling at my fingertips and I need to master my magic fast. If I don't, I could get everyone I care about killed...
There are supernatural prisons hidden across the globe. Contained within these fortresses are some of the deadliest criminals from the five supernatural races: vampire, shifter, fey, magic users and demi-fey.
Jessa Lebron, twenty-two, has spent her entire life in Stratford, Connecticut, one of the gateway towns adjoining these prisons which protect the fortified borders. She’s a wolf shifter, and her father leads the town council. She learns that much of her life has been hidden from her, secrets which threaten to tear apart the very fabric of her world. Especially the biggest secret of them all.
She is dragon marked.
Jessa only knows what she’s been told about the dragon marked, that they are dangerous and must be eliminated to prevent the rise of the dragon king, the powerful warmonger who had his head removed a thousand years ago. So now Jessa's on the biggest hit list of all. Dragon mark hunters are lethal and her only hope to evade detection is to keep the energy contained.
As more secrets unfold she finds herself locked up in Vanguard, the notorious American supernatural prison. Thankfully she’s not alone. Braxton, the dragon-shifter has her back. Together they must survive long enough to free themselves and the other dragon marked.
Because it’s time for the dragon marked to rise.
A Maiden…
Chosen from birth to usher in a new era, Poppy’s life has never been her own. The life of the Maiden is solitary. Never to be touched. Never to be looked upon. Never to be spoken to. Never to experience pleasure. Waiting for the day of her Ascension, she would rather be with the guards, fighting back the evil that took her family, than preparing to be found worthy by the gods. But the choice has never been hers.
A Duty…
The entire kingdom’s future rests on Poppy’s shoulders, something she’s not even quite sure she wants for herself. Because a Maiden has a heart. And a soul. And longing. And when Hawke, a golden-eyed guard honor bound to ensure her Ascension, enters her life, destiny and duty become tangled with desire and need. He incites her anger, makes her question everything she believes in, and tempts her with the forbidden.
A Kingdom…
Forsaken by the gods and feared by mortals, a fallen kingdom is rising once more, determined to take back what they believe is theirs through violence and vengeance. And as the shadow of those cursed draws closer, the line between what is forbidden and what is right becomes blurred. Poppy is not only on the verge of losing her heart and being found unworthy by the gods, but also her life when every blood-soaked thread that holds her world together begins to unravel.
Feyre's survival rests upon her ability to hunt and kill – the forest where she lives is a cold, bleak place in the long winter months. So when she spots a deer in the forest being pursued by a wolf, she cannot resist fighting it for the flesh. But to do so, she must kill the predator and killing something so precious comes at a price.
Dragged to a magical kingdom for the murder of a faerie, Feyre discovers that her captor, his face obscured by a jewelled mask, is hiding far more than his piercing green eyes would suggest. Feyre's presence at the court is closely guarded, and as she begins to learn why, her feelings for him turn from hostility to passion and the faerie lands become an even more dangerous place. Feyre must fight to break an ancient curse, or she will lose him forever.
My fated mate rejected me - and now I've been captured by someone even worse.
As the half-human outcast of the Cancer pack, I've been beaten and bullied my whole life. Gaining my wolf form and my fated mate is my only chance to change packs and hope for a better life.
Except when my fated mate is revealed, he's the future alpha of the Leo pack - our worst enemies. He rejects me in front of everyone, just before the Leos slaughter my entire pack and murder my family.
I manage to escape, but then I'm kidnapped by a far greater threat: the alpha of the mysterious lost pack. The 13th sign was banished from the Zodiac Wolves years ago, and I thought they were just a myth.
They're real. They're holding me captive. And the dark, dangerous alpha is offering me something I can't refuse - revenge.