Her Perfect Mate

by Paige Tyler

• ISBN10: 1306484782
• ISBN13: 9781306484787
• Publish Date: 1 January 2014
• Publish Status: Active
• Out of Print: 4 March 2015
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Sourcebooks Casablanca
• Format: eBook
• Language: English

Reviews

I don't know. I didn't really get it. Plot and characters were wonky. Landon and Ivy were alright I guess but I didn't really feel inspired by their romance or relationship. It was pretty meh. Clayne is an absolute jerk and his one apology for being a jerk at the end wasn't really enough to redeem him. He almost kills Landon on two separate occasions. He says his Ivy's friend and he cares about her but all's he seems to do is give her a hard time. Plus one part really baffled me.

And Landon?” “Yeah?” He already knew what she was going to say. “Make it work with Clayne. For Ivy’s sake.”

Tyler, Paige. Her Perfect Mate (X-OPS Series Book 1) (p. 243). Sourcebooks. Kindle Edition.

I didn't remotely get it. Clayne and Ivy had literally no decent civil interactions - why the hell would Ivy care? And Landon didn't even instigate anything - he was always just defending himself from being killed. Yeah okay, it could be referring to Clayne helping to get her out of there - but it also didn't really seem that necessary for Clayne specifically to be there.

Kendra is a very weak side character who makes a few appearances but adds no depth to the plot or her own being. There's a two second scene near the beginning where Declan (some other guy - this was his whole introduction) asks her out and she rejects him as she has apparently been doing a lot. Declan is all hung up on her. No clue why. But she's not interested because Kendra is all hung up on Clayne which also makes no sense and Clayne is hung up on Ivy. It was all very high school to be honest. Plus the blurb for Her Lone Mate reveals that Clayne is supposedly all hung up on Danica? Whoever Danica is. The thing that irritates me is that this series includes soulmates - if Danica is his soulmate - why the hell is he so interested in Ivy for any period of time? Seems to detract from OTP feels. In fact all the characters seem rather flimsy and wishy-washy with their feelings. If I'm going to believe characters are in love I need to see commitment

I've read the prequel and none of the thin plot about Adam or other shifter organisation was mentioned or referred to. There was slightly more information about how Ivy and other shifters are "born". They have past DNA that has mixed and sometimes presents animal characteristics. The whole mate thing was glossed over. It wasn't really explored, explained or mentioned. They've known each other for like three days - it was pretty unbelievable they fell in love. I don't know, just didn't feel it.

The plot was iffy. It wasn't anything new to the genre. Scientists experimenting and creating shifter hybrids is all very standard. It wasn't really explained why Jeff was involved. Or how he got past the psych evals to work with the DCO - I mean the whole thing is built around shifters - how can you possibly run an organisation where a bunch of your staff actively hate other staff for something they can't change? It doesn't exactly scream happy workplace. And why he didn't send them after Ivy to start with - Stutmeir is looking for shifters - she's a shifter - he can identify other shifters in the department - why didn't he send them after them before going after doctors and scientists to create hybrids.

It just had a lot of plot holes, flimsy characters and a hard to believe love story. 2 stars.

[Melanie]

3.5 stars

Review originally posted at RabidReads.com.

I’ve been wanting to try Paige Tyler for a long time. I finally picked up book one in her X-Ops series. I don’t know why it took me so long. I really enjoyed it.

We have Landon who is pulled of a very important mission in Afghanistan and told to go back stateside for a different mission. He isn’t given any details. He isn’t happy about leaving his team for what he feels has to be a paper pushing job at the Pentagon. He is trying to figure out what he did wrong to deserve the change in assignment.

Ivy doesn’t have good luck with military partners. They look down on her. Her most recent partner got himself killed because he wouldn’t listen to her. She is really not happy about the next one to come into the program to partner up with her. She is part of Department of Covert Operations. She is known as a EVA, extremely valuable asset. She is a shifter. Even in this unit designed for shifters, they are still looked at as lesser. They must be partnered with a human.

I loved the chemistry between Ivy and Landon. They had to fight to come together. Neither really trusted the other. They were willing to work together for the common goal. They made a great team. I really enjoyed the mixture of suspense and romantic tension between the characters. I liked several of the secondary characters.

My biggest gripe was the Ivy starts off a bit whiny with a need to have approval of Landon, even though she doesn’t really approve of him. I know not all heroines can be tough as nails, badass from the get go, but she had some real issues. She does get better by the end of the book. I see this series have a ton of potential. I can’t wait to pick up the next book in this series.

[Cocktails and Books]

A unique new take on the world that is both paranormal and yet still normal enough to be believable. I really enjoyed this first book in a new series by Ms. Tyler, it had suspense, action, a new concept and played up the sexual tension beautifully.

I was seriously hooked from the beginning of the story, I fell in love with Landon quickly and then we met Ivy, she’s gorgeous and very capable and very easily underestimated, she’s deadly even if she doesn’t look like it.

Landon and Ivy shouldn’t be together since it’s against the rules, but their chemistry practically leaps off the page. It was easy to see them together in a relationship even if they have to keep it covert.

I really loved the new spin on shifters, it’s unique and completely plausible. I really can’t wait to read more stories in this series. It’s sure to be a hit with both military romance lovers and paranormal shifter stories.

Reviewed by Sheri for Cocktails and Books