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The Librarian and the Bear (Oak Fast Fated Mates #5) by Rebel Carter Published by Self Published on September 4, 2022
Genres: Adult Fiction, Paranormal, Romance
Format: eBook (138 pages)
Source: Kindle Unlimited
Purchase: Amazon • IndieBound
Add Book: Goodreads
Your mate isn’t supposed to reject you, right? Well, Birdie’s did. JFC. Now what?
When Birdie Salazar found her mate, she thought it would be a cause for celebration, that her world would finally be complete. Except that when the long awaited day arrives he rejects Birdie before she can even tell him her name.
But it’s okay, or at least it will be.
So what if she can’t stop thinking about him and the pain she feels when she sees him with another woman nearly brings her to her knees. She’ll get through this.
She will.
Just because fate decided to give her an ungrateful Fae mate doesn’t mean she has to live with a broken bond that feels like a knife in her chest. Their world is one of magic and that means the solution to fixing the wound of her broken mate bond is just one Fae witch away. Birdie’s mate will find out that he’s not the only one that can reject their bond, and if he realizes what he lost, well that’s just too damn bad.
I loved the premise of The Librarian and the Bear, but it’s not a concept that worked in such a short novella. Birdie has been dreaming of finding her Fated Mate, at least until she meets him. Emmett is the new town librarian and he can’t make it any clearer that he does not want a mate. He’s mostly human, so it’s understandable, but he’s quite harsh. Birdie takes matters into her own hands and has the mate bond removed! What?! I’ve only read this kind of story once, so I was interested how it would work here. But…it sadly didn’t work. There were basically no consequences, and I just hated Emmett.
After the bond is removed, Emmett is just very aggressively pursuing Birdie. Why?!? He didn’t want a mate. He didn’t want to be a mate. So what’s the problem? He got what he wanted?! Sure, you could argue that he was an alpha male wanting to claim what’s his. But no. Birdie is not his. She wanted to be, but he threw her away. She handled it and is wanting to move on, but he is just everywhere that she is and interfering. And I never even got a feel for who he actually is. He does explain his initial behavior, but….so what? He’s still being awful to her. There was one moment, which I won’t share since it’s a spoiler to “what” he is, but I was so mad! You don’t do that to someone!
Obviously, they have to end up together, and I was not into it. Birdie deserved better, and I don’t think Emmett had enough page time to actually prove himself to her. I also just didn’t like the last chapter because why are you going through this again?! But also not going through it again, because things need to wrap up. It was a waste. I do think the epilogue was interesting, and it sets up a new series where hopefully the failed mate bond can be explored in more detail.
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