Taming His Vampire Mate (Blood Bonded Mates Book 5) by Jay Castle

It's finally Thierry's turn to find the one fated to him and his mate is none other than Jeremy, the most hated wolf in the nearby wolf pack.


From the blurb:

THIERRY

Everyone knows tampering with fate is foolish. I’m doing it anyway. If I can stop even one person from becoming a monster, it’s worth the risk. Restoring a vampire’s lost humanity is simple. Theoretically. And now it’s time to put it to the test. Starting with myself.

Step one: Trick the universe into coughing up a fated mate on command.
Step two: Kick him to the curb faster than he can blink. Falling in love is not part of the plan.

But when my destiny turns out to be Jeremy, the maddening werewolf alpha with a dark past and a glare that could peel paint, I’m seriously rethinking my life choices. And somehow he thinks I’m the villain here.

Which is rich, considering he’s exactly like my maker, the sadistic monster who ruined my life eight centuries ago. I want nothing to do with him. Ever.

JEREMY

All I want is to be left alone. But my old pack is in terrible danger. They’re fractured, weak, and unprepared for what’s coming. It’s up to me to protect them and I need immediate backup. Which means asking for help from the vampire king.

Instead, I get saddled with Thierry. He’s as cold and cutting as he is gorgeous. Pack lore says all vampires are bloodthirsty predators. Which means I ought to be plotting ways to end him, not noticing the shape of his mouth, the strange electric blue of his eyes, or how perfectly his body fits against mine.

Losing one mate nearly destroyed me. I can’t survive losing another.

But even as an ancient and deadly threat from Thierry’s past stalks us from the shadows, it’s getting harder to remember why I should stay away.

Taming His Vampire Mate is a 100,000-word MM paranormal romance featuring an icy vampire who cares way more than he lets on and a wounded werewolf alpha trying to outrun his past. Expect enemies-to-lovers tension, hurt comfort, a real-world setting with fantasy elements, plenty of queer rep, wickedly slow-burn spice, a generous helping of snark, found family, cameos from past couples, and a guaranteed HEA.

Content warnings: As this is a gay romance, it contains explicit sexual scenes between two consenting adult men. Additional content warnings include grief, instances of on-page violence (never between partners), strong language, mild alcohol consumption, recovery from trauma, consensual blood-drinking, and mentions of past intimate partner violence, death, and the loss of a partner that happen off-page. All major characters in this series are part of the LGBTQ+ community.


Jacqueleen the reading Queen's review:

"𝙷𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛 𝚏𝚎𝚕𝚝 𝚜𝚘 𝚖𝚞𝚌𝚑 𝚙𝚊𝚒𝚗 𝚢𝚘𝚞'𝚍 𝚍𝚘 𝚊𝚗𝚢𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚘 𝚖𝚊𝚔𝚎 𝚒𝚝 𝚜𝚝𝚘𝚙?"

When Jay Castle first announced that Thierry's mate was going to be the alpha wolf Jeremy I will admit that I was very intrigued. I mean, so far all we know of Jeremy was that he tried to kidnap James and force him to become his mate. In the end he set him free because deep down, Jeremy knew what he was doing was crazy and wrong. He just couldn't see past his own pain and it made him go a little cray cray to put it mildly.

Thierry is cray cray on a normal day, but he has been one of my favorites in this series. He hides behind his wit and sarcasm, but I knew there was a heart hiding behind his facade. I think others are starting to realize it too, much to Thierry's dismay. I found it funny that he started off with a plan to figure out a way of finding fated mates, but never planned on actually mating with his own once they met. I'm pretty sure you can agree, those are some famous last words.

"𝙸 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚜𝚞𝚍𝚍𝚎𝚗𝚕𝚢 𝚊𝚠𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚠𝚎 𝚠𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚊𝚕𝚘𝚗𝚎, 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚊 𝚋𝚒𝚐, 𝚏𝚕𝚞𝚏𝚏𝚢 𝚋𝚎𝚍 𝚗𝚘𝚝 𝚝𝚠𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚢 𝚏𝚎𝚎𝚝 𝚊𝚠𝚊𝚢. 𝚆𝚎 𝚌𝚘𝚞𝚕𝚍 𝚍𝚘 𝚊𝚗𝚢𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐. 𝚆𝚎 𝚌𝚘𝚞𝚕𝚍 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚗 𝚖𝚊𝚔𝚎 𝚜𝚘𝚖𝚎 𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚢 𝚋𝚊𝚍 𝚌𝚑𝚘𝚒𝚌𝚎𝚜, 𝚒𝚏 𝚠𝚎 𝚠𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚜𝚘 𝚒𝚗𝚌𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚎𝚍."

A lot of the story was spent with Jeremy slowly coming to realize that Thierry wasn't at all who he thought he was. All his life he's been taught that vampires are the enemy. That they are cold and unfeeling. It broke his heart finding out his fated mate was someone he thought could never love him back. Thankfully fate worked her magic and Jeremy came to realize what a true gift of a mate Thierry was.

Sadly, we readers have been informed that the next book is going to be the last in this fun vampire series. Though I am looking forward to the final installment, I'm also excited for what worlds this author will give us next to fall in love with!

Taming His Vampire Mate is currently available as an e-book and can be read as part of your Kindle Unlimited Subscription