Fox Mate (The Madison Wolves, #3) by Robin Roseau

Fox Mate (The Madison Wolves, #3) Reviews

• 
  Fae

  If you really want to read this because of the previous two books then go to kindle unlimited free trial. If you want to continue to read the entire series but don't have kindle unlimited free trial, it still better to buy kindle unlimited to read this whole series for free with $9.99 per month. But I totally wouldn't recommend book 3.
  
  For the life of me, I couldn't fathom why anyone would give this a five stars. Unless you are into domestic abuse, idiot main character with a sadist two-faces lover who keep breaking promise one after another but still receive forgiveness in the end. At this point, I am 100% sure Michaela is a masochist- yay, a twist.
  
  This is like reading fifty shade of grey with no consensual torture. At least in FSG, the main character had some prior knowledge of what will happen to her (but I still couldn't finish it).
  But this book? Michaela had no idea about the wolf tradition at all. She got abuse and they kept her in secret, they tortured and humiliated her without her consent to the point of bringing her at the edge of insanity or almost kill her. That just royally fuck up.
  
  Does anyone even remember that she is a fox, not a wolf? Shouldn't this tradition apply to Lara and not Michaela? OTL
  
  The first book is okay, good actually. Second one is downgrade a bit but still readable. The third one is just hard to read to the point that I feel cheat. Admittedly, this one is the worst in the entire series or so I heard.
  
  Michaela said she can't marry Lara anymore, but that's not because she hates Lara for being such a liar/control freak with humongous ego. Her reason was "I can't marry you. I'm crazy." Yeah, she forgot to add that she is crazy because of her so-called friends in the pack. What fucked up the most...she forgave them and still marry Lara.
  
  Yes, this book labeled violent. I'm completely fine with violent. But I'm not fine with domestic abuse with unrealistic love and inconsiderate lover. The main character is a broken, pathetic fox who yearn for love, so she let herself at the mercy of her friends and lover. Feisty fox? Not anymore, not in this third book, she acted like a feisty fox but she is not. She is subdued, shattered, and now, her decision at the end only make me mad.
  
  And why is she apologizes to the one that hurt her anyway? Why is she keeps saying that her friends are not at fault? If someone ever do this to me, forget about forgive, I'll pack my stuffs and run away, never to come back.
  
  The part about Michaela being a wolf assassin doesn't impress me nor do I feel good about it. It's like a random extra story that made up on the spot out of nowhere. The author basically tortured the main character then giving her an incredible secret to have point with the readers. But all of that fail, why? Because no matter how impressive Michaela seemed to be, Lara will surpass her (as stated in the book). Lara's logic is "If a fox can do it, so can I."
  
  Despite all her past, I don't get why in the beginning of book 1, Michaela was so easily caught by Lara. It like the past doesn't matter at all. If reader compare this with book 1, it's inconsistent.
  
  All I want is for Michaela to learn not to forgive. Like stay away from her friends for a while, make them beg for forgiveness. Hell, just break up with Lara and return to her original life seems like a better ending for me.
  
  EXTRA
  
  Lara: "You are safe with me, I will keep you safe, you are safe here Michaela."
  
  - Wedding day---
  
  Lara: "I'm sorry Michaela, I forgot about the tradition, I didn't know my packmates are torture you."
  
  Lara: "I'm sorry Michaela, I have an urge to put you in a cage because my packmates are driving you crazy."
  
  *crack*
  
  Lara: "I'm sorry Michaela, I broke several of your ribs in my moment of fury."
  
  Michaela: It's okay Lara, I forgive you, I love you. Can we still marry?
  
  Me: ...
  
  -Wedding time, Michaela looks at herself in the mirror---
  
  Michaela: "Lara, it's beautiful. You bought me the dress I wanted."
  
  Lara: "No, I bought you the dress I wanted."
  
  Me: zzzZZ
  
  
  Everything is about Lara, for Lara, follow Lara's wish...and Michaela sacrificed everything (emotional to physical), all Lara needs to do is pay for everything with her enormous fortune.
  I would totally dumb my fiancee/fiance if this really happen to me in real life. Just that lone sentence is enough to make me call off the wedding. Don't forget the part where Lara ordered Michaela's food in restaurant in the second book, doesn't matter if Michaela likes the food or not. Lara tries to order the right food yes, but really? Shouldn't she let Michaela decide? The sad part is, Michaela likes it when Lara ordered food for her. Any self-respect person would order their own food, or the couple order each other's food back and forth.
  
  Obviously Michaela is not allowed to do things that Lara allowed to do for her. Michaela is still the one who get permission from Lara, not the other way around. Even when they got married, their relationship is still one-side. I read many werewolves/shapeshifters book, there are many concepts about Sub/Dom relationship, but the couples in those books don't restrict their partner from certain rights that should be acceptable in any healthy loving relationship.
  
  The author tried to make Michaela into a smart, cunning, witty fox. However, she is not smart enough to realize her current relationship as unbalance. Or more like she realized it but still accepted it, and that's even more stupid. Ignorant is bliss, not when you are smart but still choose to be ignorant.
  
  Even Michaela herself pointed out those problems in her internal/external dialogues, but she accepted them in the end anyway. Her reason is "because I love Lara." Nuh uh, stupid fox.
  
  I'm pretty sure there are a lot more for me to rants, but I skipped so much in the book that I'm not sure which part is which part. As for those who purchased this entire series because of the first book and couldn't see this coming, here's a cookie for you. Cookie for me as well.
  
  
  
  
  
• 
  Jem

  This book has garnered some pretty strongly-worded negative reviews here and elsewhere. The problem with these reviews is you can't read them without spoilers. Hopefully, this will help potential readers decide whether to buy it or not, without any unnecessary reveals.
  
  If you haven't read the first and second books, go get them. They are excellently plotted and written. The following review will contain spoilers from the first two books.
  
  In the third book, Michaela (the fox) and Lara (the Alpha wolf) are now in a stable relationship and are engaged. The whole book covers the wedding preparations, the bridal shower and the wedding itself. From this alone you can infer that there is a lull in the proceedings. Its not exactly dull, because the traditional wolf bridal shower is anything but. Think of this book as Michaela's initiation into wolf life and traditions...complete with a 'hazing' ceremony. But with so little happening, the three major proceedings are stretched out to fill the book.
  
  Coming from the excellent books 1 & 2, this will be a letdown if you are expecting the same level of tension and excitement. If you are willing to temper your expectations, and accept at face value the direction the author takes Michaela's development, then you will be rewarded towards the end of the book, when Michaela finally reveals her true past--it is awesome.
  
  As to the graphic scenes of violence? Nothing too harsh, I can assure you there are worse out there. Werewolves are by their very nature violent, and killing is a way of life for them. I admire the author's depiction of these were-folks' animal side, their pack mentality, their need to dominate, their willingness to submit, their choice to kill. Its part of their world, and part of the author's worldbuilding. However, there is some misplaced violence, which I will comment on later under the spoilery part of my review.
  
  I only gave the book 3 stars because of many problems that I had with various aspects of the book--lots of filler, inconsistencies, illogical choices, and cursory and unrealistic treatment of PTSD.
  
  So, to buy or not to buy? This is sort of like a crossroads book. If you are undecided, you may want to wait for the 4th book, and see if the reviews are positive. If you can't wait, tone down your expectations, and enjoy the long, bumpy ride with little scenery, until you get to the destination. And let's keep our fingers crossed that the next adventure will be filled with more excitement.
  
  
  Now on to the spoilery part of my review. As I mentioned earlier, I have issues with certain aspects of the book.
  
  The main problem with the third book is that nothing much happens. There is no conflict anymore (no more rival gangs, Michaela and Lara firmly in love and fully accepted into the tribe). So the author fills up the entire book with three major events -- the wedding preparations, the bridal shower, and the wedding itself. Everything just takes too long. I found myself skipping pages so I could get on with the story...
  
  1. The Kidnapping and subsequent Torture Session (aka wolf's bridal shower)
  
  I didn't actually hate this at first, not all of it anyway. The author managed to convince me of the necessity of going through this. I chose to think of it as a wolf version of a bridal shower that but is more along the lines of a frat hazing ritual. What I didn't like was how drawn out it was. Just too many pages devoted to it and the endless negotiating that it got boring. Towards the end, when it got too extreme to be just a 'tradition' anymore, it was just stupid and unbelievable. Hanging Michaela upside down until she pukes? Did the author watch 'zero dark thirty'? Its for enemy combatants not for the alpha's wife! And almost wringing the Michaela's neck in the process? Everyone knows Michaela is a fragile fox, and real friends would not play around with her life, especially since she is the mate of the alpha, and a most possessive one at that.
  
  2) Lara forgot about this tradition and still allowed it knowing how violent it will be.
  
  I bought that at first. But now that i've had time to think about it, there's no way Lara, who is obsessively possessive of Michaela (I just love the way Lara says 'Mine!') and wouldn't stand having a hair of her hurt, would ever have forgotten that ritual, nor would she allow it at all, knowing Michaela's fragile and how violent that ritual could be. At the very least, she would have insisted that the 'torture' be harmless.
  
  3) The Total Recall
  
  For me, the most interesting part in the entire book happens near the end--in the scant few pages where Michaela recalls her past. It was so damned awesome...but the way it was presented to us (everything out of her mouth in one fell swoop) was not very well played out.
  
  Imho, all these details could have been more effectively revealed little by little by the author over one or a few books...or at least over carefully selected incidents that trigger Michaela's repressed memories. Even the way the trigger works seemed weird. I would have expected restraints like net capture, tying of hands/feet, blindfolds, gagging, ear and nipple piercing, tattooing, etc. to be major triggers of her being caged or caught but apparently they are not. She wasn't even traumatized by the whole incident after it was over--being calm and composed enough to lecture her captors. Her 'going crazy' episode would have been more realistic if it happened during the torture itself.
  
  I know that author used the torture session to trigger Michaela's memories but the way I understand how it works is...a major traumatic event may be unconsciously suppressed by our brain...but a whole series of unrelated events over a decade apart? What Michaela went through was not one single event...so many things happened over so many years. One at 6 yrs old, 2nd event at 12 years old, third event at 19 yrs old, and everything else that happened until she helped the girl who was raped. All of them suppressed? Selective memory retention can be this 'selective' ??? And one single trigger causes her to remember every single thing! I'm no psychiatrist, but it doesn't sound logical at all. I read another book on this ('The Room at the Top of the Stairs' by Allison Holt) and it was so well presented. And no, the patient was not 'cured' in a single afternoon.
  
  4) The Rematch (aka Kidnapping/Torture part 2 for the wolf's first wedding anniversary celebration)
  
  Michaela's acceptance doesn't make any sense. Unless Michaela is now not only a total submissive to Lara, but also enjoys the whole BDSM spectrum of activities--and from other people too. I didn't buy that. Michaela hated the 1st torture session, the cheating, the taking of her house, freedom, etc. but she stills agrees because she 'didn't suffer enough' the first time? Is the author is trying to up the bdsm ante? I'm not sure, but it is very unerotic.
  
  
  
  Final thoughts:
  
  The whole third book was obviously rushed out without any deep plotting or advanced planning and no editing. It reads and feels like free online fiction.
  
• 
  Megan

  Michaela and crew are back - but this book really seemed to come out of left field both in plot and character development. There were elements I liked, such as the whole knife business, but it was completely unexpected, with no hints or foreshadowing in the previous novels. If you were going to skip one of the series, this is the one to do it. Between the angst and the power plays in the bride ransoming plot, I really did not like this installment.
• 
  Fernanda

  Fox Mate began the day after it ended Fox Play...Michaela and Lara are engaged...this fact give the opportunity to the author to relate in a deep way the mentality, customs and traditions of the pack, and this same fact let us readers know more and more about Lara background, skeletons buried deeply into the closet and ghosts.
  
  There are parts in this book that are deeply sad, strong and also violent but I have felt more connected to Michaela then ever thanks to them.
  
  This book can change from comedy to tragedy in a second and a thing that don't cease to amaze me is not only that, like always with Mrs Roseau's books, I couldn't stop reading them till the very end but also that the story keep my mind occupied well after have reached the ending.
  
  I am a fan of Robin Roseau work, I love the way she have with words, I love how much she can capture my attention after only one tiny, little sentence and I definitely love the stories that she tell.
  
  Fox Mate is an incredible and unexpected journey that have make me laugh, cry, smile, worry...I have circumnavigated all the emotional world during this journey and at the end i have find myself wanting more...so be carful because for me the Madison series is extremely addictive!!!
  
  this is a message expressly for the author: Mrs Roseau please share with us readers also "Fox Rematch", thank you.
  
  P.S.: I personally have seen it coming, well not the particular tradition that Mrs Roseau have introduced, but the fact that her wolves are violent, and that their way to be true to their-self have a lot to do with violence, that don't make me sick or shock me at all...but maybe is better if I explain a little bit what I want from a paranormal book.
  
  When I read a book that is a paranormal I am always very disappoint when the authors treat their non-human creatures as merely human, for me a "were" have to have a big connection with her-his animal instincts...If I read a book that open for me a world that is ruled by supernatural creatures I expect to read about things that have nothing to do with the human society...
  
  I know that some people prefer the more lovely-dovely books also in the paranormal genre but there are a lot of books that offer that kind of setting and if an author make sure to point out that the book contain "graphic violence and scenes that may be disturbing to sensitive readers", please people make sure to be ready to read a book that contain this kind of things before purchased it.
• 
  Bib

  Impressive! The author tied up a few loose ends in the first two books. I can't wait to read the fourth book.
• 
  Rexxy

  Why? Why? Why? Why?!?!?!
  Why would someone write this?
  I started reading this series because it was on a list of lesbian books with shapeshifters other than werewolfs and I already wasn't pleased with the first two books.
  The abundance of abuse, Micheala constantly ignoring her own needs for Lara, repetetive writing and waaaaay too much wolf for my taste, but I kept reading since there are some interesting points to the story and whily I was very annoyed, I was also curious.
  But this book really went too far.
  The entire "we are having a traditional wedding and you don't get a say in it" thing already had me screaming in frustration, but when it came to the "bachelorette party", I was sobbing in despair.
  Micheala should have dumped Lara a hundred times already, but when the girls came to take her THIS was the ultimate limit!
  Oh it's part of your traditions? Well I guess that makes it totally okay (sarcasm)
  Afterwards, if I were in Michaela's place I would have murdered the entire pack.
  Having a family or marrying the person you love, can't possibly be worth this.
  
  I feel like the author is a sick fascist who want's people to submit to the norm, to traditions, to society without any regard for their personal feelings. No otherness allowed!!
  
  Other people may have an easier time reading this and just feeling annoyed with Michaela never drawing any consequences from how the others tread her, but for me this series reminds me way too much of the physical, emotional and sexual abuse I experienced from my father.
  No thanks! I'm out.
• 
  charles clayson

  TINGLY
  ANOTHER EMOTIONAL ROLLER COASTER! 💥😍
• 
  Amanda

  Bitter sweet
  
  I love this story, the characters and I wanted to love this installment. It wasn't love, but I couldn't put it down either. I feel like many who read the book will feel similar. You want to love the book but you feel guilty about it due to the "bride ransom" bit. Maybe it is just me. How could you not read this one though, why stop here? On to the next.
• 
  Scott Stillman

  Paranormal Romance. This is book 3 of the The Madison Wolves series.
  
  My man card feels a little shredded but I think these are my little addiction. They are well written and very fun to read: Engagement, wedding, traditions, and emotional stuff.
• 
  Celina

  Emotional trip
  
  The emotional trip was crazy. Truly entertaining and sad, I almost cried when Michaela was like that. And Lara couldn't reach her.
  
  I need more Vivian. But I enjoy Lara and Michaela.