A Beginner's Guide to Wooing Your Mate

By: R. Cooper

Narrated by: Robert Nieman

Length: 7 hrs and 43 mins

Publisher's Summary

Zeki Janowitz has returned to his hometown of Wolf's Paw to start his wizarding career. Unfortunately, Wolf's Paw, a werewolf refuge, follows centuries of tradition and shuns human magic and a very human Zeki. He knows he's in for a struggle, but a part of him has always belonged in the mountain town, or rather belonged to Theo Greenleaf. Years away at school haven't lessened Zeki's crush on the quiet werewolf. When town gossip informs him Theo still suffers from his mate's rejection and does not date, it does little to ease Zeki's embarrassing feelings. He decides now's the time to get the man he's always wanted.

Werewolves usually don't recover from losing their mates, and Theo barely pulled through by focusing on his love of baking. It's a daily struggle, and Zeki's return to Wolf's Paw shatters his peace. Theo doesn't know what to think when Zeki attempts to woo him, talking about his wizarding business and settling in town for good. It's like Zeki doesn't have a clue how his words years before left Theo a shell of a werewolf.

Beginners in love, Theo and Zeki must seduce each other with a bit of heavenly baking and magic.

©2015 R. Coper (P)2016 Dreamspinner Press

Fans of the series will be happy!

This is book three in the series and it’s a bit different (to me) than than the first two. For one, though it is still written in a way that’s very rich, it doesn’t feel as convoluted as the first two.

I have mixed feelings about this book. On the one hand, I hate the fact that the MCs are separated until the 70% point by a simple MISUNDERSTANDING. Gah! I hate that. Everyone – literally – knows these guys are mates, but Zeki. I don’t understand why he wasn’t told and it made me crazy that this was the central “hurdle”.

I think there was enough between them, beyond that knowledge, that they could have worked through, without the big secret.

If you ignore that fact, you get a sweet story of two members of a different “race” trying to find a connection and bridge gaps of prejudice and ignorance, and that, is enough of a story to be compelling.

R. Cooper is a gifted writer, but sometimes I feel like the stories just drag a bit in the middle. Things that could be resolved quickly tend to take a long time.

I love the magical elements, and the emotions being poured into the baking, and sweetness of each of the characters. I don’t love how long everything drags out.

For fans of the author and this series, this is highly recommended. For fans of shifter novels, I’d read some reviews and decide if it’s for you based on a few of those. It’s not a “typical” shifter story, and though there is a mate pull it’s not the urgent “got to have it now” kind of thing you might be looking for.


3.5 of 5 stars

Audio

Robert Nieman is a narrator that I’ve always enjoyed. He doesn’t do a lot to give us unique voices or anything, but his voice is easy to listen to and he’s good with timing and emotions. I don’t know that the narration really adds a lot to this story but it definitely doesn’t detract.

4 of 5 stars

Overall 3.75 (rounded to 4) of 5 stars

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Much better narrator than the first two

I was hesitant to get this because I really love this series and the first two books has bad narrators.... But I think they found a winner with Robert Nieman. This book, with Mr Nieman’s narration, was as good, if not better, than when I read it myself on kindle. I truly do love this series, and for me, it was important for them not to screw up the narration of this book because this is the first book of the series I read.

i lovd it

it was so good it made me want the book to not end it is definitely one to get

Been waiting!

I love this story and Cooper's way of twisting stereotypes. This is the best "fated mates" story I've ever read and hearing it narrated was awesome.

Lovely heartwarming Beings tale

Would you consider the audio edition of A Beginner's Guide to Wooing Your Mate to be better than the print version?

I tend to purchase the audiobooks of print books I own so I can enjoy the story when I can't read it - so I loved the tale, but in this case preferred the print book.

What was one of the most memorable moments of A Beginner's Guide to Wooing Your Mate?

I had a few issues with the narration, but I adored Zeki and Theo and they felt warm and inviting to listen to. I loved the interactions between them in the coffee shop when Zeki was tasting Theo's baking.

What do you think the narrator could have done better?

My main issue was the pacing of narration - there were many instances where it sounded like the narrator had finished a sentence, and then suddenly realised there was more to say and just kept talking - it had the effect of making the audio sound stilted in places and it was hard to follow.

That said, the narrator has a lovely tone of voice and listening to Zeki and Theo was like being wrapped up in a warm blanket on a rainy day.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

I was happy to listen to it in parts, but only because I knew the story and this was essentially a reread for me.

Any additional comments?

The book is a great instalment in the Beings in Love series and is a great addition to my audio library.