4.5 stars. O.M.G!! This is by far my favorite book of the series! I could not put it down. I absolutely love Gabriel! He came off as kind of a hard-ass in Amaury’s Hellion so when I saw that his book was next, I didn’t think I was going to like it. Boy was I wrong! Gabriel is not your typical vampire. In most vamp books, the vampire is sexy, suave, extraordinarily handsome and knows all the right moves to seduce a woman into his bed. Gabriel has none of this and that’s why I love him so! Thanks to a disfiguring scar on the side of his face and a physical abnormality, Gabriel does not have women falling at his feet. Instead they are running away from him in horror. So when he needs sexual gratification, he has to pay someone to sleep with him. It’s embarrassing and demoralizing so Gabriel doesn’t do this often. Maya is attacked in front of her home by a vampire. The vampire left before fully turning Maya. Two Scanguards Vampires find her and takes her to Samson’s house. When Gabriel spies unconscious Maya, he is immediately drawn to her. He doesn’t know why but he knows that he must do whatever it takes to save her, even if it means finishing the process of turning her into a vamp and dealing with the fall out when Maya realizes what was done to her. Maya wakes up to a world she didn’t knew existed. A world where there are vampires living among humans. And now she’s one of them. She doesn’t have a big freak out but she knows that her life will never be the same. I love Gabriel and Maya as a couple. Their attraction is hot and we learn later in the book why the physical attraction was so immediate and intense. Maya slowly adjusts to her new life with minimal whining which I liked! I hate whiny characters. Maya is smart, strong and resilient. Gabriel is supremely over-protective of her and she doesn’t hesitate to go toe-to-toe with him regarding his obsessive protectiveness. Gabriel may not be smooth with the ladies but when he’s with Maya, he is one sexy vampire. Whatever awkwardness he feels around females washes away when he’s around her. Gabriel’s inexperience makes their encounters even more steamy. He wants to please her and is willing to try and do whatever it takes to make that happen. But he’s also afraid that she’ll be turned off by his deformity like every other woman he has been with. This makes Gabriel determined to find a cure so that he can be the man that Maya deserves. Her rejection of him will be a blow that he will not be able to recover from. Despite his fear of Maya’s rejection, Gabriel and Maya do give in to their attraction. They can’t seem to stay away from each other. My favorite part is when Maya and Gabriel kiss for the first time. Because his sexual encounters are with prostitutes, he’s an inexperienced kisser. He wasn’t sure what to do or how to kiss Maya so that she enjoyed it. It broke my heart and I loved it! We learn more about Maya and her background and why she can not drink human blood. We also find out there’s more than meets the eye with Gabriel. This aspect took away from the plot a bit for me only because I’m the type of person who like things to be simple. But this new aspect also explains Gabriel’s abnormality which I’d guessed what it was early on in the book. There is more to the book than just Gabriel and Maya’s relationship. The Scanguards Vampires need to find out which vampire went rogue and attacked Maya. The mystery wasn’t too hard to figure out as the plot thickened. There was a twist in the plot that was shocking and unexpected. It took me a moment to recover from it. I can’t believe the author went there! But it made sense. The side characters added depth to the story. Yvette and Zane, both vampires, really stood out in this one and I am really looking forward to their books. They are both messed up and flawed in such interesting ways. I’d love to see what kind of person will be the one to lead them to redemption. I also love Thomas, the gay vampire, and hope he finds love soon. Gabriel’s Mate is my favorite of the series thus far. It is SO steamy and during most of the book, Maya and Gabriel don’t even have sex! Tina Folsom can write some hot and sexy scenes and she doesn’t disappoint in this book. The characters are engaging and the plot never slows down or lags. Gabriel’s Mate is a great addition to the series and a must read!
