Fake Mates, Monster Cowboys and Questionable Muffins
I had the absolute pleasure of reading the ARC for Hazel Mack’s newest book Another Man’s Treasure, a cosy and sexy fake mates story that turns into something real.
There are books where you can explain the premise to another person without raising an eyebrow.
Another Man’s Treasure is not one of those books.
“So, there’s this gargoyle who wants to open a spa, and then a massive grumpy troll steals his table in a coffee shop, and somehow this escalates into fake mating, cowboy shenanigans, a small-town mystery and… well… there is an incident involving muffins.”
Perfectly normal, nothing to see here.
Hazel Mack’s Another Man’s Treasure, the third book in the Pine Gulch Ever After series, follows Oz, a gargoyle who has come to Pine Gulch looking for a fresh start after a toxic relationship. He is juggling odd jobs while painstakingly planning the spa he hopes to open one day, and he has apparently achieved something resembling peace. Then Wilder sits at his table, and Oz takes that personally.
Wilder is a troll, a former bull rider and exactly the sort of enormous, grumpy cowboy-shaped problem Oz really doesn’t need. He is trying to buy a farm, circumstances require him to produce a convincing mate, Oz needs money, and thus we arrive at one of romance fiction’s finest traditions:
Fake dating, except make it monster mating.
One of the things that makes Another Man’s Treasure such fun is that Mack understands the assignment. Monster romance is at its best when the characters are not simply conventionally attractive humans wearing horns for decorative purposes. The fantasy elements should actually matter. Bodies are different, cultures are different, instincts are different. The world should accommodate the fact that its inhabitants have wings, tails, magic and considerably more complicated furniture requirements and Pine Gulch embraces all of that.
This is a magical Wild West town with monsters, sentient buildings and its own history, but underneath all the fantasy chaos is a wonderfully familiar small-town romance structure. Everyone knows everyone and are also in everyone else’s business. Secrets do not stay buried indefinitely, and, naturally, two men who absolutely definitely positively are only pretending to be mates are going to have to behave very convincingly.
I loved the fake-mating arrangement, because Oz and Wilder are such good opposites. Oz is organised, ambitious, particular and gloriously sassy, Wilder has considerably more of a “we’ll work it out” energy. Oz would make the fake-relationship vision board, Wilder would probably eat the glue.
That difference gives their interactions plenty of bite, but what keeps the story from becoming nothing more than increasingly elaborate sexual tension is the tenderness underneath it. That made me care about the characters as people, not just as part of the spice. For me, the best smut only really works when there is something emotional underneath it, when I am invested enough in the characters that every touch, every vulnerable moment and every bit of intimacy actually means something.
Oz is not simply looking for a boyfriend, he is trying to rebuild a life in which he can trust his own judgement again. His previous relationship damaged that trust, and there is something particularly satisfying about watching a romance develop around someone gradually realising that being wanted does not have to mean being controlled. Wilder, beneath all that enormous grumpy-troll energy, is surprisingly attentive, and therein lies the problem. Fake mating becomes considerably less fake when your pretend partner keeps treating you like something precious. Rude, frankly.
Obviously we need to discuss the important literary questions:
Dear reader, the muffins.
The wings, the tail, the only-one-bed situation, freaking buckle-bunny role play aaaand… the muffins.
Mack clearly knows that if you are going to write monster romance, you might as well commit to the ‘bit’. There is wing kink. There is tail play. There are anatomical and magical differences that actually find their way into the intimacy rather than mysteriously disappearing the second anybody takes their trousers off. That is precisely what I want from this genre. Give me tenderness, give me yearning, give me two idiots accidentally falling in love while insisting that this is simply a mutually beneficial arrangement, but also, if one of those idiots is a troll, I would like the troll biology to become relevant at some point: Thank you for your service, Hazel Mack.
What prevents the spice from swallowing the rest of the book, though, is that there is genuine emotional intimacy developing alongside it. The attraction is not merely “he is enormous and I would like to climb him”, although, to be fair, there is a certain amount of that energy floating around, it is about Oz beginning to feel safe and about Wilder finding someone with whom building a future starts to feel possible. So many feels were felt!! Especially when they pretend that nothign is happening! Miscommunication at its finest.
One of my favourite things about monster romance is when an author remembers that the world outside the bedroom still exists. Here, Oz and Wilder become tangled in a mystery involving Pine Gulch’s past, with the future of the haven itself connected to what they uncover. That gives Another Man’s Treasure more substance than a simple fake-mates-to-lovers romp and lets Mack expand the mythology of Pine Gulch at the same time, it also suits the title beautifully.
There are questions throughout the story about what people value, what they are willing to fight for and what it means to build a life somewhere after the one you thought you wanted has fallen apart. Which is unexpectedly thoughtful considering I began this review talking about troll-related muffin contamination, such is the duality of monster romance!
Recommendation
Another Man’s Treasure knows exactly what kind of book it wants to be: it’s warm without being saccharine, ridiculous without treating its romance like a joke, sexy without forgetting its characters, and distinctly monstrous without sacrificing the emotional familiarity that makes a good romance work.
If your tastes run towards MM romance, fake mates, grumpy/sassy pairings, monster cowboys, forced proximity, found-family small towns, only one bed, only one tent, wing kink, tail play and men accidentally developing feelings while supposedly conducting a sensible business arrangement, Pine Gulch is probably calling your name.
And if you have reached the end of this review still wondering what happened with the muffins?
Good. You should suffer as I have suffered. Go read the book.
Another Man’s Treasure Summary
Theme:
A cosy monster romance built around fake mating, forced proximity, found family and emotional healing, with a strong emphasis on rebuilding trust after a toxic relationship. Beneath the playful supernatural setting and explicit spice is a surprisingly tender story about learning to feel safe with another person and recognising when something pretend has quietly become real.
Description:
Best suited to an adult audience who enjoys MM monster romance with high heat, humour and plenty of fantastical anatomy. The novel combines gargoyles, trolls, magical small-town chaos and monster-specific intimacy with a genuinely emotional relationship between Oz and Wilder. Although the spice is unapologetically explicit, the developing trust, vulnerability and affection between the characters give those scenes far more emotional weight than simple erotica.
Narration Style:
Written in the third person, the novel stays closely connected to Oz and Wilder, allowing the reader to experience both their attraction and the insecurities they bring into their fake-mating arrangement. The narration balances emotional vulnerability with humour, sexual tension and the eccentricities of Pine Gulch, creating a light-hearted tone without losing the more serious themes surrounding trust, belonging and recovery from unhealthy relationships.
Author
I’m Anna Fury, paranormal romance author but I also write under the cozy/spicy monster pen name Hazel Mack!
A North Carolina native, I’m fluent in snark and sarcasm, tiki decor, and an aficionado of phallic plants. Visit me on Instagram for a glimpse into the sexiest wiener wallpaper you’ve ever seen.
I write any time I have a free minute – walking the dog, in the shower, ON THE TOILET. The voices in my head wait for no one. When I’m not furiously hen-pecking at my computer, I love to hike and bike and get out in nature.
I currently live in Raleigh, North Carolina with my Mr. Right, a seven year old tornado and two lovely pitbulls. I LOVE to connect with readers, so visit me on social or use the contact page to stay in touch! <3
References
Hatchett Book Group – https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/orbit-books/acquisition-announcement-calling-all-angels-by-hazel-mack/
Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/hazelmackauthor/?hl=en
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