Paired Off

The Mating Grounds

By: Ciree Hawthorn

Narrated by: Laura Horowitz

Length: 1 hr and 42 mins

Publisher's summary

Sean and Ana are competitive to a fault. Can they team up to find love or will the government step in to referee?

Ana has been living in her sisters’ shadow for years when the choosing ceremony comes around. Much as she loves them—now that she’s been given a coveted spot at the Mating Grounds—she’s determined to finally make a life for herself outside of their notoriety.

Sean is good looking, a professional handball player and a secret virgin. Unfortunately, his home Zone is running out of eligible women, so it’s become one of the Chosen or bust. Can he push past his nerves and let love in or will he be sidelined when his competition blows him away?

Paired Off is a spicy, interconnected stand-alone in The Mating Grounds series. If you like opposites attract, big himbo energy and an inexperienced MMC, then you’ll love this dystopian romance novella.

Listen to Paired Off to immerse yourself in Ciree Hawthorn’s world of sexy short reads today!

©2023 Ciree Hawthorn (P)2023 Ciree Hawthorn

Ana and Sean’s Story

I've now listened to the prequel, the first book, and this book of The Mating Grounds series. I absolutely adore the premise, which kind of feels like a Hunger Games without the violence and is all about matching couples to commit to each other over the course of a year. What makes it like The Hunger Games is that a man and a woman are chosen from each of the world's population centers in order, and they come to a central place to find someone to marry. A catastrophic event has wiped out much of the population, so to encourage genetic diversity, the mating grounds happen each year for The Chosen. So far, each story has focused on one particular couple, though by now, I'm getting a much better sense of the ensemble cast and all that is going on between them. I'll admit I was a bit confused at the start of the last book when so many characters were introduced, and it wasn't entirely clear who the couple was going to be for a while, as multiple people were looking like they were coupling up. This book felt much more straightforward, and even though it's very short, it had some sweet moments in the romance. Because the book is so short and yet the story takes place over a year, so much is skipped or glossed over. I liked these characters enough that I wish this were a longer story so we could see more of their interactions and how they came to have feelings for each other. While I wasn't quite sure how I felt about this series with the first two books—as they are so short, and I wished they had more plot and character development and showed more of the romantic arc—I enjoyed this book so much and the world the author has created that I am very much looking forward to new books in the series.

opposites

Book 2 in a series of a dystopian world after many of the population dies. A couple switch point of view as they get to know each other and the rest of the group.