Title: Willing PreyAuthor: Allie Oleander
Pages: 336
Publication Date: Oct. 7, 2025
Publisher: Berkley
Genres: Fiction / Romance / Contemporary
Synopsis:
An exhilarating, primal summer fling reveals an intensely sexy, edgy romance, where anything goes in the woods—just remember your safe word.
Post-divorce and buried in student loan debt, Claire Collins eagerly enters a spicy business agreement with an acquaintance who wants to explore his primal desires. The deal is simple—thirty days as his sexual prey, $30,000 in her bank account. All she has to do is give Shane Underwood the hunt of his life.
Claire’s a physical education teacher and perfectly happy to spend her summer having wild, kinky sex instead of working her usual serving job. But once they cross the tree line, she realizes how little she knows about the corporate lawyer paying her to be his prey.
Shane is different in the woods. Brutal. Devastating. Feral.
That’s okay with Claire—she is, too. And she’s sinking her teeth a little deeper into Shane’s heart every time he catches her.
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A steamy and sexy erotic romance, Willing Prey follows Claire and Shane, who enter into an agreement where he is the hunter and she is the hunted. Raw, exciting, primal, their story is like Fifty Shades of Grey meets The Most Dangerous Game, but in the best possible way.
Shane is the nicest stalker, predator, hunter I’ve ever read about. Smart, successful, and so in love with Claire from the start, he has the broody and sexy businessman vibes down pat. He’s also super awkward when trying to express himself, and he has a dirty (and sexy) mouth. And Claire is fantastic! She gives as good as she gets, and I love that she challenges Shane. I also like that both characters are a little older than the typical romance protagonists. She’s in her mid-thirties, and he’s early forties. Still reeling from a recent, painful divorce, Claire is in debt and needs a summer job while the school where she teaches is on break. Shane is a partner at a law firm and has major workaholic tendencies. Both of their stories are realistic and relatable.
The relationship between Claire and Shane is STEAMY and riddled with sexual chemistry and tension. The aspect of their agreement and the hunts only add to that sexual tension. Whew, the hunts! They were so intense and sexy and dirty (literally and figuratively lol). Both characters love the chase and the exhilaration of their hunting games and primal play. Interestingly, Shane was the one exploring his sexual kinks. Often, I read books with the opposite – a more innocent FMC exploring new sexual experiences, but in this story Claire has more experience. Shane’s a pretty fast learner, and he’s much different when he hunts. Gone is the tame and professional man. In the woods, he is feral and rough and so much more than Claire ever expected.
I really enjoyed this story. I knew going in that it would be super spicy, and I definitely wasn’t disappointed on that front! lol But the story also had a good plot, some interesting side characters that I’m hoping will be the main characters in the next book, and many moments with a lot of emotional depth.
Thanks so much to NetGalley and Berkeley for providing me with a copy of the book. All thoughts are my own.
- he falls first and hard
- dual pov
- MCs in their 30s/40s
- Primal Play
I have this on TBR and it’s great that there is also a plot apart from lots of steamy scenes. Can’t wait to see how it like this. Great review.