Freya Bloom wanted to sell tinctures, avoid commitment, and pretend her grandmother’s roses weren’t weeping black sap.

Instead, the town’s magical plants are dying, an ancient dryad is waking up cranky, and Hollow Oak has decided she’s their last line of defense.

Enter Kieran Holt: tiger shifter, reluctant hero, and aggressively hot in a “built my porch and ruined my boundaries” kind of way. The town council says he’s her magical backup. The universe says he’s her mate. Freya says absolutely not.

But the evil in the woods has other plans — and so do her roses.

She’s a legacy witch with control issues. He’s a lone shifter who’s allergic to feelings. Together, they’re Hollow Oak’s least qualified save-the-world plan.

Titles in the Hollow Oak Mates series include: Love at First Roar ~ Mate Night Snack ~ Claws for Celebration ~ Unbearable Attraction ~ Whisker Me Away ~ The Right to Bear Claws ~ Furever Bound ~

This is an adult 18+ story that contains language, possible violence, and/or sexual situations geared to an adult audience.

Title:  Whisker Me Away
Series:  Hollow Oak Mates #5
Author:  Kala Aster & Milly Taiden
Published:  August 21, 2025
My Rating:  4.5 stars

Whisker Me Away is the fifth title in the Hollow Oak Mates series, featuring Freya, a legacy witch carrying on her grandmother’s love with herbs and flowers that heal, and Kieran, a tiger shifter who has spent most of his life adrift, who plays a vital role in this town without truly settling down.

In many ways, Whisker Me Away has an intensity that felt stronger than any other challenge that Hollow Oak has faced so far in this series.  There is an ancient, cursed dryad awakening, bringing catastrophic destruction to the plants and herbs growing around town.  It’s a poison, a direct attack on any living thing.  Freya and Kieran will have to face down this threat before the entire town is destroyed.  But Freya works alone; her mistrust and determination to solve this problem all on her own will have dire consequences.  Kieran recognizes Freya as his fated mate, but it seems he’s in a battle not only against the dryad but against his own fears of commitment, of believing that eventually everyone leaves, and Freya’s stubbornness in not accepting help, in not believing in their connection.  They will have to face their own issues before they can have even a chance of saving their neighbors, their home.

I enjoyed Whisker Me Away by Kala Aster and Milly Taiden so very much.  It’s an intense, emotion-filled, well-written story with familiar faces, a couple who belong together if they can only trust in each other and take the risk of fighting not only for their town but for their love as well.

*I received an e-ARC of this novel from the author or the author’s team via Booksprout, and I sincerely thank them for their trust. It is my choice to leave a review giving my personal opinion about this book.*

If you love this author’s work, be sure to visit our Kala Aster page or our Milly Taiden page for reviews of other series, or just to discover series you might have missed.

This title is available at Amazon (affiliate link)