The Girlfriend Background Check: Mave Fortune

Mave Fortune by Elizabeth Dear

There are heroines who need a few chapters to find their backbone.

And then there is Mave Fortune, who gets publicly rejected by her fated mate and essentially responds:

Fine. Keep him.

Oh, we’re going to get along beautifully.

Mave doesn’t become interesting because a powerful boy chooses her. She becomes interesting because when the boy fate chose for her decides she isn’t good enough, she refuses to let his rejection determine her worth.

And that makes her the perfect woman to open The Book Girlfriend Files.

Well.

The investigation could technically end here.

But we have paperwork.

THE ROMANCEAHOLIC INVESTIGATIVE REPORT

EXHIBIT A: THE WOMAN WE MEET

Mave arrives in Louisiana wanting something remarkably uncomplicated.

Finish her last year of high school. Stay out of wolf-pack politics. Get away. Live her own life.

Fate has other plans.

On her first day at Blackstone Academy, Mave discovers that the Alpha’s son, the boy sitting at the top of the school’s shifter hierarchy, is her fated mate.

And then he rejects her.

Publicly.

Because as far as he’s concerned, Mave is an omega nobody who isn’t worthy of becoming his mate.

This is the moment that could have defined her entire story.

The rejected girl.

The unwanted mate.

The woman waiting for the powerful boy to realize he made a terrible mistake.

Except Mave doesn’t seem particularly interested in playing that role.

She’s hurt. Of course she is. The rejected bond carries real pain, and she can’t simply decide not to feel it.

But she can decide what she does with that pain.

And Mave decides she’s going to figure out how to break free.

That’s our first piece of evidence.

She refuses to confuse being rejected with being worthless.

EXHIBIT B: BENEATH THE ARMOR

This is what makes Mave work for me.

She’s not fearless because she doesn’t hurt.

She hurts and keeps moving.

There’s a difference.

She can swear she doesn’t want him. She can harden her heart. She can tell herself that she’s going to become impervious to the rejection.

But the bond exists.

The pain exists.

And pretending otherwise would make her strength far less interesting.

Mave’s power is in refusing to surrender her agency simply because something hurts.

When she says:

“I have no desire to ever mate with a wolf like that.”

She isn’t waiting prettily for him to reconsider.

She goes further: even if he came crawling back begging for another chance, she’d spit in his face.

Girl.

Please make yourself comfortable.

Your file has already been approved in spirit.

EXHIBIT C: SHE REFUSES TO LET FATE MAKE THE DECISION

Now this is where Mave becomes particularly interesting.

Fated mates usually come with an irresistible romantic promise:

This person was made for you.

But Mave’s situation asks a much better question:

Does a supernatural bond mean she owes someone access to her heart?

Does being chosen by the Moon matter when the actual man standing in front of her looked at her and decided she wasn’t enough?

Mave’s answer is beautifully inconvenient.

No.

She’s willing to attempt something no wolf is known to have done: shake the taint of a rejected mate bond.

That’s not simply rebellion.

It’s Mave refusing to hand the final decision about her life to fate.

And suddenly “I am not easy prey” means even more.

She’s not only talking about physical strength.

She’s refusing to become prey to fate itself.

EXHIBIT D: WHY SOMEONE WOULD FALL FOR HER

Mave isn’t compelling because she’s untouchable.

She’s compelling because she’s difficult to diminish.

There’s a new human boy in her orbit. He’s attractive, intriguing, apparently carrying secrets of his own, and perhaps most importantly, Mave can’t seem to scare him away.

And I love what that possibility represents.

Because after being rejected by someone who was supposedly destined to love her, Mave is presented with the possibility of being known by someone who isn’t being commanded by fate.

That distinction matters.

One relationship begins with:

The Moon says you’re mine.

The other possibility asks:

What if someone simply chooses you?

Now you have my attention.

EVIDENCE AGAINST HER

We’re not giving our girls immunity simply because we love them.

Mave is angry.

She’s defensive.

She’s hurting.

And her determination to become impervious to rejection could very easily become a determination to become impervious to everything.

There is danger in building armor so effective that nobody can reach the person underneath it.

Her anger can protect her.

Her pride can protect her.

Her refusal to be humiliated twice can absolutely protect her.

But eventually Mave will have to decide whether protecting herself means never allowing anyone close enough to hurt her again…

Or learning who has actually earned the privilege of getting close.

That’s a much harder kind of strength.

EVIDENCE IN HER DEFENSE

She was humiliated and refused to disappear.

She was rejected and refused to beg.

She was handed a destiny and dared to question whether she wanted it.

She recognizes that wanting love does not mean accepting whatever version of love someone offers.

And perhaps most importantly:

Mave doesn’t need to become less vulnerable to become stronger.

She’s allowed to hurt.

She’s allowed to be furious.

She’s allowed to want something different.

She’s allowed to discover that the future everyone assumed she’d accept isn’t the future she wants at all.

Her strength isn’t I don’t need anybody.

It’s:

You don’t get to decide what I’m worth just because you decided you didn’t want me.

There she is.

That’s our girl.

THE WOMAN BEHIND THE FILE

Mave Fortune gets at something I love in a heroine: defiance with something real underneath it.

It would be easy to make the rejected mate instantly indifferent and call that strength.

Mave’s situation is more interesting because rejection matters.

It wounds her.

And she still refuses to crawl.

The Moon can choose her mate.

Her pack can have its hierarchy.

The Alpha’s son can decide she’s beneath him.

None of those things get the final word on Mave Fortune.

She does.

And that is exactly why she belongs here.

Because when Mave says:

“I am not easy prey.”

I believe her.

Not because nobody can hurt her.

Because hurting her doesn’t mean you get to keep her down.

FINAL GIRLFRIEND BACKGROUND CHECK

Would Carmen be friends with her in real life?
☒ Immediately. Bring snacks, comfortable shoes, and maybe bail money. I have a feeling Mave and I are going to have opinions.

Would Carmen trust her with someone’s heart?
☒ Yes. But don’t hand her yours and expect her to carry it while you act stupid. Earn her first.

Does she need a man to make her interesting?
☒ Please. This woman had my attention while the men were still creating problems for themselves.

Did rejection diminish her?
☒ Nope. It just gave her a very inconvenient reason to remember exactly who the hell she is.

Why would someone fall for her?
Because Mave has teeth, a backbone, and absolutely no intention of making herself smaller so somebody else can feel bigger. But underneath all that armor is a woman who still feels everything.

And that’s the dangerous part.

She isn’t waiting for someone to choose her anymore. She’s figuring out who deserves to be chosen by her.

Because Mave Fortune doesn’t sound like the kind of woman you reject and simply forget.

She sounds like the kind you watch walk away…

and eventually realize you were the one who wasn’t worthy.

🖤 Romanceaholic

A Digital Romance Magazine

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