I love Alpha/Beta/Omega romance stories, but usually, I only read them in fanfiction form. This is one of the very few times that I have ventured into actually reading a full novel around this romance trope, and I was pleasantly surprised by it. Usually in fanfiction this trope is limited to taking your favorite characters and applying these tropes to them. Rebecca James has created an entire cast of characters, build a world with history around them, and then written a moving story about them.
This story takes place in the Angel Hills pack. This pack has had a shortage of omegas for years ever since a sickness swept the lands, but they are about to receive five omegas from another pack. These five omegas were all mated/going to be mated to the same abusive alpha, so they are all ready to get started on their new lives in the Angel Hills pack. This book focuses on two of those omegas, Justin and Gabriel.
Justin already has children of his own, and he goes through the book falling for Milo, the second in command alpha. I think that this was my favorite romance in the story, as Milo never “claimed” Justin. Instead, it was a slow burn romance as the two got to know one another. It was assumed that they would end up together, but Milo did not claim him at the start of the novel immediately. I felt like I preferred this type of alpha/omega romance more because it evens the power imbalance between the two sub genders. Claiming isn’t an inherently bad type of A/B/O romance, but as a sucker for slow-burn I liked the two getting to know one another first. There also isn’t a “soulmate” aspect in this story, so all the couples have to actually fall for one another without outside influence.
Gabriel was claimed by Grey and Ian at the start of the novel, but this romance was still just as sweet. I loved how James explored the line of an omega being uncomfortable with their sub gender. Gabriel felt uncomfortable as an omega who has no control over themselves during their heats, and so he needs a lot of reassurance from Grey and Ian before he can begin to fall for them.
This was honestly the best book in the series so far to me. I loved seeing how Gabriel and Justin found love after having such a difficult beginning when they first presented as their sub gender. I truly believed that they both made good matches for their love interests in this book, and I was truly excited to see how their relationships grow through the rest of the series.
I received a copy of this book and this is my voluntary review.
Overall Rating: 4 out of 5 books
Great review, this sounds like an amazing fun and swoony read, I am definitely going to get this book soon. Been looking for a new book with m/m romance and werewolves!
I got a rec for omega/alpha/beta, check out the San Andreas Shifters series by G.L. Carriger.
I will definitely check that out! I tend to stick to ABO fiction in fanfiction more, but I do want to delve into it more in books as well.