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Knotty Pines #2

Come Back to Me

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Lizzy Lockstead recognized her pack as a girl. Too bad they didn’t. After years of pinning for Jacob and his pack, Lizzy has given up on fated mates, scent-matches, and love. Coming into her twenty-first year after graduating from the state Omega Finishing Academy, she makes her way back home to Knotty Pines, resigned to settle for a life without her alphas by her side. Just when she has given up hope, the pack comes for her, pleading forgiveness. Will she find room in her heart to forgive her alphas and join the pack she knows is meant for her? Can she trust them with her heart after all this time? Jacob Edwards lost his omega right out from under his nose. After years of searching for his pack’s omega, he realizes she was there all along. His best friend younger sister wasn’t the omega he was expecting, but when he finds a trace of her scent the summer she turns twenty-one there is no denying who she is to them. The hunt is on, but Lizzy blocks them at every turn. How could he, Mateo, and Rhett make such a huge mistake? How will he ever get her to come back to him when they denied her for so long? A rejected-mate and a pack sworn to bring their omega home. Can Lizzy swallow her pride in order to forgive her alphas?

424 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 26, 2023

428 people are currently reading
597 people want to read

About the author

Sirena Song

12 books179 followers
Sirena Song has always been bewitched by love. She reads and writes spicy romance where love wins, in all of its many forms. She writes in various subgenres of romance, including: contemporary, omegaverse, new adult, and fantasy/sci-fi. She started dreaming up worlds as a young girl, telling stories that were fantastical and usually got her in trouble. She's still doing that, only now her stories include heat.

Coffee Lover. Bibliophile. Lover of the ocean, mermaids, and magic.

You can find her at her website: https://www.sirenasong.com/

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Displaying 1 - 30 of 179 reviews
Profile Image for GimmeAllTheWerdssss.
597 reviews257 followers
April 27, 2023
The beginning was good. We got to see the rejection and the aftermath. We got to see how the heroine tried to move on but eventually accepted her place. Then…..her mother and best friend got involved. I’m sorry, but both of them would be out of my life for how they interfered. They’re guidance and tough love and then there’s what they did. They were both toxic. They blamed the heroine for getting rejected and kept telling her she needed to try again! She did try! She told them multiple times and each time they rejected her! Bbbbuuutttt….it’s the heroines fault? What kind of shit is that?

The Heros…they sexed up each other more than they sexed up the heroine 😐 They show her how much they want/need her by having rough sex on the floor in front of the door to the room she’s staying the night they found her. Repeatedly. Plus, can’t one of the guys just be about her? Nope, they’re all alphas who are in a relationship with each other AND two of them have shared other women before. So yeah, out nice little virginal heroine who suffered for years is nothing new or special to them.

Then after crap went down with the heroines brother the best friend AND mother don’t even really apologize or grovel? They just say “but it all worked out in the end!” Nope…bye. There’s the door.

One star because I can’t give any less on GR and because the author did a good job bringing the emotions for the first 1/3. After that it was a big shit show of victim blaming and forced proximity because “we know what’s best”
Profile Image for Jackie.
259 reviews7 followers
July 7, 2024
I was extremely frustrated and disappointed the entire book. This is textbook gaslighting and victim blaming.

We have a young girl who believes she has found her fated mates at a young age. For ten years she is told she’s wrong, convinced she’s crazy, dismissed, and eventually rejected twice. She is forced to move away and tries to over come her physical, mental, and emotion pain all alone for three years. No family help her. Truth is they ignore her with the thought that they are “giving her space to work it out”. Only to realize when she moves home ,a little too late, that she is physically sick and has been struggling.

Eventually she is proven right and ohhh how quickly the opinions change. Instantly the mother and best friend start manipulating and tricking her into running into the men, pushing her into their arms, and telling her to “let it go and move on”. This girl suffered physical pain from their rejection while they were living their best lives, hooking up, dating…not once did they think of her well-being.

her parents and bff think she should get over her feelings. At one point the mother even tells her that this predicament is her fault for not approaching the men sooner and to work it out with her brother so they can have family dinners again.
Which just pisses me off more. I loved the mom in the previous book. She was so kind, patient, and supportive with her niece. Her character in this book is pushy. I really disliked her. Eventually her parents kick her out her home forcing her to move in with the men in the attempt to “bring them together”. WTF?!?

I absolutely hate how the author wrote everyone with this “toughen up kid.”, “time to move on and Stop complaining”, “I was right wasn’t I?” Personality. She didn’t have a single person who truly validated her feelings and pain. The author tried to make it seem like they wanted what was all for her best interest and they loved her, but their actions scream toxic.

It’s disappointing that Lizzy never had a full on rage put down. She was so quick to just roll her eyes and shrug her shoulders to the gaslighting.

I liked Jacob. He was the only one who I felt was genuine in his regret. I hate how that the men had sex outside her door. Literally right against her door while she was suffering. It wasn’t sexy or angsty. It was So Freakin rude!! Was she Trying to make her feel apart of the pack or make her realize what she’s missing out on? Either way it’s fucking manipulative bullshit and I hated it. Poor girl has been so neglected for years and it felt like it was a slap in her face.

To me, She was the fourth wheel. The prize to their already formed pack. They were content with their lives.

I have no triggers when it comes to books.. except gaslighting apparently. Man I hate it and this book was a huge disappointment to me. This is a hill I will die on.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for aida.
450 reviews53 followers
May 4, 2023
I really struggled with this one, babes.


First of all, I’d like to address an issue I had in the book that I’ve had with a few other omegaverse books: the weird sexist undercurrent.

When the one and only woman in the pack (omega or not) is somehow treated as a conduit to help other m/m relationships. When there’s m/m in the pack that gets way more page time, meaning we get significantly more intimate scenes with the men/men, excluding the woman.

In the end, it ends up feeling like the woman is somehow lesser than the men in the pack and her relationship means less. It ends up feeling like her sole purpose is to bring the men closer together and probably give ‘em a kid, bc fuck it, she’s the only one who biologically can.

One of my favorite aspects of omegaverse books is seeing the poly dynamic, and feeling the love between multiple characters. But it doesn’t work when you have a single woman (usually the main character) who feels a bit like an afterthought. It’s almost worse in this book because of the fact that the guys are trying to win our FMC over.


Next, the primary issues of everyone initially gaslighting our FMC and then inevitably victim blaming her for what happens. It was so awful and frustrating to read.

This book has virtually no groveling and I had a hard time rooting for this pack.

Let’s not even get into some of the plot holes I feel we had when it came to the FMC’s brother…
9 reviews
April 28, 2023
There are some things you can't come back from.

One of those is victimization of a victim. You all screwed up. How about move aside and let the woman find worthy men.

I was promised a good grovel?????? I am pissed I wasted my life on this BS. The author has her mom and bf push her to forgive and honestly I wanted to light them on fire!!! Words don't mean anything at that point!!!!
Profile Image for Scarlett (scarlettexpressions).
72 reviews2 followers
May 20, 2023
I hated this

Her 'unconscious' reaction to that ordeal is another entire thing I can't deal with.  I get how most omegaverses are written in a sense where everyone is ruled by their biology, but this was way too degrading and appalling.
Then there's the fact it gets shoved in your face throughout the book how the men always have each other, but who does Lizzie have? A shit friend and a stupid family who only knew to be toxic and gaslight the poor girl at every turn. This girl never had an ally throughout this entire endeavor, and that's what really frustrates me to no end.
All in all, this was not enjoyable. Why did I even finish this?

I couldn't even stomach the sex scenes I hated the men so much
who by the way had more sex with each other than our dear heroine
Ridiculous
Profile Image for Jac K.
2,537 reviews500 followers
February 14, 2024
I was craving a shifter romance and downloaded two of them from KU and by sheer coincidence they both ended up being about poly relationships. Unfortunately, like Bait & Switch: Book 4 of The Claimed Series, this didn’t deliver an emotional punch ,but it had a lot more action making it a more entertaining read.

This is omegaverse, but the shifter vibes were strong. In this “world” alphas and omegas have this inner being that sort of just lives in them giving them feelings like being protective, possessive, or horny. They also form “packs” with other alphas and one Omega predestined for them. They know this from the Omega’s “perfume”. In this situation 3 of the alphas (Jacob, Mateo, and Rhett) are all involved sexually (M,M,M), but the h’s (Lizzy) brother (Landon) is also their BFF and wants to join their pack.

The blurb sets this up…

The prologue begins with a 12-year-old Lizzy recognizing Jacob as her mate, but her perfume hasn’t come in so Landon tells her she’s wrong because he can’t have his sis as his Omega. There’re several time jumps until her 18th birthday that follow the same scenario. Eventually she tells Jacob, and he tells her she is confused/wrong because she can’t be their Omega. Heartbroken she leaves to go away to Omega school.

The rest consists of them recognizing their mistake and trying to get Lizzy to join their pack. There’s quite a lot going on with her BFF and mom gaslighting the relationship, a small potential OW situation, her brother being an absolute dick, and her not instantly forgiving them that keeps the plot moving along.

Bottom Line- I guess this is technically a rejected mate, but it isn’t an angsty read. I LOVED that she didn’t instantly forgive them and made them work. I wish the OW situation would’ve generated some feels, but I did enjoy the drama the awful bro churned up. I also liked that mate-wise they were all on equal footing. (not like my last book that had true mates adding a third). They were so into her that it surprisingly didn’t bother me that they had an established relationship, although I thought they should’ve cooled it while they were wooing her. It didn’t feel right that they were partaking in comforting each other while she was still working through her own crap that they inadvertently caused.

Safety-
6 reviews
May 25, 2023
holy gaslight Batman

These people were awful to Lizzie. They treated her like shit. And was this is the same Bethany from book one? Jesus. Her mom was awful. Her mates were dismissive and awful. Her brothers reasoning was ridiculous. They haven’t even worked out their relationship but hey, at least they trapped her with a baby. Who doesn’t use a condom when your relationship is broken and not right? She specifically asked not to claim her, so they went ahead and get her pregnant? Hated this. I could go on. Zero stars if possible.
Profile Image for Sue Miz .
718 reviews934 followers
June 28, 2024
I'm convinced that most Omegaverse writes know how to ride that Grovel High right
It was very good, 4 🌟🌟🌟🌟
Gave me almost everything I wanted
Especially after a streak of 1 stars and DNFs
⚜ rating 🌟🌟🌟🌟
⚜Genre: Omegaverse RH romance
⚜Theme: Second-Chance Paranormal romance
⚜Targeted audience: Adult
⚜Characters: Alphas (Jacob, Rette, Mateo), Omega (Lizzie)
⚜Representation: LGBTQ+
⚜Pace: fast
⚜TW: sexual content, rejection, sibling kidnapping
⚜ tropes: fated-mates, betrayal/grovel, brother best friend,
⚜ POV: multiple first person
⚜ spice 🌶🌶 🌶🌶with DP
⚜standalone: yes
⚜Ending: HEA

So Lizzie has a crush on her brother's best friends
They are 3/4 yrs older than her but she and them are friends
Her brother Landen is planning on becoming a pack member with them when they hit the official 21
This becomes a problem when Lizzie senses that Jacob Edwards (yeah yeah 🙄 the author has a thing for Twilight😅) is her scented mate
She hides the fact for 3 yrs
When she's 15, she tells her brother who scolds her and basically calls her delulu and to forget it
He starts hinting to the guys not to touch her
Rette kisses her but regrets it and she hears him making fun of that with his pack
She's 18, hasn't perfumed yet, and going to college far away, so she decides to tell Jacob who rejects her

Heartbroken she is in college suffering for 3 years and perfumes while they are enjoying their time and sharing females
There, a doctor tells her she has Rejected Mate Syndrome
3 of the pack Jacob, Mateo and Rette are lovers
On the night of their Alpha Bond, Landen forces her to come to the ceremony. She stands far away then leaves
The Alphas smells her but don't know who
Landen, the dips#!$ brother, decides to fake her perfume scent and spread it on him and another omega
She comes back at 21, they know she's their mate

(All this is in the first 30%)
The rest is them groveling to convince her she belongs💞💞💞

I think the groveling was good considering the nature of Omegas/Alphas and their heat)
Even after having her heat with them, she tells them she doesn't want to bond cause she doesn't trust them

They work hard to earn her forgiveness
I liked how they owned their mistake and did not give excuses
I liked that they are not these super-rich Alphas but town Alphas with regular jobs
I loved how each one had their interests and personalities

What I didn't like is the "meddling effect" where everyone in her family and friends interfere to force her to be with them "for her own good"
I thought she should have their support but the support went to the Alphas
I wanted her fathers to b£@t them and the mother to scold them, she was like "let's forget about the past and start over and be happy"

I wanted there to be more anguish for them for what they did to Lizzie though
Like seeing her with others as she saw them
But all in all it was a very good B&G
Profile Image for Rellim.
1,676 reviews44 followers
April 27, 2023
This is book 2 in Sirena Song's Knotty Pines series. Chronologically, this book actually takes place before book 1, Catch Me. Lizzy's pack is lightly introduced in that book - but nothing spoilerish and you could easily read these in either order.

Song absolutely broke my heart and stitched it back together with this one. If, like me, you constantly feel like there isn't enough groveling for a wounded MC - y'all are going to love this. This also has one of my favorite tropes: Brother's Best Friend/Best Friend's Sister. Plus add in the MM/poly between Jacob, Rhett, and Mateo and I was swooning harder than Lizzy.

I love how detailed Song was with the backstory and worldbuilding for this group. All the characters have distinct personalities and unique mannerisms that carry throughout the book. We get to see Lizzy, Jacob, Rhett, Matteo, and Landon as they grow up become adults and work to make decisions about the forming of the pack. Which doesn't include Lizzy. Her heartbreaking years away from home while at Omega Finishing Academy (college) and her eventual return to Knotty Pines. That moment the guys realize she's their omega and are also faced with the years of emotional and physical pain inflicted on Lizzy. Uncovering horrid betrayals and navigating finding their way to forming a complete Pack.

I liked the balance between wanting to respect Lizzy's wariness and need for time to process and working hard to court her. I love the individual and group dates the guys took her on. It was a lovely mix of sweet, sexy, fun, and adventure.

There's a bit of a romantic suspense element and I was completely shocked by someone's actions. (no spoiling, I promise!) The hard fought and well earned HEA was perfect. I loved the epilogue.

I'm hoping Sofia gets a book next... but I could also see a potential redemption story (probably in a town far, far away) for another character.

I received an advance copy of this book from the author and am voluntarily leaving an honest review. (I have Kindle Unlimited and will continue to read her work whether I get ARCs or not.)
Profile Image for Camilla.
267 reviews30 followers
April 26, 2023
4.5⭐️

I read Come Back to Me and fell in love (again!) with Knotty Pines, Lizzy, and her pack.

As someone who loves sweet omegaverse, this was exactly what I wanted and needed. An emotional, but sweet and warm book that had me laughing and my heart breaking, and I don't remember when I've last been so angry at a character.

Second chance, brother's best friends, rejected mate... this was different from other OV I've read and I loved it! We follow Lizzy from age 12 when she realises that her brother's best friends are her scent matches, to when she tells them so a few years later, gets rejected and then we see joy she builds herself back up. We get heartbreak, pining, longing, anger and a whole lot of lust and love.

I loved the main characters. The guys are caring and sweet with filthy mouths, Lizzy is a great heroine and all the side characters are what makes Knotty Pines such a special place (Why is it fictional? I'd move there.)

Whilst this book is sweet, the spice is phenomenal. The whole pack is DTF, so that means there's plenty of swords crossing and group activities.

Come Back To Me is the second book in the Knotty Pines world. If you haven't read Catch Me I wholeheartedly recommend that too, but it's not a must to read before this as they work as standalones.

I received an ARC for an honest review.
Profile Image for Andrea.
378 reviews123 followers
July 9, 2023
odd characters

These characters were just odd. I couldn’t find the logic in any of their decisions. And poor Lizzy had no one on her side. Not her mates, her parents, her brother or her best friend.

Lizzy’s parents by far had the weirdest reactions to everything.
Profile Image for Cheesecake.
2,800 reviews515 followers
August 26, 2024
This was cute and had some nice angst, but the world building was nothing special.

Lizzy has know since she was 12 that she was destined to be Jacob, Mateo and Rhett's mate but her scent doesn't come in until many years later. But Jacob had no problem deciding that Mateo and Rhett were part of his pack despite not having anything as definitive as a 'scent' to prove it.
Mixing up the story more (on purpose) is her older brother Landon, who wants to be part of their pack too. They've been friends since they were kids, so they don't want to dis Landon by taking on Lizzy.

This is all well and good but there's some inconsistencies. For one, according to a discussion in the book, there are other packs where the sister is the Omega but the brother is still part of the pack (not sexually though). SO why were they so dead set against Lizzy?
She had a right to not trust them. Once her scent comes in they now decide they want her (after her brother tries to trick them it isn't so). I would wonder at the truth of their sudden devotion too.

At one point Lizzy's mother and best friend connive to force her to go live with Jacob and the boys, and I totally understood how she felt like nobody had her back. It was a pretty shitty thing for a mother to do. Never really believed in all that 'tough love' stuff.
BUT, Lizzy could have found an apartment on her own if she really didn't want to live with them. Instead she moves in with them and things evolve from there.

I thought the ending with Landon felt quick and dirty. But it did work after I thought about it a bit.

I felt that Mateo and Rhett did much better jobs groveling than Jacob. I didn't really feel his vulnerability and his words rang a little hollow for me.

I would have liked to have more input from the other people in town. It felt like a cocoon with just the main characters for most of the book. I was also disappointed that Lizzy and Amelia's talk was off page. It seemed like a lost opportunity for another angle on the story.

SO, overall I enjoyed it but skimmed ahead here and there.

Safety is meh.

Anyways, it was fun and I would look into future books by this author.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Joelle.
566 reviews15 followers
October 28, 2024
Disappointed...

The first 30 percent were their early years and honestly kind of boring, then the next 70 I thought this was going to be a rejected mate story where I cheered for the female MC but really the guys felt like true victims too so the female mc really came off like she was also re victimizing them .
Profile Image for Tyler Marshall.
935 reviews53 followers
April 19, 2023
I’m not going to lie, after reading book one in this knotty pines series I automatically knew I was going to enjoy the new instalment…however Sirena smashed my expectations and gave me a book I will forever be re reading!

I love me a good rejected mates book, but this was just icing on the cake! The emotions from the fmc were so well written I felt like I was right there being rejected too. Lizzie was such an amazing character and reading her growth through this book as she navigates being mates with her brothers best friends and the emotional turmoil as she’s rejected is such a treat.

After seeing peaks of Lizzy in book one I thought I was prepared to read this book thinking it was going to be smooth sailing but I was far from right. This book will have you simultaneously wanting Lizzie happy ending but also thinking her mates don’t deserve her and she deserves better. But once her guys start grovelling and trying to get her back you can truly feel the love they have for her and you start rooting for the pack to all be together.

This book is filled with amazing tropes such as brothers best friend, rh and Mm. Theirs is also lots of amazingly written spice in this book along with a plot that will keep you hooked! I will be recommending this book to anyone who asks me what Omegaverse books they should be reading this year!
Profile Image for Mckenzie.
21 reviews
May 22, 2023
This sucked

This book where to start… it made me so uncomfortable how the parents completely disregarded her feeling, no how EVERYONE disregarded her feelings.
In the book people…
- kidnapped her
- didn’t explain what her brother did at least before I dnf at like 50
- got her parents to basically disown her unless she forgives the pack
- basically no and if any sucky groveling
- forced to forgive the pack
- forces to go through her heat w them
God there were so many uncomfy things and I DONT RECOMMEND
1,016 reviews8 followers
April 25, 2023
Come Back To Me by Sirena Song is the second book in the Knotty Pines Series. We met Lizzy in book one. You'd think after reading that book, that Lizzy's story would be an easy, smooth love story. But it was heart breaking, heart wrenching watching Lizzy and her guys figure out life and get themselves together. I loved it. There's nothing better than your mates having to grovel and make it up to their Omega. HEA. Loved the epilogue. Looking forward to more in the Knotty Pines world.
Profile Image for Dawn B.
159 reviews5 followers
May 7, 2023
dnf

She went through so much and then when they realize she’s theirs her body makes the decision for her? Bad bad bad storytelling, using BBS.
All three men needed to grovel and halfway through the book there was nothing.
Profile Image for LeeAnne McCabe.
131 reviews3 followers
April 17, 2023
I love a good rejected mate story with some groveling and forced proximity and this book completely checked those boxes for me. Lizzie knows from a young age that she’s found her mates but they choose her brother as a pack mate over her. If you’ve read Knotty Pines book 1, you already know how things end for Lizzie and her pack but it was really fun to see how we get there. I’ve really loved this series and hope for more to come.
Profile Image for Navss (read.yourbooks).
630 reviews24 followers
April 8, 2023
So many emotions, so much pain, so much time lost but so much love recieved <3

The start? Wow, what a beginning!! Having me trying not to cry when nobody believes her. She tries and she does tell everyone, but there's a choice, either her as an Omega or her brother as a pack brother. Guess what? Ofcourse she isn't chosen because she's "lying" because if her infatuation, huh, as if that makes sense😤
But was it actually the pack's fault?
I'm torn between that to be honest. I want to, desperately want to stay angry at the pack because how could they??? But then practically thinking, it wasn't 100% their fault but again, usghshs.

Anyways, the bonding between them eventually happened, i wanted some more on page grovel or atleast some full dates which wasn't all sex and sex, but hey, whatever I got was still fun to read.

I felt like her mother was a bit too pushy and she didn't get what her daughter gone through. The dad's were more in the background and her brother, oh god, only if he was in the background would things be super easy.
Profile Image for Heather Smith Huss.
83 reviews7 followers
April 4, 2023
I was lucky enough to receive an ARC and I loved this book! I have never read an omega verse book that didn’t involve aliens or shifters so this was different for me. Full of heartache and sweetness. Loved it and if you are into omega verse reverse harems, definitely recommend this one!
Profile Image for Hannah.
Author 2 books8 followers
July 2, 2023
Nothing but gaslighting and manipulation. My lord—the thoughts on this book.

Jacob seemed to be the only one genuinely remorseful. Her parents and BFF essentially just say “well, it all worked out so whatever!” So disappointing. I felt like Lizzie rolled over too easily to their manipulation.

DNF @ 53% when her family kicks her out of the house and essentially tells her she can’t come home because she needs to bond with the pack—when she’s absolutely not ready. Yikes.
1,231 reviews7 followers
April 22, 2023
I love these stories set in Knotty Pines! Lizzy was treated so badly by her pack because they didn't realize they were scent matched as early as she did. Once they figure out the truth, they definitely have their work cut out for them in trying to win her back and show her she is the center of their world. Throw in some drama and a good bit of spice. Loved it!
22 reviews
September 25, 2023
I’m all for fated mates but when its rough when they’ve known each other forever and they show tepid interest at best until her “scent” emerges. She knows from childhood they are her mates but they don’t recognize her as such. The MMC’s recognize each other as mates early on and are having sex with each other from age 14ish and onwards - not to mention with other women. The FMC is rejected by them at age 18 and then is off being sick from rejection for four years during school while constantly thinking about them - they don’t think about her once. Due to some omega “biology” reasons she can only have a family or any kind of relationship at all if she with them.

The amount of MM dominates any everything else. She is very much the baby making side piece who because of smells is theirs alone and belongs to them.

I started skipping around sex scenes because it’s basically always her on top of one the other behind while the one on top gets reamed from behind by the third MMC - so no one ever has to have sex with her without having someone in their ass. The MMC on bottom is admiring his male mates while having sex with the FMC. WHY IS SHE HERE!?! This poor girl was a virgin before them probably doesn’t even know she can do anything other than be on top.

Her life sucks. Fate screwed her. She should have gotten a different pack.

I need the omega to be the center of things. She’s just a side character in her own story.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Ellen.
426 reviews4 followers
May 1, 2023
I loved the first book, but this one… had some issues. I didn’t like the alphas, didn’t understand her brother’s motivation, and hated the way her parents treated her. Also not a fan of the irresponsible “oops got you pregnant” trope. Will still read he next one
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Tabatha Reed.
1,687 reviews202 followers
July 12, 2023
This one surprised me. Rejected mates is hit and miss for me because a lot of authors can’t write a proper grovel. I’d never read this author before andthe first book in this series didn’t seem like a book I would like. This is also a brothers best friend trope which was strike two. I’m just not into that trope. However, since this is fated mates I had a feeling my personal dislikes of this trope wouldn’t be as annoying as usual. I’m on the hunt for a grovel though so I decided to take the plunge here and I’m glad I did. This isn’t 100% perfect but it’s really good.

The beginning was a bit slow to me. I’m not a fan books that start when the Hs or h are kids and this one does. It’s just something I don’t enjoy. I pushed through thankfully. The first 25% of the book sets up the rejection and treatment of the h. Honestly, I skimmed a bit during this portion. I do feel it was a necessary part of the story but I’m impatient and was ready for the groveling to kick off.

This is a fairly decent groveling book. The biggest missing element was time. You can’t really rush a proper grovel but dealing with the unique elements of omegaverse there was an added urgency because of heats and the h was literally ill from the rejection.

More specific spoilers below, read at your own risk.

The Hs were all 3ish/4ish years older than her and indeed her older brothers best friends. The guys were so close it was assumed they’d form a pack someday. When h is 12 she realizes the friends are scent matched mates. She hasn’t perfumed as an omega yet so they don’t realize she’s theirs. She waits and waits hoping she’ll perfume early or something will happen that will clue them in but nope. They treat her like a mildly annoying kid sister they are fond and protective of.

Before she goes away to omega finishing school she reveals to the prime alpha she is their mate. He straight up doesn’t believe her because her brother is supposed to be part of their intended pack and thus he believes she couldn’t really be their mate. She’s devastated but tries to move on at omega school.

Unfortunately she’s developed rejected mate syndrome. She gets physically ill particularly in the presence of other alphas. For real, this was obnoxious. She avoids the guys religiously when she’s home.

Then she finally perfumes and is even more determined to avoid them. They are having a formal ceremony to solidify her mates and brother as an alpha pack and she refuses to attend despite heavy pressure from everyone else.

After the ceremony, Jacob (prime alpha) catches wind of her scent is frantic to find her as he’s certain she’s their mate. Now here the brother realizes he’s fucked up. He’s bonded his sisters mates a he’s now got to keep them away from her so they don’t realize it. He makes a perfume using essential oils of her smell they begin to court an omega who just came to town. He sprays it on the new omega and himself so they’ll think it’s her.

They aren’t as enamored by the new omega but they are trying to go through the motions until Jacob goes to h’s house one day for something else. He realizes she’s their mate and she’s pissed. He’s frantic to apologize and claim her and she isn’t having it.

He tells the others and they are shocked. Landon, the brother, admits he realized it after the ceremony and since they had already bonded he decided to hide it and make the perfume. This doesn’t go over well. He gets beat up a bit and the others go to find h.

Because she’s an omega so we’ve got some body betrayal syndrome here. She’s still mega pissed so she fights the good fight. She’s determined to avoid them so they openly stalk her, lurk about and leave her gifts she refuses to open. They plan something to try and start over with her and she shows up ready to fight but goes into Heat 😒😩🙄.

Look, I’m a spicy girl. I fucking hate slow burns. Give me all the spice early and often in every book BUT a groveling book. Then I hope the wayward H(s) suffer to the fucking bitter end. I’m also a vengeful bitch.

Heat has come so they have lots of sex for days. This happens around 47% or so.

Homegirl is still pissed afterwards though. So she’s ready to go back to ignoring them. However, they’ve sorta trapped her. Her parents won’t let her go home and her supposed best friend is tough loving her. Gross. This actually pissed me off. Especially the best friend part. I hate when authors don’t have the supposed best friend actually have the hs back. It’s a total joke to use the supposed friend as a foil to help H in any book.

It’s rough for a minute. The h is deeply hurt and 2 of the 3 Hs seemed truly remorseful to me but it really hard to bridge the gap. Jacob and Rhett were profoundly sorry and it made it easier to forgive them. The other one, Mateo, I never forgave him. He felt he had less responsibility because he never suspected she was their mate. He did have a moment where he supposedly finally got it when h is sobbing on the bathroom floor but I didn’t buy it from him. The author completely failed to sell me on his remorse and he wasn’t redeemed in my eyes.

From there they have dates and bonding stuff. It never does reach any level of redemption for me for Mateo but with the deep regret from Rhett and Jacob it worked out.

Now, the brother, I was surprised. He didn’t seem to know for sure if h was their mate until her scent rolled in but he was certainly jealous she could come between them and he sabotaged her. He had her sent away to school instead of the one nearest their home so she would be out of the picture. Then, after she perfumed, he actively tried to hide it and lie to his friends with the fake perfume etc.

They were going to just let it go and remove him from the pack so he could move on but he freaked out and kidnapped h for leverage so he ended up with legal consequences and essentially not allowed to ever form a pack or bond again.

Safety - h tries to meet and date other packs but they make her sick. The Hs I guess date but obviously can’t find anyone. They don’t know about h so whatever. More specifically we are told two of them occasionally share a girl occasionally but it was never serious. No serious courting until the omega h’s brother tries to trick them with. I didn’t get the impression that they had had any physical contact with her like that.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Mary Rose.
914 reviews52 followers
Read
March 14, 2025
This leaves me with a bitter taste in my mouth. Though, I will say the last chapter and the epilogue were sweet, and if I pretended the bad stuff hadn't happened, I could almost fool myself into being happy for Lizzy and her pack.

Like many other reviewers have said, Lizzy's feelings were completely disregarded at every turn, and she was made to feel badly for even having them. Every single person in her life betrayed her. Her parents. Her best friend. Her fated mates. And her brother. I'm hung up on it, and I couldn't move past their horrible treatment of her to form positive connections with any of them. If I had read this story before Sadie's story, I would have had a real problem with Bethany (Lizzy's mom). The fellas forced her to live with them, then flaunted their intimacy with each other over and over again until her instincts demanded she give in to them.

Lizzy herself is the sole bright spot of this story. She chose to forgive and be happy, and I can't fault her for that. She spent almost a decade repressing her feelings and her needs because nobody would believe that she knew her own body and mind best, so she truly does deserve to be happy. I just wish Jacob, Mateo, and Rhett had earned their place beside her, and her family were worthy of her forgiveness.
Profile Image for a seductive cactus.
304 reviews296 followers
August 20, 2024
This might be my new favorite grovel romance? It's like if you took Pack Darling Part 2, removed some of the over the top trauma, and added 100% more emotional intimacy. AND it has all the ultimate praise kink vibes - not just a throw away "good girl" here or there, but lots of actual sweet encouraging praise.

This is an actual grovel - the pack shows through actions and words that they're going to show up for her and won't let her down again. Lizzy takes a while to thaw but recognizes that the only thing holing her back from having everything she's wanted is herself - but she doesn't just magically forgive and forget. It takes work and it's so worth it. The relationships and intimacies between the characters felt individual and real and I just really really liked this!
Profile Image for leeissearchingforfmcswithbackbones.
479 reviews
July 11, 2024
Since I expected no MM in this I was surprised reading the MMCs fucking each other. In fact they spend more time sexing up each other instead of groveling to FMC.

There’s so much potential. The beginning is good. However, the body betrayal syndrome takes over and as expected of bbs, they all start f. Biology or not, omega and heat aside, I personally hate that.

Anyway, the MMCs seems love to smirk. Why would you smirk when you are currently trying to win over your love one? It doesn’t seem to convey sincerity to me.

The FMC was in pain for almost 7 years? She knows that she is their mate from age 12 and now she’s 20/21. And she forgives them in the span of few days. All the pain for years, knowing that they actually courted another omega. Go figures.

I also completely hate that her fathers, mother and bff disregard her wish to leave the MMCs house (she’s there because her heat hits and the MMCs attend to it). Like f listen to your daughter/friend. Typical meddlesome family.
Profile Image for Jennifer Calenzo.
2 reviews1 follower
October 27, 2023
Holy victim blaming

I gave this two stars because the writing wasn't bad. Every single character in this book is awful and the MM felt weirdly fetishy. The grovel in this book is nonexistent and the FMC's mom is a monster who forces the FMC into a relationship with alpha’s who rejected her so she can have Sunday dinners again. Made it about 50% through before I gave up and just skipped to the ending.
53 reviews3 followers
September 4, 2023
DNF

Dnf'd around halfway through the book. All the 1 star reviews are 100% on point and I wish I would've listened. I didn't love but didn't hate the first book. This book however is horrible. Read the other negative reviews. This book is toxic AF. Blood doesn't mean family when they are toxic. It's never acceptable, not in real life or books.
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