Giving in to expectations can have its advantages.
Omega wolf shifter Caleb isn't cut out for life in his pack. Since his twenty-third birthday, the expectation has been that he'd find a mate and start to pop out pups. None of the alphas in his pack have caught his interest, and his parents are ready to take matters into their own hands.
Alpha wolf shifter Jordan doesn't have time to worry about relationships. His app has gone viral, and even though he has some part-time responsibilities to his pack, he's fully focused on building his business. Unfortunately, his family has other ideas.
When Caleb and Jordan don't make things happen on their own, they're both added to a statewide registry of available shifters looking for mates. Their first date is more transactional than romantic, but they agree to the arrangement just to keep their families happy.
Little do they know how happy they'll actually become once they allow themselves to love.
Where’s the resistance? Two MCs totally against getting mated and then when their families tell them they gotta get mated, they just do? I want just a little kicking & screaming as you’re dragged down the mating aisle.
I would also throw a fit if my life got complete upturned and then you show me my new living arrangements, sans plumbing or electricity, when there were other cabins available that do. You want the father of your pups to poop in the woods?!
I love Aria Grace’s Alpha/omega stories. I have to admit I was a little taken aback by how quickly they went from dreading their first meeting to being madly in love. However, I quickly got over that and just enjoyed the story. This is a sweet low angst story that I highly recommend to fans of Aria’s stories.
DNF 41%. The book quickly drops the premise it’s selling. The two characters immediately agree to the arranged relationship and we get two back-to-back boring identical conversations of “I don’t want to be forced to marry, okay you’re right it’s best for the pack you love me.” Then once they meet the chase and bonding is the next morning, and they fall completely ride or die in love. I was expecting a period of time struggling to cohabitate before the ceremony, or Jordan to simply not be home to do the ceremony and avoiding it, or conflicts, or something. But no. Instalove. Enthusiastic declarations. Not what was advertised and not interesting.
Trying to be better about DNF things that clearly aren’t going improve instead of forcing myself to finish.
It’s an okay omegaverse/ mpreg book. Omega Caleb is more or less forced to mate with an Alpha from another pack.
Caleb moves to new pack lands where he is introduced to his new mate, Jordan. Jordan doesn’t want to mate with a stranger, he has a business that he loves and doesn’t want to give up.
They go from being polite strangers to having feelings pretty quickly. I hated how all the parents told them that it was for the good of the pack. While they aren’t ‘fated mates’, they might as well have been with as fast as their feelings developed.
***** POV… multi first person
Standalone or series… book 1 in series CAN be read as a standalone
After the first couple chapters, I really had thought there would be a bit more substance to this book than the usual alpha/omega instalove, but then all of a sudden, two characters who had consistently said they weren't ready for a mate and were only agreeing for duty's sake are exchanging love confessions in the middle of their bonding ceremony, and they become a schmoopy couple who within a year's time manage to solve not only their own problems but become part of the leadership of the pack alongwith having a set of twins. I'm used to unrealistic omegaverse stories and enjoying them, but when I'm expecting something different than the usual formula based on the book's blurb and beginning chapters, it was really disappointing to see it revert back to that same formula instead of leaning into the idea of a duty-based mating with a slow burn falling in love. And who gets shown to a cabin without electricity or plumbing (when there were cabins with it available) and doesn't complain about it?
Swiss cheese. Frankly the problem is the relationship is lacking natural growth. After a single day of chatting and a traditional claiming chase these two act like star-crossed lovers that have been dreaming of this day forever. Well, they haven't. There just isn't enough substance between their tonal shift to make the progression feel satisfying. It feels less like a "they were made for each other" (especially when it doesn't have the fated mates excuse) and more of a "give in to the inevitable". Readers live for the cute bonding fluff that builds a solid relationship. I could keep going about it but judge for yourself, I just wanted to be done as quickly as possible so I could move on to something else.
I have mixed feelings about this book. It is well written and easy to read, but I felt that the storyline was a bit farfetched. Jordan and Caleb are matched up by an anonymous registry and meet while driving to Jordan's pack and get mated the next day. The romance doesn't come until after. It seems more 18th century than 21st. The author makes the state of Washington sound like it is so backwards that you can only get internet and cell service in big cities. I know this is very subjective, but I felt that the incongruities took away from my reading experience.
This book disappointed me. Both protagonists did not want to mate, but at no time do they resist. There's no yelling, there's no fighting, there's nothing. Let's not even talk about falling in love in half a day. Oh really? There is no character development. His story is basically I saw you and I already love you, although I don't even know your name. Disappointing. It lacks history. I gave it 2 stars because I like this author, but this book doesn't deserve that much.
There is just something about how this author writes that is extremely monotonous and boring, idk. It's literally like... this happens, then this happens, then this, and this..... and on and on it goes. There is no excitement, nothing to look forward to, just.... bland.