Claim & Don't Tell

by Rory Miles

In my world, nothing is more important than finding a pack that’s the perfect scent match.But what happens when your matches also happen to be forbidden?Welcome to my personal hell.My name is Quinn and I can never have the pack that’s meant for me.An unexpected turn of events has me out of a job and my apartment in the same week. When my mom and step-dads set off on a tour of the world and ask me to house sit, I can’t say no.Everything is fine until my they show up, needing a place to stay while their condo is remodeled. How am I supposed to get my life together with their scents messing with my head?They’re everything I shouldn’t want, but the way I respond to them is hard to deny. Good girls don’t kiss and tell… but bad boys just might.Can I get my life together and make my mother proud, or will I fall into the arms of a forbidden pack?Meet the Brady, the protective and broody one. Austin, the quiet but possessive one, and Dylan, the wild and dangerous one.Claim & Don't Tell will be a standalone romance.

Genres: Omegaverse, Romance, Why Choose, Fantasy, Contemporary, Forced Proximity, Enemies To Lovers

462 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 23, 2024

Reviews

[Sue · Rating 3 out of 5]

~ Standalone RH no MM
~ Bully/Rejection
~ Forbidden scent match
~ forced proximity
~ light grovel

☑️ ptsd, traumatic death of parent
☑️ rejection by parents

✅ no cheating, ow drama, mm, pregnancy, third act break up

I was hooked once I read the blurb bc stepbrothers is a favorite trope. Quinn and her mom were abandoned when her father’s met their scent match. Years later she meets her new stepbrothers and instantly realizes they’re hers. To protect her mother’s happiness she hides her secret until Brady, the eldest stepbrother accidentally finds out. He’s always been a bully and continues to treat Quinn horribly. Quinn develops a deeper connection with Dylan and Austin, but tries to keep her distance because their scents are difficult to be around.

Events happen that lead them to share a house and the secret comes to light. Brady acts like an ass after one eventful moment but is, in my opinion, quickly forgiven for years of torment.

I loved a few things about this story, one being that none of the guys were manhores. Dylan the MMA fighter is known to ignore his groupies, Brady doesn’t really date and Austin has a special reminder of Quinn in a special place. We don’t know if Quinn is a virgin, but she has plenty of toys and no one’s sexual status is made into a huge plot point. Refreshing.

Over the years we experience special moments with Quinn, Dylan and Austin, showing their relationship is about much more than a scent match.

Here’s what kept me from a higher rating. 🚩Spoilers Ahead🚩

⚜️ There’s a whole lot of plot convenience here.
1. There’s no way any amount of descenting lotion could cover all her scent, all the time. What about her scalp, mouth, pits, ears etc. It’s too convenient, not to mention WATERPROOF. At some point in six years more than one slip would happen.
2. When the guys water pipes burst, they’re all rich enough to just get a hotel or rent another place short term. Brady’s a lawyer, should have figured that out plus his condo would be paying.
3. Her scent stopping underwear was a thong. Enough said.
4. The villain keeps getting past their security gate.

⚜️ Brady is awful, and while he grovels, and the heroine tortures him for a week which was the best part of the book, it wasn’t enough. The brothers and heroine forgave him too easily because of his past trauma, while Quinns trauma was never addressed by Brady. Why can’t authors understand it’s not so easy to forgive someone who causes you ongoing emotional pain?
⚜️ After six years of hiding everything, the scene where Austin and Dylan find out was anti climactic and I wanted more.
⚜️ While we’re told Dylan is wild and crazy, we don’t see this in bed that much. We’re told Austin likes control but again, the scenes with him don’t show that. The best smut scene was where Brady went into rut. That was 🔥, but we don’t see that again either.
⚜️ The villian plot was boring and overdone, honestly the story would have been better without it.

So it’s a 3.5 from me, definitely good parts, things that could be better, but overall an average read if you like omegaverse. If we got more than a few paragraphs of grovel and relationship building between Quinn and Brady it would have been more.

[Lammie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rory mixed omega verse and stepbrother tropes and came up with one fantastic read. I can’t wait for Daria’s book 🙌

[Cat H · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.6 stars.
This book had me absolutely sobbing. Which. I’ll be honest, is not all that uncommon for me with angsty books. (I cry at everything fictional. If it’s too Happy I’ll fucking cry too. So, ya know. Just keep that in mind😂🤷🏻‍♀️)

The spice was so hot too.
Just.
Yep. Loved it.
I’m dehydrated now. But it was a good time.

[Haylee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book 1 in a duet (series?) of standalones


💜RH Omegaverse MFMM
💜First Person/ Multi POV
💜No MM, guys are brothers
💜No OW drama or cheating
💜Taboo stepbrothers/stepsister
💜Sexual history unknown for all
💜Traumatic death of parent
💜Rejection and abandonment of parents
💜No condom/birth control talk
💜One ML is a total dick to her
💜Harassment and stalking from side character


FMC- Quinn
MLs- Brady, Dylan and Austin


Quinn’s fathers abandon her and her mom after they found their scent match. Like full out left and never looked back. Quinn’s mom ends up meeting the guys dad’s. Quinn is 16 years old when they meet. Dylan was 16 as well. I can’t remember how old Austin was at the time but I think it was said that Brady was 21 and he is the oldest. Her mom calls her one day to ask her to babysit their house while they go on a trip for a couple months. Conveniently the guys had to move in temporarily as their pipes busted in their apartment.

Quinn knows right away they are scent matches but they don’t because she started to block her scent the moment her dads left them. Brady finds out one day after she gets out of the shower because dickhead has no personal space and barges into her bedroom without knocking. He proceeds to be a dick to her for 6 years until he finally snaps and claims her. Then proceeds to immediately leave after knotting and biting her. Total dick move. Well, that when Austin and Dylan find out she is their scent match. They immediately claim her and show her they have always cared for her.

Her old boss is a creep who tried forcing her into his pack. When she says no, he fires her and makes it almost impossible to find another job. He proceeds to be a nuisance throughout most of the book.

We do get a reunion of her dead beat dads and it doesn’t go very well for Quinn. Sad she had to have them as sperm donors. Wish more would have come out of that.

It kind of bothered me we never got to know their sexual past lol No idea if any of them are virgins or manwhores at all. No mention of exes or past hookups….nothing. Usually when someone is a virgin though, the author will say so. On the other hand, I’m glad the guys don’t talk about OW 😂 this is the ONLY mention in the entire book of dating-

“Maybe some part of me already knew. Maybe that’s why I kissed her. Maybe that’s why I never dated anyone. Neither have my brothers. We’re alphas in our prime. We should be anxious to find our mate, and yet, all of us hated the idea of looking for one.”

[Zen · Rating 2 out of 5]

3 stars

The angst was high in this one and it felt very much ado about nothing. They weren't siblings. They weren't raised together. It was a fated relationship. It just felt a bit like they were reaching.

[Lori Kays · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent read, the sex scenes were pretty good, if a little generic, the character chemistry was there and the writing wasn't terrible. I did love the stepbrother premise, I really only like an RH where the guys are all a pre-formed group ahead of time, so I appreciated that and I'm not big into MM in an RH because it feels like there are too many different relationships going on, Idk it's a personal preference, but I did appreciate that. I also personally thought the grovelling was an appropriate amount for what happened. I feel like the years that the h and Brady spent lying to the rest of the pack kind of cancelled each other out, sure he was rude to her, but it's not like he tries to go out of his way to torment her and his reasoning and back story, while kinda illogical aren't any worse than her being willing to make her mates and herself suffer for life because she was to much of a pussy to just talk to people 🙄 As for what he actually did...it was kind of a blip to me. Sure he left her right after and that was super shitty, especially with the h's history of abandonment, but it's only for the night and he instantly regretted his actions and went about setting them right. I really didn't love the way she "punished" him, it felt childish and petty, whiiiich brings me to my issues with the book. While I like a sweet, naive heroine, this one was annoyingly demure like she was scared of her own shadow and way too worried about what everyone thought to realize how much she was damaging everyone in her life. I felt like she got way too many passes for her bullshit behavior, it wasn't sweet, it was a character flaw that no one called her on. She acted like a child for most of the book. She wasn't particularly interesting to me and her willful naivety was grating. The true issue with this story is that while the premise of hidden mates with stepbrother is great, the execution of it in this book set the whole plot up for failure. For a start, the 6 year timeline it all occurred in is way too long and unrealistic, for one thing, it defies all logic to think they went 6 YEARS without it all breaking down, yet 3 weeks in the same house and it all unraveled? I can see maybe a year or 2, but we're supposed to believe she only had one slip up in 6 years? That there is this magical de-scenting lotion that's water-proof and sun proof and logic proof along with the ridiculous "scent-wicking underwear" (You keep using that word, I don't think it means what you think it means) is just WAAAAY too contrived. The next reason is that so much time went by without either of these very driven people having a plan for how they were going to handle life without their mates. Both Brady and Quinn were perfectly willing to go to their grave without their mates (based on entirely flawed logic), but what was their alternative plan? Again, I can see being troubled or confused for a year or two, but 6 years? Brady had to be into his 30's, was he going to deprive his pack of something that is essential to their life? Also, if the guys HAD chosen a different mate, she's MORE likely to be like her dad's new wife because then the stakes for making sure they never find out she's their mate become astronomical and as hard of a time as she had just *being* around them, if she had to be there while they mated someone else, that would have killed her and she'd never have been able to hide it. Overall, the forced plotline is really what kept this book at a solid 3, the plot was too forced and needed restructuring.

[Ash’s reading corner ✨🌈 · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.8

I can’t help but feel like I was lied to.

This was supposed to be a forbidden, stepbrothers, tension and pain filled books but I got none of it.

The author didn’t give them a reason to reject and fight their attraction, she just kept using the step siblings card as an explanation why they’re hurting themselves but here’s the thing……

If your stepbrothers become your stepbrothers when you’re all adults and whatever happens between you is between consenting adults then it can’t be incest nor is it really forbidden. In fact, in a omegaverse world in which you cannot choose who your scents matches are, their parents would have been happy and supportive.

The fact that their parents got married, and I’ll repeat myself by stating that they were adults (or almost, she was on the verge of turning 18 and there isn’t really an age gap to care about here + nothing happened before she was like 20 anyway), doesn’t make their relationship suddenly immoral.

Had they grown up together and raised as siblings … then yes. But they didn’t… so I don’t understand why we spent 50% of the book reading about the FMC’s and one of the MMC’s inner monologue about how “all of this was wrong” and how “it would destroy them and their family.”

???? No ?? It wouldn’t??? And it didn’t.

I’ll read next books because the dads of your exes ?? Yes, that sounds truly forbidden. (But if the author manages to fuck that up too I’m putting her on my block list 🤣)

[Aplis · Rating 5 out of 5]

The sexual tension between her and Brady…phewww…chef’s kiss.

[Crazydutchbooklady · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a fun read.
It’s supposed to be taboo, but for me stepbrothers aren’t. Especially when they didn’t grow up together and are mates to be, so I struggled a bit with reasoning with it.
Other then that, its really well written. An enjoyable story and I loved the characters. The personalities are really well explained and I loved them all.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh, Quinn. What a story, I do love a forbidden relationship throw in the that it's an omegaverse book too even better and a reverse harem with stepbrothers, I'm hooked but poor Quinn I felt so bad for her knowing all along and hiding the truth. She deserved to be worshipped and oh boy did they. We love overprotective Alpha stepbrothers.

[The_Book_Brat · Rating 4 out of 5]

*Reverse Harem
*Omegaverse
*Multi-PoV
*Stepbrothers
*Scented mates
*Found Family
*Secrets kept
*Established Harem (3)
*Slow Burn
*Standalone
Gripping Angsty OV
Oooooffttt talk about all the tension! Quinn’s life is falling apart around her and so she’s forced back to her parents house where events take her life in a whole other direction 😆. Growing up in her family was tough due to circumstances outside of her control but it’s affected her for life, and impacts her choices with her scent matches 😮 you really feel for her and the damage that’s been done 😣 she’s out to serve everyone else rather than protect her own interests…
When her past re-enters her life in the form of Brady Austin and Dylan! Brady is the leader of their pack as well being the most stubborn alphahole out there who will look after his brothers at any costs even if means upsetting his mate; Austin the quieter more reserved one out of the trio who only wants to take care of those closet to him and keep the peace between everyone; then there’s Dylan the wild child fighter with a boisterous nature but also extremely protective of 🥰 each of them have different connections with Quinn yet they can’t quite put their finger on why those connections don’t quite seem right 🙈 can they all let their misgivings with each other go and the weight of their familial expectations to live their HEA?

[Catherine Leigh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a great Omegaverse read!
I really enjoyed this book, the relationship journey was bumpy and full of secrets and hidden glances.
Omega’s get so many sleezes chasing after them, this book is no exception. Love how Quinn stands up for her self with the support she has gathered around her.
The rutting, nesting, heat and overall hot AF steamy scenes were extremely detailed, numerous and smokin hot!
Loved the storyline, I was mesmerised and honestly didn’t put the book down until the very last word.
Love Rory’s writing style,so looking forward to reading her next book ‘Mark & Don’t Tell’ in the very near future.

[Froggy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This started out closer to a 4 for me, but around the 75% mark it really lose a LOT of steam. There is so much tension and build up during the first part of the book, but once things begin to resolve the story kinda gets a little boring. It wasn’t necessarily bad, it just wasn’t as exciting anymore. The story goes from something that really pulls on your emotions, to a calm almost pastoral story. There is still some drama, but once they decide to be together, the rest of the drama seems inconsequential, like they’ll be able to accomplish anything now that they’re together. It could be that perhaps the book is just a little too long. The author clearly wanted to give time and attention to each character and their relationships (separate and as a whole), but at a point I just had to skim. I also pretty much skipped the majority of the sex scenes. There wasn’t anything wrong with them, but they started to drag and I wanted to know what was happening with the plot. I find sometimes that in steamy books, the first couple of erotic scenes are the peak and often the most titillating (for lack of a better word) and then everything that comes after is just filler and loses the magic & excitement. That’s kinda what happened here, it started to feel like checking off boxes on a to-do list rather than a spontaneous and exciting event.

[Courtny · Rating 5 out of 5]

mid-angst

One of the things I kept seeing is the angst part for this book but honestly I’d say medium angst level. Just enough to keep it interesting. There is the grovel part where I didn’t know if I loved the FMC/MMC grovel dynamic (felt a little out of character) however it went in a different direction that I thought was satiating and more on brand for both characters. Overall a good book for sure!

[Jess McDaniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am obsessed with omegaverse. Claim & Don't Tell is forbidden, but not overly dark. There are a couple of dark elements, so be mindful.

This one is full of tension. Quinn has a secret, Brady finds out, but keeps it hidden from his brothers, Austin and Dylan. Brady feels like he has to protect them from anything and everything. He wants them to succeed so badly and doesn't want to upset their family dynamic. Quinn also doesn't want to upset the family dynamic, so she's living in pain to keep everyone together.

I kept waiting for the big reveal and when it does happen, it sets off things I didn't see coming. Quinn also makes Brady work hard to get back into her good graces. The plot is great and the war of feelings going on inside of each of them makes me feel for each of them. Oh, and the spice 🥵🥵🥵

I absolutely love this forbidden world and can't wait until the next one!

[Bent Letters · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 Stars

[Vanessa Oliveira · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good omegaverse! There's a lot of drama surrounding their situation (they are scented mates and step siblings), but the parents don't give a shit lol. It's funny. They worry the whole book, and in the end, the parents are like: "oh we already suspected, who cares?"

I liked the characters, though I wanted to punch Brady very often, he redeemed himself.

[Molly G · Rating 5 out of 5]

Angsty in the best possible way! I loved this book so much.

The audiobook narration is excellent! This might be my favorite from Bridget Bordeaux and Jake is amazing too.

Highly recommend!

[Kaylah · Rating 5 out of 5]

10/10 I absolutely devoured this book!! Took me out of my slump and I can’t wait for Daria’s story

[Aruthy · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[·˚ ༘ Addie ༊*·˚ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Literary master piece? No, fits me needs and preferences almost exactly? YESSSSSSSS now I’m curious about book 2

[Dani · Rating 4 out of 5]

Angsty, forbidden and spicy. Overall a pretty good read. Nothing revolutionary, but I enjoyed it.

[Elysia Sparks]

Can’t fairly rate it because I in fact do not like the step brother/sister trope… thought I would give one book a shot and it just grosses me out 😩

[Camilla · Rating 5 out of 5]

Slow. Angsty. Fantastic.

Thoroughly enjoyed this forbidden omegaverse romance. Quinn is a likeable heroine, and reading her journey and feelings and angst about her situation was both heartbreaking and wonderful.

A love that can't be. Scent matches between step-siblings. Oops. But they can never know, and Quinn has to carry the burden of this knowledge for years. Angst. Tension. Longing.

The guys are likeable. At least most of them. One of them made me so angry I wanted to throw him in the garbage. There's redemption, thankfully.

The spice is good, but the standout is really how Rory Miles writes the heartbreaking tension and angst each of the characters is living through, and really punches us in the gut with it. Well done and thank you. Please do it again.

I'd recommend this to anyone who likes a slow burning, angsty forbidden love. This was excellent. I loved it.

Thanks to the author for the ARC! This is my honest review.

[artsandgrace *ೃ༄ · Rating 3 out of 5]

WHERE CAN I GET AN ARC I LOVE ME A GOOD GROVEL AND ALL OF RORY MILES’S BOOKS PLEASE

**update after reading**

Oh, wow. I so don’t get it why she had to suppress shit for years and years, like what was the point 😭 and Brady… was so… poorly… written…. He’s such a dumbass weak character I feel like he’s not supposed to be an alpha. WHY OH WHY! Maybe it’s my culture that doesn’t see step-siblings (not related at all by blood) as forbidden, because suffer-for-nothing dilemma in the book was so very unnecessary. Austin and Dylan were very amazing and they didn’t deserve all the shit happening (I’m blaming Quinn as well).

A bit disappointing for me. I wanted a 5-star read, but this is just a 3 for me. Mostly because of Brady. He didn’t even grovel enough.

[The Book Scientist · Rating 4 out of 5]

HEA? yes
3rd act break-up? no
🌶🌶🌶🌶/5
To me, this was the perfect example of a good omegaverse romance! We didn't have to wait too long for the characters to get together, and then we got the rest of the book to enjoy their relationship. I don't think Brady groveled enough (I'm a grovel s1ut) but thanks to his POV, we could see that he really was sorry. I wish the ending with her old boss had gotten more time. It just seemed anticlimactic, but other than that, I have no complaints!

[River · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not my cuppa

The male characters are dismissive of her at the least and emotionally abusive for sure. To treat another person the way one of the brothers did and then getting the girl at the end is repulsive.

[jcobalttt · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.75

[Magnafeana · Rating 3 out of 5]

RTC, here are my disorganized notes:

* LOVE stepbrother romances, and this was why-choose PLUS no MM PLUS no pregnancy? Sign me up! 🥵
* Dylan and Quinn remind me of Derek and Casey from “This is Life with Derek”. Literally the show that got me into stepsiblings romances okay bye 💨💨💨💨💨🏃🏿‍♀️‍➡️
* Agree with other reviews about the amount of plot conveniences. This “descenting” shit would’ve never worked 24/7.
* I kinda think Austin should’ve been a beta. It made no sense for him to be an alpha and all the sense for him to be a beta, given how often he stopped Brady and Dylan’s fighting
* The whole 6 YEARS AGO and 4 YEARS AGO stuff—I like flashbacks, but flashbacks can be overly abused. I understand the intention was to show us what went down. But I really think this book would’ve benefited from a small Part I where we focus on “Then” and the rest “Now”. A lot of the flashback stuff was explained in present chapters, so I hardly felt pressed to commit to any flashbacks
* So weird how all this fanfare about worrying over pseudo-incest was…never really going anywhere
* Quinn, Austin, and Dylan waaaay too easily forgave Brady for his years of being dick. But el pan pan y vino vino.
* the Mosley plot was dumb. Sorry 🤷🏾‍♀️ It definitely happens to people regardless of gender where superiors try to pressure us into inappropriate behaviors, but this felt more like a plot that didn’t need to be the third act. Why did Brady do nothing?! He’s a lawyer, yes? Why not have him act like it?
* It was stupid Quinn was so self-aware she was a people pleasure that she goes “Haha I’m such a people pleaser 🤪”. Just stupid.
* I wish Daria hadn’t been made The Bestie© and, instead, she’d been given actual characterization.
* All the brothers had distinct personalities and dynamics with each other, kinda. So nice.
* Quinn was a female failure, which I do like.
* This really could’ve gone in a better direction. When the introduction says “There’s no third act breakup”, that now makes me worried that nothing happens. And I was right. Internal conflict was sparsely there. I really enjoy seeing the growing pains and mistakes. This doesn’t need to result in a third act break up, but there should be notable growth. How did…ANY of these characters grow by the end?
* Dylan’s dirty talk about “Want stepbrother’s cock” was ✋🏾🫠🥵💦💦💦💦💦💦
* If the author basically copy and pasted Dylan’s character into another alpha, I’d read. I love MMCs like Dylan: jerks but not really, playful, touchy-feely. He wasn’t really wild and crazy though but he was good for me 🤗

All in all, solid 3 ⭐️ read.

What would’ve increased my rating?

Honestly, just make something happen. I wanted to see more struggle with accepting Quinn’s the brothers’ scent match and she’s known since they were teenagers. I wanted to see the growing pains that come with sharing a lady and being shared by men. I wanted a little bit of hesitation from the parents, but nothing major. Make Brady be the one to serve Mr Mosley or something. Give the characters room to grow instead of stagnate.

[Tabatha Reed · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked this book at random from my KU borrows. I was looking for something a bit angsty and that definitely delivers on that front. However, it wasn't quite the angst I was looking for.


spoilers below, i'm sure


The heroine and one of the alphas are aware that they are scent matches while the other two pack members are in the dark. The heroine uses suppressants, descenting lotion and moisture wicking underpants to completely obliterate her scent. After he father's left her mother, their chosen mate for their own scent match she has some emotional issues over scent matches.The heroine and her eventual pack are stepsiblings, adding that forbidden aspect to the the match.

Unfortunately, I didn't really love this. The first half is too drawn out. I was bored and started skimming because it was dragging so hard. The stepbrother that knows they are scent matches is such an asshole. You are supposed to forgive him because he has issues related to the death of his mother but I didn't care. I just wanted to throat punch him for being a douchebag.

Once he breaks down and claims her and the other two stepsiblings are in on the secret, things get more interesting. It was a bit jarring because the heroine and eldest stepbrother guarded this secret like it would be the end of the world if they mated but when the other two discover it, they just proceed like it was inevitable.

Immediately after claiming h, the eldest stepbrother freaks out and bails. This hurts h immensley and the other two step in and comfort her before claiming her for themselves. They are all very angry with the oldest stepbrother. He has to do some groveling to get back in her good graces but ultimately it was pretty minor and she mostly forgives him because of his *tragic backstory* ugh. So annoying.

There's all this buildup over telling their parents and blackmail from the heroines former employer who is harassing her. However, it's all for naught. The parents literally don't care. Ugh. I'm glad it all worked out but all the angst for NOTHING. It was maddening.

Medium burn, the sex begins around or just past halfway, I forgot the exact percentage.

There's no mention of virgins so I don't think anyone was a virgin. The heroine had never experienced heat with a pack, choosing instead to suffer like a good little misogynistic omega.

Sexual history of all parties is fairly vague.
No OW drama
Some OM drama
Push away from h and one of the Hs
No sex scenes with others
No cheating
No separation once they are all bonded
No 3rd act breakup
HEA

Safety - the heroine's former employer is pursuing her and wants her for this geriatric pack. She's icked out by him and them. He tries to blackmail her and their parents unsuccessfully. He gets what is coming to him.