ARC review.
I love a cozy omegaverse, especially when it's seasonal and is set in a small town. But - this was not it. I might add I adore the author's previous work, so I had high hopes.
Olive is our heroine. Painfully shy, has social anxiety, is generally a grumpy recluse. She has moved to the small town of Starlight Grove, and plans to stay alone by her lonesome.
Add in three guys: Easton the friendly stalker, Finn the stern but reluctant hero and Lars the viking. In general, I enjoyed all the characters, especially Lars.
Here's my biggest issue: Olive goes from painfully shy (as in runs away from the heroes) to doing schmexy stuff in the next chapter with basically no kind of transition or relationship development. It felt like it went from 0 to 100 and for me, it didn't work. It felt too abrupt, and I was convinced I had missed a few chapters. I went back a few times to see what I had missed that would make it make sense.
The book was cozy but does have some very heavy themes, so I wouldn't really classify it as purely cozy. It's this authors version of cozy for sure, but if a reader isn't familiar with their work from before it might be a bit too heavy.
The spice was excellent, although again, a bit oddly paced. It started heavy and SPICY but then kind of got more vanilla towards the end. Not a complaint, per se, but just a bit strange.
I loved Felix the meddling cat, he was the star of the show and I want more of him. I also loved the other omegas that were introduced and who will get their own books later. Even though I didn't love this book, I'm excited for Eliana Lees' upcoming book in the series.
I do want to thank Emilia for the ARC and I am a bit sad that it didn't hit home for me.