Honeysuckle and Rum

Cozy Omegaverse Romance #4

by Aspen Winters

Daphne didn't need anyone—and she liked it that way.

After buying a quiet cabin in the woods at twenty-one, she spent the next five years turning it into her own little haven. With a garden full of vegetables, herbs, and enough flowers to brighten even the grumpiest neighbor’s day, Daphne was content to keep to herself, selling her goods at the local market and steering clear of pack politics.

That is, until one messy encounter in town changes everything.

A dramatic scene between a lovesick Omega and a very uninterested Alpha ends with Daphne unintentionally cast as his mate-in-the-making—and suddenly, she's at the center of attention she never asked for. The Alpha? A gruff, ridiculously handsome lumberjack who, along with his three equally swoon-worthy packmates, owns the local logging and construction company.

Daphne wants out. Immediately. But these Alphas? They're curious. Persistent. And devastatingly charming in the kind of way that makes her second-guess everything she thought she knew about staying alone.

Too bad the Omega who started all the trouble isn’t about to let go so easily—and she’s ready to bring the drama right to Daphne’s front porch.

Can an independent Omega find home in the arms of four Alphas who never expected to fall for her? Or will jealousy and small-town gossip ruin the one thing she never saw coming—love?

This is a reverse harem cozy omegaverse Romance.
This release date is just a place holder...will come out before December.

Genres: Omegaverse, Fantasy, Romance

642 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 30, 2025

About the author

Aspen Winters is from Bettendorf, Iowa. She has a slight obsession with stingrays and anything that has to do with chocolate and wine. On the days she isn’t working, she is either typing or is letting her artistic side out by painting or doing any other art project she has set her mind too. She has many books planned out and can’t wait to share them.

Reviews

[Karina · Rating 3 out of 5]

DNF'ed at 34%.

I just...I'm 20+ chapters in and each and every chapter is reading the exact same. I had to pause a few times to make sure I didn't actually page backwards. The formula is: FMC wakes up, takes coffee to her porch, feels stressed, car comes down driveway, she stresses about who it is, it's an MMC, MMC is sweet to her, she admits she's scared, he says "you just need to try", she says "okay I will", he leaves. Rinse and repeat, over and over. For a little variety, she has a new best (female) friend who also comes over and has the same conversation, minus any romantic undertones. BTW this is not one or two pages, it's the entire chapter. Pages upon pages of people reassuring her about the exact same nonsense, over and over again, with very similar phrasing.

Bonus points for every single side character in the entire town repeating the exact same phrase: "Old man jack raised his son right, and from what I hear, the whole pack is solid." I literally read this exact line four or five times in four or five different chapters.

Based on one of the other longer reviews, it seems like that may be this author's jam.

I really like sweet and cozy stories, and was bundled up with some tea to enjoy this one, but even if it's not a dark mafia romance with insta lust something still has to be HAPPENING.

Anyway I could see being in a spot in your life where this book would be a huge comfort, and if you've read the author's other work and enjoyed it, I imagine you'll enjoy this one as well. But if you get to the fifth chapter and you're like "here we go with this song and dance again" just know that doesn't really change.

[Madd · Rating 3 out of 5]

This review contains spoilers.
If you love a romantic slow burn, that starts at a truly glacial pace, this is the book for you.

The first half of the book deals with the MAJOR abandonment trauma and a self sabotage defense mechanism that the FMC has to work through (if I don't let anyone close they can't hurt me). Similar to real life, the FMC goes through some tricky self analysis and needs to repeatedly hear that she does deserve love and good things. I understand that the deconditioning of toxic coping mechanisms takes a lot of introspection and repeated assurances; however, I personally found the first half difficult to read because of how repetitive it got at times.

Push through the repetitive spiraling and you get to rewarded with sweetness.

I, personally, found that after chapter 28 is when the main courting starts. We get to know the MMC's and we start to see the FMC blossom. This is where I really started enjoying the book. I won't spoil too much of the good stuff but, in addition to the romance and sweetness, we get something I have rarely seen in books. We get a chapter from the antagonist point of view. Seeing how they justified their actions was both horrific and fascinating and added a unique depth to the book.

Regarding spice: There is only 1 🌶️ chapter per MMC and No group activity mentioned on the page. Apart from standard AOB knots and bites there is nothing that would result in a trigger warning being required.

All in all, I am giving it a 3 because 2.5 is not an option. The first half was painful but I persevered and am happy with how it ended. I don't regret reading this but I am not sure that I would re-read it in its entirety.

[Kimberley Spinney · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is not a terrible story. It’s meant to be a slow read. It’s meant to be like a cozy romance. So I get that… My biggest issue with this book is not only its repetitiveness, but also the fact that it feels like the author wasn’t convinced of her details. Because in one chapter we’re talking about Levi’s older, brother, as if he is still around and still alive, and there are still conversations happening with him… And then the very next chapter he’s basically saying that his brother has died. And maybe I am miss reading it but it’s one of those little details that just threw me completely out of the story. Because now I’m doubting myself and now I’m going back in the story to reread things to see if I missed something. And I don’t wanna be doing that. This isn’t a mystery book where I’m like. Oh wait, what did I miss? And I go back… This is a romance where the story should be moving forward. And it just felt like things weren’t moving forward. It got a little frustrating with the repetitiveness and just how it didn’t feel like the romance was actually moving in a direction towards a relationship. I think… I need to stop picking up this author stuff because it just gets frustrating.

[Maira Azan · Rating 1 out of 5]

Honestly I have read this Author's previous books and I really do like each books foundation and I will give other books a 3 but this book is absolutely frustrating me.

Honestly I really am quite easy to please when it comes to books but this felt like those essays where one purposely repeats the same lines but even in those people make the same lines sound a bit different. The author didn't even try here. I'm on page 676 right now and I just feel like I've read the same thing over and over again specially "Old man Jack raised his son right" and many others.

A books doesn't need to have so many pages if it's the same thing anyways. I'd rather a book with 500-600 page if it was well written. I should not have to push through more than half of the book to finally start liking it. The Author really had a great chance to make this a heartwarming book but the repetition and lack of creativity really ruined this for me. I hope the Author takes in mind the valid criticism and not just dish out books for the sake of it.

[Hannah Brokaw · Rating 2 out of 5]

I remain incredibly frustrated with this author. She’s clearly ignoring the dozens and dozens of reviews she’s getting about her books being a slow drag about a lot of nothing but the ridiculousness of the omega character and way too little movement on the actual story. If I had to hear from them one more time that they were going to “try” I was going to scream. If I had to hear about “hope” one more time or “soft” at minimum 8 times a chapter…This is her 4th book and the author still writes like it’s her first day with a thesaurus and she’s trying to hit a special word count. Hundreds of words over a chocolate truffle scene…no. And we get it girl…you could taste yourself on their tongues…every…single…time. The repetitiveness of that particular thing was eye rolling. I was hoping for growth from book 1 to now this 4th book but the same issues from that book are still here in this one.

[Alexandra Ashman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful and sweet

A little lower on the spice end, but it builds a family and it's very worth it to stick around for the spice. Sweet and understated.. a great palate cleanser from the usual romance insta love/ immediate relationships. All the male characters bring different personalities and energy, they're distinct in a way that a lot of RH male characters aren't.
Really enjoyed, took my time to savor it.
It's the difference between a shot of whiskey and the slow enjoyable full bodied red wine. Something to drink and enjoy, instead of something to swallow in one go. Definitely loving this author.

[Cheryl L. Pranter · Rating 2 out of 5]

Great storyline BUT

30 to 40 % could of been omitted. I felt like I was ready therapy notes. You have 4 men talking like they are psychologists …it became way too tedious, I got bored. The OW drama got old - every few chapters public confrontation saying basically the same thing.

If the characters would of been written in a more realistic manner the book would of been really good.

[Boo · Rating 4 out of 5]

sweet read.

A Healing read. A lot of his book is just healing and reassurance and slowly falling in love. Very sweet the guys are very patient. A little drama added in. The way it ends I am a little disappointed in the fact that we don’t get to see the trial or see the perpetrator face punishment.

[Michelle Baker · Rating 3 out of 5]

Aspen Winters is a good writer. I enjoy her style. I enjoyed this book. I’m not the biggest fan of omegaverse, I prefer paranormal, but I like this writer!

This book was sweet with all in men, which I appreciated. It was about pack dynamics and personal growth.

[Heather Freeman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such a cute read. Daphne has been hiding at her place in the woods, barely existing the last five years. Then she’s pushed out of her comfort zone when a pack moves in next door.
There’s so much emotional growth and some drama. Really great read and HEA

[ERFEOT · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the story for this omegaverse. However, there were a ton of typos, the story talked about things that didnt happen, and I felt a significant amount could have been cut out. I appreciate how slow the relationship was taken but there was alot of repetitive situations.

[Cat the RH Safekeeper]

🟢 This is a reverse harem 🟢

[A.B. Shepherd]

DNF: 27%

Bored. Repetitive.

[MJ · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF 54%. Same exact conversations with the same 7 people over and over and over again.