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Captivated by Alphas #1
Fated (Captivated by Alphas #1)
Three alpha cousins. One starstruck mate. Zero chance of resisting fate.
I’ve spent four years secretly crushing on the Carmichael cousins. Jace, Hollywood’s most sought-after action star. Adrian, the critically acclaimed heartthrob. Chase, the devastatingly handsome tech mogul. Three powerful panther shifters who could have anyone they want. Instead, they’ve set their sights on me—the groundskeeper’s adopted son who’s spent his life dreaming of belonging.
When all three cousins suddenly return to the estate at once, my carefully constructed world implodes. Every accidental touch ignites something primal. Every heated glance makes my heart race. Every protective gesture awakens something inside me I never knew existed.
But I know the truth. I’m just the help— a mystery even to myself, invisible until I suddenly wasn’t. They’re A-list celebrities, billionaires, alphas. I’m nobody special.
But these predators know exactly what they want. And they’ve decided I’m theirs.
Captivated by Alphas, Book 1: Fated is a MM paranormal reverse harem romance featuring powerful panther shifters, undeniable attraction, and a mate who discovers that his wildest dreams might just come true.
I’ve spent four years secretly crushing on the Carmichael cousins. Jace, Hollywood’s most sought-after action star. Adrian, the critically acclaimed heartthrob. Chase, the devastatingly handsome tech mogul. Three powerful panther shifters who could have anyone they want. Instead, they’ve set their sights on me—the groundskeeper’s adopted son who’s spent his life dreaming of belonging.
When all three cousins suddenly return to the estate at once, my carefully constructed world implodes. Every accidental touch ignites something primal. Every heated glance makes my heart race. Every protective gesture awakens something inside me I never knew existed.
But I know the truth. I’m just the help— a mystery even to myself, invisible until I suddenly wasn’t. They’re A-list celebrities, billionaires, alphas. I’m nobody special.
But these predators know exactly what they want. And they’ve decided I’m theirs.
Captivated by Alphas, Book 1: Fated is a MM paranormal reverse harem romance featuring powerful panther shifters, undeniable attraction, and a mate who discovers that his wildest dreams might just come true.
554 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 9, 2025
37 people are currently reading
22 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
October 11, 2025
I’ve read the previous books in this series and despite there being issues, they were OK, not outstanding but enjoyable. I’m frankly unsure what has happened here but the author needs some serious editing assistance before putting another book out.
This book was insanely repetitive. Like yes I get it our 3 x panther shifters are amazing/fantastic/fabulous/perfect etc. but it was like the author had swallowed a thesaurus. There were so many unnecessary sentences that repeated what we already knew, but just used different words. We had 3 x ‘meet cutes’ with our alpha shifters, and we got 2 x chapters from Eli’s POV then 2 x chapters from Jace/Cole/Adrian POV.
The book also was boring and flat. Nothing actually happened until the last 15%. Before that we had literally 60% of Eli doing his household staff chores/serving dinner etc and being intensively stared at by Jace/Cole/Adrian. I also don’t need spice in a book, and here we had kissing only. So if you want more than that you’ll be disappointed.
Other books in this series have been a bit repetitive but this is just horrendous. You could easily remove 100 pages of unnecessary sentences and repeated POV. It wouldn’t have impacted the (tiny) plot at all.
Oh, and if I had to read the inner voice of a panther yelling ‘Mine/Claim/Protect Mate/Perfect Mate’ one more time I would have thrown my kindle across the room…
I don’t care that I won’t know what happens with the overarching plot. I simply cannot read this boring, overly long, repetitive nonsense anymore.
This book was insanely repetitive. Like yes I get it our 3 x panther shifters are amazing/fantastic/fabulous/perfect etc. but it was like the author had swallowed a thesaurus. There were so many unnecessary sentences that repeated what we already knew, but just used different words. We had 3 x ‘meet cutes’ with our alpha shifters, and we got 2 x chapters from Eli’s POV then 2 x chapters from Jace/Cole/Adrian POV.
The book also was boring and flat. Nothing actually happened until the last 15%. Before that we had literally 60% of Eli doing his household staff chores/serving dinner etc and being intensively stared at by Jace/Cole/Adrian. I also don’t need spice in a book, and here we had kissing only. So if you want more than that you’ll be disappointed.
Other books in this series have been a bit repetitive but this is just horrendous. You could easily remove 100 pages of unnecessary sentences and repeated POV. It wouldn’t have impacted the (tiny) plot at all.
Oh, and if I had to read the inner voice of a panther yelling ‘Mine/Claim/Protect Mate/Perfect Mate’ one more time I would have thrown my kindle across the room…
I don’t care that I won’t know what happens with the overarching plot. I simply cannot read this boring, overly long, repetitive nonsense anymore.
November 2, 2025
More two and a half stars but here’s the thing. I am a pattern recognition type of editor. It’s one of the reasons I like romance because I usually can turn that part of my brain off and just enjoy a story. However. I Like the Idea of this novel. It’s a reverse haram, three big alphas and one fated all powerful mate (they don’t actually say omega but there are betas and alphas so ) the fated mate is adorkable with model good looks and a sleek muscled physique. While the three alphas are all billionaire rich huge muscled gods at the peak of their profession (movie star, producer, tech mogul). Look it’s a trope and I get it, it’s sort of fan fiction wish fulfillment but it’s still a Sure, why not. That’s not what bothered me in the story.
My issues were: repeated phrases and overuse of analogies. There were times even when two characters were making out that they traded ridiculous banter but not the “I can’t think” sort of banter, just using the same phrase over and over (brain cells quitting, “I should stop talking now”, strong mate perfect for us etc. Also face going bright red with embarrassment was compared to sun levels far too much. The panthers always internally saying “Mate, Mine, Make him, make him ours” in basically copy paste was weird. As if the internal representations of each of the three cousins were identical and had no personality. I also don’t mind snarky or silly stream of consciousness but it was way overused here and had me wanting to have a chat with the editor.
I get wanting to do POV for all characters but once a POV for a scene has been chosen it needs to move onward. Rehashing the exact same scene from the opposite POV as a new chapter was annoying. There are plenty of ways to share that with readers (a mailing list for subscribers, a bonus chapter at the end of the book) but otherwise, it’s not needed or helpful to the story. And you can still have the other character do a mini rehash “when I smelled him/saw him for the first time.” At the hand over to the next chapter.
The makeout sessions were weirdly sexless and clinical as if written by someone who has never experiences passion or intimacy. I mean the kissing scenes were fine, and the ridiculous overmarking of hickies (let’s not mention how Eli’s healing is supernatural and the hickes shouldn’t have stayed visible for very long. I mean he healed claw marks and bites in hours) but despite mentioning clothing that left nothing on display there’s Never once a mention of getting aroused. Just a small that “mate wants us goood” it doesn’t need to be explicit. That’s fine. But if you are going to put a character in silk booty shorts when have his three possessive mates cuddle and kiss then Zero mention of any party getting exited even when pressed into each other I’m questioning who is writing the story.
I know it’s a long review but for a book that was reasonably free of errors there was a lot that my brain kept harping on. I wish the story relied less on stream of consciousness, gave the panthers unique personalities, and cut back on analogies.
My issues were: repeated phrases and overuse of analogies. There were times even when two characters were making out that they traded ridiculous banter but not the “I can’t think” sort of banter, just using the same phrase over and over (brain cells quitting, “I should stop talking now”, strong mate perfect for us etc. Also face going bright red with embarrassment was compared to sun levels far too much. The panthers always internally saying “Mate, Mine, Make him, make him ours” in basically copy paste was weird. As if the internal representations of each of the three cousins were identical and had no personality. I also don’t mind snarky or silly stream of consciousness but it was way overused here and had me wanting to have a chat with the editor.
I get wanting to do POV for all characters but once a POV for a scene has been chosen it needs to move onward. Rehashing the exact same scene from the opposite POV as a new chapter was annoying. There are plenty of ways to share that with readers (a mailing list for subscribers, a bonus chapter at the end of the book) but otherwise, it’s not needed or helpful to the story. And you can still have the other character do a mini rehash “when I smelled him/saw him for the first time.” At the hand over to the next chapter.
The makeout sessions were weirdly sexless and clinical as if written by someone who has never experiences passion or intimacy. I mean the kissing scenes were fine, and the ridiculous overmarking of hickies (let’s not mention how Eli’s healing is supernatural and the hickes shouldn’t have stayed visible for very long. I mean he healed claw marks and bites in hours) but despite mentioning clothing that left nothing on display there’s Never once a mention of getting aroused. Just a small that “mate wants us goood” it doesn’t need to be explicit. That’s fine. But if you are going to put a character in silk booty shorts when have his three possessive mates cuddle and kiss then Zero mention of any party getting exited even when pressed into each other I’m questioning who is writing the story.
I know it’s a long review but for a book that was reasonably free of errors there was a lot that my brain kept harping on. I wish the story relied less on stream of consciousness, gave the panthers unique personalities, and cut back on analogies.
October 10, 2025
Mind-bending deliciousness. Beautifully brutal!!! 😍😍😏
So not fair... I need the rest of this epic story...NOW! If this is the first Zara K. Zee you've read that's fantastic! But you need to read all the others RIGHT NOW and catch up to my level of zeal and frustration! All the fated mates collections are world building, creation story at its finest! Immerse yourself in this universe of sensual delights mixed with blood curdling, spine-tingling suspense that just never ends. GAH!!! But it did end...and it's not finished by a long shot. My nerves are frayed and anticipatory! Need more, NOW! 😚 Recommend.. NOW. READ! OR PERISH!!!😘
So not fair... I need the rest of this epic story...NOW! If this is the first Zara K. Zee you've read that's fantastic! But you need to read all the others RIGHT NOW and catch up to my level of zeal and frustration! All the fated mates collections are world building, creation story at its finest! Immerse yourself in this universe of sensual delights mixed with blood curdling, spine-tingling suspense that just never ends. GAH!!! But it did end...and it's not finished by a long shot. My nerves are frayed and anticipatory! Need more, NOW! 😚 Recommend.. NOW. READ! OR PERISH!!!😘
October 13, 2025
Brilliant book!
I love this author. She has a way with her lead ML's snark and sarcasm which I absolutely love. The steam in this book is slow to start but WOW!!! It's is steaming! Looking forward to more books by this author!
I love this author. She has a way with her lead ML's snark and sarcasm which I absolutely love. The steam in this book is slow to start but WOW!!! It's is steaming! Looking forward to more books by this author!
November 2, 2025
Team Carmichael
I enjoyed the start of this series and became totally invested in the MCs. I'm looking forward to how their story progresses and connects with the overall plot.
I enjoyed the start of this series and became totally invested in the MCs. I'm looking forward to how their story progresses and connects with the overall plot.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews