They left me with an open rejection, the worst kind. A small portion of their pack has no idea what happened. Not even their bonded Omega, Benji. One year of agony. All I had was my ambitious grandmother, and caring mother to help me. Until I cross paths with my new doctor, Kane Trows. He’s a Beta-Alpha Switch. My soul-match. Old wise tails say a Switch’s bond is interconnected in ways normal bonds aren't. But soul match bonds are a whole new level. Add them together and it becomes something magical, like breathing the same air. Without him, I have no idea where I’d be. It’s been 4 years since I bonded with Kane. 5 since the rejection. I'm called home after my lovable and mischievous grandmother passes. No one could have known the reason my open rejection was so horrific is because Benji was, and still is, my soul-match. Kane’s as well. With a vindictive stalker hiding in the shadows, more secrets and hidden truths are uncovered, changing everything. Can we work together and fix what's been shattered? All without bond sickness and more rejection while our family mourns? Or will we all drown in pain and misery?
Have you ever read a new omegaverse author and thought they read too many books by one or two existing authors and tried too hard to emulate their style? Thatʼs what I felt while reading this.
One of the things I love most about finding new OV authors is learning their unique take on the world and lore, but it is very clear when they went in and read an existing authors books and now are trying to regurgitate that style.
Iʼve only read soul match bonds in one authors books and I donʼt particularly care for that authors writing style but I was uncomfortable seeing their concept used here. Not soul bonds or soul mates but soul matches described in the exact way the other author uses them saying itʼs an old wives tale passed down through generations, it being one step up from a scent match, etcetera. These are very specific details that if this author created them without reading that authors work I would be surprised. Now if consent to use the concept was given that is totally different.
Omegaverse is fair game as a whole but there are those little twists and spins an author puts on their lore that no one else does like princess bonds, gold pack omegas, or soul matches. There legally might not be anything stopping another author from copying those things but itʼs very noticeable when they do and it makes this old lady uncomfortable.
I preordered this with excitement... The cover is BEAUTIFUL. I will be putting my read on hold until I can ask the original author their take on their concept being used and if there was a discussion or permission granted to use the idea. I will come back and adjust my review if I get a response.
I absolutely loved this book. The story centers on Sarah, an Omega living with Rejected Bond Syndrome — her bond to alpha Kane being the only thing keeping her alive. When an unexpected family death forces her back home to the pack that rejected her, all her careful avoidance goes out the window. What follows is a heartfelt, often hilarious reunion — orchestrated, it turns out, by a grandmother who had plans even from beyond the grave. A mysterious stalker complicates things in ways that are both tense and, strangely, a little helpful. I was reading this in bed and had to actively stifle my laughter so I wouldn't wake my husband. The stories about Grandma's hijinks had me in stitches, but the book earns its tender moments just as well. A wonderful balance of funny and heartfelt. Five stars, no hesitation.
Thank so much to the author for letting me arc read this amazing book. This is my second time reading an omega verse book and I absolutely loved it. This one took me on a motional roller coaster I can’t wait to read more by this amazing author.
A Pack of Lies was such a fun and addictive read! The the drama was nonstop, and I couldn't put it down. My absolute favorite character was the crazy grandma—she stole every scene she was in and had me laughing more than once. Her personality added so much charm to an already engaging story. I loved the flash back story about the little stomping skunks. This book will have you in your feelings way more then once. I love the switches its a nice change up that you normally dont see in most omegaverse books. If you love emotional heartbreaking stories, family drama, and memorable characters, definitely give this book a try!
This book is packed full of emotional roller coasters and hilarious banter. You never know what you will get from one moment to the next.
You start off with deep pain and then jump back in to years later where the secrets from years past come to light. The title of the book is very well thought out and ties into a lot of the story line of the book. There are so many things in this book that keep you hooked and you just hope everyone heals and can find the forgiveness they all need in order to move forward.
Pack of Lies is a new Omegaverse book by debut author, S.J. Collins. It centers around Sarah, our female omega, whose world falls apart when her scent matches reject her. Suffering from the fractured but ever present bond, she puts her heart onto the page and tries to endure with the help of her soul bond.
This book is full of hijinks, redemption, and the peace that comes from truly finding your home. This is very much a fledgling writer’s first foray into the writing world and definitely has room to grow. But it takes great courage to put one’s words out into the world, and I hope you’ll take a chance (with tempered expectations) when it releases in June.
A unique and absolutely wonderful omegaverse why-choose romance.
Our FMC's story broke my heart more than once.
The way her pain and suffering were portrayed was so powerful that it brought me to tears. And we're talking about an FMC with a backbone. She faces everything head-on, holding her head high even when she's being torn apart inside—and taking my heart with her.
I wanted to give certain people a piece of my mind more than once. She's absolutely right: it was cowardice. I sincerely hope she makes them work for forgiveness. Kneeling won't be enough—they should have to crawl. But it seems that everything happens for a reason. In the midst of so much pain, our FMC finds someone truly exceptional who helps carry her burden and lighten the weight on her shoulders.
We get a large and diverse cast of characters, some more deserving than others, but all of them share deep and meaningful bonds. Their connections add an extra layer of depth to the story and make the relationships feel even more compelling.
I also loved that this story highlights the existence of incredibly strong family bonds. It doesn't take a potential romantic partner to create a deep and meaningful connection. Like our FMC and her grandmother, whose bond is truly special. They're simply wonderful—both of them are forces of nature.
This book made me feel so many emotions.
There are genuinely hilarious moments that act as a balm when the heartbreaking scenes tighten their grip on your chest. There are situations that leave you fuming with outrage, beautiful and incredibly steamy moments that make you sigh, and wonderful twists that fooled me more than once. I kept thinking I knew where the story was going, only to be delighted when something completely unexpected happened instead.
In the end, they get their HEA, and we get a beautiful love story.
❧𝐎𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐓𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬☙ This starts off with a real gut punching emotional beginning. I really felt for Sarah. I understand how complex the situation was for her mother and grandmother regarding Kieth, but man did I feel infuriated for Sarah.
Being run out of your home, hometown and consequently having to distance yourself from your family because even so much as hearing your mates' names was physically harmful to her is just tragic.
Thankfully, Kane was truly amazing. I really was holding out hope that in the end the title and position of Prime Alpha would be given to him despite him being an Alpha-Beta switch.
Disclaimer -
The one gripe I had was, despite his 'big apology,' Shawn never actually apologised to Sarah. His 'apology' consisted of a lot of "I thought", "I felt", "I wanted", "I was a coward", "I morned losing you", "I will never forgive myself"...A whole lot of me, me, me and not a thought or acknowledgement as to how she felt, how she nearly died, or even that he was sorry. Pretty sure a male would assume that his 'apology' was actually an apology and sincere so in that it was pretty accurate lol. However, the only one he actually told he was sorry for what he did was Benji.
Overall, it was a sweet and emotional story. I loved Benji, Kane, Sarah, Alex and Granny Ethel.
I had a lot of fun with these characters but also had a few issues with the writing. This book needed a good edit because there were a lot of errors. I’m usually bad at noticing typos because my brain just fixes them automatically as I’m reading but I caught a lot of them and that’s saying something. The errors ranged from duplicate sentences, incorrect spellings, wrong words used and I think there were even POV issues because there were quite a few chapters I had to check who was speaking. I know editors get pricey but I think a lot of these could have been caught with Arc reading at the very least.
After getting past that issue I did really have fun with the characters. I think some relationships were fleshed out better than others. I actually wish there was a little less smut in some instances because I felt like the plot got interrupted and the groveling got rushed. More could have been explored with their relationships and dynamics together. The climax of the story was rushed and was more complicated than was needed. I kind of rushed through it because there was a lot of forced explaining and all I wanted to do was get back to the pack.
Ripped my heart out, stomped on it, put it back together, and made me laugh out loud. 😭❤️ S.J. Collins completely wrecked me with A Pack of Lies!
I went into this ARC expecting standard Omegaverse tropes, but I was NOT prepared for how deeply I would connect with Sarah. Seeing so much of myself in her—especially that fear of sharing your deepest emotions with anyone—made her journey hit so close to home. 🥺🩹
But let’s talk about the absolute standouts: 👵 Granny: The plotting, the scheming, the fierce protection over Sarah... she is officially my favorite character. 🐺 Kane: That man is pure gold. Absolute. Perfection. 🌟
If you want an emotional rollercoaster that will have you laughing your ass off and crying like a baby, put this on your TBR immediately! 📉📈
Have you ever read a character that felt like looking into a mirror? 👇
Normally I love a rejected mate storyline but I found the reasoning for things to not make sense, the groveling to be poor, too many characters that were not fleshed out well enough for me to care about and overall I was a bit bored. I struggled through the first half, skipped forward a bit and couldn’t make myself get through the rest. The relationships were too smutty and the storyline just wasn’t interesting enough which for a book that’s 500+ pages just makes it painful to get through. I know it’s a new author but they should maybe spend some more time revising their storyline next time and cutting down the characters and plot points to fit within 300ish pages to be more concise and engaging in the future.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Wow, this author had some really interesting ideas about familial omega bonds, I have never read anything more poorly edited. It’s clear that this was transcribed in an audio medium. I don’t know if there were no editors or beta readers at all based on the amount of typos. There are several sentences that just stop with no ending or punctuation where the author just got up to do something else and never finished that paragraph. It’s an absolute tragedy because there were some good ideas here, but this is unreadable.
I ARC read this and have to say it's very different than any other omegaverse I've read. It is a bit complex at first to keep things straight, but she incudes a guide to tell you all the important things. At first I wasn't sure how I'd like it, but I loved it. This book takes you on an emotional roller-coaster. Granny is definitely not your everyday granny and I'm here for it! Kane is the man everyone hopes for.
I thought soulmatches only existed in one authorʼs books the same way scent sympathy is only in Devyn Sinclair or Marie Mackay has the Posionverse world building. That was jarring. I donʼt know how I feel about it. Soulmates whatever yeah they pop up all over omegaverse but soulmatch that I havenʼt seen anywhere else. I chose not to rate this because I didnʼt get far enough to give an accurate rating of the book itself.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Loved the storyline. My heart hurt for the FMC at the beginning of the story but as it went along, my love for all of the characters grew. My favorite of them all was granny. Her love and devotion to her granddaughter was everything. And the way Kane supported her. I just loved it all. The epilogue was the best. I was laughing so hard I was crying.
Iʼm going to forego a star rating because Iʼm conflicted. There were a lot of errors that brought me out of the story but I liked the writing and overall plot.
I think this is a new author so I would recommend they find a better editor or do some additional passes but I will pick up future books.
Review... So this is an Omegaverse book, about rejected mates, past traumas, a stalker, a crazy granny, and a lot of spice. I have read Omegaverse verse before but this was completely different. Release date 5th JUNE 2026....
This was a good read. It packs an emotional punch but tempers it with some tension, a stalker, some spice and quite a few laughs. Sarah and Kane were my favorites and I loved their relationship together and also how it grew with the others. I can't wait for the next book!
I loved this book. The fact that this is her first book is amazing. I had the pleasure of being an ARC reader. Sarah and Benji were so cute together. I loved how the other pack members had to grovel and granny, she was one of the characters.
This is the first book from this author and she hit it out 9f the park. I was not expecting the dual Omegas or the trauma the pack had to go thru to get back together. There were times when this story ripped my heart out and times when I laughed. Great first book. Highly recommend.
I wasnt prepared for how emotional the book made me but I was so here for it! This book had a great storyline. Perfect push and pull on your emotions. Granny was just THE best and Kane, so supportive and caring.
OMG! This was the best book I have read in ages. I cried, laughed so hard that I almost peed my pants and then just smiled at how some of them got what was coming to them. I highly, highly recommend this book
Pack of Lies is the debut book by S.J. Collins. I was so excited when I got this arc, but it left me feeling ..... I can't explain it, it was good, but the story dragged on too long for me. Sorry but overall it was good read.
i was given this book as an ARC & i wanted to like it SO BAD. unfortunately, i couldn’t get into it. it felt messy & confusing. i think there is a good story to this, but i kept feeling like i was falling behind or that i was missing something. this is ultimately what led to my decision to DNF.
My words probably won't do this book justice but this is a MUST READ. It will have you in tears and chuckling from the absurdity of some of the scenes. Please read i promise it'll be worth it
This novel takes you on an emotional roller coaster ride. Its a multi POV Omega Switch verse, where fear and lies almost destroy the FMC - her story about overcoming an incomplete rejection is beautiful and powerful - the grace she has when she is again placed in a position where she must face the one who hurt her the most while also dealing with a stalker who wants to end her life. Is love and forgiveness truly strong enough to mend the broken bonds and protect her pack from the danger they face?
What a book Sarah finding out that she had a fated mate was in heaven, The man she was so sure of showed up with another and the family they had created was not with her,the devastation was complete when they asked her to not try to get closer even though this family felt right.
I laughed I cried, this author was abandoned her expression in words was a big surprise, as if not read her before But I will be a fan for sure den now on. I loved granny, and the adventures she we've in. Best character hands down!!