In many ways, ‘Omega – Part One: Owned’ had all the makings of a five-star start to a fabulous three-part serial. It had an interesting premise, a promising synopsis, and cover art that made me want to look inside. Unfortunately, it didn’t live up to its potential.
Beginning with ‘Evan’, a sheltered Omega who has apparently spent the majority of his life in some sort of Center, being ‘delivered’ to his new Alphas’ home, this story started off fairly well even in spite of the typo in the third paragraph. Understandably apprehensive but determined to be brave in the face of the unknown, I was really rooting for Evan. Despite his age and general naiveté, he didn’t necessarily seem to pushover even with his Omega nature working against him.
Which it did, almost immediately, upon seeing one of his two new Alphas, Chad. Excitable and eager, Chad didn’t automatically endear himself to me. Neither, for that matter, did the other Alpha, Peter, who was Chad’s opposite and the “dominate” Alpha of the relationship. Here’s why: almost from the start, we’re told that Peter procured Evan to please Chad – okay, that went along with the storyline, but the author could really make it work. Only, Heart didn’t.
Instead, I felt like Evan was just an extra hole for the Alphas to use because, as we’re told, Chad wasn’t built to take a knot like Evan. This didn’t improve once Peter was introduced to the mix because all his interactions seem geared towards Chad alone, never mind that Evan was there as well. Then there’s Evan, who far from living up to his non-pushover status, basically just rolls over for them both.
Normally, I wouldn’t take exception to the last part; it’s fairly obvious that Evan’s Omega side overwhelmed him and being this was his first interaction with Alphas, that could explain it. Only, it never improved – it might in the next part (I’ll let you know) – but because he had great sex, everything was excused.
I – okay, you know what, I’m all for short stories that focus solely on the sex, which I’ll admit was fairly well done here (better in some ways than I expected but also really lacking thanks to the lack of emotion behind it) but with the synopsis I really thought we were getting a little bit of plot. Just a smidgen, a small taste the could carry us over to the next part. Also, character development, which would have been nice but wasn’t really present yet.
Before I am lambasted for only pointing out the negative – I’m really not trying to hate; I loved the premise – I did enjoy bits of it. Typo aside, the first few pages were promising. The writing was fairly solid. Evan seemed sweet, Chad seemed eager, and Peter was the kind of dominant Alpha male I love reading about.
Unfortunately, whether due to time constraints, over eagerness, or the simple appeal of quick-money made from serials, the author didn’t give the story or characters time to develop. At least not in this first part and while I’ll continue reading just to see if it improves, I think it’s really a shame. I wanted to love this, honestly, and while I did enjoy parts of it, it wasn’t at all what I was hoping it would be and for the price point alone that's disappointing.
That having been said, if you’re looking for a no-frills steamy read with a heavy focus on the steamy, this could be exactly what you’re looking for.