QUITE DISAPPOINTED WITH THIS ONE. I FELT VERY VERY DETACHED FROM THE CHARACTERS. IT STARTED OFF QUITE WELL, I FOUND THE ELEMENT OF NOT KNOWING A REAL HEADY EXPERIENCE, UNTIL IT CAME TO THE INTIMACY PART...WELL THAT WAS SEVERELY LACKING FOR AN OMEGAVERSE BOOK. It's like you picked up smut and got nothing for it.
THIS MIGHT AS WELL BE READ LIKE A NOVELLA, FOR ALL LITTLE WEALTH OF FEELINGS IT GAVE ME.
RYDER is one Alpha I haven't met before maybe because I've been jumping around the Boundaryland books. Normally I get a simple kick out of this series because it's a quickie Omegaverse but boy was this AN ABSOLUTE LETDOWN - the mating I waited for was a buzzkill. Truthfully, the main highlight of an Omegaverse story is how down, dirty and primal the sex gets, not to mention the whole dominance thing going on. It's all about the FEELS. This one barely scratched the surface. Ryder's a young pup amongst all the alphas we've been introduced to, and he's a nice guy, truly. He wasn't the problem. The boring part comes into play when there's ZERO drive to the story. After realizing that Mari is his Omega, there was no real intimacy between the two that made it believable or tugged at my heartstrings. Sure he's understanding and all, but being TOLD and experiencing it for ourselves are TWO DIFFERENT THINGS. It's like aged wine vs. newly distilled. It's like watching 2 strangers, who didn't know jack shit about each other, not to mention the sex was just literally slot A entering into slot B like how Ryder described sex to Mari. LOL. And yes, I'm using it against the author because her characters meant absolutely NOTHING to me this time around.
MARI felt like she was going to be something and then after becoming an Omega overnight, her character just got L.O.S.T. She started off strong, being the defensive and all round fighter kind of gal, and I really liked the whole 'I'm wary of you, but you're treating me so nicely. Are you out for something? Should I trust you? Wait, he's kind of hot' vibe she had going on with Ryder. I mean come on, both total strangers and he's staying on his side of the border, she's staying on hers yet he can't leave her alone? Male meets female....yaddy yadda. The author had the intrigue part down but she blew it when they started going at it later (and trust me it wasn't even graphic) after Mari was shot, and he saved her. I liked the idea of Ryder taking her back to his cabin, but then what came after? It's like zero bonding effort between them any more. He's now got the girl, so there's nothing left to build.
OVERALL this might have been my least favourite Boundaryland Alpha-Omegaverse installation to the series. The characters didn't hold my attention for long, don't even get me started on the plot. It's like the author's just throwing this one in as a filler. PLEASE, don't do that and I hope to meet characters with MORE SUBSTANCE in the future, since I remember my last rant was how typical it was for the heroines to drop into the Alpha lands all because they were being chased by bad guys or running for their lives! After 11-12 books in, as a fan, I say your readers need something new!