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Unsuitable Omega
Payton Max is a rich alpha in need of an omega. Recently discharged from the military and pulled off his failing suppressants, he needs a mate immediately. Unfortunately, the only omega he responds to is the most unsuitalbe omega of all.
And he isn't look for an alpha. Ever.
Karl Lansing is infamous. Kidnapped as a teenager and raised as an alpha, he was meant to commit a heinous crime, but didn't. Spared jail time, he lives his life quietly and has no desire to ever be mated. After what he's been through, he can't imagine behaving like a traditional omega would.
Then he meets Payton and it feels like coming home. The man might be big, strong and technically an alpha, but he responds like an omega. If only Karl had been born an alpha and a Payton an omega, a relationship could work.
If only....
And he isn't look for an alpha. Ever.
Karl Lansing is infamous. Kidnapped as a teenager and raised as an alpha, he was meant to commit a heinous crime, but didn't. Spared jail time, he lives his life quietly and has no desire to ever be mated. After what he's been through, he can't imagine behaving like a traditional omega would.
Then he meets Payton and it feels like coming home. The man might be big, strong and technically an alpha, but he responds like an omega. If only Karl had been born an alpha and a Payton an omega, a relationship could work.
If only....
157 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 26, 2021
70 people are currently reading
125 people want to read
About the author
Jamie Kassel
22 books88 followersJamie Kassel is a pen name for C.H. Roquel, author of Lesbian BDSM fiction. She lives in California with her family and is obsessed with fictional characters who get their happy endings... and lots of perfect-for-them sex. (Source: Amazon.com)
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Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews
July 26, 2022
What I wanted: a story between a trans alpha and a trans omega who find love and community as they navigate the world together
What I expected: a cis author (I actually have no idea if this author is cis, to be clear) accidentally inventing trans-ness while exploring the idea of alphas who want to be omegas, while providing no cultural context for the concept of being trans and just generally getting things frustratingly wrong
What I got: ….a badly edited and perfunctorily re-branded Captain America fanfic….??????
More on that later….
What I liked: the concept of trans alphas and trans omegas. Sometimes, especially towards the end, the author really hit the dysphoria nail on the head when talking about Steve *ahem* I mean Payton’s discomfort with his alpha body.
…
Yup moving on to the next heading
What I disliked: most everything else!
The “head of household” 50’s-ish domestic discipline kink fantasy…. That’s a nope for me, but largely in a not-my-kink way so the author gets a freebie for that.
The biological determinism… “it’s hard to get omegas to kill” because omegas I guess have some sort of essential thing about them that makes it hard for them to do murder… hmmm that sounds disturbingly familiar…. And other small moments through the fic *ahem* I mean novel where Payton felt like things just SHOULD be a certain way because GENDER… gggghhhhh
The whole world building and plot!!! And this is where it being a refurbished fanfic explains BASICALLY EVERYTHING that didn’t make sense about this world.
Guys, it’s literally a Steve/Bucky slash fic from ao3. Which I never would have noticed except that a friend of mine is a connoisseur of this particular fandom and recognized the characterization and world building basically immediately… and then literally found the fic and started reading it (bless zir heart because I had no energy to read this story a second time after finishing the book).
It makes SO MUCH MORE SENSE as a Captain America fanfic. One reviewer of this book said it felt like a romance novel from the 30’s… that would be because Payton’s Captain America character equivalent, Steve, is literally from the 30’s and time-travels-ish to modern day. Which explains Payton’s entire character and also the way he talks about this kink.
Also, the whole turning-rich-man’s-son-into-a-super-soldier thing… when I read that I was like “…this feels like a reference to something…” yeah, it’s a reference to the plot of Captain America. And by a “reference to” I mean, this is where the plot for this whole novel originated from.
AND KARL’S FLESH HAND omg…
To be clear, I love fanfiction. It is beautiful and has had a huge influence on the romance genre, particularly lately. I have read and loved many many fanfics in my lifetime, and is often the same level of quality (or better!) than many published novels.
C S Pacat talks about how fanfiction and original fiction are fundamentally different art forms: fanfiction is meant to fill in holes that a creator left out (deliberately or not) and to satisfy things that have been left unsatisfied in a story. The task of original fiction is the opposite: to create a world and leave things open and unsatisfied, to create tension and to let that tension persist.
This book does neither, because it is neither. It’s a piece meant to fill in the holes of someone else’s original fiction but has been taken out of its context but otherwise left recognizably the same… and then edited very badly. (Obviously some people have made great success doing exactly this *cough* 50 Shades *cough* so I can see where the temptation arises…)
Anyway I’d be pretty mad if I’d paid money for this. Thank god for Kindle Unlimited, allowing me to take chances on books I half-expect to rage read with no consequences.
Also thank god for my friend who recognized this as the fanfic that it was... This was perhaps the funniest romance novel experience I've had in a while. Thank you for your hard work and dedication lol
What I expected: a cis author (I actually have no idea if this author is cis, to be clear) accidentally inventing trans-ness while exploring the idea of alphas who want to be omegas, while providing no cultural context for the concept of being trans and just generally getting things frustratingly wrong
What I got: ….a badly edited and perfunctorily re-branded Captain America fanfic….??????
More on that later….
What I liked: the concept of trans alphas and trans omegas. Sometimes, especially towards the end, the author really hit the dysphoria nail on the head when talking about Steve *ahem* I mean Payton’s discomfort with his alpha body.
…
Yup moving on to the next heading
What I disliked: most everything else!
The “head of household” 50’s-ish domestic discipline kink fantasy…. That’s a nope for me, but largely in a not-my-kink way so the author gets a freebie for that.
The biological determinism… “it’s hard to get omegas to kill” because omegas I guess have some sort of essential thing about them that makes it hard for them to do murder… hmmm that sounds disturbingly familiar…. And other small moments through the fic *ahem* I mean novel where Payton felt like things just SHOULD be a certain way because GENDER… gggghhhhh
The whole world building and plot!!! And this is where it being a refurbished fanfic explains BASICALLY EVERYTHING that didn’t make sense about this world.
Guys, it’s literally a Steve/Bucky slash fic from ao3. Which I never would have noticed except that a friend of mine is a connoisseur of this particular fandom and recognized the characterization and world building basically immediately… and then literally found the fic and started reading it (bless zir heart because I had no energy to read this story a second time after finishing the book).
It makes SO MUCH MORE SENSE as a Captain America fanfic. One reviewer of this book said it felt like a romance novel from the 30’s… that would be because Payton’s Captain America character equivalent, Steve, is literally from the 30’s and time-travels-ish to modern day. Which explains Payton’s entire character and also the way he talks about this kink.
Also, the whole turning-rich-man’s-son-into-a-super-soldier thing… when I read that I was like “…this feels like a reference to something…” yeah, it’s a reference to the plot of Captain America. And by a “reference to” I mean, this is where the plot for this whole novel originated from.
AND KARL’S FLESH HAND omg…
Karl's flesh hand hovers for a moment.This is a testament to how bad the editing in this book was, but when I got to this line I did a double-take, then shrugged it off with the rest of the completely bizarre word choices in the novel. Then my friend mentioned that Karl’s Captain America equivalent, Bucky, literally has one robot arm and one flesh arm… and they just didn’t edit out the mention of Karl’s flesh arm in the final novel.
To be clear, I love fanfiction. It is beautiful and has had a huge influence on the romance genre, particularly lately. I have read and loved many many fanfics in my lifetime, and is often the same level of quality (or better!) than many published novels.
C S Pacat talks about how fanfiction and original fiction are fundamentally different art forms: fanfiction is meant to fill in holes that a creator left out (deliberately or not) and to satisfy things that have been left unsatisfied in a story. The task of original fiction is the opposite: to create a world and leave things open and unsatisfied, to create tension and to let that tension persist.
This book does neither, because it is neither. It’s a piece meant to fill in the holes of someone else’s original fiction but has been taken out of its context but otherwise left recognizably the same… and then edited very badly. (Obviously some people have made great success doing exactly this *cough* 50 Shades *cough* so I can see where the temptation arises…)
Anyway I’d be pretty mad if I’d paid money for this. Thank god for Kindle Unlimited, allowing me to take chances on books I half-expect to rage read with no consequences.
Also thank god for my friend who recognized this as the fanfic that it was... This was perhaps the funniest romance novel experience I've had in a while. Thank you for your hard work and dedication lol
July 12, 2022
This has some really detailed world building. This actually has a lot of focus on Alpha biology, more than Omega biology. There is also a lot of details as to traditional Alpha/Omega dynamics. This for me was the high point of the book. There are so many omegaverse books out there, but so many gloss over the details.
As far as the relationship went, I found the first half of the book really interesting, and the second half felt very repetitive… similar sex scenes and the same conversations rehashed over and over.
It would have been nice if instead of having 2846291 sex scenes, that maybe the fact that Payton apparently left the military to take over his father’s company and yet other than that one line, there is not one single other mention of him working. And does Karl have a job? I don’t know. And Chet is just thrown to the wayside. I would have liked more follow through on Payton’s medical issues. Even if it was just one consult with his team to make sure what him and Karl are doing will help with the issues he was facing. But, nope… we needed another bout of Payton getting fucked to ever have anything happen outside their bubble.
One thing that did rub me the wrong way was how it seemed as though Karl was making a lot of concessions to make this relationship work, and Payton is essentially getting everything he ever wanted.
The two big examples are:
1.
2. Payton and Karl talk about having kids down the road. Obviously, Payton is biologically Alpha and unable to get pregnant . And Karl is biologically an Omega and can. And that is another issue that is just left at that and never further addressed in the book.
There are enough typos in this that it’s noticeable, regardless of how compelling the writing is, so one more round of editing wouldn’t have hurt.
As far as the relationship went, I found the first half of the book really interesting, and the second half felt very repetitive… similar sex scenes and the same conversations rehashed over and over.
It would have been nice if instead of having 2846291 sex scenes, that maybe the fact that Payton apparently left the military to take over his father’s company and yet other than that one line, there is not one single other mention of him working. And does Karl have a job? I don’t know. And Chet is just thrown to the wayside. I would have liked more follow through on Payton’s medical issues. Even if it was just one consult with his team to make sure what him and Karl are doing will help with the issues he was facing. But, nope… we needed another bout of Payton getting fucked to ever have anything happen outside their bubble.
One thing that did rub me the wrong way was how it seemed as though Karl was making a lot of concessions to make this relationship work, and Payton is essentially getting everything he ever wanted.
The two big examples are:
1.
2. Payton and Karl talk about having kids down the road. Obviously, Payton is biologically Alpha and unable to get pregnant . And Karl is biologically an Omega and can. And that is another issue that is just left at that and never further addressed in the book.
There are enough typos in this that it’s noticeable, regardless of how compelling the writing is, so one more round of editing wouldn’t have hurt.
September 10, 2025
The writing is clunky, has random extra punctuation, the word stand is capitalized multiple times for no reason, and it's honestly the most boring Omegaverse I've read.
Forget about the alpha being an omega and an omega being an alpha angle, every piece of information is recited and dumped via internal monologue, repeatedly.
I had to read it because it's on my somnophilia list, but that was also not hot at all and boring.
Forget about the alpha being an omega and an omega being an alpha angle, every piece of information is recited and dumped via internal monologue, repeatedly.
I had to read it because it's on my somnophilia list, but that was also not hot at all and boring.
June 12, 2024
DNF 40%. I was trying this for domestic discipline but this is so aggressively sexist and gendered with such a stronger focus on forced roles and both characters hating themselves, far beyond other omega stuff I’ve read, I haven’t even gotten to the DD.
Dropping it. This stuff is worse than the obvious fanfic elements and plot and worldbuilding bits that are inconsistent.
Dropping it. This stuff is worse than the obvious fanfic elements and plot and worldbuilding bits that are inconsistent.
dnf
December 6, 2022Giving up at 75%. Not in the mood and a little over it.
August 8, 2021
Unsuitable Omega
By Jamie Kassel
This was not at all what I expected. I liked the beginning up until Karl and Payton met in person. From that point on it went downhill. I didn’t like Karl at all. He tried to do what was best for Payton most of the time, but I think his earlier behavior just turned me off so much I never got over that. Payton was okay. I liked him, but at the same time he was no Michael. I didn’t feel protective of him like Michael and Karl didn’t seem nearly as protective or invested in keeping him safe and emotionally stable like Preston did for Michael until later in the book. Quite a bit of what he did seemed to be for his own needs. I guess after how much I loved Knot Needed I was just all around disappointed in this book.
It's in both Karl and Payton's POV. The angst level is low.
Side Note: A lot of the way the book is presented it comes off as a romance novel from the 30's. That wasn’t at all appealing.
By Jamie Kassel
This was not at all what I expected. I liked the beginning up until Karl and Payton met in person. From that point on it went downhill. I didn’t like Karl at all. He tried to do what was best for Payton most of the time, but I think his earlier behavior just turned me off so much I never got over that. Payton was okay. I liked him, but at the same time he was no Michael. I didn’t feel protective of him like Michael and Karl didn’t seem nearly as protective or invested in keeping him safe and emotionally stable like Preston did for Michael until later in the book. Quite a bit of what he did seemed to be for his own needs. I guess after how much I loved Knot Needed I was just all around disappointed in this book.
It's in both Karl and Payton's POV. The angst level is low.
Side Note: A lot of the way the book is presented it comes off as a romance novel from the 30's. That wasn’t at all appealing.
November 8, 2022
This book was a very interesting take on traditional alpha/omega dynamic. I'm not going to bother with a recap of the plot, there's a blurb already for that, this is more my thoughts on the characters and themes.
It's mostly Peytons character who is explored in any depth. I felt so sad for him. His hatred of his own body, and his need to be what he was, not what society and his own father had made of him, was heartwrenching. I reacted emotionally to his struggles with his body and his nature vs society.
I wish Karl's character had been explored more. How their relationship affected his own severe trauma was kind of glossed over, and it felt that by a few chapters in, his trauma had been downgraded to barely affecting him at all. There were a few scenes where I felt he definitely would have acted differently, but the focus was all on Peyton.
Even Peyton's trauma was eventually dismissed. At one point he actually says that he didn't have much trauma compared to other people - like, he was actually genetically modified to be other than he is, and has evidently been through enough in the military to be told at rhe beginning to go to group therapy! It ended up feeling a bit magic-dick-cures-all and the ending was so abrupt.
The world the story was set in was interesting, I would like more about the couple when they eventually get settled enough in their relationship to interact with it!
Anyway, I rate books on how they make me feel, which is generally not how other people rate but whatever. How well Peyton's designation issues and body dysphoria were written, and the emotional reaction I had to that is the reason I've given it so many stars. The book could have been more, but I'll definitely reread it in the future.
It's mostly Peytons character who is explored in any depth. I felt so sad for him. His hatred of his own body, and his need to be what he was, not what society and his own father had made of him, was heartwrenching. I reacted emotionally to his struggles with his body and his nature vs society.
I wish Karl's character had been explored more. How their relationship affected his own severe trauma was kind of glossed over, and it felt that by a few chapters in, his trauma had been downgraded to barely affecting him at all. There were a few scenes where I felt he definitely would have acted differently, but the focus was all on Peyton.
Even Peyton's trauma was eventually dismissed. At one point he actually says that he didn't have much trauma compared to other people - like, he was actually genetically modified to be other than he is, and has evidently been through enough in the military to be told at rhe beginning to go to group therapy! It ended up feeling a bit magic-dick-cures-all and the ending was so abrupt.
The world the story was set in was interesting, I would like more about the couple when they eventually get settled enough in their relationship to interact with it!
Anyway, I rate books on how they make me feel, which is generally not how other people rate but whatever. How well Peyton's designation issues and body dysphoria were written, and the emotional reaction I had to that is the reason I've given it so many stars. The book could have been more, but I'll definitely reread it in the future.
October 15, 2021
Loved!
I definitely get what folks are talking about regarding the abrupt end. But this is a great story. I loved the world this story takes place in. How the ABO universe is captured and the rules within it. I will say, you have to suspend disbelief with just how submissive Payton is as well as the fact that there's no talk of work, friends, or frankly anything outside of sex and submission but that doesn't mean I didn't love it. Watching he and Karl navigate their dynamic was So Much Fun. They were sweet together and Karl was perfection. I'm so happy they found the exact right match in one another!
I definitely get what folks are talking about regarding the abrupt end. But this is a great story. I loved the world this story takes place in. How the ABO universe is captured and the rules within it. I will say, you have to suspend disbelief with just how submissive Payton is as well as the fact that there's no talk of work, friends, or frankly anything outside of sex and submission but that doesn't mean I didn't love it. Watching he and Karl navigate their dynamic was So Much Fun. They were sweet together and Karl was perfection. I'm so happy they found the exact right match in one another!
August 3, 2022
So, the characters definitely had a connection. But there were so many problems.
3/4 of this book is just one MC dealing with body dysphoria. It doesn’t leave room for anything else. For someone with a crazy story, Karl doesn’t actually get much development at all. And there’s zero dealing with the outside world. For supposedly owning a company he’s supposed to run, Payton has no difficulty disappearing completely from his life.
I’m the type of reader that could look past a lot. There are typos and awkward wording here and there, but not in excess. But there’s no resolution. The ending reads like the end of a chapter, not the book.
3/4 of this book is just one MC dealing with body dysphoria. It doesn’t leave room for anything else. For someone with a crazy story, Karl doesn’t actually get much development at all. And there’s zero dealing with the outside world. For supposedly owning a company he’s supposed to run, Payton has no difficulty disappearing completely from his life.
I’m the type of reader that could look past a lot. There are typos and awkward wording here and there, but not in excess. But there’s no resolution. The ending reads like the end of a chapter, not the book.
September 18, 2023
It started strong but lost something along the way. But to be clear, it isn’t awful. It just plots holes and references to how this fan-fiction (and that’s to say I love and adore ff) needed just a bit more work to sell as an original. So many questions weren’t answered with anything but repetitive sex scenes. The beginning plot never goes anywhere because Chet straight up disappears. Karl has a mentioned job but only goes once, and it’s never brought back up? The search that was being pushed on Payton to find a more suitable mate was forgotten. We didn’t get enough time to know the main characters themselves before they became an instant item attached at the hip.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Read
January 18, 2026Girl I dunno. I love when people go all in on making omegaverse stuff mull on gender
This is a captain america/winter soldier fanfic with absolutely no character depth and an extremely uncomfortable ownership/dominance kink that is the entire plot. If you don't clock the fanfic element it is super weird and random to have these big super serum/murder omega elements get dropped and then just... never come up again. It's honestly better knowing that's what this is, which is not a great sign.
The trans elements were great, honestly I loved those parts.
But this should have stayed on ao3
This is a captain america/winter soldier fanfic with absolutely no character depth and an extremely uncomfortable ownership/dominance kink that is the entire plot. If you don't clock the fanfic element it is super weird and random to have these big super serum/murder omega elements get dropped and then just... never come up again. It's honestly better knowing that's what this is, which is not a great sign.
The trans elements were great, honestly I loved those parts.
But this should have stayed on ao3
January 20, 2026
2.5 stars
Different. Payton is an alpha who wants to be an omega. Karl is an omega who wants to be an alpha. Both men have had been through traumatic events that have made them this way. The story has tons of inner monologue. Payton, especially, is struggling with his alpha body. He wants to do anything and everything he can to suppress his alpha traits. That's where the BDSM comes in. Payton wants to be handcuffed and he wants to wear a cock cage 24/7 so that he can lock down his alpha urges. That works for Karl because he always wants to be in charge.
The book definitely needs a good editor.
Read January 19, 2026
Different. Payton is an alpha who wants to be an omega. Karl is an omega who wants to be an alpha. Both men have had been through traumatic events that have made them this way. The story has tons of inner monologue. Payton, especially, is struggling with his alpha body. He wants to do anything and everything he can to suppress his alpha traits. That's where the BDSM comes in. Payton wants to be handcuffed and he wants to wear a cock cage 24/7 so that he can lock down his alpha urges. That works for Karl because he always wants to be in charge.
The book definitely needs a good editor.
Read January 19, 2026
April 21, 2024
This just wasn't my style. I get that Payton feels like an omega and Karl feels like an alpha, but dear gods, if Payton is struggling with a knot just handle it the traditional biological way. I feel like they're both being way too stubborn and unwilling to make any sacrifices. As long as Karl remains the alpha and Payton remains the omega in the relationship, who cares what happens in bed. Maybe I was just hoping they would be vers.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 20, 2022
i’m slightly addicted to jamie kassel’s books. 🙂 she writes caring doms and needy subs so well. even though this one also got a bit dragged out towards the end, i still enjoyed it for the most part. i really liked how payton was the omega and karl was the alpha despite their original biology. it was different from other omegaverse stories.
December 6, 2022
I wanted an omega who was a top, like Sivney from Alpha's Obedience. That's not what this book was, and it was so extreme. Had to force myself to finish after 55%.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 29, 2023
Read up to 32%, sort of skim read the rest
Really liked the first part (up to 32%), but then it pretty much turned into a story of a normal alpha/omega just with them being in the wrong bodies which is not what I was really looking for when going into this book - but partially this is on me for going in with the wrong expectations
Really liked the first part (up to 32%), but then it pretty much turned into a story of a normal alpha/omega just with them being in the wrong bodies which is not what I was really looking for when going into this book - but partially this is on me for going in with the wrong expectations
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 26, 2024
HEA MxM
I honestly don't know how I feel about this
There was a lot and I do mean alot of crying and emotions from the omage and alot of work put in on the alphas part to always make sure they stopped crying
However the spice was a 4 and the domination was on point and the wording was good
I honestly don't know how I feel about this
There was a lot and I do mean alot of crying and emotions from the omage and alot of work put in on the alphas part to always make sure they stopped crying
However the spice was a 4 and the domination was on point and the wording was good
October 2, 2023
Did not expect the borderline mind break stuff. Or maybe it was more himbofication? I don’t know. The Steve rogers omega was the one lobotomizing himself, mostly. Weird. Usually Jamie Kassel’s kinks align with my own, but this one wandered onto paths I had no interest exploring.
October 10, 2023
Wish it was a bit longer!!
I love reading alternative dynamics and I honestly loved that Karl adapted and compromised to make Payton comfortable and solidify their bond. I would’ve loved more of an ending about how they navigate their lives.
I love reading alternative dynamics and I honestly loved that Karl adapted and compromised to make Payton comfortable and solidify their bond. I would’ve loved more of an ending about how they navigate their lives.
December 19, 2024
holy head spinning.
I really enjoyed this book but it was VERY intense. Lots of whiplash between happy and upset with Payton and with Karl’s original opinions and feelings on traditional or conservative lifestyles.
I really enjoyed this book but it was VERY intense. Lots of whiplash between happy and upset with Payton and with Karl’s original opinions and feelings on traditional or conservative lifestyles.
October 12, 2023
3.5 stars
May 4, 2024
I need more books like this, the domestic discipline is chefs kiss. It did get a lil repetitive at times but honestly I didn't really care because Payton is adorable.
January 29, 2026
No le encontré tanto el sentido al cambio del segundo género. Podría haber sido la historia de una alfa omega tradicional y tal vez hubiese sido más interesante.
October 12, 2021
Beautiful twist of faith
OMG I couldn’t stop crying because of the emotional roller coaster ride. Would like to see a book 2 on this one too.
OMG I couldn’t stop crying because of the emotional roller coaster ride. Would like to see a book 2 on this one too.
April 5, 2024
Started out ok and then just repeated itself over and over without any ending in sight until it ended abruptly. Definitely needs an epilogue (so many unanswered questions) and definitely needs editing. Numerous editing errors in the story including part of the book title on the cover, the blurb, and in the back matter of the book. I honestly started skimming over some parts just to finish it.
The other books sound promising so I may check them out.
I recommend only if you like this type of book.
The other books sound promising so I may check them out.
I recommend only if you like this type of book.
Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews