Omega and the Beast: Vale Valley Season 3 Book 1, Lorelei M. Hart

An interesting take on Beauty and the Beast, Zane offends a magical being and suffers a consequence only to be broken by his fated mate.  I loved the premise of the story with a urisk, finding humility and love, experiencing passion...there was a lot to build from.  I wish so hard that the outcome worked for me.

The characters were easy to get to know in the beginning and their first "meeting" was entertaining.  Thinking we were on a roll, I was surprised and also quite pleased that there was a very slow build up to the more steamy aspect of the story.  I don't know if I liked the content, but taking a little longer to get to know one another is hardly a bad thing.  When they got down to it I felt like the connection they were building didn't carry through.  Their clumsy flirting wasn't exactly endearing either.  It's almost as if it was thrown in because we just hadn't gotten any solid flirt sessions before that point.

Felix began as one person in my mind and then in the middle he became a more submissive twink version and I don't think the transition felt natural.  Both versions were good, but when combined into one person, it didn't feel genuine.  His unconditional love, however, was much better portrayed than his overall bearing.  The love he felt for Zane was believable and a very sweet counterpoint to all of Zane's bluster and anxiety.

I had hoped that Zane would be a worthy counterpart to Felix and while he had the "beast" manner down, it was a lack of personal evolution that made me question him.  The circumstances of his curse were expected and he spends most of his time bemoaning the lack of physical progression with Felix, but not a lot of self-reflection that could tell us just how he changed.  Love from a good partner can help us change, definitely, but I would have liked that sentiment to be backed up a bit more than with a declaration and a grand gesture in reaction to a confrontation.

It's hard to exactly pinpoint what one thing held me back from complete enjoyment.  It wasn't a bad story and it had good bones (no pun intended), there was just something essential that was missing and since I can't tell you what that was, you get the more superficial issues I had with it.  So like I said, not a bad story, just not my cup of tea.

*$3.99 on Amazon

Once upon a time a young man pissed off the king of the fae... Spoiler alert: don’t do that.

Alpha Zane had the perfect life: money, a hot boyfriend, and a wonderful future waiting for him.
Only that boyfriend was not who he seemed—yet, somehow, Zane was the one who ended up cursed by the King of the Fae. 

Now Zane’s a urisk—a kind of brownie fae—and tied to Lake Vale Valley. He spends his days with his cat, Pixiedoodle, his only human contact the delivery service that drops off his orders, leaving them on the front porch. 

Omega Felix makes ends meet delivering for a local company. When he’s asked to deliver outside his normal area to Vale Valley, he begrudgingly agrees.

The delivery is a disaster from the long walk up the dirt drive to the angry man shouting at him to leave the goods on the porch and go away. Which would be fine if he didn’t scent the curmudgeon as his mate. 

Sometimes having fae abilities sucks.

Zane’s too scared to let the omega see him and run away or worse—be disgusted—even as Felix chips away at the barriers Zane has set in place to protect his heart.

But he’s about to realize that in Vale Valley love conquers all, true love wins, and curses can be broken when a true mate accepts his love for exactly who he is both inside and out.