Omega Alone, S. Rodman

I very much wanted to like this book. The premise grabbed my attention and I was curious about how the rescue would become love, how Luca would find his strength, and how Erik would find his softness. While those three things happened, I found far too much that bothered me deeply to truly enjoy the story and the outcome.

Trigger warnings not mentioned in the synopsis:

Dubious consent during matings, yes, on more than one occasion and each time it bothers

Attempted rape

Stockholm syndrome

Administration of drugs without consent

Forcible invasion of memories through magical means

Physical abuse

Trafficking of a person

Uninformed consent at every freaking turn

Just with that list alone this book should be a one star review. There were huge issues with how Luca was sold in the first place, bound to a vampire, then sold again to the wolf shifter who becomes his mate, beginning with Luca's time with the vampire, not dealing with Luca's fear, obvious distress, lack of knowledge, his reaction to Erik's pack, and his silence in reaction to virtually everything if he's not either crying or trying to escape, seeing nothing of his own innate magic or talents in general, getting virtually no dynamics of Erik's pack...

The thing is though, I didn't hate the story. It's a long list of what was missing and inadequate, but there are moments of sweetness and hope and one tiny bit of humor after Luca does a really cool thing near the end and other characters that managed to grab my interest insomuch as to make me actually consider continuing with this world if there is to be a series to follow.

...yeah, I know.

So yeah, huge red flags, incredibly disturbing scenes that are not addressed constructively or satisfyingly, and a lack of character depth or growth that really doesn't inspire me to recommend this story at all. But...I might actually read more from the world at some point, so there is that.

*$4.99 on Amazon