Friday, June 8, 2018

Book 9: The Omega Learns a Lesson by Dessa Lux

This is a short story sequel to The Omega's Pack, and it’s basically exactly what I want from a short story in an existing romance series. There’s a conflict between the main pairing that’s real and fits into the overall narrative well, but it’s not a novel or even novella length conflict, and as a result this is the perfect bite sized treat for the reader.

Sam hasn't come home from the office in two nights, and Rusty needs to figure out what's wrong and how to get him to come back to the pack. He approaches the situation as basically a mission, and goes to the office ready to reassert his role as Sam's alpha, and to make sure that Sam knows he's loved and safe and secure. The story does a really good job of balancing the appeal of a wolf-style relationship, where words are unnecessary because emotions can be expressed through physical displays of dominance and submission and all that, with the reader's need to know that Sam and Rusty do actually want the same things, and that this is a functional situation for both of it. That can be a very tricky line to walk in this kind of story, and the author does a really nice job of grounding the relationship while also giving the reader the kind of over the top alpha/omega dynamic that you want in a story and universe like this. Sam is struggling on his own, so Rusty makes sure he knows he's not alone, and then he and his pack reassert their claim on Sam and everyone is happy again. The ideal lesson to learn, really.

Grade: B




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