Easily Distracted Media, $0.99, ISBN 978-1370155309
Fantasy Romance, 2015 (Reissue)
According to a statement on the copyright page, A Very Special Omega was previously published with the same title, only by Wolf Specter and Rosa Swann. So, what happened to Wolf Specter? I have no idea, although having Wolf Specter listed as an author makes me eye this one suspiciously and wonder whether the last time it saw publication, it was sold as a spin-off fanfiction to that infamous My Immortal or something.
Similarly, I have no clue as to whether this version has been revised, expanded, or altered in any other way. I haven’t read the version that featured Wolf Specter, so I am coming into this one on a blank slate.
Now, the proliferation of omega wolves in shifter romances has prompted me to do my own research and yes, I remember correctly alright: omega wolves are the lowest ranking members of the pack, and they are never allowed to mate, especially not with the alpha male or female. However, in these romances, we always have various omegas getting pounded in the rear end by alphas, so I can only gather that omegas are the new secretaries and bluestockings created just to become the love pillows of the wealthiest and most powerful heroes in the land.
So, in this one, Jay is an omega and one day he wakes up naked next to a guy. Of course, it has to be a hot alpha, because heaven forbid a romance heroines, I mean a bottom dude in this instance (because we all know only manly men top) end up with some lesser being. Chase isn’t going to let the fellow get away, however, and these two then navigate the rocky road of college romance and… wait, did I read that right? Jay is knocked up?
Aww, isn’t that sweet? I mean, getting knocked up just in time for Christmas—surely that’s every college-aged kid’s dream come true!
Okay. let’s be serious. This one has issues. The chapters are from alternating first person points of view of Chase and Jay, but if I hadn’t read the name below the chapter header, I wouldn’t know which guy is narrating that chapter. This is because the author uses the same voice, so to speak, for both men to the point that I can barely tell them apart.
However, if I can overlook that as well as the absurd premise that being pregnant is the best thing ever to happen to one when one is in college, this one is a refreshing new adult tale of romance with characters that actually have a pretty strong network of support and good relationships with parents. That’s right, no hot people whining that they are most oppressed and damaged inside because some kid pinched their rear end without their consent when they were five. The fact that this story is pretty readable without the forced trappings of a generic young adult romance is a testament that one can come up with a decent story of this kind without resorting to tired old hot damaged whinebag tropes.
On the other hand, I feel that the author has also sabotaged this story by turning it into this weird shifter-gets-pregnant thing, when it could have been just fine as a more mundane new adult contemporary romance. The more absurd aspects of the story feel forced and shoe-horned in, like the author believed that she had to put all these things in to make sure that the story will sell. Well, I certainly hope that is indeed the case, that this story sells a lot, because otherwise A Very Special Omega is a like respectable garden statue being painted over in garish clown colors. If there were no great pay-off for such a clowning glory, then the author had just marred a perfectly fine story for no good reason.
