Scan barcode
A review by onthebooksel
Lonely Alpha by Olivia Lewin
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I had a really fun time with this compared to the other Lewin books I've read (Pack of Lies, and the Frayed Bonds series) and this is by far my favourite. One of my biggest pet peeves when it comes to romances is when over 70% of the book is spent with the couple(s) at odds with one another and leading to an absolutely pointless argument that leads to the most ridiculous break up for the third act climax.
With Frayed Bonds, Freya took until the third book, over 400 pages read, before she finally gave in and trusted in her men. I really enjoyed the concept, the world building, the character relationships between one another but Freya's absolute stubbornness to die (literally) instead of getting help pissed me off too much to fully enjoy it all.
With Pack of Lies Thorn is similar to Freya in the sense that she's got a lot of trauma from preventing her from accepting reality as is, but Thorn wasn't the only one resistant in that pack. Marlowe and Jubilee were really the only two I enjoyed and they were the heart and glue of that pack. Pack of Lies in my opinion, had an interesting enough outside force where the internal drama between that pack felt unnecessary and detracted from my enjoyment.
Lonely Alpha managed to avoid any of my pet peeves, had great dialogue, character development, an inner monologue that wasn't excessive, and an incredibly interesting outside antagonist that allowed Kiara, Leighton, Dash, Ambrose, and Mercury to band together and instincts drove them to protect one another. The protection includes, knowing when to stop trying to fix your best friend because he is a fully functioning adult who doesn't need to be babied, knowing that Leighton will do whatever it takes to keep Kiara happy, even joining a pack, when she was dead set against it. They all took their time over the 604 pages to grow and evolve but it wasn't drawn out, none of it felt excessively dramatic. It was great.
I loved seeing Dash get a happy ending. I loved seeing the different sub/dom relationships within the pack, I loved the dynamics in general, while it was instalove, it wasn't a scent match, and therefore it felt less love and first sight and more love at first protection.
Kiara is a sheltered virgin, but much like Havoc from Marie Mackay's first book in this series, she's a quick study, and not shy when it comes to asking for what she needs or wants regardless of what that little voice in her head was saying. I often have a hard time with the virgin trope for a multitude of reasons, but with Kiara it worked, with this pack and this context it fit perfectly, it also isn't the main focus of the romance like some virgin trope books can be.
With Frayed Bonds, Freya took until the third book, over 400 pages read, before she finally gave in and trusted in her men. I really enjoyed the concept, the world building, the character relationships between one another but Freya's absolute stubbornness to die (literally) instead of getting help pissed me off too much to fully enjoy it all.
With Pack of Lies Thorn is similar to Freya in the sense that she's got a lot of trauma from preventing her from accepting reality as is, but Thorn wasn't the only one resistant in that pack. Marlowe and Jubilee were really the only two I enjoyed and they were the heart and glue of that pack. Pack of Lies in my opinion, had an interesting enough outside force where the internal drama between that pack felt unnecessary and detracted from my enjoyment.
Lonely Alpha managed to avoid any of my pet peeves, had great dialogue, character development, an inner monologue that wasn't excessive, and an incredibly interesting outside antagonist that allowed Kiara, Leighton, Dash, Ambrose, and Mercury to band together and instincts drove them to protect one another. The protection includes, knowing when to stop trying to fix your best friend because he is a fully functioning adult who doesn't need to be babied, knowing that Leighton will do whatever it takes to keep Kiara happy, even joining a pack, when she was dead set against it. They all took their time over the 604 pages to grow and evolve but it wasn't drawn out, none of it felt excessively dramatic. It was great.
I loved seeing Dash get a happy ending. I loved seeing the different sub/dom relationships within the pack, I loved the dynamics in general, while it was instalove, it wasn't a scent match, and therefore it felt less love and first sight and more love at first protection.
Kiara is a sheltered virgin, but much like Havoc from Marie Mackay's first book in this series, she's a quick study, and not shy when it comes to asking for what she needs or wants regardless of what that little voice in her head was saying. I often have a hard time with the virgin trope for a multitude of reasons, but with Kiara it worked, with this pack and this context it fit perfectly, it also isn't the main focus of the romance like some virgin trope books can be.