REVIEWED by Caroline
TITLE: Slow Heat
AUTHOR: Leta Blake
PUBLISHER: Self Published
LENGTH: 118,000 Words
RELEASE DATE: May 16, 2017
BLURB:
A lustful young alpha meets his match in an older omega with a past.
Professor Vale Aman has crafted a good life for himself. An unbonded omega in his mid-thirties, he’s long since given up hope that he’ll meet a compatible alpha, let alone his destined mate. He’s fulfilled by his career, his poetry, his cat, and his friends.
When Jason Sabel, a much younger alpha, imprints on Vale in a shocking and public way, longings are ignited that can’t be ignored. Fighting their strong sexual urges, Jason and Vale must agree to contract with each other before they can consummate their passion.
But for Vale, being with Jason means giving up his independence and placing his future in the hands of an untested alpha–as well as facing the scars of his own tumultuous past. He isn’t sure it’s worth it. But Jason isn’t giving up his destined mate without a fight.
This is a stand alone gay romance novel, 118,000 words, with a strong HFN ending, as well as a well-crafted, non-shifter omegaverse, with alphas, betas, omegas, male pregnancy, heat, and knotting. Content warning for pregnancy loss and aftermath.
REVIEW:
Loved it!
Every. Single. Word.
This is something very different from Leta Blake but her words and the skill she has at using them are as sharp as ever and I was dragged in from the first chapter. I really, really didn’t want this story to end and I just hope this is the beginning of a new series as there are clearly far more stories in this new world that need to be told.
Although I wouldn’t be happy to live with the reality of an Alpha/Omega relationship in real life in my fiction I love it. I honestly thought this was a shifter book to begin with but there isn’t a wolf in sight! In this new world where there are no females the male DNA has been merged with wolf genes and the genders are now Alpha, Beta, Omega. This world is almost fanatical with reproduction so yes, you guessed it, we have Mpreg! There are a lot of rules in this new world, especially where reproduction is concerned, but rules are meant to be broken or at least bent a little.
Alpha’s and Omega’s spend their formative years being educated separately on their future roles in life which undoubtedly will involve each other. Omega’s suffer brutal heats that only an Alpha’s knot can assuage. Most Omega’s will enter a contract with an Alpha where they will give up most of their rights but they will be well looked after for the rest of their lives. The lucky ones will find their Erosgape – their fated mate if you like and will form a much deeper and more intimate bond.
Professor Vale Aman is an oddity. A thirty something Omega who has never taken a mate, who works to ensure the next generation of young Alpha’s are sufficiently knowledgeable and is quite the independent man. He lives with his sassy cat, writes poetry, fails at housework and has a just a few close friends who share his secrets – one of which is a stuffy Alpha who helps him through his heats. When a young Alpha student attacks him and starts humping his leg life as he knows it ends almost immediately and the one thing he thought would never happen slams into him. He has found his mate – a nineteen year old student called Jason Sabel.
There is no romance in finding your mate. Slammed with pheromones so strong you have to be medicated. Thwarted at every turn by expected protocols. Having to barter a contract with the help of your family and lawyers – nope, romance is not even considered. Jason Sabel is a young Alpha with a big heart who now has a stubborn mate who is almost twice his age. All he wants to do is contract and consummate but the rules and protocols are maddening as are the wishes of his father.
Leta makes these two men fight hard for their happy ending. There are a myriad of secondary characters that make this story what it is and I really do hope we get to see more of them. Neither of these men are perfect and the ride is bumpy but I would definitely recommend Slow Heat.
RATING: 
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