Reviewed by Becca
TITLE: The Alpha’s Fake Mate
AUTHOR: Penelope Peters
PUBLISHER: self-published
LENGTH: 296 pages
RELEASE DATE: May 12, 2020
BLURB:
Ricky Sandoval has a secret he won’t reveal.
By night, omega Ricky Sandoval is the darling of the dance club scene: friendly, flirtatious, and always up for some fun with whatever alpha strikes his fancy. But by day, Ricky pines for his neighbor and creative partner, Eli Epstein – who’s been in a committed relationship for as long as Ricky has known him. If creating a webcomic together is the best Ricky can hope for with Eli – then he’s willing to settle for second best, and find love elsewhere, one night at a time.
Eli Epstein has a promise he won’t break.
By day, alpha Eli Epstein is the quiet and clever introvert with the long-term girlfriend and a job that lets him stay safely tucked in his apartment. But by night, Eli worries about his neighbor and creative partner, Ricky – who’s also the subject of a crush Eli’s unwilling to admit. Everyone but Ricky seems aware of Eli’s feelings, Eli’s amused and super accepting girlfriend included. There’s no chance of acting on it, though – Eli has both promises and secrets he intends to keep, no matter where his heart might lie.
But just as their webcomic is about to be launched off the internet and into the physical world of publishing, one of Ricky’s one-night-stands leaves him pregnant… and alone.
Everyone’s keeping secrets. But sometimes…
Pretending to be a happy couple is the obvious solution – after all, half their internet fanbase already thinks it’s true. Ricky and Eli swear it’s only temporary – but the more time they spend together, the more fiction feels like fact.
Until Ricky’s one-night-stand reappears… and threatens to expose every secret they’ve promised to keep.
Torn between the guilt of loving Eli and the high-risk pregnancy he’s struggling to manage, Ricky now has to face that his affair might be the end of not only their publishing career – but their friendship, too.
…The biggest secret is the most obvious truth of all.
The Alpha’s Fake Mate is a slow-burn m/m mpreg omegaverse romance with an HEA ending. It features Twitter conversations, disastrous trips to department stores, and way too many wine glasses with way too much fruit juice in them.
REVIEW:
I really enjoyed this story, although I wanted to shake Eli and Ricky on more than one occasion. I love how close they were, and I get that with Madison around, it made things complicated. I just wish they would have communicated a long time ago and things would have probably been a lot different and a lot better. But, then there wouldn’t have been an angsty story and the ding a lings wouldn’t have learned the lessons they needed to learn about themselves and each other.
With a heat coming fast, Ricky’s skin was crawling. He needed to get out and go dance or clubbing and let off some steam. He tried to get Eli to go, but with Eli being the introvert he is, that was a no. But what Ricky didn’t expect from his night of clubbing, was to come away pregnant from his one night stand. And he definitely never expected to see the guy again. Eli gave him so grief about it, and although Ricky understood it was worry, it was still a bit harsh. But it’s about to get even more complicated as the truth of Eli’s and Madison’s relationship comes out, the ‘fake’ relationship of Eli and Ricky’s, and the father of the baby showing up in their lives in a very unexpected way. If it’s not one thing, it’s something else. But because Ricky is unbonded among other things, his pregnancy is a high risk and it’s getting pushed to the boundaries. To the point, Ricky and the baby both may be at risk. And it’s time for everyone to clear the air about everything and how they feel, or it may be too late.
I really fell in love with Ricky and Eli. Even Madison, because of her own issues. But I wanted to shake those two with everything in me as they just circled around each other, over and over again. Never letting the other know how they felt or the real truth about the relationships. It could have saved a whole lot of heartache and bad comments. A lot of misunderstandings and miscommunication. It broke my heart to see them just pining over each other and do nothing about it, until basically, it seemed there was no choice. I’m glad Eli finally stepped up and did what he should have done a long time ago. I know it’s hard with all that was going on, but the truth of Eli and Madison and so much more should have came out years ago. I understood the reasons why. They all had reasons why they were hiding behind each other. And I get it. But man, it could have saved sooooo much trouble in the long run.
This is definitely an angsty story. It’s good, don’t get me wrong. But if you want some fun and angst together, this is definitely the one for you. You may want to shake a few and grab tissues at another point, but in the end, it’s worth it.
RATING: 
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