Reviewed by: Sue Eaton
TITLE: Kari’s Kismet
SERIES: Divergent Omegaverse
AUTHOR: JP Sayle
PUBLISHER: Self Published
LENGTH: 326 pages
RELEASE DATE: April 24, 2026
BLURB:
When life throws Kari Starling a curve ball of love—will his Daddy nature and Bowie’s Ex sabotage his chances?
Everything about Bowie appeals to Kari, but he’s always kept his distance from the shy omega. Working circumstances throw Kari and Bowie together with no escape from the cuteness overload. When Kari finds himself becoming emotionally attached to his PA, he fights against it. Fights against his instinct to nurture Bowie right until Bowie’s boyfriend leaves him in a desperate state, giving Kari two choices.
Leave or stay.
There is only one choice, and Kari steps in to take care of Bowie’s needs. Except now he doesn’t know how to stop, and it changes everything. Kari will do anything within his power to make Bowie happy, including setting aside an important part of who he is. Until Kari finds what hides in Bowie’s closet.
Bowie’s nature is that of a Little, yet he is clueless about Kari’s lifestyle. While they navigate the intricacies of a different type of relationship, Bowie’s insecurities and his ex threaten their happiness. With Kari’s brothers celebrating their relationships out in the open, he continues to hide his at Bowie’s request. But Kari has one weapon on his side, a Daddy never worries about a Little hard work when it is for the love of his life.
REVIEW:
This is one of those books where the romance feels like fate is having a little giggle before finally letting two stubborn, wounded men fall into exactly the place they were always meant to be. Kari and Bowie don’t just meet each other; they collide, scrape, spark, and slowly knit themselves together in a way that feels both tender and hard‑won. At the heart of the book is the contrast between who they think they are and who they become when they’re finally safe enough to be seen.
Bowie is wrapped around a soft centre he’s terrified to show. He’s been burned, dismissed, and underestimated so many times that self‑protection has become muscle memory. His biggest challenge isn’t the world, it’s believing he deserves something good. Bowie’s biggest enemy is the voice in his head telling him he’s too much, too broken, too complicated. His instinct is to run, emotionally, physically, metaphorically before anyone can reject him. Bowie becomes the first person who doesn’t flinch at Kari’s intensity. He listens. He stays. He makes space. And slowly, Bowie realises that love doesn’t have to be conditional or earned through perfection.
Kari, on the other hand, is the steady, quietly powerful presence who has spent so long holding everything together for everyone else that he’s forgotten how to want something for himself. His challenge is learning that vulnerability isn’t weakness and that letting someone in doesn’t mean losing control. Kari’s challenge is quieter but just as deep. He’s spent years being the dependable one, the protector, the man who never cracks. Opening up means admitting he has needs, fears, and desires of his own. Bowie forces him to confront the truth that strength isn’t stoicism it’s choosing connection even when it scares him.
Whilst they are struggling to recognise and build their relationship. There are outside forces at work trying to derail what they are trying so hard to build. With family expectations and obligations that pull Kari in directions that don’t align with what he wants for himself. Past relationships and old wounds that resurface at the worst possible moments, testing Bowie’s fragile sense of worth. Community pressures and misunderstandings that create tension, gossip, and moments where both men must decide whether to stand together or retreat into old habits. Danger and conflict that force them to rely on each other not just emotionally but physically, proving that their connection isn’t just romantic, it’s protective, instinctive, and fiercely loyal.
Bowie’s childhood is the kind that leaves fingerprints on a person long after they’ve grown up subtle in some places, stark in others, and impossible to fully outrun. He grew up in an environment where love was inconsistent at best and conditional at worst, teaching him early that affection could be withdrawn without warning. Stability wasn’t something he could rely on, so he learned to rely on himself, building those sharp, defensive edges that later become both his armour and his burden. There were moments of softness, but they were rare enough that he learned to treat them like accidents rather than rights. That mix of neglect, emotional unpredictability, and the constant need to fend for himself shaped the fiery, wary adult he becomes someone who wants connection desperately but flinches from it instinctively. It’s why Kari’s steady presence hits him so hard: for the first time, he’s offered the kind of safety he never had as a child, and learning to trust it becomes one of the bravest things he ever does.
In the end, this is a story about two men who stop running; from their pasts, from their fears, and most importantly, from themselves. Somehow, they become exactly what the other needs: a safe place to land and a reason to keep moving forward. Every challenge they face; old wounds, outside pressures, the ghosts of who they used to be only tightens the bonds they’re building, turning tentative trust into something fierce and unshakeable. It’s clear that their love isn’t an accident or a coincidence. It’s kismet in the truest sense: two lives shaped by hardship finally aligning into something hopeful, healing, and beautifully inevitable.
RATING: 
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