Reviewed by: Sue Eaton
TITLE: Laken’s Longing
SERIES: Divergent Omegaverse #7
AUTHOR: JP Sayle
PUBLISHER: Self Published
LENGTH: 318 pages
RELEASE DATE: July 24, 2026
BLURB:
All Laken wants a quiet life comprising nothing but work—until a naughty sugar glider called Isley changes everything. Laken is about to face a battle when his past surfaces, but will love win?
On paper, Laken Starling appears to have everything—except love. In a past life, Laken did things that left him vulnerable to attack. He has little memory of those deeds, but that doesn’t stop him from carrying the shame. Then a delivery brings Laken’s past into the present, and now he has to decide if he can trust those closest to him to be there for him.
Isley Petrau’s animal side, a cheeky sugar glider, isn’t waiting for the humans any longer while they make a hash of it and marks Laken as theirs. When things heat up between them Isley has to find a way to explain to his boss, Laken what his animal did while sharing a cabin.
Easy, right? Wrong.
The shocks keep coming when Laken discovers his adoptive parents know his secret. Everything that held him back from reaching for what he wants—Isley—disappears with the truth. After spending his whole life focusing on work, Laken has no idea how to date. His brother steps in, but is this a rescue, or throwing Laken in at the deep end?
We’re about to find out…
REVIEW:
Laken’s Longing is a book where the emotional core isn’t just the romance, it’s the slow unfurling of trust between two men who have been shaped, bruised, and occasionally sabotaged by their pasts. What makes the book shine is how Laken and Isley’s relationship develops in layers: hesitant, awkward, sweet, and then suddenly intense once the truth finally stops hiding in the shadows.
Laken Starling is the kind of man who has spent so long burying his past that he’s forgotten how to want anything for himself. His entire life is structured around work, safe, predictable and controlled, exactly how he likes it. But his past that he has tried to outrun is still there, shaping every choice he makes, especially the one he won’t make which involves reaching for Isley. He carries shame for things he barely remembers, convinced that if anyone knew the truth, they’d turn away from him and shatter the life he has built. That fear becomes the wall between him and the man he’s quietly yearning for.
Isley Petrau is Laken’s opposite in the best way. His human side is respectful, careful, and determined not to push. His sugar glider side… is not. The animal half takes one look at Laken, decides mine, and acts accordingly. The secret that Isley is hiding, that his sugar glider has already marked Laken without permission or explanation, which is the perfect emotional grenade waiting to explode. It wasn’t malicious but instinctive, he’s worried that this could shatter Laken’s fragile trust. Isley’s struggle isn’t just about confessing what happened it’s figuring out how to explain to Laken, the man he’s falling for, that his animal has made a lifelong decision for him.
Their relationship develops through Laken’s fear of being unworthy; Isley’s fear of scaring him away; a marking neither of them can undo; a past Laken can’t escape, and a future Isley desperately wants, and Laken yearns for but thinks he can’t have.
Every interaction between them is charged with that tension. Laken is cautious, almost painfully so, but Isley is patient up to a point. The duality creates a dynamic that’s tender, funny, and occasionally chaotic. When Laken’s past resurfaces, it forces him to confront the truth he’s been avoiding he’s not alone, and he doesn’t have to be. Isley becomes the one person he wants beside him, even if he doesn’t know how to ask.
One of the strongest elements of the book is Laken’s big, loud, loving family. They’re not just background characters they’re the scaffolding holding him up. His parents know more than he ever realised and despite all the teasing and banter his brother steps in to help him navigate dating. The wider PA network those protective, meddling, fiercely loyal friends who are more like brothers become Isley’s support squad.
This community is what finally gives Laken the courage to stop running. They don’t let him hide behind work or fear. They show him he’s loved, wanted, and safe and for Isley, they’re the reassurance that choosing Laken means gaining a family, not losing control.
The relationship between them works because it’s not easy and it’s not instant. They both must confront the parts of themselves they’d rather ignore. Their relationship grows from fear to trust, from awkwardness to intimacy, from longing to claiming.
Laken’s Longing is a story about healing, claiming, and choosing each other even when the past tries to interfere. Laken and Isley’s romance is built on vulnerability and instinct, strengthened by family, and made irresistible by the sugar glider chaos that kick‑starts everything.
It’s tender, funny and emotionally rich, it’s a beautiful reminder that sometimes love arrives in the form of a tiny, cheeky creature who simply refuses to wait for the humans to catch up.
RATING: 
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