Alpha Heat (Heat of Love #2) by Leta Blake
Amazon, Goodreads
Novel: 424pgs
4 Pants Off
Blurb: A desperate young alpha. An older alpha with a hero complex. A forbidden love that can’t be denied.
Young Xan Heelies knows he can never have what he truly wants: a passionate romance and happy-ever-after with another alpha. It’s not only forbidden by the prevailing faith of the land, but such acts are illegal.
Urho Chase is a middle-aged alpha with a heartbreaking past. Careful, controlled, and steadfast, his friends dub him old-fashioned and staid. When Urho discovers a dangerous side to Xan’s life that he never imagined, his world is rocked and he’s consumed by desire. The carefully sewn seams that held him together after the loss of his omega and son come apart—and so does he.
But to love each other and make a life together, Xan and Urho risk utter ruin. With the acceptance and support of Caleb, Xan’s asexual and aromantic omega and dear friend, they must find the strength to embrace danger and build the family they deserve.
This gay romance novel by Leta Blake is the second in the Slow Heat universe. It’s 130,000 words, with a strong happy ending and a well-crafted, non-shifter Omegaverse. It features alphas, betas, omegas, male pregnancy, heat, and knotting. No cheating. Content warning for brief sexual violence.
Review
ALPHA SIZED OMEGA
All
the ways I was excited to read this after falling truly, madly, deeply
in love with the first book Slow Heat. Alpha Heat was very much on my
radar featuring two characters that really pissed me off but who I eventually grew to like. Alpha Heat brought the sexy but it also brought heart.
Xan Heelies is a young Alpha who doesn’t feel like an alpha. For his entire life Xan
has known that he doesn’t fit the make and model of what an alpha
should be. His desires are forbidden and will never be looked at
favourably because you see Xan
knows with every fibre of his being that he’s an Omega and though the
world sees Alpha it’s the one thing he can never be truly. Xan slates his desire in the worst way possible and it often leaves him bloody and bruised. He once felt loved when he was with his best-friend but his friend found his own omega, his one true mate. Yet, Xan has to live an Alpha life and that means having his own omega and producing children regardless of what he feels inside. Then there is Urho, all that is Alpha and man Xan yearns for but what Alpha would want a man that’s broken and is only an Omega in feeling.
“I don’t think what’s wrong with me is something that can ever heal.”
Urho lost his true mate (erosgape) a long time ago and his long time lover not too long ago.
His life is pretty much picturesque and he’s fulfilled by his job and
friends. He’s old fashioned and set in his ways and that does cause some
strife between him and his friends but no one gets to him like Xan, Xan the mouthy Alpha who invokes feelings in him that he has no business feeling. And mostly it makes him angry because the things he wants is not allowed.
A chance meeting between the men lead to some awful truths and also some inevitable ones. If Urho can give Xan
what he needs then he can also keep him safe and besides he’s realizing
that it’s also something he craves and one things for sure his alpha
sized omega will be his undoing.
Together they navigate a forbidden attraction and pair that with Xans
contracted but asexual omega and you have a unique story filled with
many delights. For me the first 50% was hot as hell and so incredibly
sexy. The push pull dance between Urho and Xan
was done so well I think I almost passed out from holding my breath for
a few minutes. That part was done amazingly and yet it really started
to fizzle out for me, not so much where it wasn’t enjoyable but enough
for it to lose what made it exciting.
As I mentioned I didn’t much like Xan when first introduced but he turned out to be a multilayered character, and Urho was just Urho (which is surprising because I couldn’t stand him in book 1. He was a obnoxious, condescending prick) a great fit for Xan and an even better alpha for him.
Throw in characters that I’ve come to love and new ones that I’m
starting to appreciate and you have a solid second story in the ABO
verse.
I did have a few things I didn’t like. First, I caught Xan in many lies and then he sorta just brushed it over. Second, how you gon
feel it’s ok to be beaten to an inch of your life and think that’s ok
because you “need” sex, I’m sure there’s many avenues he could have gone
and I’m trying to understand why it had to be him 🤔. Third, how Mr abuser was conveniently handled but also how it felt like what he did was no big deal (The he was a problem, we made him more of a problem and then snipered him out). Fourth,
and this really bothered me. The description of Urho being dark skinned
but I’ve been trying to figure exactly what that means. Dark skinned as
in black man, dark skinned as being south Asian or just dark skinned as
being tanner than the other characters? Representation is an important
thing and I found that with not saying exactly what he was just felt
like avoidance, but that’s just my opinion. Last but not least the crazy ending there. It followed the same pattern of the first book where all the crazy just happen at once and I wasn’t checking for that..
Overall,
I still very much liked this story and while I didn’t fall in love like
I did the first book, I still really liked it. It missed it mark by
trying to follow the same steps or setup and what worked for a Slow Heat
didn’t work for this one but it’s still an enjoyable story. If you’re
like me and love Mpreg and Alpha/Beta/Omega dynamics then this series is definitely something to check out.
