The Prince and the Omega by Penelope Peters

This is a sweet little story in a non-shifter, alpha-omega, mpreg universe. It’s a freebie I received in return for an honest review. From the title, you can tell there’s royalty and, what’s even more, there are castles and arranged marriages too. So it’s basically an M/M fairytale for adults.

It’s about the Omega Rowan and prince Gaspar (Gus for short) who meet at a royal ball and promptly fall into bed. Rowan doesn’t know that Gus is the prince who’s about to become engaged to his best friend. But neither Gus nor Rowan expected there to be more than physical attraction. Or a very tangible reminder of their night together.

This is a very short book, I read it in just a few hours. But it still covers not only the lovestory between Rowan and Gus, but also an attempted political coup. The story is an alright pastime, sure, but the storyline felt a bit too simple. A bit naive. Or maybe stories about princes and princesses just aren’t meant for me.

But putting aside my recently discovered dislike of royalty-reads, The Prince and the Omega was still pretty entertaining. I liked the lovestory. I liked the alpha-omega dynamics described. I liked Rowan, he was a total dear, but my impression of Gus was not as favorable. Even though he was supposedly depicted as the ultimate, heartthrob prince, he just seemed a bit spine-less. Going along with the arranged marriage-thing for far too long without too much objection. But. The romance still worked and Rowan and Gus were cute together.

What I didn’t like about the story was the whole kidnapping-business towards the end. It felt rushed and didn’t really add that much to the story. It was frankly unnecessary and felt like an afterthought more than anything.

When I think about it though, my main reason for having trouble with this read is probably the world-building which I just couldn’t buy into. There are too many contradictions and inconsistencies for my taste. It’s a modern society with modern technology, but there’s the very old-fashioned and Disney-inspired view on royalty on what a monarchy is. Then there’s the basis of the entire story plot, namely the arranged marriage. That arrangement is – allegedly – a crucial requisite of ending a terrible, long-time war between the two countries. But any mention of where, how and why this war is fought and its consequences for the respective societies are non-existent. The picture being painted of life for the “commoners” are actually very peaceful and easy-going. Bordering on picturesque.

So yeah, I feel a bit conflicted about this read. It’s a perfectly fine romance. Though obviously I’m not the target reader. But if you like the fairytale-y story-style, then go for it!