Wow. 0/5. This thing is BAD bad. I’m so sorry to be so harsh, but I really wanna be super frank about this to spare other people the frustration of listening to this. Between xenophobic stereotypes and the worst dialogue I’ve EVER read, this thing is intolerable. The book starts with a poorly executed scene depicting homophobic violence. It’s rushed & doesn’t give the darkness of that proper attention, but I figured we’d revisit later & prepared for some angst. No, this isn’t angst, it’s just completely tonally off for the book & inappropriately handled. Right after that, we jump straight into the lead going from doing well independently to selling himself. The story DOES NOT EVEN HAVE ONE OUNCE of empathy or respect for sex workers. Every character is a conduit for insulting sex workers, even the sex worker who is murdered. Exhausting. The characters are like robots reading off an auto generated character sheet during every conversation. They BLURT everything umprompted at all times to move plot along. Nothing feels human (or werewolf, as the case may be). These are the most unnatural interactions between people I’ve ever seen written. For instance, in an early talk with a few ppl, the alpha casually asks the omega about his mom. just his mom. The dude just blurts out his entire backstory including deeply personal details about his mother’s pregnancy, her past relationships, his relationship with his stepdad, etc. All because it’s convenient information for his werewolf status. The mystery should have been left simmering for a bit to keep us intrigued but it’s just immediately blurted in the least believable conversation ever. This happens over and over with the omega describing his backstory so readily and openly that nothing is left to be a reveal or emotional bonding moment, even when it’s something dark (like unwanted sex work). During all those awkward robot conversations, settle in for a LOT of uncomfortable xenophobic tropes about Russian, Irish, and French people. It literally never stops & does nothing but hurt the book (obviously). I think the writer thought they did something cool with the idea of nation-based packs or something but NOOOOOOOO. Honestly, the romance is by far even more stereotypical. Nothing about it tracks. Armand starts calling a complete stranger “baby” instantaneously despite meeting him while the omega (forget his name already and I just listened LOL) runs from a murderer… Huh??? And the kid never objects??? Pet names can wait for emotional intimacy. Even if this is instalove, give it a few chapters, sheesh. Cringey, but it gets worse. Armand immediately jumps into the shower with the omega by using a flimsy excuse about making sure he doesn’t trip. That kind of dreadful nonsense writing might fly for a fanfic, but it has no place in a finished novel. Make an effort toward believability! Even if they have some kind of biological imperative pulling them together as alpha/omega mates, they still have MINDS. It wouldn’t be so easy. They’d be wary, suspicious… Or REALLY confused by wanting to ignore their normal instincts. If you just wanna do fluff and fun, at least make them nervous, curious, excited. Any number of things would work other than just droning along the factory belt of a generic story. No interaction between the leads is thrilling because the plot is as empty as they are. As for the narration, Joel Leslie does a great job, as usual. (He has a habit of doing VERY raspy voices for older men that make them sound like they’re all on their death bed, but it’s ok here.) I feel bad he got stuck doing this dreadful book. Even he couldn’t save it.