Horse Talk Reviews

Alpha's Oath by Claire Cullen My rating: 3 of 5 stars I read this book for a challenge to read something with your top three tropes which for me were "mpreg", "small town romance", and "stranded on a deserted island", and you know what? This book kind of had all three. (the small town romance is a bit of a stretch since it's more isolated kingdom under attack but hey you try finding something with all three of these tropes!!!! and if you do let me know because I wanna read it immediately). Anyway, definitely a 3 star read. My biggest issue was how the book wasn't very long but had a thousand different plots in it. The desert island was its own thing, then the marriage of convenience (another trope!), then the mpreg, then the secret magic reveal, then the save the kingdom with said secret magic, etc etc etc. All these plots got in the way of me trying to have a no thoughts head empty kind of read which is real...

Leading Love by Sophie O'Dare My rating: 4 of 5 stars This was a cute fluffy coworkers to lovers short. Despite some of the potentially heavier themes like coming out (as an omega) and parental abuse (not on page), it stayed pretty angst free. I think the length made it feel a bit rushed at times, but overall I found it very sweet. Leading Love on Amazon View all my reviews

Make Mine an Otter by Harper B. Cole My rating: 3 of 5 stars Horse rating: 🐴 of five horses I can't say this was good, or even if I enjoyed it, but it was at least accidentally hilarious. The writing was very hard to follow at times, as it made logic leaps and scene shifts without actually connecting any of them. The world building is lacking, which doesn't help not being able to figure out whats happening. The amusement I got came from the bizarre use of words. Absolutely baffling at times. The sex scene made no sense, things happened and then unhappened and then they checked the oven and went back to sex. My tongue pried open his lips, and slid inside. And then we boogied, our tongues twisting and writhing around one another in their version of a dance routine. boogied??? there's more of these treasures in my highlights attached to my goodreads review (linked above). It was still an easy and fast read, and with the amusement(?) I got out of it, I'l...

Late Bloomer by Morgan Hawes My rating: 5 of 5 stars Sometimes a book just really, really works for me even if it doesn't seem like it should. This one is long, it spends several pages describing the contents of various homes in detail (not a trinket left undescribed), the two main characters spend a huge part of the book with other people, so much could be solved with a little bit of communication, and it's the slowest of emotional burns. But Late Bloomer hit the domestic slow burn vibes exactly right. I can't even say I'd recommend this book to anyone. It requires some commitment to vibe along for 700+ pages! If you like books by Kit Oliver or Tal Bauer this one has a similar feel while being completely different. I mean, it is omegaverse. But somewhere between a detailed summary of the contents of one of the main character's home office and the emotional pining for 95% of the book it hooked me. So, read it! 5 stars! Or don...

The Runaway by Laura Taylor My rating: 4 of 5 stars Another solid entry in this series. I appreciate the author's attempts to create interesting parts to the omegaverse world they created. In this book there is mention of the existence of omega baby farms? So interesting (and kind of messed up). The romance in this book was very sweet as well with two characters who were really struggling with the abuse of omegas and how they could change the world they live in. It got kind of messy in the last 25% of the book with points of view from a side couple I wasn't particularly interested in and way too much focus away from the primary characters and their relationship. If this was handled differently it would be a much better book. But even with this main couple was worth struggling through the end. Highly recommend the series to anyone who is interested in omegaverse world building. View all my reviews

Redemption of a Slave by Laura Taylor My rating: 4 of 5 stars I've read a lot of omegaverse and mpreg in my life so when an author can give me something new it's always a treat. The world of Redemption of a Slave had a fairly typical dynamic where alphas are in charge, omegas are the very bottom of the class system, and betas are somewhere in between. What was new were the slight changes to how the biology of alphas, omegas, and betas worked. It was enough to make it feel totally unique. I especially enjoyed how important betas are to the whole omegaverse ecosystem. The reveals of the biology quirks came up in an organic way too which was nice. Biology and world building aside, the romance in this book was very sweet and very slow burn. The omega main character had gone through a lot so the time and space between the two main characters felt necessary for the romance to develop and made it more believable instead of having a magical healing ...

His Secret Omega Co-ed by Ava Beringer My rating: 3 of 5 stars A solid 3 star omegaverse mpreg book. With a cover like that 3 stars is exactly correct. It was enjoyable enough even though I have a suspicion it was a vehicle for the author's stance on the pharmaceutical industry. In my fluffy mpreg??? Yikes. The pacing was a bit all over the place with huge time jumps and then suddenly a very detailed description of the omega's heat and then more time jumps. What the book chose to gloss over and what it chose to describe in excruciating detail was a bit weird. The romance between the two main characters was cute. The dramatic past and secret omega stuff kinda dragged on and on. And there were way too many "jokes" and "references" and other cringe nonsense in the dialogue. So yep 3 stars. View all my reviews

Bad With Love by Sophie O'Dare My rating: 5 of 5 stars Horse rating: 0 of five horse omg this was adorable and the perfect vibes!! Light, fluffy, so cute, easy read with entertaining characters...whats not to love. Roman is PRECIOUS and PERFECT and i will fight you if you disagree with me because you are wrong I couldn't get over how he'd been trying to show Warren he loved him and was trying to be perfect for him for the whole 13 years..!! It was so sweet. I could see it but of course Warren thought it was Roman being a competitive dick. Perfection. I didn't really manage to read the blurb, and I'm happy to read alpha/alpha romances....but secret omega!?! Secret omega who doesn't even know hes an omega and has surprise heat??? MORE “Your cologne.” I loop my arms around his neck and snuggle in to drag the scent into my lungs. “What brand?” “I don’t wear cologne.” omg the best trope ever plsss The surprise heat was done so well too (to my personal...

Omega for the Pack by N.J. Lysk My rating: 4 of 5 stars Horse rating: 0 of five horses But you didn't need to be trying to hurt someone to do it—all it took was chance or carelessness, or just plain ignorance. This is very existential erotic horror, right on brand for what I expected from a Lysk book. Especially when it's coupled with gender and gender roles in a society and not being in control of your own person. The horror of being slave to biology, being a slave to your own biology, trapped by society in a role you don't want but can't avoid...too real. The wolf thing added an interesting component of struggling within yourself, while also giving the world some framework. This had some degree of weird romance(?not the right word) - the alphas were all trying (well except maybe Gabriel, idk about him, I am suspicious) to help Ray adjust and be happy and take care of him...but Ray is still trapped. He adjusts a little by the end, in a way thats just to...

Redemption of a Slave by Laura Taylor My rating: 4 of 5 stars Horse rating: 🐴🐴🐴🐴 of 5 horses This really grew on me the more I read. I appreciated that the horrible experiences of Dante were not super long in length (doesn't make it better really) so that his healing process felt more natural, rather than like magic dick or something. He still had a long path to go and many traumas, but it wasn't overloaded. I enjoyed the slow growth of their relationship throughout the book - so slow it kind of crept up on me. So well done! And very sweet as they built a rapport and a romance overall. This had a fascinating historical aspect - it was more interpersonal, with the alpha-beta-omega dynamics being more servant/master. Belowstairs drama, jostling for position, it reminded me a bit of Downton Abbey. Like a tiny bit. Idk that's my only reference point. Great tension throughout the book despite the self-contained plot line - no massive external things. I...