Make Me Give In

This book follows Simon and Hunter. But there were three other strong supporting characters that will get their own stories. Simon started a pact calling it OCC. It will interesting to see the others get what they want and that's to graduate college without getting pregnant and losing their dreams. But sometimes you can have both your career and your man.

I remember in high school when I had to write 15-20 page papers and I normally got B's on them because of some ridiculous thing called "fluff." More than one teacher had written that on my papers over the years, but I truly never understood the full meaning until this book. The first couple of pages seemed to be a lot to get through, but I just thought it was me. I put the book down and tried again the next day, but it seemed to be just about the same. Just so many words and "fluff" of extra information to get through to get the point across. About 30% into the book I started skipping full pages in between the actual dialogue because I realized it was very repetitive. The story line was great and I was so excited by the concept of this series but I don't think I can get through another book written like this.

This book started out well - we meet Simon, who is career minded, driven, and determined to ensure that his omega flatmates (including his younger brother) and himself graduate and get to follow their dreams, instead of falling prey to some alpha, letting their hormones do the talking, and the omegas ending up pregnant and giving up their dreams while the alphas continue to live theirs. Such a great premise! And based on the title, I was looking forward to a strong omega who would hold his ground until the alpha proved himself worthy. Sadly that is not what happened - all was well and good with Simon, until he meets up with Hunter, and all that goes out the window. As I read on, Simon became the very thing he was campaigning against - a whiny, whingy hormone driven omega who wanted nothing except the alpha to take control and breed him. No other though entered his head! Now I can understand when he was in heat how his hormones might overload him, but after that, it still continued. Simon became the very thing he started the OCC to try and prevent. It made me question the point of the book - was it to show that the omegas couldn't be any more than hormone driven playthings for alphas? Because that's how it came across with such a dramatic change in Simon.

Honestly, that happened so early in the book I was immediately turned off by Simon. He wasn't consistent from a personality perspective, and went from being a strong confident person to someone who didn't talk to his family or friends and his things from everyone. The mis-communication trope is so cliche and groan worthy. Why didn't Simon just talk to Hunter? Why didn't he talk with his brother and friends? He was all over the place.

Honestly, Hunter was the only redeeming factor of the book. He did everything to try and support Simon, tried to respect his wishes regarding celibacy, even when Simon was begging him to just f* him. He was so supportive and sensitive of Simon's dreams, and Simon couldn't even be honest with him. What did Hunter actually see in him?!

The worldbuiding was pretty poor as well. There was no attempt at any explanation with how the A/O world worked, how they connected, how they could tell another person was what designation, how mpreg worked, how fated mates worked, etc. It read as a very antequated MF theme, where the female is expected to give up their job (as in, retire!) and stay home with the baby once it all happens, and only a select few are lucky enough to be able to continue in the workforce, with that considered "progressive" and not the norm.

Needless to say this book wasn't what it promised to be, and in fact was the complete opposite. I won't be reading any more of the series and wouldn't recommend this to anyone. There are probably people out there who would enjoy this type of story, but I'm not one of them - especially when it was advertised and set up as something completely different to how it actually turned out.

Simon is determined to abstain from sex, so much so that he forms a celibacy club and persuades all of his housemates to join. The last thing he wants is to get pregnant and need to drop out of school. But then his heat unexpectedly starts while attending a wedding, and of course his crush since forever, Hunter, is there and very willing to help him out. Very fun! First installment in a series which promises to be off the charts in heat, feels and laughs.

I have previously read the Dragon's Destiny series that this author helped write. So I had some expectations of the way this series would go. I don't really think they're similar at all so don't read this and expect that. I really liked the characters and that's the only reason I'll be continuing this series because I want to see what happens with them. The first thing I didn't like about this book is the very sparse physical descriptions of the characters. I'm not expecting a pause in the story and a complete exposition of their looks but there are ways to work this into the story. Which brings me to the second thing I didn't like, all the inner monologues about what should or shouldn't be done and all the waxing poetic during dirty sex scenes. They barely talk to each other so of course they don't know what the other person really wants and then they get all angsty. And I'm not one to complain about the frequency of length of a sex scene but these just were bogged down by the inner monologues as well. I hope the other books are good because like I said, I did enjoy the characters.

I’ll start my review by discussing Charlie David. I enjoy his narrations because he always delivers a solid and reliable performance. He had distinct voices for each of the male characters (and there were a bunch of them), and handled the rest of the book with a solid narration. I’m glad he helmed this book.

I did enjoy the book although I didn’t love it. The story was fairly predictable – an omega who knows pregnancy will ruin his chances of having a successful career and life beyond being a husband and father. Simon is so worried that he recruits his brother and two friends into creating the Omega Celibacy Club. They take a celibacy (note – not virginity) pledge, dedicated to foreswearing all intercourse with alphas until they graduate university. It’s funny to watch how each member tries to figure out what he can get away with (is oral sex included? what about watching porn?).

Simon, although founding member, soon gives up the pledge. He’s found his mate and he’s on blockers, so what’s the big deal, right? Of course I knew he was going to wind up pregnant. Of course I knew he was going to freak out. Of course I knew things would work out in the end. I was looking for more with this book, the first in the series. I wanted to see character growth, but all I saw was overwrought and anxiety. You’d think there had never been a successful working mother before to set a good example. Or, in this world, a father who gave birth and then went on to a career. Even stories from those close to Simon don’t really move the needle with him. I guess I wanted more differentiation between the standard knocked up and pregnant story. It’s a tried and true trope, but I hoped this would go further.

All that being said, I enjoyed the book and will pick up the next one in the series. I’m interested to see how the other men react to Simon’s fatherhood and their own raging omega hormones.

I liked the support and connection Hunter gave Simon. He waited a long time to claim his fated mate, and he was all in once he did, and I liked that. I liked that Simon had a long time secret crush on Hunter too. Aawww! Tristan was like an over excited puppy- bouncey and everywhere at once. I enjoyed the four omega roomates and would love to follow each on their own stories. They are all unique and added to the storyline. I liked that both main characters wanted what was best for each other- selfless! I loved when Hunter went all alpha and made sure Simon got his vision and his dreams come true. I wasn't a fan of Hunter's alpha mom. She seemed to demean Hunter, and his life choices. They were both alphas, so there was no need for her interfering, rigid, overbearing, posturing with him!! Back off mommy!! The narrator was awesome with all the voices and expressions. I voluntarily listened to a copy of this book and am giving an honest review.

I needed more words from Hunter and Simon!!! There were too many pages of thoughts. Because of that, I found it hard to stay focused. The book would have better with more interaction between Simon and Hunter.

This was a fun romp to read. The two main characters have good chemistry. The side characters are a hoot too. Decent plot and pacing.