Penelope Peters, $2.99, ISBN 978-1005827281
Fantasy Romance, 2017
My unfortunate exposure to the dark and dangerous world of yaoi has conditioned me to think of male pregnancy stories each time I see the word “omega”. Hence, when I see the title of Penelope Peters’s magnum opus, a part of me already steels myself for the inevitable.
It turns out that Camp Lake Omega isn’t yaoi, much less one set in the Omegaverse, so omega Jim Smith isn’t popping out babies from his butt anytime soon. I hope this won’t disappoint people that read too much into a certain word in the title of this story.
In this alternate Earth where the woo and the woof coexist happily, Jim Smith is 20, and it’s about time his parents arrange for him to get a mate. In the meantime, he is going to have one last summer of freedom by going to Camp Lake-Omega-in-the-Pines to be the camp counselor.
Lame. You’d think a guy about to get shackled for life will go ham in Camp Let’s-Orgy-off-the-Rails instead.
Fortunately, the camp has a hot guy, Zachary the alpha, and soon these two are yeeting it up like nobody’s business. Ah, but can love last when it’s not underscored by some complicated mate-mate-mate algorithm?
First thing first: who is the intended audience of this story? Kids that love to read stories about other kids their age marrying young?
Jim is only 20, and already he had lost an intended mate—poor Kevin got killed off prior to this story—so what exactly are we dealing with here? A fantasy setting where teenagers are mated off for good? There’s a 16-year old kid here that is already looking for someone to settle down with, and to me, that’s kind of sad.
Clearly I am way too old compared to the intended audience, whatever that is, because I think these young folks should be given some time and space to go out, find themselves, have fun, and get a steady job and a decent amount of saving first before they settle down. That way, we won’t need to have a sequel with 50-year old Jim realizing one day that he’s let half his life span go pass him without having experienced any semblance of life outside of being an alpha male’s cake bowl, and gets all moody and down as a result.
And when you do meet that omega of your dreams… well, I already explained about estrus, didn’t I? We become raving sex-crazed maniacs, incapable of rational thought.
Wait, who is Zachary talking to? Chapters with Jim’s point of view have a more conventional narration style, but Zachary’s break the fourth wall, and it is distracting. Seriously, is Zachary telling his story at a shrink’s office? This is what happens when these kids marry too young without knowing any better.
Have I mentioned that Zach is 30? Given that beast lust is apparently triggered by pheromones and he’s surrounded by omegas that can go in heat, 16-year old omegas…
Fortunately, the beastie pheromones in this story are fully aware that it may be icky for 30-year alphas to hammer away at the rear ends of 16-year old boys, so there won’t be any reader in danger of being hauled off by the cops anytime soon. The pheromones are also capable of triggering contrived plot developments for force both a so-called romance and a dramatic denouement where Zach comes to Jim’s rescue, just to assure me that this romance is indeed the real thing.
Well, as real as anything that is triggered by things beyond your control can be, that is.
This story is readable, although the author should stick to a more consistent type of first person point of view narration. However, the premise and the whole biology of these critters reek of icky relationship dynamics with plenty of unfortunate implications all around. I can’t overlook that to really get into this one, but who knows, maybe people that can may like this one.
Seriously though, what’s with all these kids wanting to get mated at such a young age? Is this some kind of furry Mormon thing?
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