If you follow my Goodreads then you've already gotten a little overview of this review. It was featured in my Top 5 Omegaverse Youtube Video and (in my opinion) for good reason.
If you don't know what Omegaverse romance is, let me give you the quick and dirty version. Omegaverse focuses on a hierarchy where alphas typically are the ruling party or too aggressive to be in normal society, betas make up most of the population, and omegas are the important ones and usually weak but valued in some twisted way. They are the ones that can mate with alphas. This can either mean they are highly coveted and cared for or mistreated because they're small and submissive and have only one purpose. Omegaverse can very much go any direction, but they tend to be a little darker and harder to stomach for sensitive readers. And that is the case with "After the Fade."
I found that when I was compiling my Omegaverse list, I was having a hard time finding any I truly liked. They were either too brutal and didn't have the romance factor I wanted or they were too hollow and...didn't have the romance factor I wanted. I am ALL for darker romance IF there is an ending that pleases, but many times, there is no love in Omegaverse. Just a lot of knotting and rutting and fluids and growling and spanking.
In this book, we get set up for a dystopian world where omegas are very much needed but also thought of as property. Many are abused and used and discarded when they've outlived their purpose. When our heroine is sent to a wealthy alpha household to basically be the sex slave to three alpha brothers, we get a real idea of how society works. The omega is expected to have sex one or multiple times a day with different partners and not complain. And she doesn't. She takes it hard...this book has a LOT of sex.
When one of the brothers begins to develop feelings for the omega, things start to unfold. The drama happens and secrets start to bubble to the surface about this woman's true identity and where she is from.
Book 1 does leave off on a cliffhanger. Not one that will have you scratching your eyes out, but one you want to see continued nonetheless. Overall, this book was a really fun read. Just brutal enough to feel like the genre. Just sweet enough to feel like a romance. And it had plenty of steamy scenes to keep you company. I will say, there are some parts that will trigger readers who are more delicate to darker themes. Rape does happen on page, but the authors make it clear that in this imperfect society, that kind of brutality is not unheard of. So you see why I might say this book is harder to stomach for more sensitive readers. There are a lot of degrading scenes of dialogue to build the world and get the point across that omegas mean jack sh!t to the majority of society, etc. So be warned.
I personally thought there was enough story to warrant these things. The authors did a good job of building the world up to be brutal and violent and...well..dystopian. So go into it knowing this is NOT our world. It is a dark world where two people have found each other and have become attached. I loved it. It is one of the 10 or so Omegaverse books I really enjoy, and I would recommend it!
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