Book: Untamed Bonds by Sadie Owens
Reviewed by Booksbystarlightandshadows
Rating: 3/5
This was an interesting spin on the usual omegaverse tropes. Instead of insta love/lust where biology takes the front seat as in most omegaverses, this instead is super slow burn and the bond isn't treated like a force which can't be denied without any repercussions. Evelyn is recovering from severe mental trauma and this book is more about her journey back to herself than the romance element. Although the connection is there, Evelyn doesn't react to it initially as her mental state is at rock bottom. The Alphas however know exactly what this is and take great pains to ensure everything is on Evelyn's terms.
Evelyn's conditioning at the hands of her previous captors is not magically resolved by finding her mates which I liked but my favourite part of the book has to be Jaxon's humour. There are some really gloomy periods until Evelyn starts to grow stronger and Jaxon provides the majority of the lighter moments to offset it. I did feel a lot of sympathy for Ward on the sidelines; although he was deliberately holding back, compared to Easton and Jaxon, his relationship felt the least developed with Evelyn. I did find the pacing around the middle a little too slow for me overall and some of the dialogue lost me a couple of times when it came to discussing the bond itself but it was still an engaging read. The cliffhanger was definitely an unexpected twist too and has left me interested to see how that will be resolved in book two.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
My interpretation of the star system;
3 stars - I enjoyed it; would read the author again
4 stars - I really liked it; I am invested and definitely want more from this author/series
5 stars - I loved it; I engaged with this book completely until I finished it and it is one I will re-read.