Alpha's Secret by Renee Rose and Lee Savino

PARANORMAL ROMANCE

Publication date: 01/26/2019
Kindle Unlimited: Yes
Cliffhanger: No

This was a tough one to rate. There was a lot of stuff here that I took issue with, but a lot of stuff that I enjoyed, too. So, I guess I’ll start with what you need to know before you choose to read this one:

1. This is one of those shifter stories where the main character is a bear/biker/MMA fighter. That kind of thing usually annoys me. I mean, aren’t there any shifters with normal jobs? Do shifter plumbers and marketing managers not exist? But I let it slide because, hey, if I’m already suspending my disbelief to accept the fact that he’s a guy who shifts into a giant grizzly bear. Why can’t I accept that he’s also a biker/MMA fighter?
2. It’s a BDSM story in which the heroine is a 24/7 submissive. She likes to be “owned” and cared for. She’s FAR from what you’d call a strong heroine. Normally that’s a DNF for me. But with this heroine, Jordy, it almost works because she’s a fox shifter (a prey animal) who was raised believing she needed to be cared for. And, hey, if she likes a little pain with her pleasure, who am I to condemn her for it? (I will say that the BDSM elements here are pretty vanilla, so if you’re not a big reader of the BDSM erotica category, there’s nothing here that’ll traumatize you.)
3. The hero is an alpha male, but he’s not a dom, which I kind of liked. He struggled to understand why Jordy would want the things she wanted, but he did his best to give them to her.
4. This book is part of a series but reads just fine as a standalone.
5. Some of Grizz’s inner thoughts are cringe-inducing. Like when he mentions how “perfectly trained” Jordy is, and how it’d be nice to come home to a perfect little Stepford wife who greets him with a smile and blow job every day. But if you can tell your inner feminist to take a vacation, you can overlook it because even though he’s gruff and grumpy and blunt, he’s basically a good guy who wants to take care of Jordy.
6. There are some editing errors. Nothing so egregious that I was annoyed... but I noticed. Grammar Nazis might struggle with this one a bit.   

So, even though I’m not a fan of BDSM story elements, weak heroines and alphahole heroes, I still found myself happily invested in Jordy and Grizz’s story. It was kind of weird that I read the whole thing and enjoyed it, frankly. I can only credit the great storytelling, I suppose. (And really, it WAS great storytelling and world-building.)

I will admit, though, that the ending is horrible. It’s not at all what I wanted and it was a super-weak cop-out, in my opinion. I won’t give anything away, but if you read this one, prepare to be annoyed by that ending. That dropped the book a whole star rating for me.

Long-story-short: if you’re a reader who can send your inner feminist on vacation and enjoy reading a little light BDSM action here and there, you could do worse than Alpha’s Secret.

Does this book contribute to or help crush the romance stigma?
It’s stigma-free. No rehab needed.

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