Reviews

Look at Me Vol. 1 by Tansan

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rita_r's review

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lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

nitzanschwarz's review against another edition

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lighthearted slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No

4.0

B 83% | Very Good

This is just going to be short and sweet, because bottom line I really enjoyed this, and I’m going to buy the next book and read it ASAP. I’ve picked up several books in the last couple of weeks that are objectively good but for some reason, I couldn’t really get into them. But with this book, I now understand that I’m currently in the mood for pure fluff. And that’s exactly what this book is. With a pretty heavy dose of smut, so if that’s not your cup of tea please abstain for your own good lol

For those of you who don’t know, “Omegaverse” refers to stories in which humans have developed a second gender that can be either “omega”, “beta” or “alpha”. Normally betas are the majority while the other two are the minority, although that appears to not be the case for Look at Me. Generally speaking, Omegas and Alphas can secrete pheromones that affect each other, with male omegas being able to bear children and Alphas being the best and most dashing of the population (aka the Elite). In most of these types of stories, the couple would be omega x alpha as those answer to the fantasy of Mpreg and essentially allows readers to see their favorite couple start a biological family. It’s always interesting to explore different pairings in this type of setting, like in this story.

And boy, this one sure made my heart flutter. Heerak is hit by Doseon like a ton of bricks, and to be honest I felt similarly. My heart kept clenching at how matter-of-factly this man thinks himself beneath Heerak (the handsome Alpha) and how hard it is for him to understand why Heerak is taking him out, while simultaneously being like “well, I’m never going to get such an offer ever again, I’m going to stick around until ultimately he bores of me”. I need Heerak to confess already and then spend as much time as needed to convince Doseon that this is forever.

At first, Heerak thought Doseon was strictly average and plain but that was not the case at all. Heerak had misjudged him. This was an objective truth, separate from the fact that Heerak couldn’t think objectively because he was currently completely head over heels for Doseon.

Because this Alpha is 100% head-over-heels in love with the lovely beta who keeps him off balance. And it was very nice to spend most of the book in Heerak’s POV, experiencing exactly how these emotions present themselves and how confusing this experience is for someone who has always been with Omegas. An interesting exploration of the whole genre, really.

Overall, I just really like them as a couple. Heerak is really sweet with Doseon, even if he can be a bit overbearing. Doseon is just adorable, even though he’s the older one in the relationship. And together they’re just so… pleasant. Although I do fear Doseon might think their drive and home dates are because Heerak is ashamed of him, as opposed to the real reason… which is Heerak being insanely jealous and worried he will snap if he so much as sees Doseon looking at someone else (not really healthy, but at least our Alpha knows he’s completely crazy in this.

Now, is this book perfect? Nah-uh. While I really did enjoy the fact the book addressed both the issues of consent and of taking care of your partner during the act, especially in a genre that has been known to dabble in dubious consent due to the concept of “heat” and “rut”, it was slightly off-putting that many of those centered around Heerak and his ego. Basically, my thoughts are, “you get points for trying but you could’ve executed it better”. I also would’ve liked a bit more of Doseon’s POV to experience more of how he’s receiving Heerak’s mood swings and how he’s growing to think of Heerak, because he’s essentially dating a man he’s idolized.

Another point worth mentioning is that, while the translation is mostly smooth (save for a couple of really awkward sentences), there are a TON of editorial mistakes in this kindle edition, such as italics where there shouldn’t be, words with random spaces, words missing letters (usually the first letter), and letters that randomly appear in the middle of sentences, words that are in the wrong place in the sentence (such as “their together hands” instead of “their hands together”) etc. This should really see another round of editing to get it in top shape.

Story and Setting –17/20
Characters –17/20
Relationships –17/20
Translation – 14/20
Reading Experience –18/20

Final Score: 83

Content Warnings