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tayloura 's review for:
The Beta: Part Three
by Avanne Michaels
I want to preface this by stating this review is going to be negative and it’s nothing against the author, she’s actually really nice but I’m extremely disappointed with this conclusion to this trilogy…and in hindsight the story overall.
Let’s start with the first thing. I have no triggers so I do not particularly pay attention to TW/CWs. If anything, I often use them as a menu to determine if a book is really going to cater to my dark tastes. I recently learned that Avanne had a distasteful response to those who wanted the series to have more detailed list of trigger warnings. At first I was confused because I definitely remembered some sort of warning but even as the third book comes out, this warning has not changed. It is very generic “this book has dark themes” (paraphrasing here) but on her website there is an actual list of the TWs ex) r*pe, violence, etc., this is what should’ve been included in the first place. I don’t think it was too much to copy and paste that or include it vs the response that was given. I think readers deserve more respect than that.
This part will have spoilers to read at your own discretion. I am going to speak my mind so if you don’t like it, I don’t care because this is my review and I said what I said lmao.
girl what the hell was this. I honestly don’t understand what happened with this series at all. These types of omegaverse series have very niche audiences and this one is NOT for those of you who read darker themes in order to relate to the emotions and revel in the HEA/rescue of the main character while also cheering for her growth and strength. This review will spoil across all three books.
There are so many inconsistencies that I honestly don’t even understand what the plot was meant to be. I honestly loved book one. It was brutal, dark, contained bullying and threw our fmc right into some gruesome trauma. I left that book thinking book 2 would have an insane amount of grovelling and self navigation to deal with the traumatic events that occurred. That didn’t happen. In fact, when I dropped a review about how I didn’t understand how she was magically able to move on from such a gruesome sexual assault and horrible treatment from the pack, people wanted to tussle about it.
Book 2 was extremely mid. It was essentially filler that I thought “oh okay…we’re setting up for book 3 where then we will get our justice!”. I ignored a lot of the flaws in book 2 thinking that it would all tie together in book 3. Especially after she hadn’t accepted being an omega, took suppressants, had a bond forced on her, and held a gun to her head because of it. I mentioned that there should’ve been some sort of PTSD and authentic trauma responses and that I didn’t like how Jasper was very clearly the main focus in a review but people (not the author) wanted to tussle so I dipped while I was ahead and removed the review lmao.
Now onto book three. I received an unedited ARC for this book so maybe things have changed but I doubt it.
That trauma? It does not and will not get addressed in a way that makes any sense. This book was terrible, especially because of the inconsistencies, lack of character development, and the horrible disregard for the sexual assaults and trauma that occurred.
The book is 85% sex and 15% random plot that doesn’t make any sense at all. I opened the first page and it was immediately sex. Normally that’d be okay(I mean I’m not a prude, I love a good wrestling match) but it was mostly extremely descriptive and just plain weird especially that first chapter. I didn’t even get a chance to set the mood and get a feel for what was happening before my face was in somebody’s crotch.
SPOILERS:
- Talia was so controlling the entire novel that it did not leave room for any of the characters to grow in some fundamental way. They all quite literally revolved around Talia and her word, regardless of the fact that there are TWO omegas. It was passed off as being so overcome for worry for everyone just for her to take that worry and to turn it into rage and make so many demands of the alphas and treat them horribly.
- I honestly cannot tell you anything of substance about most of the characters because the POVs were so inconsistent, one dimensional, and of course only revolved around Talia. But I can say Nathan had PTSD from book 2. Nightmares and such were mentioned but we see none of that. It does get “resolved” but that’s the end of that.
Let’s talk about if Talia accepts if she’s an Omega.
No. You surprised? Me too. In fact, she hated it and the heat cycles so much that her solution was to get pregnant. Regardless of the fact they haven’t been a pack for that long, her and Devon literally barely speak, Nathan has PTSD, and they simply all are not functioning on a level that a baby should be in. Fictional world or not. But they actually did it. By chapter 12?, she got pregnant to avoid having a heat cycle and dealing with the fact that she’s an omega. But it was put under the guise that she needs to be in control and doesn’t like having that control taken from her. Oh wow, it’s almost like she was gang raped twice and that could be related. We could’ve easily had a therapist involved and some omega classes to help her(something…anything rational??) but no, immediate pregnancy. Imagine irl someone comes up to you and says they were tired of having a period so they got pregnant yet their life is in literal shambles lmao.
Let’s talk about Talia’s trauma:
There are these crumbs of signs that Talia has some PTSD or is experiencing negative responses to the trauma she’s faced. For example, her extreme and constant anxiety surrounding them being safe and unharmed, her literal panic attack at the sight of her rapists father, her not allowing Devon near her in a lucid state, etc. They keep trying to talk to her about it all. Saying “you went through so much it’s okay”, “it’s clear you’ve reached your limit”, etc. Her response? She says that she’s fine and that everything happened because she chose it. She says “I don’t know why you guys keep trying to force me to react in a certain way. It happened and I accepted it and moved on”. She says chose to be abused in those ways and that there’s nothing to worry about because she herself would’ve done it all over again and she would’ve did everything Devon and co. did if she was in their shoes. She wanted to be ditched at the hospital in favour of Jasper, abused, etc. All in the name of Jasper. Of course she’s told that it wasn’t right, but it’s Talia. Talia never listens to anyone but herself. Never in my life have a read a book when there’s two brutal assaults and the author makes it okay by having the fmc saying it was her decision and she would do it again. I’m astounded that I even read the things she said in response. But I guess sexual assault is an okay consequence if you make the choice. She was more mad at Devon than she was at anyone who assaulted her.
Of course this all becomes confusing when Talia is in heat trying to get pregnant she says that her issue with Devon is that he left her. But… another alpha was there with him that night and left too and she has no problem with him so again couldn’t tell you. But of course all is resolved because Talia finally admitted what was wrong and gets preggers.
At this point I’m at about 60% in and I’m over it. I’m over the bandaid pregnancy, I’m over the complete disregard for the brutal SA, I’m over Talia having this one sided beef with her mom that’s never explained…like what’s the issue with that? Is it because she’s over protective and can do the most sometimes? She’s an omega clearly in her nature as Talia does the exact same damn thing. I’m over Talia being so controlling and flat. Whatever…then we get introduce to this weird conspiracy plot point that makes no sense. Like cut the cameras.
Anyway I’m getting off track, at this point at 60+% I’m just lost and over it. I skipped a couple chapters because I’m trying to figure out at what point does she accept being an omega and deal with her trauma. But no it doesn’t happen. We have babies and end on more sex. Did I mention that most of the book was sex? Because it was, I had to push past all the dick to get to the plot. This book is often compared to Pack Darling they are NOT the same. Frankly, I think if the author took out the “dark” aspects then this book would be sweet verse. The end of book 1, all of book 2, and just jump into book 3 and tweak it some then I think it’d just be your run of the mill omega sweet verse novel and that’s it. But with those parts in it? Nothing makes sense because nothing was addressed with substance, all telling no showing.
I rarely, if ever, do a genuine critical review but reading a character say that her brutal gang rape was her choice and that she’d do it again for her partner…without any sort of consequences from such a graphically described event…having pregnancy be a solution to…heats I guess? Idk. This series needed some sensitivity readers, alphas, and betas to at least point out the illogical aspects that occurred.
Let’s start with the first thing. I have no triggers so I do not particularly pay attention to TW/CWs. If anything, I often use them as a menu to determine if a book is really going to cater to my dark tastes. I recently learned that Avanne had a distasteful response to those who wanted the series to have more detailed list of trigger warnings. At first I was confused because I definitely remembered some sort of warning but even as the third book comes out, this warning has not changed. It is very generic “this book has dark themes” (paraphrasing here) but on her website there is an actual list of the TWs ex) r*pe, violence, etc., this is what should’ve been included in the first place. I don’t think it was too much to copy and paste that or include it vs the response that was given. I think readers deserve more respect than that.
This part will have spoilers to read at your own discretion. I am going to speak my mind so if you don’t like it, I don’t care because this is my review and I said what I said lmao.
girl what the hell was this. I honestly don’t understand what happened with this series at all. These types of omegaverse series have very niche audiences and this one is NOT for those of you who read darker themes in order to relate to the emotions and revel in the HEA/rescue of the main character while also cheering for her growth and strength. This review will spoil across all three books.
There are so many inconsistencies that I honestly don’t even understand what the plot was meant to be. I honestly loved book one. It was brutal, dark, contained bullying and threw our fmc right into some gruesome trauma. I left that book thinking book 2 would have an insane amount of grovelling and self navigation to deal with the traumatic events that occurred. That didn’t happen. In fact, when I dropped a review about how I didn’t understand how she was magically able to move on from such a gruesome sexual assault and horrible treatment from the pack, people wanted to tussle about it.
Book 2 was extremely mid. It was essentially filler that I thought “oh okay…we’re setting up for book 3 where then we will get our justice!”. I ignored a lot of the flaws in book 2 thinking that it would all tie together in book 3. Especially after she hadn’t accepted being an omega, took suppressants, had a bond forced on her, and held a gun to her head because of it. I mentioned that there should’ve been some sort of PTSD and authentic trauma responses and that I didn’t like how Jasper was very clearly the main focus in a review but people (not the author) wanted to tussle so I dipped while I was ahead and removed the review lmao.
Now onto book three. I received an unedited ARC for this book so maybe things have changed but I doubt it.
That trauma? It does not and will not get addressed in a way that makes any sense. This book was terrible, especially because of the inconsistencies, lack of character development, and the horrible disregard for the sexual assaults and trauma that occurred.
The book is 85% sex and 15% random plot that doesn’t make any sense at all. I opened the first page and it was immediately sex. Normally that’d be okay(I mean I’m not a prude, I love a good wrestling match) but it was mostly extremely descriptive and just plain weird especially that first chapter. I didn’t even get a chance to set the mood and get a feel for what was happening before my face was in somebody’s crotch.
SPOILERS:
- Talia was so controlling the entire novel that it did not leave room for any of the characters to grow in some fundamental way. They all quite literally revolved around Talia and her word, regardless of the fact that there are TWO omegas. It was passed off as being so overcome for worry for everyone just for her to take that worry and to turn it into rage and make so many demands of the alphas and treat them horribly.
- I honestly cannot tell you anything of substance about most of the characters because the POVs were so inconsistent, one dimensional, and of course only revolved around Talia. But I can say Nathan had PTSD from book 2. Nightmares and such were mentioned but we see none of that. It does get “resolved” but that’s the end of that.
Let’s talk about if Talia accepts if she’s an Omega.
No. You surprised? Me too. In fact, she hated it and the heat cycles so much that her solution was to get pregnant. Regardless of the fact they haven’t been a pack for that long, her and Devon literally barely speak, Nathan has PTSD, and they simply all are not functioning on a level that a baby should be in. Fictional world or not. But they actually did it. By chapter 12?, she got pregnant to avoid having a heat cycle and dealing with the fact that she’s an omega. But it was put under the guise that she needs to be in control and doesn’t like having that control taken from her. Oh wow, it’s almost like she was gang raped twice and that could be related. We could’ve easily had a therapist involved and some omega classes to help her(something…anything rational??) but no, immediate pregnancy. Imagine irl someone comes up to you and says they were tired of having a period so they got pregnant yet their life is in literal shambles lmao.
Let’s talk about Talia’s trauma:
There are these crumbs of signs that Talia has some PTSD or is experiencing negative responses to the trauma she’s faced. For example, her extreme and constant anxiety surrounding them being safe and unharmed, her literal panic attack at the sight of her rapists father, her not allowing Devon near her in a lucid state, etc. They keep trying to talk to her about it all. Saying “you went through so much it’s okay”, “it’s clear you’ve reached your limit”, etc. Her response? She says that she’s fine and that everything happened because she chose it. She says “I don’t know why you guys keep trying to force me to react in a certain way. It happened and I accepted it and moved on”. She says chose to be abused in those ways and that there’s nothing to worry about because she herself would’ve done it all over again and she would’ve did everything Devon and co. did if she was in their shoes. She wanted to be ditched at the hospital in favour of Jasper, abused, etc. All in the name of Jasper. Of course she’s told that it wasn’t right, but it’s Talia. Talia never listens to anyone but herself. Never in my life have a read a book when there’s two brutal assaults and the author makes it okay by having the fmc saying it was her decision and she would do it again. I’m astounded that I even read the things she said in response. But I guess sexual assault is an okay consequence if you make the choice. She was more mad at Devon than she was at anyone who assaulted her.
Of course this all becomes confusing when Talia is in heat trying to get pregnant she says that her issue with Devon is that he left her. But… another alpha was there with him that night and left too and she has no problem with him so again couldn’t tell you. But of course all is resolved because Talia finally admitted what was wrong and gets preggers.
At this point I’m at about 60% in and I’m over it. I’m over the bandaid pregnancy, I’m over the complete disregard for the brutal SA, I’m over Talia having this one sided beef with her mom that’s never explained…like what’s the issue with that? Is it because she’s over protective and can do the most sometimes? She’s an omega clearly in her nature as Talia does the exact same damn thing. I’m over Talia being so controlling and flat. Whatever…then we get introduce to this weird conspiracy plot point that makes no sense. Like cut the cameras.
Anyway I’m getting off track, at this point at 60+% I’m just lost and over it. I skipped a couple chapters because I’m trying to figure out at what point does she accept being an omega and deal with her trauma. But no it doesn’t happen. We have babies and end on more sex. Did I mention that most of the book was sex? Because it was, I had to push past all the dick to get to the plot. This book is often compared to Pack Darling they are NOT the same. Frankly, I think if the author took out the “dark” aspects then this book would be sweet verse. The end of book 1, all of book 2, and just jump into book 3 and tweak it some then I think it’d just be your run of the mill omega sweet verse novel and that’s it. But with those parts in it? Nothing makes sense because nothing was addressed with substance, all telling no showing.
I rarely, if ever, do a genuine critical review but reading a character say that her brutal gang rape was her choice and that she’d do it again for her partner…without any sort of consequences from such a graphically described event…having pregnancy be a solution to…heats I guess? Idk. This series needed some sensitivity readers, alphas, and betas to at least point out the illogical aspects that occurred.