Review: Alpha Heat by Leta Blake

Title: Alpha Heat

Series: Heat of Love: Book Two

Author: Leta Blake

Length: 424 Pages

Category: Paranormal, Omegaverse

At a Glance: I enjoyed Alpha Heat immensely. I felt this was an excellent second novel that strengthened the series overall and left me hoping for an equally riveting third book yet to come.

Reviewed By: Sammy

Blurb: A desperate young alpha. An older alpha with a hero complex. A forbidden love that can’t be denied.

Young Xan Heelies knows he can never have what he truly wants: a passionate romance and happy-ever-after with another alpha. It’s not only forbidden by the prevailing faith of the land, but such acts are illegal.

Urho Chase is a middle-aged alpha with a heartbreaking past. Careful, controlled, and steadfast, his friends dub him old-fashioned and staid. When Urho discovers a dangerous side to Xan’s life that he never imagined, his world is rocked and he’s consumed by desire. The carefully sewn seams that held him together after the loss of his omega and son come apart—and so does he.

But to love each other and make a life together, Xan and Urho risk utter ruin. With the acceptance and support of Caleb, Xan’s asexual and aromantic omega and dear friend, they must find the strength to embrace danger and build the family they deserve.

This gay romance novel by Leta Blake is the second in the Slow Heat universe. It’s 130,000 words, with a strong happy ending and a well-crafted, non-shifter Omegaverse. It features alphas, betas, omegas, male pregnancy, heat, and knotting. No cheating. Content warning for brief sexual violence.

Review: Allow me to begin this review by stating two things—first, if you have not read the first book in this series, Slow Heat, then this review will contain spoilers from that novel and not make much sense overall as it hinges on prior knowledge of the first book. Secondly, if sexual abuse and violence are triggers for you, please heed the author’s warning and approach this novel carefully, as there is a particularly intense scene that may disturb you. I will say that while the chapter in question is graphic, it’s also needed in order to hammer home how desperate the main character is when it comes to fulfilling his needs.

Leta Blake leads us once more into the world she created where wolves are the ruling class and alpha males hope to find that one fated mate called their erosgape. Even if they cannot find this natural, intense love, alphas will marry those omegas who are ready to enter into a contract and produce the needed heirs that carry on the all-male wolf line. After Xan lost the man he loved—his closest friend, Jason, who found his erosgape, Vale, in the previous installment in this series—he was forced to take on a contract with a willing omega. Luckily for him, he found Caleb, an asexual and aromantic omega, who loves Xan but feels no sexual attraction for him or need for physical closeness other than when in heat. They have both gone through one disastrous heat together where, despite the pull of the omega’s intense sexual needs, Xan was unable to satisfy Caleb and successfully knot his mate in order to impregnate him.

With rumors flying about Xan being “unmanned” (an alpha who submits sexually to another alpha, which is considered taboo and against the law), his father has punished him by keeping him away from his pater and banishing him to a coastal seaport three hours away from the city in order to secure the family business there. Before he leaves, Xan finds himself drawn to Urho, a friend of Vale’s, and they consummate their mutual attraction. But Urho grapples with the wrongness of wanting another alpha sexually, and Xan fears that he and Caleb will be outed to both his father and the world, which will bring possible imprisonment and certain banishment from society. It is up to Urho to decide if he can put aside the natural taboos surrounding treating another alpha as an omega and embrace his feelings for Xan. With spying eyes surrounding them both, the two men enter into a dangerous liaison that will forever change their lives.

Alpha Heat managed to do the unusual by being better than the first book in the series, in my opinion. Xan was such a desperate character but unlike Jason, whose story was more of a coming-of-age trope, Xan’s desperation stemmed from a desire that went against every law held by the alpha-led society in which he lived. His life is filled with self-loathing brought on by generations of males whose key job is to further the hereditary line lest their family’s fortunes fall to the state when there is no one left to carry on the business. Because his brother is a beta and unable to secure an heir, it falls to Xan to make that happen. Xan’s father has little more than contempt for his son and his omega ways. By threatening to cut him off and disgrace him by declaring him unmanned, he keeps Xan in line and miserable. When it all becomes too much and his natural proclivities take hold, Xan seeks out a repulsive bully who provides him with the sexual release he needs. But that release is short-lived, for the shame and physical pain he endures after are nearly too much to bear.

Xan and Caleb are brilliantly written and become a sort of “everyman” character, standing for anyone who has felt the societal pressure and shame of needing to hide who they really are, and their sexual identities. Touching upon universal themes that many men and women on the LGBTQIA spectrum can relate to, the author reveals with great care and empathy the turmoil those who must hide their sexuality face every day in a world that condemns them. The reader cannot help but be drawn into Xan’s pain or be aware of Caleb’s discomfort and dislike of the intimacy that never feels right. The roles these two men are forced to play in order to survive become chains around their souls, and it is heartbreaking to read. But there is a way to hope and acceptance which leads to a love that enables our heroes to face down the harshest of critics and live the lives they were meant to lead. That is the beauty of this story—the triumph of the will and the love that sustains it.

I enjoyed Alpha Heat immensely. I felt this was an excellent second novel that strengthened the series overall and left me hoping for an equally riveting third book yet to come.

You can buy Alpha Heat here:
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