lilibetbombshell's Reviews (2.79k)

I never thought I’d love a pack in this series as much as I loved the Mirakill MC from the second book (Nest of Lies), but then came the Daane and I find myself once again in love. 

Drown My Sorrow is an intense and interesting omegaverse novel with a psychologically and physically disabled omega at the heart of the pack. Aspyn was nearly killed by a flood when she was a teenager, only to survive it with two-thirds of her family gone, a permanent limp, scars, and a lifetime of chronic pain ahead of her. The hits just kept on coming, leaving her with innumerable invisible scars she’s certain will never heal. 

Playing around with the plot structure a bit, Ravine has created a why-choose split into two groups of three alphas who will have to overcome their differences and work together to keep Aspyn safe, bring the series villain Typhor Raines to heel, and begin the work of healing her and each other: The Daane, a gang of three near-feral and definitely criminal alphas who rule the island Aspyn lives on with iron fists, worship her like a goddess, and are her scent matches; and the Raines Pack, who all know Aspyn in some way from the past, have stumbled by the island she lives on while on their pro-surfing retirement tour, and…are her scent matches. The Daane grew up with nothing in rough homes and fought their way to the top of the island’s food chain…literally. The Raines Pack was born into money and privilege and ran away from it all because there were demons on their backs. This isn’t a why-choose format I’m used to with this large of a pack and I enjoyed it a lot. The Daane know the value of time and getting business done and they don’t let the Raines Pack get away with the running they’re so used to. Is it a mess? Yes. They’re all messy. I think, in Daane’s mind, the mess is easier to clean up if there are all hands on deck. 

This book is lighter on the spice than the other books in this series but heavy on the romance and angst. I don’t think you could have a book with this many intense topics and themes without it being this tempestuous and melancholic. Aspyn isn’t the only character with mental health struggles and as the second half of the book proceeds this becomes more and more apparent. Luckily, the Daane are there with their Give-A-Damns on vacation, ready to protect and attack those who might come for their pack. 4⭐️

🩶 What to Expect 🩶

🍒 Why Choose

💣 LGBTQ+

🍒 Polyamory

💣 Pro surfers meet water phobia

🍒 3 rich MMCs running for their lives

💣 3 MMCs who are very much “Touch her and die”

🍒 Massive pack of 6 alphas

💣 Traumatized FMC

🍒 Physical & psychological disability rep

💣 Island setting

🍒 Forced bonding

💣 Nesting issues

🍒 Groveling required

💣 Burn the world for her

🍒 Ruthless alpha barking

💣 More money more problems?

🍒 Tarot cards

💣 Psychic visions

🍒 Lots of water and island metaphors

💣 Typhor being extra douchey

🍒 Abandonment issues

I was provided a copy of this title by the author. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.

File Under: Book Series/Disability Rep/Found Family/Gang Romance/Gray Romance/Kindle Unlimited/LGBTQ Romance/Omegaverse/Polyamorous Romance/Spice Level 2/Sports Romance/Why Choose Romance

Ostensibly, there’s nothing really wrong with Overgrowth: I found it to be too long and I enjoyed the first half a great deal more than the second half, but it was an okay read. I guess therein remains the issue. I really don’t have much to say other than that and going into it I was hoping I’d have a whole bunch to say when I was done. 

I was provided a copy of this title by the author and publisher via Netgalley. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. All reviews rated three stars or under will not appear on my social media. Thank you.

I spend a lot of time reading novels where the fish-out-of-water characters are often the types who often can’t wait to leave home, are glad they left home, or sometimes just resign themselves to the idea they’ve left home. Wake the Wild Creatures is the inverse of that–Talia is like a native plant or animal whose been uprooted from the soil of where she calls home and not only can’t thrive anywhere else but constantly feels the emotional distance and longing for the land she came from. That distance and longing is forged into determination and resolution over the course of this book, even as Talia’s childhood in the community she and her mother started is explored in retrospect. 

Wake the Wild Creatures is a coming of age novel that I would sort into the YA category I’ve seen called “Coming of Rage”: Books for the YA set with strong female protagonists under the age of 21 who are angry (or become angry), are unapologetic about it, and take action. Now, this isn’t a horror novel or even a thriller. It’s just one daughter’s search to understand the world around her, who her mother really is and the reasons for her actions, and her endeavors to return to the only place she knows she’ll call home. 4⭐️

Thanks to Little Brown for Young Readers and The NOVL for the gifted copy of this book. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.

File Under: Coming of Age/Magical Realism/YA Fiction