Book Review: When He’s An Alpha by Suzanne Wright

The Gist: A steamy paranormal romance that perfectly balances hilarious banter with emotional character development. The Heroine is awesomely self-aware and confident; she stands up for herself without tilting into the ‘not like other girls’ trope. The second chance romance provided some riveting angst but also contributed to the lack of a 5-star rating.

Series: Olympus Pride, #2*

Release Date: March 2, 2021

Format: Kindle Unlimited

Rating: 4-stars

*Each novel in the series is Standalone

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When He’s An Alpha was one of my most highly anticipated reads of 2021! When I was creating my recommendation list, 33 Books About Love for Every Trope, I realized I had read very few books that strictly dealt with paranormal romances. Suzanne Wright’s novels are basically the entirety of my favourite paranormal romances, and as When He’s An Alpha illustrates, for a good reason! I love the banter, friendships, action and romance in her books.

What’s unique about When He’s An Alpha is that the book starts with the Heroine, Havana, trying to break off her fling with the Hero, Tate. Havana decides it’s best because she wants a relationship, whereas Tate doesn’t. I’m just a glutton for punishment because I engaged the angst and emotional back and forth between Havana and Tate as they broke up and struggled to remain broken up. I appreciated a Heroine finally recognizing when a lover is no good for them – Havana obviously liked and respected Tate but knew continuing their fling wouldn’t be good for her… she deserved more – even though they’re super hot. (How many Heroines in romance novels let anything and everything slide because the Hero is hot?)

Havana’s friendships with her best friends were also hilarious! Their backstory made me really excited for some future books about them. Havana’s past also solidified her as an Alpha, demonstrating she can lead a Pride of wild and chaotic shifters.

One of my pet peeves with Suzanne Wright’s novels is the excessive Other Woman and Other Man drama. There was both OW and OM drama in When He’s An Alpha, but I didn’t think it was excessive; it contributed to the plot – it wasn’t just drama for drama’s sake. The OW and OM drama made Havana and Tate confront their pasts and why they had walls up, impeding their relationship. When He’s An Alpha was the first book of Suzanne Wright’s that had an ex-girlfriend show up, I wasn’t annoyed with their characterization. I think it’s because Havana was so unconcerned by the ex-girlfriend’s behaviour that I didn’t find it annoying.

I must explain two tags I used: ‘double standard’ and ‘second chance.’ Tate exhibits double standard opinions when Havana’s ex-boyfriend/fling returns to the picture. Tate’s reasoning for why her ex-fling is such an ass is hypocritical since Tate also wasn’t willing to pursue a committed relationship with Havana until after she almost died. That’s more than 4-months as an exclusive fling, broken up for a bit where Havana does admit she wants more, and Tate doesn’t get his shit together until Havana is shot three times! I liked Tate because Havana did, but I’m so over this misogynistic trope where Heroes only understand how much they care about the Heroine after she almost dies. It’s like the Heroine’s LIFE has to be at risk for the Hero to be emotionally vulnerable; why can’t the Heroine as a human being be worth the risk?

The ‘second chance’ tag is self-explanatory, but I needed to expand on its use since When He’s An Alpha isn’t a typical second-chance romance. For one, there’s no separation between the Hero and Heroine, and neither are with other people while they’re broken up (no dates either). However, Tate has some grovelling to earn Havana’s trust back after failing (multiple times) to take the emotional risk and commit to her. I appreciated that Havana didn’t judge or blame him for not wanting anything but a fling – he never lied about his intentions – but it meant that when he finally realized Havana was worth the risk, he had a lot of trust to regain.

In Conclusion

When He’s An Alpha‘s lack of 5-star rating was because I felt Tate’s reasoning for not wanting a committed relationship wrote him into a corner. While he wasn’t still hung up on his ex-girlfriend, he was definitely still working through the trauma of her leaving him (his Pallas cat rejected woman after woman as a result). Tate’s eureka moment was nice because I wanted Havana and Tate to get together, but it also felt like if it hadn’t happened, he would’ve stayed broken up with Havana. Havana goes out of her way to tell Tate he’s worth the risk (of being hurt), yet Tate is never shown to reciprocate such a sentiment.

Overall, I really enjoyed When He’s An Alpha. The book also introduced some fascinating characters and relationship dynamics. I’m curious if the story of Tate’s brother, Luke, will be next.

Buy When He’s An Alpha

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