Omegas Gamble (Stormshield #1) by Claire Cullen

Omegas Gamble (Stormshield #1) Reviews

• 
  Beasts & Villains

  🏰🏰🏰WARNING🏰🏰🏰: THIS BOOK CONTAINS THEMES OF: ALPHA/OMEGA-VERSE, ONE ASSHOLE FATHER, MPREG, AND “SEMI” CHEATING/DISREGARD FOR SPOUSE ON PAGE!
  
  Omega's Gamble (Stormshield Book 1):
  
  Rating: DNF 45%
  
  
  
  🏰🧞Hello everyone! I am hoping all is well💜! Sadly, woe is her story for this review🤧. Just when I thought this book would be an amazing combination of shifters, medieval mix with technology , alchemy, and the cover too🥰🥰🥰? It literally went so south that I think I traveled to 🌍☄️the Earth’s core☄️🌍 with how this book flopped😐. So in explaining why this was a read and pass GO ASAP DNFed read, let me say first as usual, please check the listed warnings to make sure they are okay for you! Now, here is a synopsis of this book up next.🧞🏰
  
  
  
  🏰🧞On a royal👑airship, Prince Raine🤴🏻(omega Prince of Ludinia) finds himself looking for anyway out of a horrible marriage match with the 👑👨‍❤️‍💋‍👨Imperial Commission of Royal Betrothals👨‍❤️‍💋‍👨👑 or living the rest of his life in a priory. Just when hope seems lost with finding an Alpha husband, Raine finds out through his omega friends that there are available Alpha princes on the island of 🏰🛡Stormshield🛡🏰. Little does Raine know that his future to be Alpha husband Darien🤴🏻(Alpha prince of Stormshield), is not only reluctant to marry the omega Prince, but has trouble with thieving pirates upon their shores🏴‍☠️. Even without any love between the two men, will that evolve into a love match through time? Or will there be too many obstacles to prevent them from getting to know each other better?🧞🏰
  
  
  
  🏰🧞Even with this book’s interesting premise, I just could not find myself liking/caring for Darien, his sleazy brothers, and just how Raine lapped for any attention Darien offered his way. First off, the scene within the book that really set me off? Was at a party for the younger inhabitants of the family/castle, in which, Darien is drunk, ignores Raine in which the other family members do so (except Etta), AND the asshole dances with some hoeish omega who basically touches and climbs all over Darien! WHILE RAINE IS IN THE ROOM AND MARRIED TO HIM😤! Not only did that make me see red with how he blatantly is “semi-cheating” on Raine while drunk in front of everyone, but for his brothers to back him up/cover him so their father will not find out about him being with someone else? BEYOND DISGUSTING and made all of them unlikable characters I could not find forgiving at all! Plus the fact, Rainewas new to Stormshield and knew NO ONE there, how would Darien think he felt being all alone with no one to really talk to except his cat Ferno, Etta at social gatherings, and the librarian Tennant! Also, with Raine being an omega (within this book-verse at least), he has to have permission to do just about anything from Darien and/or the King Tiberius! So he is left alone, bored, neglected, until Darien decides there is too much sun up his ass, and moves his head to actually realize he is married! Even with his feeble attempts to show his caring side, I was not buying any of it with a 100% off coupon👏! Again, I felt Raine had to accept what Darien offered him whenever he felt like it! Not even mentioning the fact Stormshield has been ignored for so long by the allied kingdoms? Then to treat one of their princes (ignored prince, but still) like garbage? hypocritical, ridiculous, and made me want to lob rocks🪨🪨🪨🪨🪨 at Darien and his family (minus his cousin Etta and the Kind Tiberius)!🧞🏰
  
  
  
  🏰🧞So in short, was VERY disappointed how this read turned out since the premise and with it being Alpha/omega too? Was like 📚🐱booknip🐱📚 for me🤧. Assuming the sequels (if any) within this series will be about Darien’s brothers, I know I will avoid them like Kim Kardashein has done with her common sense🤧. If they are about Raine’s omega friends though? Maybe I would try those out since I did like his best friends 👏! Regardless, this one was another bookish flop and I am left standing here 😐😐😐. Even when I try:🧞🏰
  
  
  *Seems like them unknown book powers taking the L on me🤧.*
  
  
  🏰🧞Cue the violins *(🎻🤧🎻🤧🎻)*. So despite my tragic book DNFed end, I am hoping you all are having some lovely reads to swoon and jump about💜💜💜!🧞🏰
  
  
  
  🎀💋🎀💋🎀💋🎀💋🎀💋🎀💋🎀💋🎀💋🎀💋🎀💋🎀💋
  🕊INSTAGRAM:🕊 @Angel_Dove_Beauty7
  👛TWITTER:👛 @🎀🕊Selene~Moon🕊/(@AyannaM41493002)🎀
  🎀💋🎀💋🎀💋🎀💋🎀💋🎀💋🎀💋🎀💋🎀💋🎀💋🎀💋
  
  
• 
  ~✿ Tala✿~

  My favourite part of the book was the alternative world setting, it was a mix of ABO/regency/alien/magic. I honestly wish we got to know more because I found it so interesting.
  
  I saw a review that this book reminded them of
  Honeythorn by Marina Vivancos and I definitely agree but I think this one did a worse job of redeeming the asshole alpha. The romance was kind of hard to root for, Darien kind of sucked for majority of the book and did not deserve Raine AT ALL. I didn't really feel a connection to their love story, even at the end so it loses a few stars for that.
  
  Nonetheless, it was a decent story but I wish it had delved deeper into the world building and the romance. I will still definitely be reading the next one!!
• 
  vrstal (Ezra S.)

  5/5.
  

  "He eased onto his back, and Raine settled against his side. He cupped the omega’s cheek. “You did it, Raine. You saved the kingdom.” Raine held his gaze, content in his arms. “For you, Darien. I did it all for you.”

  
  
  Omega's Gamble by Claire Cullen is a steampunk fantasy omegaverse with shifters, royalty, war, and a marriage of convenience.
  
  The wordbuilding in this fantasy world was fascinating to me! We don't get to know all the secrets of the world of course, but plenty was brought up that I cannot wait to read this story in its entirety once the author releases them. We are introduced the royal marriage circuit, the consequences of failure, and the expectations that span across different kingdoms of the role of omegas and alphas. I've not really read a lot of steampunk and wasn't sure I'd like it, but the magitek aspect of this world along with alchemy-as-magic was honestly really cool. Not to mention airships! I could totally picture the world in my head, and part of the reference was Kul Tiras from World of Warcraft. If you get that reference, I suppose you are a nerd like myself. Also, there is a prophecy aspect to this, and now that I've put it together I am very excited to read the rest of this series.
  
  The relationship between Darien and Raine was so good - slowburn, angst, marriage of convenience, hurt/comfort... I cried a lot, reading it. I felt so much for Raine, an omega who was hated and blamed for what he could not control, and the circumstances of his escape just being whatever he could accept despite it not being what he needed and deserved. Darien was doing things out of duty, and in a way, more focused on his own plight and assumptions of who Raine was that he does not trust him or help him until someone else points out things that are going wrong. Still even then he disregards the feelings of Raine until he is pointed out just how wrong what he is doing looks like. It is only when he is given the space to see Raine for who he is - another person, not as 'omega' or 'prince' - that he realizes just how special the man he has married is. While this is a slowburn and low heat, the touches and sweet words they share each other was amazing. I felt growth from Darien, and more importantly, the confidence Raine gains in his own abilities.
  
  So if any of that interests you, I highly recommend!
• 
  Daesy

  **grm** (some spoilers)
  
  A bit more romance and this book would have been a full 5 stars for me, but since the romance wasn't an essential part of the story, I rated it 4.5 going near 5 stars. I liked the setting, but I wish there was more world building, probably this book will work well as part of a series. I liked both the MCs, maybe Prince Darien(22?) more than his omega husband, Prince Raine(18?). At start the omega seemed weak and acted too much like a damsel, but later he grew up and showed his true colors, and I liked this part of his personality. Maybe the baby part came way too soon, since they both were pretty young, 22 and 18(I think), but they were happy so...I still have many questions that need answers, I think we need more books and they will probably be about Darien's brothers, Thorne and the youngest one, Rex.
• 
  any

  ”You did Raine. You saved the kingdom.” Raine held his gaze, content in his arms. “For you, Darien. I did it all for you.”
  
  The book follows Prince Raine trying to escape the miserable life he has living with his father and Prince Darien who sees nothing but his duty to protect his kingdom. and them they fall in love.
  
  I really love the omegaverse and who doesn't love a good marriage of convenience? but something was missing. There was almost no chemistry between the characters, the book was slow burn but still didn’t have the development i was expecting, idk.
  It didn't fully deliver what it was promising but it was cute enough to make me happy.
• 
  peach

  I really like arranged marriage/marriage-of-convenience stories and this one had a lot of good conflict and interesting world-building. The political plot was well interwoven with the romance plot, and neither overshadowed the other. Although the secret-keeping and misunderstandings between the main characters were a bit predictable at times, I didn't feel that it ever got too frustrating. The writing was alright, but it annoyed me that there were barely any physical descriptors, especially when it came to the characters' appearances. I have no idea what anyone in this book looked like. And while I liked the emotional development of the relationship the book was also very low steam, which along with the non-existent appearance descriptions made me miss physical attraction as a component of the romance.
• 
  Bizzy

  An omega prince arranges a marriage with an alpha from a remote kingdom. The author had some interesting ideas, from the vaguely steampunk aesthetic to the magical technology to the way shifting works, but there’s simply too much going on in this book and not enough pages to develop all of it. The romance suffers the most; the characters go directly from reluctant tolerance to declarations of undying love without showing any of the steps in between. Readers who are more used to reading between the lines to find romance and attraction may have better luck, but this didn’t feel like much of a romance to me.
• 
  Steph ☀️

  ***3.5 stars***
• 
  Jesslan Rose

  Omega's Gamble
  By Claire Cullen
  
  Third Prince Raine has been given an ultimatum by his father... be betrothed in two months time by the end of the marriage circuit or you'll be banished to the priory for life. It's easier said than done when you're the King's most hated son.
  
  First Prince Darien has been ordered by his father to wed Raine and bring their kingdom a strong ally. Darien agrees, but with one condition... The wedding happens by sunset that evening. Raine agrees knowing this is his only chance to escape the priory and that any marriage is better than a life of servitude.
  
  I absolutely loved this book. I loved Raine. He'd been through so much and treated horribly by his father. For about half the book Darien treated him little better. Ignoring him and encouraging the kingdom to do the same by his actions. Once they both started to give their marriage a chance things turned around for them. Darien spent a lot of his time protecting the kingdom from the constant attacks from pirates and precious little time with Raine.
  
  The world building was adequate, but could definitely have been better in sharing the background of Stormshield and it's Royal family's lineage. Especially with Raine reading up so much on it to get to know his new home. Some of his newfound knowledge could have been shared with us. I loved the alchemy parts of the book. Wish that was a little more in depth too though. I was very disappointed that all of Raine's fathers plans were not spelled out for us. What was shared was like a vague sense of what he was doing and it was never really verified. It was only speculation. I did find that though Darien's family members are shifters it was neat that they could shift into different animals and not just one animal.
  
  The author hinted that this is to be a series with one book for each brother. So that leaves Thorne and Rex yet to find their husband. Seeing as Raine was the first omega to ever step off the marriage circuit airship at Stormshield I'm very curious as to how they find their mates.
  
  The book is in both Raine and Darien's POV though mostly Raine's. The angst level is on the high side just because of how sad the book is.
• 
  Badh

  Great
  
  I really disliked Darien in the beginning and Raine broke my heart. I'm glad that Darien unstuck his head and saw what was in front of him.
  
  I can't wait to read the next one.
• 
  yaishin

  That was good. And Darien is an asshole. I'm not sure I liked the ending- became way too fluffy considering how it started.
• 
  TANIA PARVIN

  The very first book in the Stormshield series and i enjoyed the book immensely. The development of characters, their slow love and the bonding between them , everything is so perfect. Once i started reading i couldn't keep the book down. Had to complete it, was so invested in the story. Raine and Dairen make a wonderful couple. The trust which formed between them slowly after the arranged mating was so worth everything that came after. This new world is so intriguing along with Darien's power to shift into more than species and of course Raine's alchemy. Hope to read the other books soon. A perfect Good Read ❤️
• 
  Danna Iuliana

  I loved this world and cast of characters. The forced marriage trope is my favorite and this didn t disappoint. For me it had everything I enjoy:humor, banter and hurt/comfort which is the best ingredient. I can t wait to see the other brothers find their ones.
• 
  Kathryn Manzella

  Omega’s Gamble by Claire Cullen is the first book in the Stormshield series.  I am so excited for this series and this book did a stellar job at introducing the world to us readers.  Elements of mpreg, royalty, pirates, mystery, and magic make this story fascinating and hard to put down.  Raine and Darien are great characters and really deliver the romance.  Loved it!
• 
  Poplora

  3.8
• 
  Shweta

  Cute book. It was hard to see the attraction though.
• 
  Amneris Cesare

  Very interesting and enjoyable. Not particularly original but well written and well depicted. Liked it very much
• 
  Laks

  3.5 stars
  
  ABO dynamics with royalty and magic/alchemy.
  
  An interesting storyline on shifters full of intrigue and drama . Liked it and going for the next book in series.
• 
  the kevin

  3.5 stars rounded up
  
  This reminded me a bit of Honeythorn by Marina Vivancos, in the sense that there’s an omega coming in as an outsider, as a political type marriage, and a cranky jerk of an alpha. I liked that Raine had his own interests, and he did stand up for himself even if he did it secretly. Darien was a blockhead. I had some trouble connecting with him as a character.
  
  World building:
  
  This is a fantasy steampunk-ish setting, with kingdoms and royalty. Airships, clockwork, some sort of magic (alchemy). It’s a/b/o, no fated mates, mpreg, kind of arranged/forced marriage, and has shifters. It’s a unique setting. I wish it had been explored more.
  
  This takes a larger view of their world, no small scale political scheming happening. It’s all on the country scale, and a country-alliance scale. Even that tends towards the lighter side, outside of pirates and resource-stealing.
  
  I’d have been interested to learn more about the political machinations, or something more...involved. There were some new questions opened up about their world and other kingdoms at the end, so maybe this’ll be expanded on in the next books.
  
  Romance:
  
  The romance was a bit light for me, on the emotional side. It was a slow burn, but I didn’t quite buy into them connecting when they finally got around to it. Darien stayed too stupid about things for me to connect well, though Raine had a better emotional spectrum to work with. Pretty low steam imo.
  
  Overall, it was a decent read. It kept my attention, though I wish it had gone a bit deeper on all counts.
• 
  Ntokozo M

  3.5 stars!
  
  I haven’t been able to read in like 2 weeks because I’ve been so sick but I came back to it with a Claire Cullen and I have no regrets! I loved this book. We land on an island called Stormshield, one ostracized by others and one which is the last hope for our omega Raine who needs to get married or face a life of drudgery in the priory. Enter Darien, the oldest of the island’s three princes and a man more focused on warding off the recent onslaught of pirate attacks than making nice with a husband.
  
  I love a good marriage of convenience and throw in a little magic, a little prophecy and you’ve got me hooked! I really enjoyed the setting which, although harsh and cold, showed itself to be a place where love could grow and hope could flourish.
  
  I’ll definitely be back to the island as soon as book 2 is out!
• 
  Amparo

  Raine looked bemused. "You don't strike me as a cat person."
  
  Darien thought of the variety of cat forms he could shift into.

  
  
  Yes, Darien can literally turn into a cat.
  
  Anyway.
  
  This is the first ABO novel I have read, and I thought it was fine! It was not great, and I have no desire to keep reading, but it was an enjoyable and quick read. While I'm not familiar with all the variety of ABO tropes out there, I was just pleased that there was no scent/mate stuff, since I have had more than enough of that from ACOTAR (which should be honorary ABO, probably). There was shapeshifting, though. Not my thing, but at least the plot made use of it.
  
  The romance was cute enough, a nicely paced arranged marriage with "he loves me, he loves me not" type angst leading to a cookie-cutter happy ending. The characters relied heavily on romance novel tropes, and everything was pretty predictable.
  
  The world building was really good for such a short novel, and I just kept wanting...more info!! And more info communicated in a better way. Both plot points and world building details were sometimes communicated via hearsay, like "Oh, by the way, I chatted with this person who explained XYZ important facts," which was extremely unsatisfying, especially when it was used to wrap things up at the end. But the world building has solid bones and an intriguing setup in terms of the international political layout and the technology/magic available. The political structures are not well-explained, but there appear to be independent countries (kingdoms with monarchies), some of which have alliances with each other, in an overall imperial system of some kind (which is never explained further). There's very advanced tech, some of which works by alchemy, but it's mixed in heavily with non-tech stuff, from gaslights to swords, which makes for a fun setting.
  
  I gave a bit of side-eye at first when the tiny kingdom of Stormshield, with an inhospitable climate and few allies, was explained as being almost entirely self-sufficient while fighting a war of attrition against an inexhaustible enemy. Like, what is this, fantasy North Korea?! True autarky is pretty much impossible. But the story explained how this could work (within the novel's world) and why the kingdom decided to do it...and it actually made some sense. I would probably make some different choices if I was in charge of Stormshield, BUT okay, you do you.
  
  Things I did not like were the mysterious lack of women (there is one named woman, who is a secondary character); the writing, which was merely okay at best and stilted at worst; the very rushed last 20% of the story with a lot of "Now I am explaining a thing, and quickly because the story's almost over"-type dialogue; absolutely NO explanation of what a "sky cat" is (the sky cat in question being Raine's pet); the epithet "most hated son" for Raine because uhhhhh does that mean Raine's father hates his other children too? It didn't sound like it? Very confusing wording. And it kept. Showing. Up.
  
  And...finally...uh...I know the whole point of romance novels like this is to show women and/or "omega" men casting off the shackles of traditionally feminine pursuits and thereby challenging stereotypical views of women/omega men, while still being woman/omega enough to bag a man. It's very much the "not like other girls" thing. BUT talking down activities traditionally performed by women, like fiber crafts, is at its heart a shade of misogyny. In this case, it's mostly internalized misogyny by Raine, since most everyone in Stormshield doesn't care if he's interested in embroidery versus doing science (Etta and Darien just lump them all together as his "hobbies"; Raine is the one who explicitly distinguishes gendered activities) but I hate seeing it on the page.
• 
  Katherine

  Hope for the future
  
  A really exciting and fast paced start to a series!
  
  Raine is stuck with either marriage or the Priory a royal omega, and since his father hates him it will be the Priory if he doesn't find a husband his very first season. As the season is winding down and no prospects seem to remain Raine takes a wild chance and presents at the kingdom of Stormshield, where no omega has gone in years.
  
  Darien always believed in love but when he first met omegas from other kingdoms during his season out he realized that wouldn't be a possibility. Not only is Darien thought to be a "barbarian" for still being a shifter and a hard working royal, but his kingdom is looked down upon and a match will never come. When an omega from a prominent kingdom unexpectedly comes on his season Darien is determined that this is a prank; when an offer of marriage is accepted he thinks it is something far more nefarious. Darien won't allow himself to feel for Raine as he seeks to find what threat he poses.
  
  It is difficult for these two as there are so many secrets and problems at the start. Stormshield is a kingdom under threat as the major kingdoms are subtly testing it for attack. Raine doesn't know what he is walking into and with how isolated and small the kingdom is, coupled with the mistrust from Darien, Raine is rather miserable and alone. Darien is working hard to protect his kingdom and doesn't seem to have time for him and keeps everything hidden. Only when it becomes clear that Raine is no spy do the two start to come together, but Darien has to make up for his mistreatment from before.
  
  It was great how this book had both the traditional roles as well as the challenges to those. Things that omegas can't do or aren't expected to do are challenged, as are the expectations of alphas. It was a great journey with a truly unexpected (and yet so obvious) reveal that brings about all the secrets and concerns. A great read that promises an engaging series!
• 
  Meghan

  First Take: Yikes. I could barely get through this one. I’ve read several Omegaverse books at this point in my romance journey, and in my experience, this genre comes with certain expectations: namely an exploration of the power dynamic and insta-attraction (ie. STEAM) that tends to occur between alphas and omegas (it can be heckin’ exciting and NSFW). This book had none of that. At best it could be considered nominally an Omegaverse novel, thanks to the fact that the words “alpha” and “omega” are used throughout the text, and perhaps that is part of the reason for my disappointment. I also just found myself not really caring about, well, anything. It is a fantasy novel that features a little bit o’magic and shapeshifting (always a win!), but there is no real passion between any of the characters, and the emotions just fell flat for me. Try as I might, I just couldn’t make myself believe in it.
  
  Praises: It takes incredible imagination to come up with ideas for a fantasy novel, and this one was pretty imaginative. I enjoyed the gentle reveals and world-building, I am a sucker for magic. Still waiting for my invite to Hogwarts, though.
  
  Critiques: The romance here is slow without any real burn to speak of. There is little depth to the characters and no real passion or desire. I mean, I was told there was desire but I didn’t feel it. As far as romances go, it’s decidedly less-romantic. Great books take you on a journey, but this one felt stagnant and flat. There were stakes, but I just didn’t care about them.
  
  Steam: 2/5
  Swear Jar: 2/5
  Tropes: Alpha hero, Marriage of Convenience, Strangers-to-Lovers, Magical Hero, Royalty, Secrets & Lies, Shape Shifters
  Triggers: None
  
  Check out the full review here:
  The Hopeless Romanticist
• 
  Heather

  4.5 stars!!!
  
  This was sooo close to a five star for me. The storyline was EXCELLENT! I was immediately drawn in by the curious world. An unwanted omega forced to give himself to an alpha prince no one would bother with or be sent away to rot in a priory. But Raine is proud despite being made to feel worthless by his father and kingdom. He wants to find an escape even if I means offering himself to a prince who is forced to take him since Raine was the only one willing.
  The beginning was a little hard since they didnt really want one another. They both felt forced and reluctant to even know one another. But Raine uses that time alone and secluded in the castle to begin to grow his real passion…Alchemy! While Darian avoids him trying to hide his own secrets. Secrets about their secluded kingdom… secrets about his family’s shapeshifting ability. But then Darien realizes he has misjudged and mistreated Raine and they begin to grow to care for one another. Through in some crazy great magic, some villains and a trickster and it was all down hill from there. I LOVED the world building and how they revealed their secrets slowly to one another. I loved how I’m the end it all felt like fate my only complaint is the romance was a little tame. I wanted some more passion and details about their feelings. This definitely reads like a historical romance but it’s definitely a paranormal/ABO/fantasy/sci-fi like hybrid romance. I got vibes from so many things like the movie the fifth element for sure. A great story about how Raine, an unwanted cast aside omega, saved a kingdom and fulfilled his destiny.
  Ps there is one steam scene in this but it’s like a 2/5 on the steam chart
• 
  Teeny

  2,5 stars rounding up.
  
  This is one of the books that for me was better enjoyed while I skimmed the heck out of it.
  
  Gotta say I was drawn to the cover and blurb of the second book
  Alpha's Oath and I gotta say after reading and thoroughly enjoying Marina Vivancos's
  Cherryvine and
  Honeythorn I thought to stay on the A/B/O train on which its stories should be my catnip but somehow rarely work for me (mostly it's the OTT drama). Anyways back to here... so when I noticed that Alpha's Oath is actually book 2 and I had a 4-day weekend thing here I downloaded in KU this as well.
  
  Magic, A/B/O, fantasy, regency like promised romance, what's not to like? Hmmm the fact that it took ages for the story to actually go somewhere! Seriously for 246pgs, even while skimming, it felt endless with rehashing the same things again and again. Yes there was certainly heartfelt moments and things were building towards those but Darien and Raine had little interaction and romance build between them in the end.
  
  Still it wasn't a bad read just not one to hold my attention to read it thoroughly.