Omega from the Ocean

Heron Manor, Book 1

By: Amy Bellows

Narrated by: Lance West

Length: 8 hrs and 48 mins

Publisher's summary

An MM Retelling of The Little Mermaid. With dragons.

Merman Jack is a terrible virgin sacrifice. Mostly because he isn’t virginal. At all.

Hopefully the Sea King won’t notice.

For Jack, the human world has too many wonderful temptations, and too many alphas to resist. He only has two months left before he has to give himself to the Sea King, and he doesn’t want to spend them in the cold, dark catacombs where the Mermen of Rixton live. It may be forbidden for Jack to go to shore, but when did that ever stop him?

Peter is a terrible dragon shifter. He can’t figure out what he’s supposed to collect for his hoard. Without his hoard, he can’t do any of the important dragon-shifter things, like take his dragon form or find his fated mate. After years of losing his lovers to their fated mates, Peter’s feeling his age, and he’s tired of being alone.

When Peter sees a beautiful merman on the beach, he thinks he’s finally found his fated mate. Jack falls hard for Peter too, but he knows they can’t be together forever. If Jack doesn’t show up on the day of his sacrifice, the Sea King will kill his father and take his brother instead.

Will the love between a terrible virgin sacrifice and a terrible dragon shifter be enough to change their fate?

Omega from the Ocean is a 77,000-word gritty, age-gap romance with knotting, light D/s, and Mpreg of the dragon-egg variety. While the ending may be an HEA for Jack and Peter, it’s an HFN for the rest of the Mermen of Rixton. Omega from the Ocean is intended for an 18+ audience.

©2019 Amy Bellows (P)2021 Amy Bellows

They did it again!

Once again Amy Bellows has delivered an absolutely amazingly thought out and unique world building experience. This is, in a way, a retelling of the little mermaid. There is some overlap and even homages to the story. 1) the story is actually referenced in the book 2) there's a scene where Jack is holding a fork with disdain and intriguing 3)the villain is an octopus person who deals in trades. but there's also a billion differences that make the story of the little mermaid seem like a faded kids dream in stead of a reference. The sea king is like is Ursula was king trident, the story is way darker at times, the singing or more of a sirens song that a Disney musical. The history and culture is insanely detailed. the character likes curos and staying out of water makes his human skin dry and he uses sign language and he uses frat boys to teach him English. And that's not even touching on the dragon twist on this story. Peter is a dragon trying to find his horde so we learn more about that but we also learn about a different type of dragon than the European styled ones that tend to come to mind. Not to mention Heron shifters are also a thing and that tidbit was great. As a faithful reader, I can connect some information between this story and "an egg for ansel" which references a -ahem- seahorse as well as "expensive" which references dragon culture. This book actually clarifies some of the magic we wonder about in "an Egg for Ansel" as well. And of course you can't help but think of mermaids and the realta when mermen and mer-sign are referenced. truly this book just helps us explore a gradually expending and extensive world that Amy Bellows is creating. I love it when books connect the dots like this. It's like a really kinky, animal based, star wars level of world building. Not to mention the narrating in this was phenomenal. I was skeptical when I saw is was a different narrator but honestly this could Not have been a more perfect narrator for this book. As always, I look forward to what's next.

Great Story

In this story with main characters Jack an Omega merman, slated to be offered to the Sea King and Peter a water dragon, trying to find his hoard and by proxy his dragon find their HEA. I won't say more because the storyline is so well set up. Amy left me wanting to know more about several side characters. I received an ARC of this audio for my honest review.

Fantastic World-Building

I enjoyed listening Lance West brilliantly narrate Omega from the Ocean. His voice and pacing were clear , natural and very pleasing. His delivery convincing , passionate, emotional and funny . This was my first audio book performed by Lance West.

This is an emotionally resonant , original and playful story forged from the ground up. An entire new world building based on interesting and diverse Mythology , Folklore and Urban Legends from all over the world.

A new universe that feels real , logical and organically grown.

The plotlines and subplots are many and varied in intensity, darkness and intrigue. The dialogue and banter is witty at times snarky and informative , moving the narrative along and giving us details in an intuitive and effective way.

The heroes of this story are Jack a Merman and Peter a water Dragon. Their journey to HEA is paved with lots of challenges but also with lots of laughs, yummy food and lots of hot AF sexy times.

Recommend: Yes
Re-listening: Yes

Merman

So good. Loved reading this story and listening to it was a pleasure. The narrator did a wonderful job. This is a age/ gap with a fun loving merman and a intriguing dragon shifter. This has a HEA with a cute egg at the end. Can’t wait for more.

Unique M/M Shifter Take on "The Little Mermaid"

This author has such a talent for creating wholly unique and inventive paranormal worlds that make their stories an adventure to read, this "Little Mermaid" retelling included.

"Omega from the Ocean" has so many terrific elements - age gap, cross-species fated mates, partially shifted smexy times (and lots of smexy times overall), knotting and Mpreg, light touches of D/s and Daddy kink, good vs. evil action and suspense, and some humor - and I enjoyed it all.

Beyond the unconventional coupling of merman Jack and older dragon shifter Peter, the shifter friends and allies around them also really add to the story. I've read/listened to the author's related Alaskan Pebble Gifters series books that are also set in this Heron Manor universe, and it's interesting to see how that world-building all began in this book.

While I liked the story, I had a more muted reaction to the narration. Narrator Lance West does a pretty good job providing distinct voices, but I didn't feel much emotion in his performance overall. I received this free review copy audio book by request and have left this honest review voluntarily.

Might just be my favorite Omegaverse book

While I’ve been reading Omegaverse for a while now, this book encapsulates and solidifies for me the reason I love Omegaverse. There’s so much magic, lore, heartache, dedication and love.

I truly thought that the snuggle books were my favorite Amy Bellows / Omegaverse books, but this book is just so amazing. Definitely a lot more angst and adventure, real conflict and danger in a way that none of Amy’s other books have explored. It’s definitely a different vibe - but it’s an amazing vibe!

I think my favorite part of the book was the hardest to read/listen to. The concept of scales being a physical representation of love and devotion - whether to protect a mate, a parent or a child.

Also this book has mermaids AND dragons and literally what else can you ask for?

A merman and his dragon

Omega from the Ocean is a wonderful story about Mermen, dragon shifters, fated mates, and powerful songs. This is an enjoyable unique story and I didn't want it to end. It has twists and turns and a battle that changed all their lives forever. There are so many wonderful characters and great world building. This author has such a creative mind and is a favorite. Definitely recommend.
Narrator Lance West does an amazing job. He really brings the characters to life. I look forward to listening to more from this narrator in the near future.

Evil shall always be slain

I love Amy Bellows and he brand of adorable fluffiness but I think this one is a little bit difficult to get into in the beginning. While I’m absolutely GaGa for mermen and all kinds of shifters, I think this ploy and world a little bit too complicated and a lot are happening at the same time. An evil sea king, a beautiful merman prince and a roguish merman who has a huge crush on our little merman prince, it has all the right elements for a great story. I really think if this is a bit more simplified in writing and plot, I would definitely rate this a full 5 stars. This was enjoyable and whimsical with lots of likeable secondary characters and lovely MCs. I just wish it’s a bit longer and slow-paced. Still checking out the second book in the series because I’m hooked with this world though. Lance West is a new to me narrator but his performance eas very enjoyable.

3.75 Evil shall always be slain stars
⭐️⭐️⭐️🌟


Audio rating

Story - 3.5 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
Narration - 4 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Performance - 4 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Overall - 3.75 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️🌟

Adorable

I love this story. Amy did a fantastic job writing this. The world building is phenomenal. As for Lance he truly brought these characters to life.

Mermance

Little Mermance romance.
Lance West is a new narrator, and he did a great job narrating, and bringing the characters to life.