Lilacs and Leather

Pack Saint Clair, Book 1

By: Thora Woods

Narrated by: Matt Haynes, Maeve York

Length: 13 hrs and 47 mins

Publisher's summary

She's safe as long as she's hidden.

Lydia Anderson is an unbonded omega who left her life behind to escape a family more interested in their status than protecting their daughter from an alpha who won't take no for an answer. It took everything, but Lydia managed to break free, running as far as she could. Now she lives with her head down, avoiding attention.

Her past is still on the hunt. And she can't get caught again.

Pack Saint Clair is everything Lydia has been taught to want. They're rich, influential, and beautiful. A chance encounter sets her on a collision course with the three alphas and their beta, and instincts long ignored flare to life, setting fire to all of their carefully laid defenses. But Lydia knows that if something sounds too good to be true, it usually is. Pack Saint Clair has a secret, one that could destroy everything they've worked to create. And that skeleton in their closet has set its sights on Lydia.

When the past comes to call, can the pack keep their omega safe?

Lilacs and Leather is the first book in the Pack Saint Clair series, which will feature MM, MMF, FF, and poly relationships. This story touches on subjects that may be triggering to some listeners, including descriptions of past abuse (see content warning for more details). While there will be bumps in the road, this series will end with an HEA.

©2021 Thora Woods (P)2022 Pink Flamingo Productions

One of my favorites!

I absolutely loved this book. So much so, I plan on owning it in audio, ebook, and physical copy! Can’t wait for book 2 on audio and book 3 will be released soon!

omegaverse

This story is so different from what I normally read. An omegaverse story that very interesting. This kept my interest with all the different
components going on.. The characters and their relationship is developed with understanding, kindness. It's Sexy steamy, danger with a mindblowing cliffy. There are trigger warnings to pay attention to.
Matt Haynes and Maeve York narration is very good.
🎧🎧audiobookObsession 🎧🎧

Lilacs and Leather

This is the first book in Pack Saint Clair series. What just happened? Why did it end? I was not prepared for that ending. This is an amazing Omegaverse book. Lydia Is a feisty omega. She is on the run from her ex. She was scared of Alphas when she met Rhett. He quickly changed her mind. Lydia was from a bee conventional pack. They believe an Alpha can do whatever he wants to his Omega. When she got to know Rhett and Mateo they showed her a new outlook on relationships and how to love. This book may contain triggers for some. This book ends on one heck of a cliffhanger. I need book 2 immediately. Maeve York and Matt Haynes did a phenomenal job narrating this book.

Loved It !!!

I adored this book and am so looking forward to the rest of the series ...This puts everything you have thought about Omegas and pack dynamics on a new axis...

I Fricken Love this story!!!💕💕💕💕💕

I couldn't stop listening to this book!!!
I'm totally listening to the second book tomorrow.
This series is going in my favorites folder!!
💕💕💕💕 BRAVO to all that were involved.💕💕💕💕

Love the story

I read this book when it first came out and loved it then, but then sat on the series for a while because I knew I would need to reread the first book to start the rest. Thankfully the audiobook was available since rereading in a new format makes a reread more interesting.

Overall the audiobook was good, but I struggled a bit with the male narrator. His slow drawl was rather irritating, and sometimes I swear he sounded high. I wish he had just spoken a little more normally.

The female narrator was decent, though I feel like her voice just wasn’t what I pictured for the heroine.

I am excited for the next book to finally find out what happens! Though I am anxious too, because it just can’t be good.

Great Start to a new series!

This was my first story from author Thora Woods and I dont regret it at all!! What happens when a group of "good" Alphas are the ones taken advantage of? Read this to find out! This story has MM and a female Alpha so FF should also be expected.

Interesting twist on omegaverse

The opening sufficiently hooked me into the world and had me liking and rooting for the female lead … when it eased into a sweet, old-fashioned first-date with courting vibes, I nearly swooned.

I don’t read a ton of omegaverse, though I may have to change that—this was pretty fun. Tropes, etc. to love (or steer clear of, if you find any of them triggering):

💜 Super sweet, over-the-top, protective, caring, open-minded âlphã.
💙 An omega who has escaped (and is still traumatized from) abüse.
💜 Toxic, backwards, overbearing family. Cult-like vibes here.
💙 Contemporary setting, but with omegaverse hierarchy.
💜 Knotting.
💙 A bit of mild darkness (in the FMC’s flashbacks).
💜 [Redacted due to censorship.]
💙 Witty banter, which could be hilarious at times.
💜 Healthy polyamory.
💙Found family.
💜Endless drama.
💙Suspense.

Overall:
Fun read, ended on a cliffhanger. Will read on in the series and would read more from this author.

4 stars.


One thing I didn’t love was the way things are sometimes repeated—for example one scene plays out in one lead’s POV, and then I had to hear it again in the other’s. Some readers may appreciate hearing/reading things twice with varying POVs, personally I get under-stimulated in the redundancy, and would rather the story keep moving forward.

I’ve nothing against steamy scenes at all, but some of these would go on and on and on … and on …. And then on some more. I did feel bored before they were over, I found, for all of them. (I suspect many readers enjoy this though! No hate!)


Audio:
These narrators sounded good—for the most part. Some of the male parts had poor sound quality, as if he was under water or something … it was especially noticeable after switching over from what were mostly flawless female parts. (Though a little bit her her parts had this going in, it was a bit more subdued than his.) 3-star production. This was surprising as the 🦩PFP books I’ve heard have typically been flawless until this.

Such a great RH OV

I wasn’t sure what to expect from this RH/OV series, and it had been in my wishlist for awhile, so when I was able to get my hands on this first book in the series I jumped on it, and I am so glad I did, as it is one of my favorite OV books to date. This is my first book by Thora Woods, and first book narrated by Matt Haynes, and Maeve York, although I don’t know how that is possible. Now that I’ve finished book1 I can’t wait to dive into the two other books in the series. It’s often hard to find a balance between story and smut in RH and OV books, but his one is perfect. Great story and the right amount of spice.

Narration: Dual narration, first-person present tense, with some flashbacks.

Tropes: reimagine fairytale, dark, love triangle, one bed, morally grey hero’s, unconventional heroine, voyeur, multiple partners

Overall: 5

Spice: 3

Humor: 2

Drama: 2.5

Darkness: 2.5

Lydia is living on her own after escaping a family who only appreciated what her designation could do for them. She is finding peace in a quiet existence, that is until an alpha walks into one of the venues she helping at, and he can’t get her off of his mind. After tracking her down, there is instant chemistry, but Lydia’s past makes her leery of the charismatic alpha, but finds he is different from the man she was supposed to bond with.

As the two get closer and she meets the other members of the Saint Clair pack, the more she thinks it might not be so bad to belong to a pack and maybe even one day be bonded to the alphas. However, the pack has a secret they are keeping from Lydia and the rest of the world, and Lydia is terrified the alpha that caused her to flee her home will find her and disrupt her life, forcing her to abandon the new life she has build for herself and wants desperately to keep.

As Lydia and the pack work through their issues, they are determined to stay together and not let outside forces tear them apart, but there are others out there who have other plans.

Ran to Purchase Next Installments

I typically do not read books with BDSM or Dom/Sub themes. However, this one did not disclose that dynamic in the content warnings, so I was not aware of it before reading. That aside, this book was excellent. I was provided a free copy of this book. However, immediately upon finishing it, I purchased the second audiobook then read the third on my Kindle since it was not available in audio. I am relatively new to the Omegaverse, so I do not have many comparisons. However, this one seemed a little different (in a good way) from many of the others. The description did warn of MMF, MM, FF, so that was expected. If you do not enjoy dom/sub, MM, FF, or MMF content, you can easily skip through those particular scenes without missing necessary plot (usually just skip to the end of the chapter). The narrators here were new to me. Despite not being one of the known 'greats', they did an excellent job. I would not hesitate to listen to more books they narrate or more books by this author.