Review - Bully for Sale by Leta Blake

Ezer is an intelligent, head-strong young omega in a world where omegas have very few rights. For wealthy families like Ezer’s, omegas are mainly seen as a way to increase the family’s wealth and connections by selling them off to other rich alphas. Ezer’s refusal to act the submissive omega his father expects is just one of his problems. The young man is also be bullied at school by three entitled alphas who regard Ezer’s lack of deferential attitude as an insult. Things come to a head when Ezer insists on visiting his birth omega, who his father scandalously expelled from the family home. To remove the thorny omega from his side, Ezer’s father schemes to get one of the bullies to take the young man off his hands. Ned has been strongly attracted to Ezer since the first day of school, but the demands of his own feckless father means he has to stay friends with the other two alphas bullying Ezer rather than defending the omega.

“Bully for Sale” is a sequel to Heat for Sale, originally published by the same author using a different name. The main characters from that story play minor roles in this book, but you can read this story without having read the first book. You won’t be missing much. Both stories are set in the “omegaverse,” a world populated solely by males, where some are alphas who can breed, some are betas, and omegas have wombs that can bear young for alphas. It’s a popular genre, but not my favorite. Many stories are often thinly disguised straight erotica. I read the first book of the series on a lark and liked the world-building. There is also a strong commentary on the second-class citizen nature of omegas that reflects the current downward spiral of women’s rights in today’s America.

Most of the story is told from Ezer’s point of view. He’s a bright young man with a severe learning disability that makes some people think he’s really not as intelligent as he is. Unlike his father, Ezer’s plans for his future don’t include getting tied to an alpha who will keep him “barefoot and pregnant.” The young man’s dreams are brutally crushed by his father’s machinations. Much of the story is about Ezer’s journey to deal with the life that has been forced onto him.

Ned is the other main character. He is one of the bullies that picks on Ezer, even though he knows it’s wrong. Ned is caught in his own web of contradictory expectations of his father and friends. The young man’s conflicts are very understandable. His determination to make amends for poor decisions is quite heart warming.

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“Bully for Sale” is available from Amazon (commissionable link).