My rating: 4 of 5 stars Goodreads | Genres: omegaverse/venusverse, hurt/comfort, angst, only one bed, forced proximity

Introduction

Embers of Winter, Kat Sinclair’s forthcoming novel, explores themes of hurt/comfort, parent loss, opioid addiction, childhood sexual abuse, trauma, and ptsd. The story pairs an unlikely alpha and an even more unlikely omega thrust into close quarters when the blizzard of the century blasts through the rural mountain town where Wren grew up and where Russel runs the general store.

Blurb

Wren considers himself little more than a wreck of a man. His life has been a colossal mess for as long as he can remember, and in the past two months, he’s caught his boyfriend cheating with another alpha, relapsed, and then found out about his estranged mother’s death. While he should feel relieved that the monster who ruined his life is dead, her shadow lingers in the form of the childhood home he inherited. Wren is forced to return to the remote mountain town he escaped as a teenager and go through her belongings, unsure if this experience will transform or break him completely.

Russell is content with his slow, quiet life as the owner of a general store high up on the mountain. After returning from the army, he’s accepted that his life is going to be simple and insignificant, the same as people have always described him. But the gentle giant realizes he may not be as content with solitude as he thought when a blizzard traps a troubled city alpha in his store, and changes both their lives forever.

Embers of Winter is a non-shifter, M/M omegaverse standalone romance novel set in Kat Sinclair’s venusverse. It’s an angsty story featuring explicit adult scenes, mentions of parental abuse and other serious topics that might trigger certain readers. A complete list of CWs can be found at the beginning of the book or (most detailed) on the author’s website.

282 pages, Kindle Edition | Expected publication March 3, 2026
Genres: omegaverse/venusverse, hurt/comfort, angst, only one bed, forced proximity

Weighty Themes

Embers of Winter’s weighty themes have the potential to weigh it down, but Sinclair masterfully maintains an atmosphere of hope and healing throughout the story. Each piece of the characters’ backstories is revealed deliberately, enhancing the reader’s understanding of their perspectives and responses to events. Embers of Winter is an alpha/omega story, but the other explored themes enrich it and take it beyond the typical a/b/o tropes into something different and ultimately better.

Characters

Russel didn’t grow up with Wren, even though the general store he runs is literally down the hill from Wren’s childhood home. He has his own traumatic past, but is an even-keel guy. He runs the general store and takes care of his disabled aunt, acting as a caretaker of sorts to all the rural mountain folk who rely on his store. 

Wren is a damaged character. Abuse and addiction leave him with emotional scars that he struggles to overcome. His mother sexually abused him, making his childhood memories fraught with landmines to shatter his mental stability at any given moment. When his mother passes away, Wren must handle her estate. He wrestles with the need for closure, battered against all the horrible memories, the trauma, the anger and bitterness, and the emotional turmoil that he gets lost in just thinking of the woman. 

Finding Inner Strength

His journey is ultimately one of finding his inner strength, so he pushes through the hurricane of emotions to clean out her house to get it ready to sell. Against his friend’s wishes, he heads out of the unnamed city he escaped to and returns deep into the rural mountains where he grew up. Back into the emotional frying pan. Because even though she is dead and gone, Wren’s damaged soul remains, and he’s done more hiding than healing since he escaped.  

Tropey Goodness

An untimely snowstorm and an attempted escape on Wren’s part land the two characters sheltering in place in Russel’s home above the general store. The close quarters triggers Russel’s heat, and Wren helps him through it. 

Glows

This story is much more than a typical alpha/omega story, even though there are the requisite elements: heat and rut cycles, alpha posturing, omega caretaking, only one bed, etc. But the story grows beyond those tropes into something much deeper through its explorations of abuse, addiction, and non-traditional subgender presentations. I ended up liking it more because of its added nuances, but it would have been a good story with just the tropey alpha/omega story elements one expects when reading this sort of story. 

Grows

I find that many readers of omegaverse draw the line at mpreg, so I want to be transparent about there being a pregnancy. The story does feature mpreg at the end, and it is an unexpected mpreg at that. It doesn’t surprise the reader with this plot element, but the surprise pregnancy is a trope I don’t often read, since I generally read MM romances. The story moves through it well, and many readers might not have the issues I have with this part of the story. 

Characters Develop

Wren and Russel’s characters bloom beautifully through the story. I enjoyed that readers part ways with characters who are no longer hiding from their past trauma, but living life together in a healthy way, moving out of the shadows of the past and into a hopeful future together. 

Recommendation

I recommend this book; it steps beyond traditional omegaverse tropes and explores themes that one doesn’t usually see dealt with in a solid way in MM romance. Mind the triggers, as there are parts that will be difficult to read, but overall, this is a very strong story. 

Reviews

I received a free copy of this book via BookSirens and am voluntarily leaving a review. I write reviews on my blog, Goodreads, Bookbub, Amazon, and more. If you want me to read and review your upcoming novel read my review policy and submit a contact form.