So, I didn't create a Reading Radar last week. I didn't forget, there just wasn't anything that I wanted to put on it. I'd asked for stories with the #rejectedmate trope where the mate didn't reunite with the mate, and I got a few in the RH category. I was really excited until I continued to DNF the stories within the first 10%. When my mood is being picky, it is seriously picky.
Luckily, my mood moved on, and suddenly I wanted to read #secretbaby trope. This is really not a trope that I search out. I've read it here and there but it's not a favorite of mine. I actually fought my mood and then gave up and asked for recommendations in several groups. Now I know that this trope exists (you can type secret baby on the Amazon search bar and get pages of this trope in MF romance), but I got hardly any recommendations for LGBTQIA romance. Some people took mercy on me when I poked the posts and gave me more, and some people also suggested authors who write the trope a lot. I binged everything that I found, although, I wanted something really, really angsty. (I don't know why since I avoid angsty reads most days.) Many of these recommendations are a little angsty but flip to sweet once the baby is discovered.
So this is the list of books that are the secret baby trope. I was really hoping for more PNR recommendations, but the majority were contemporary omegaverse stories. Don't read the notes. I will try not to give spoilers while discussing them, but I might slip up. So if you don't mind possible spoilers, read away, otherwise, ignore my Notes section.
Series: Table Top, 3
Author: Alex Silver
Length: 231 pages
Genre: Romance / Contemporary / Second Chance / Secret Baby / Nonbinary /
Notes: This was a great read. Not as angsty in the secret baby compartment, but I really liked Errol because of that. This was a sweet read, though the characters have their set of problems to work thru. I also enjoyed the secondary characters (what a great set of friends) and plan on starting the series from the beginning. #recommended
Blurb: Rene was my first everything. Best friend, first kiss, first love, first heartbreak.
Seven years after walking out of my life, they tear open old wounds with a single photo of a smiling little boy and the message they’re coming home.
Mo has my smile and Rene’s eyes. It kills me that I didn’t know about him sooner. As furious as the news Rene kept such a major secret makes me, I want a relationship with my son more than I want to rehash old arguments. Besides, Rene has more baggage than the 747 they flew in on, and I swore off love the first time they left me heartbroken.
When I learn Rene and Mo need a place to stay while they settle into life in Vancouver, it sounds like a perfect opportunity. I’ve got a spare room. What better way to figure out co-parenting than living together? It’s not like I’m going to fall for the ex who hurt me deeper than anyone else could. That would be ridiculous.
Saving Throw is the third M/NB romance in the Table Topped series. It features Errol, demisexual panromantic production coordinator who likes to be in control and his first love, Rene, a non-binary trans masc ex-hockey player turned coach.
CW: Past mentions of a physically abusive alcoholic parent and portrayals of trauma/PTSD related to that, secret teenage pregnancy and related gender dysphoria/difficulty with accessing medical care. Side characters struggle with infertility.
Series: Millertown Moments, 1
Author: Jena Wade
Length: 99 pages
Genre: Romance / Contemporary Omegaverse / Gay / Second Chances / Secret Baby /
Notes: This author's name was offered as having several secret baby stories and so I went and read a lot of blurbs. This series seems to have the most of the secret baby/second chance trope. It's a quick read, fluffy and sweet, with nearly zero angst. I binged most of the series. LOL
Blurb: A shattered love…Six years ago, Oliver fell hard for an Alpha who was supposed to be his forever. He’d always want a happily ever after of his own, but he’d never expected to find it at eighteen.
With a promise that they’d love each other until the end of time, Oliver jumped in head first and came out on the other side with a shattered heart and a baby on the way.
A second chance…
When his Omega ghosted him with no explanation, Philip tried to get on with his life. Unfortunately, love seemed to only strike once for him, so he remained alone.
When Oliver comes back into his life, Philip demands answers. Starting with, whose child is that?
Just as questions are answered and Philip and Oliver begin to trust again, Oliver uncovers secrets that could rip the town apart and put their son in danger.
***
Dashboard Lights is 27K sweet mpreg romance. It is book one of the series Millerstown Moments. It contains mpreg, a secret baby, and a guaranteed Happy Ever After
Series: Millertown Moments, 2
Author: Jena Wade
Length:
Genre: Romance / Contemporary Omegaverse / Gay / Second Chances / Secret Baby / BDSM /
Notes: This is the second book in the series and reading the first book would help in understanding the side characters since they are still in the same house and work alongside each other. Book Three (Crying Out Loud) could probably be read as a standalone if you wanted. But book three is more of the oops baby trope with second chances and age gap.
All of this series is written to be sweet and fluffy so you don't have to worry about something too harsh jumping and stabbing you in the heart. I will admit that I was a bit disgruntled about how quickly Kayden fell back in with Turner. Turner needed to grovel more, in my opinion. But then again, Kayden didn't give everything up quickly which mollified me. This one had some light BDSM in it. That's really not my cuppa so I skipped the intimacy.
Blurb: A runaway love…Kayden ran when his Alpha told him he didn’t want children and never would.
Despite never planning to be a dad, let alone a single one, Kayden jumps in with both feet, determined to do right by his child, even if it means giving up the Alpha he loved.
Kayden makes quite a life for himself, owning his own business and writing children’s books. He put aside his own need for a Dom in order to raise his son.
A second chance…
After his Omega left him, Turner accepted that it wasn’t meant to be. He threw himself in to his work and didn’t look back.
When his job landed him in Millerstown, he never expected to find his Omega-that-got-away, and a son he didn’t know he had.
The two can’t stay away from each other, drawn back into each other arms like they’d never been apart.
Will their need for one another be enough this time to keep them together? Or will old fears and a new enemy tear them apart?
***
All Revved Ups is 28K sweet mpreg romance. It is book two of the series Millerstown Moments. It contains mpreg, a secret baby, light D/s relationship, and a guaranteed Happy Ever After
Series: Runaway Omega, 2
Author: Shannon West
Length: 152 pages
Genre: Romance / Paranormal / Omegaverse / Gay / Secret Baby / Second Chances+ /
Notes: This was the only PNR recommended for this trope, and it was also the angstiest by far. There was a lot of back and forth. If you take a look at the reviews for this, there are a lot of critical ones about the on-again-off-again nature of this relationship, which is what I was looking for. In its way, this book has the sweet/fluffy going on when then characters reconcile. Some readers would like more fleshed out reconciliation, but I was alright with what it had, though I could see that if I was in a different mood, my thoughts would change.
Of the group of books that I read for the secret baby trope, this world had the harshest omega disparity/inequality/misogyny environment. I usually don't like this type of world, but here it's tempered by how the pack treats the MC, which in turn helped me not to snarl or DNF. The dubious consent trigger warning pertains to the 2 MCs having drunk sex and the omega was blind drunk. And I agree that if he'd been sober, he would have consented.
The writing style is more on the narration/telling side. You get several key scenes in which there is action and showing, but in between the MC gives you a summary about how he got there.
Blurb: Kade has been Logan’s beta since they were only boys and Logan considers him to be his best friend and closest advisor. But once Kade tells Logan how he really feels about him—and tells him he’d like to be more than just friends, things aren’t the same between them anymore. Logan rejects Kade, telling him lovers come and go, but friendship lasts forever, and he doesn’t ever want to lose what’s between them. But after a wild night under the moonlight, Kade discovers that he’s going to have a baby. It sounds impossible, unbelievable—betas don’t get pregnant! But it’s true, according to the doctors. He is not the beta he always believed himself to be. Somehow he must be a male omega, only valued for his ability to breed. Determined to keep his secrets and avoid the shame of being a lowly omega, he takes the first bus out of town. But after a few months, he finds himself broke, hungry and unable to to provide for himself. Then one day, walking to a food shelter, a big SUV pulls up beside him and Logan erupts from the truck like the wrath of God. He is shocked to learn of Kade’s pregnancy, but takes Kade back home with him, not realizing who the father of Kade’s baby really is. Can Kade somehow make this work, tell Logan the truth and make Logan fall in love with him? Or is his relationship doomed to failure, so that Kade has to run again?
Runaway Omega is an MM romance that contains one instance of dubcon--the character gives his consent, but there's an obvious power imbalance between an alpha and an omega in this world. Readers who don't enjoy reading this kind of book should be forewarned.
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Series: Oceanport Omegas, 1
Author: Ann-Katrin Byrde
Length: 300 pages
Genre: Romance / Contemporary Omegaverse / Gay / Second Chances / Secret Baby /
Notes: This wasn't secret baby angsty, but it did have conflict coming from outside of the relationship. This was a well-rounded, compelling story. I despised Matt's family from the get go, and for me, that is what caused the angst. I will admit that I skipped ahead because I needed spoilers to get me through a certain sections of the story.
Blurb: Eight years ago, Eli gave up his future as a veterinarian because of a blue line on a pregnancy test. Now a single dad to the best little boy in the world, he’s working at an animal shelter and trying his hardest to ignore the small town gossip that follows him and his son around. Contrary to popular belief, he does know who the other father is—the irresistible alpha from his youth. But Matt’s upper class family doesn’t think an omega is good enough for their son, and Eli’s not going to expose his kid to that kind of prejudice. Besides, Matt ran off and married someone else, so he couldn’t have felt that much for Eli, could he?
After years of trying to make his arranged marriage work, Matt’s getting divorced--much to his high society family’s dismay and fury. And his relief—something had to change. It does, when he runs into the omega he’d fallen for as a college senior and never quite managed to forget. The moment he lays eyes on Eli, he wants him back, and to hell with what his parents think.
And there’s that little boy, Eli’s son, who tugs on Matt’s heart as hard as Eli does. Could it be…?
Series: Single Dads Support Group, 2
Author: Piper Scott
Length: 264 pages
Genre: Romance / Omegaverse World in Contemporary Setting / Gay
Notes: I haven't read this one yet. From what I understand, this series doesn't need to be read in order and this stands on its own.
Blurb: The secret baby Gage has been hiding from his childhood sweetheart might not stay a secret much longer. The proposal? It’s about to turn his life upside down.
Being a single dad isn’t easy, but Gage is determined to stay the course for the sake of his one true love—his best friend, Aaron. Sure, it’s been tough making ends meet, but he knows that if Aaron were to find out they have a son together, he’d quit studying at his prestigious international university and come home to make them a family. For the sake of their future, Gage can’t let that happen. If Aaron graduates, he’s all but guaranteed a job that will leave them wanting for nothing. Gage can go without for a few years if it means a better life for their family.
But when their son gets sick, going without isn’t enough.
Gage needs Aaron, and he needs him now. Needs to wrap himself up in the safety of his arms and depend on him, like he always did when they were kids. If Aaron were there with him, Gage would tell him everything, and Aaron would make it right.
And when Gage opens the door to find Aaron unexpectedly on his doorstep, that’s just what he’s going to do.
The Proposal is a 70,000 word contemporary omegaverse mpreg novel featuring a quirky group of single dads, a livestream you’re never going to forget, pretty pearls in naughty places, and a love that neither time nor distance can tear apart.
Series: Grimm Brothers' Tattoo World, 1
Author: November Sweets
Length: 340 pages
Genre: Romance / Alternate World / Paranormal / Poly /
Notes: This is both rejected mate and secret baby tropes. The triggers that the blurb hints at is cheating. After she is rejected, her mates build a different life, but because of the mating bond she knows when they are sleeping with someone else. It's quite painful, physically and emotionally for her. This is a duet and I've only read the first book, and that was a while ago. I enjoyed it but there needed to be more groveling. I'm going to finish the story to see if the guys earn forgiveness and the people who deceived them all are eliminated.
Blurb: Five years ago, I thought life was nothing short of a fairytale. I had the love of my five mates and the future was looking so bright. Five years ago, I was an idiot.
Now I know that life isn’t sunshine and rainbows. Now I know that life is full of lies, darkness, and blood. It only took my mates abandoning me without a word or a trace to open my eyes to the things I had previously ignored.
When you are a rejected mate, you learn pretty quickly how people actually feel about you.
It took me five years to track them down, and now that I have, they have a choice: Break the bond, and finally set me free Or I’ll kill them, and hope I survive their deaths I’m Delphina Grimm, my enemies call me Umbra
Updated 05/15/2022
Betrayal is the first in a duet PNR/UF Reverse Harem romance. Not suitable for anyone under the age of 18 due to language, sexual situations, and violence. There is MM in this book which means swords will be crossing. There are things in here that people might find triggering.
Thank you for stopping by and reading!
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