Review: Playing Doctor by Aiden Bates

Playing Doctor by Aiden Bates
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Divorced (read disgraced) omega, Jonah has moved back home with his young son after his ex broke things off with him. He knows that he will probably spend the rest of his life alone because no one would want a "used" omega. While sad about it and lonely, Jonah is content to raise his son and produce his art.

New doctor in town, Dave, is an alpha and once he gets a whiff of omega Jonah Dave is intrigued. He doesn't do anything though since he isn't interested in claiming anyone and Jonah has a kid. Later they meet up again and eventually see a bit of each other, while Dave is also seeing a younger, clean omega that everyone is pressuring him to claim. Jonah's ex comes into town as well, leading to some angst.

This was very much like many of this author's works. The concept is interesting, it's a world where some people are alphas or betas or omegas, and as such tend to have certain personalities and behaviors expected. Much of the common shifter-type behavior without them actually being shifters. This world is the setting for a lot of books from this author and while I like actual shifters I do appreciate an unusual take on the same sort of concepts. Because I've read other books set in the same sort of world I didn't have a problem understanding the uniqueness of the setting, but some new readers might since it wasn't really explained.

Like many other works by the author the omega was well-fleshed out and a great character. He was strong and independent, watching over his son and working hard. Everything one wants in a main character. The supporting characters were generally pretty good too, though the rapid personality change of one didn't make a lot of sense. The storyline was decent and well-written.

All in all, this book should have been pretty good. The issue that makes me like many of these books a lot less than I normally would is the co-main character. The love interest may not be perfect, but please, let him be redeemable at least. Everyone makes mistakes, and as long as they try to be better and apologize, they're not terrible people. But in this book as in many of them, the love interest is such a jerk that I almost wish they didn't end up together.

Why would anyone want to end up with Dave? Is it some sort of punishment? At times he's a nice guy. Towards the beginning he stands up for Jonah and he's friendly to the kid, then he completely blows it. Dave seemed more like a salamander than an alpha.

I wanted to like the book, and overall I guess I sort of did, but it really would be so much better if the love interests were good people.