How does anyone deal with John Solo?

Look, I don't like to single someone out, especially a narrator, because I know what they do is incredibly difficult and finding someone who wants to narrate a book like this is probably challenging. But John Solo quite literally ruins every book he narrates, and this collection is no exception.

His voice is perfectly fine, really, and a lot of his character voices are actually pretty good. But he has the most bizarre way of EM-pha-siz-ing par-TI-cu-lar syllables when he speaks, slowing down and making his voice a bit tremulous when a character becomes emotional, and it is incredibly off-putting. It's off-putting mostly because he narrates a lot of explicit books, and this manner of narrating sounds like how you would read a book to a child. Worse, it sounds like how you would read a children's book, starring a child, to a child. It makes the explicit parts... uncomfortable, to say the least. The books themselves, in this collection, are perfectly adequate alpha/omega non-shifter mpreg fare, if that's your thing. Solo's reading for the alphas is generally fine. But when he reads the chapters narrated by the omega, his odd, idiosyncratic way of narrating comes to the fore and completely makes me cringe.

The first book, "The Omega's Secret Baby" (the titles of these are universally awful, incidentally), features Elias, an omega, and Matt, the alpha father of Elias's child, though Matt is unaware of the child at first. Matt's family is rich and horrible, almost cartoonishly so, which usually bothers me but somehow it works here. Matt is newly divorced, and he and Elias get back together after eight years of no contact, and Matt is surprised to find that he's a father. The story is well written if a bit predictable, including a bit toward the end where Elias gets angry at Matt for no particular reason, and I think we're supposed to side with him, I guess?

"A Baby for the Firefighter" (eyeroll) features Elias's brother, Griffin, whom we met in the first book. I liked him in the first book, and I actually sort of liked John Solo's voice for him, so I was looking forward to this one more than the first, but unfortunately I was disappointed. It's a friends-to-lovers story, but the twist is that Griffin, who is a virgin. has a lot of hangups about sex and so they need to take things slow. What's the source or cause of these hangups? I don't know. A reason is literally never given, he just says he's afraid of his urges and responses, which is a profoundly unsatisfying explanation. The whole thing makes him seem a bit emotionally stunted, at best, and occasionally dangerously close to intellectually disabled, at worst. Solo's narration does NOT help with this, by the way, giving his voice a very juvenile, childlike quality that makes the other protagonist, Dean, seem a bit like a creeper. At one point another character hits on Griffin, and Griffin reacts negatively to it, and I genuinely have NO idea whether we're supposed to think the guy hitting on him is a creep or if we're supposed to just accept that Griff's negative reaction is because of his completely inexplicable aversion to anything sexual.

Anyway I couldn't listen beyond the second book. I can't say I'll never finish the collection, because the writing is pretty good for mpreg (the poorly-explained motivation for Griffin's sexual hangups notwithstanding), but I think I can be pretty sure that the narration won't improve. I usually don't buy anything with John Solo's name attached to it, but every time I decide to give him a chance, I end up not finishing the audiobook. I notice that most people gave him five stars for this, and normally I'm willing to just say that I apparently have different tastes from other people and your mileage may vary, but in this case I'm sticking to my guns and saying that I'm right and anyone who disagrees with me is wrong, and he's objectively terrible.

2 people found this helpful

The full cast 🥰

All of Oceanport series books together in one!!!
So all the omegas and alphas, all the love and conflicts, all the surprise and babies 😉
Don't miss it... it's really worth it 🤩

1 person found this helpful

Wonderful Love Stories

These love stories are quirky, fun loving and great. Each character has their own story within the story. You will laugh, be angry and happy for each couple. This was a great read and I will be reading the next set of stories from Oceanport. I need to see what happens with the next generation. I know it’s going to be just as much fun with them too.

Oceanport Omegas good listen... heartwarming

These omega stories were heartfelt and so were their alphas. the kids who were in the story lines were sometimes a little unbelievable but by age and circumstances could act that way. over all the books were a joy to listen to and the reader John Solo brought the characters to another level. great read.

Nice introduction to the Alpha Omega troupe...

This book was a lot of firsts for me. First time reading this author, listening to this narrator, reading a completed series and trying this Alpha Omega troupe. But I was not let down! I loved it all! Because I was going through the books back to back, I thought I would have to take a break because there was only one narrator and some times when this the case, all the characters starts to sound the same but that was not an issue with this boxset. I was genuinely impressed with John Solo. I will admit that it took about half way into the book 1 for me to get into the troupe of Alpha Omega and male pregnancy. I think my previous understanding of what's an Alpha and Omega helped, but it's also created a little bias for the Omega's. I was expecting the Alpha's to be total a-holes. Although there were some that was, none of the main characters were. My only issue with the boxset it that all the books were lumped together. It was chapter 1-223. I would have preferred for the books to be labeled because there were some cute lil short stories included and I have to search to find them to re-listen. All in all, I will be listening again and recommending this book whenever I can!

omega love

I loved it. Was a nice coming of age story. but was looking for more lime how the kids lives turned out

One of My Favorite Series

The Oceanport Omegas series is set within a contemporary nonshifter omegaverse and heavily features mpreg along with other conventional Alpha/Beta/Omega tropes. This is one of my favorite omegaverse series and a definite comfort read. All six books found within this collection feature happy ever afters as well as gratuitous fluff and humor. The romance is sizzling and each couple feels unique and special.

This bundle contains all six books of the series as well as some wonderful short stories that really flesh out the universe. This series is also the foundation for the spinoff/sequel series, Second Chances. I highly suggest reading these books before reading Second Chances.

Although there is a lot of fluff, romance, drama, and steaminess, the authors also tackle a lot of social issues that readers may find relatable. I found this to add extra depth to the books and really enhanced the worldbuilding. All in all, I love this series immensely and hope that the authors continue to expand this universe.

Very enjoyable

I was thrilled when I found this huge box set. I have enjoyed reading these books on my kindle so I was excited to find them all on audio. These books are so very well written and will leave the reader/listener very pleased with their purchase.

All the amazing books together!!

As a huge fan of Ann-Katrin Byrde, discovering a bundle with all the oceanport omegas books in one place and narrated by John Solo ... I am simply without words to express how good this audiobook is with their talents combined. Each book featured a couple overcoming obstacles, prejudice and sometimes themselves to find a happy ending together in the most sweet, endearing, romantic and steamy way ever. One of the best series written in this genre!

Highs and lows

This bundle was great with some highs and lows. Well worth the listen for a long drive. John does a great job with the narration. Giving unique voices to bring the characters to life.