Mated to the Bully Stepbrothers by Qeemahhh

You can add Mated to the Bully Stepbrothers by Qeemahhh (aka Enitan Abdulazeez) to the list of books that don’t make a lot of sense. From the title alone I automatically assumed this is a shifter romance since “mates” were mentioned. However, aside from the mention of Arielle being an Omega, her wolf’s name being Talia (in the first two chapters), the “mates” thing, and the reference to quicker healing, there is no other indicator that any of the characters are werewolves at all. That could have been taken out completely and made them all human and it would not have affected the story. They don’t even have a mind link which is common lore for werewolf stories with characters that are related or part of the same pack.

Just for context, this is the (unedited) blurb of the book, for your reference:

She has spent most of her life at the expense of others, bullied at school, working shifts and also tons of suffering but Arielle did not mind. Arielle has believed that clocking 18 would be the game-changer for her because she’ll find her mate and live an exotic life. Before her parents left her and her sister to the cruel world, a witch has told them she’ll be mated to a powerful creature and she’ll live a good life. What Arielle didn’t expect was to be mated to the three sons of the alpha of the pack, and also step brothers.

Would Arielle get the beautiful life she has always wanted or would it be a series of new torture? Would she be able to bring the three creatures together?

What would happen when the brothers learn that Arielle is not a normal omega and possesses a strong power? Will the power take either Arielle or the three brothers? Find out in this thrilling story.

The story begins with Arielle living in a hovel with rats eating her food as she doesn’t even have a fridge and her sister working for the Luna. The story even goes on to say that her sister lives at the packhouse and has no things at her place as she lives alone. Then as soon as the story introduces Derek, Enzo, and Aiden as her mates, she suddenly lives in a low-cost apartment complete with appliances and furnishings. She still wears “rags” but now she doesn’t live in a hovel.

Second point, the title says that the men are “stepbrothers” however they indicate that they have the same dad but different moms … that makes them half-brothers since they are all still related by blood. We don’t know if they belong to the same pack Arielle does. We don’t know if they are ranked wolves. What we do know is that they are wealthy.

Third, the book cover says “her” instead of “the” but Arielle is an orphan so they could not be her step anything.

Fourth, I have read up to chapter 40 now (yes, 40!) and she is bullied in every chapter by everyone except her sister. I think everyone is aware that bullying is bad, right? So how is it acceptable as a romance story arc for the main character to be bullied for (so far) the whole story, including by her supposed mates? We’re not even talking about just verbal abuse. Arielle is abused verbally, physically, psychologically, AND cyberbullied. Yes, her so-called “mates” are part of that whole twisted party. They don’t even want people to know that they are mates.  She is their dirty little secret … nothing more than a sex slave.

Fifth, they just mark her (as in just bit her neck with no warning) on the day they discover they are mates at her apartment. She never marks them back.

Sixth, it takes the brothers more than 30 chapters to realize what douchebags they are, and then with the flip of a switch, they are suddenly nice to her, protective, and declaring to everyone that she is their mate.  JUST. LIKE. THAT. No epiphany, no transitionary paragraphs, they are just suddenly nice. IT DOESN’T MAKE SENSE!

Don’t even get me started on the grammar and word usage! For example, every time the says “phantom” she actually means fathom. In an effort to self-edit, some words have asterisks in place of letters. That’s fine and all if it made sense. For example, if she says “c–k” when referring to the male genitalia, that makes sense. But when she says “c–ked” referring to “tilting the head” then the asterisks are just ridiculous! There are so much more but those are the ones that stood out the most as I was reading. Note: I’ve replaced the * with – for this post because the page is not translating the way I want it to.

To be honest, I don’t even know why Arielle is still alive. I also don’t understand how the entire school bullies her and no person of authority has a clue. With everything that has happened to Arielle, I would have had her murdered or committing suicide (by jumping off a cliff or drowning in the river, for example) much earlier in the book where (assuming this is still a shifter story) the Moon Goddess intercedes, gives her a second chance at life somewhere else or as somewhere else. I would LOVE for this to be a rebirth story, rather than spending so much time on the bullying.

If the author really wants her to end up with the three, there has to be something that triggers the change in them, and we should see it. At the moment, I am just waiting for the other shoe to drop. They tricked her like that before, humiliating her in front of everyone, what is to stop them from doing it again? I think the author needs to figure out what she really wants to happen and where this story is supposed to go because right now it just seems like she enjoys making Arielle suffer. Is there such a thing as fictional character bullying?

If you are curious and want to check out Mated to the Bully Stepbrothers by Qeemahhh (aka Enitan Abdulazeez) for yourself to form your own opinion you can find it on Dreame. It is an ongoing story so who knows where the story will go.