Review: Can't put it down
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 03 4, 2014
This book was a mixed feelings experience for me, starting with the fact that even though I disliked Kerry’s narrative voice in the beginning, it sucked me in immediately. Then there was the way it all played out between Kerry and Malcolm and Charlie, particularly how they, practically without even a proper hello, treated him like something like their property right from the get-go, and he let them, moreover gobbled it up and came back for more. The power dynamics between the established couple and Kerry felt seriously off almost all the way through, and in almost every regard, be it education, maturity, material welfare, even physical strength. Even the way this book was written—alternating between Kerry’s 1st person POV and a 3rd person POV narrative that switched between Charlie and Malcolm—stressed the aforementioned imbalance, putting the three main characters firmly at “us” and “you”. In fact, for the longest time it was hardly ever about the three of them together, mostly about two of them with the third left out. Add to that the overwhelming angst stemming from the tremendous amount of emotional baggage all three of them carried around, and this book had me so frustrated at about the halfway point that I was all but ready to hurl my ipad against a wall.And yet, somehow I couldn’t stop reading.One reason for that was certainly the writing in and of itself. As I said above, I disliked Kerry’s narrative voice initially, but at the same time, I couldn’t elude its lure of pain and hurt and love me, please, no more than Malcolm and Charlie could withstand Kerry’s bristly charm or Kerry could flee from the promise of stability and direction Malcolm and Charlie offered. (Kerry ended up winning me over in the end, by the way, as did Malcolm and Charlie, but it should be clear by now that’s a given). And yes, the main characters were fully developed and three-dimensional, even though either one of them screwed up royally at one time or another, which only made them more human in the end.The other reason why this book captured me so was the realistic feel of it all. I’m rather partial to ménages and have read quite a few, and still I’ve always wondered how it could work, even if the respective author made me buy it in the end. This book was the first ménage I’ve read where the relationship dynamics felt anywhere near realistic, not despite, but precisely because of the imbalance of power which I’ve always thought would be bound to result with a third person being added to an established couple. All three characters’ respective dominant and/or submissive tendencies certainly helped with that, since this made it believable that what they found with each other was what they really needed.This book certainly isn’t your garden-variety ménage where connections are often made mostly through sex—in fact, there was surprisingly little sex in this book despite its palpable erotic tension. And the story certainly won’t be to everybody’s taste with its solid mass of angst and the long, long time the author makes the reader wait for the redeeming moment of happiness. But so long as you’re ready to let yourself in for something like that, this book is still a satisfying, rewarding read, and I’d recommend it.