Review: Getting to know your Shifter Mates with questionable sex scenes
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 05 2, 2011
Third book in "Triple Trouble" series, preceded byStorm Warning. There are no further books in the series available on Amazon at the time of this review."Three Dog Night" is definitely a sequel to "Storm Warning", however there is enough explanation of previous books to allow this one to standalone.Plot:Elain has recently accepted she's mated to triplet Were wolves. She's trying to come to terms with what that means. The wolves just want lots of sex.Comments:- Given this is the third part in a series, it is reasonably long (3900 kindle locations). There is plenty of sex, some action and enough plot to hang the book together.- The story of Elain and her wolves picks up almost a month after Elain was "marked", so about two/three weeks from the end of "Triple Trouble". Elain is settling into being a "Shifter Mate", but still they haven't bothered to explain all the "rules" she's supposed to know. Nor really get to know her and her past. Come on guys, if you're supposed to spend the rest of your lives together, shouldn't you at least chat every so often?- Sex is generally m/f, with m/f/m/m (for a committed m/f/m/m relationship). There is also m/m and m/m with voyeurs by secondary characters (aiming for a committed m/m relationship). It is worth noting (as has been said by a previous reviewer) the m/m relationship begins with what amounts to rape. I didn't like Elain's "marking" ceremony of Book 1 and thought it was "forced sex", but this marking ceremony is even more so. It is an aspect of these books I *hate*.  Similarly, the "hunts" are difficult, since they are wrapping sex in fear, excitement, apprehension, lust, but absolutely no love. She is setting the men up to force her (which they don't want to do yet allow their primal/feral parts to participate in). It is the whole point of the hunt, submission on capture. That said, it (mostly) works within the plot, the submission parts of "Shifter" relationships.- Also, as I have commented on the other two books, the bedroom scenes are ordinary. I don't know what the author is doing wrong but it just isn't HOT. It is frequent, it is lusty, it is in different places and positions, but it doesn't grab me. Often Elain is going into it with a "just get it over with" attitude; she enjoys it well enough but would rather be elsewhere. It is a shame, because one of the requisites of "menage romance" is they always try to make her happy and don't do it just to fulfill the male needs (otherwise she would never sleep!). There is a demonstrably loving, caring aspect of the sex which seems to be missing. So, lust not love?- More so than previous books, "Three Dog Night" finishes on a cliffhanger.Opinion:This is a difficult book to recommend. The plot/story is getting more interesting, with a blood pledge making itself known, unexplained murders, "creepy" stalkers and mystery parentage. BUT (and it's a big BUT), the sex scenes are not getting better. The forced m/m marking was world appropriate but nowhere near loving, lust not love. The setting up of the men through the hunts is horrid, lust not love. The desired submission of a (once strong) woman to their Alpha male way of dealing with the world is sad. But it isn't beyond the standard expectations of a Shifter Romance.So, do I want to read Book 4? If it was out right now, probably. To wind up the cliffhanger. Will I look for it down the track? Probably not. I will remember the harsh sex aspects of these books and forget the interesting plot arc. Disappointing.