Review: A lot of potential but fell flat
Rating: 2 out of 5
Date: 01 17, 2012
There's certain (sub-)genres I go into with high expectations. I have questions and I want answers. I want a specific thing told to me about what the genre is, it has to be believable, I want to be convinced on certain things but above that I want to be made to understand and believe them. Unfortunately, ménages are at the top of that list. I need the story sold to me, to have it believable but it has to suck me in right from the beginning or there's no hope of redemption. That's a bit harsh, I know, and I'm sorry, but it's the way I feel with ménages.With that said, this book frustrated me beyond belief. It didn't start off on a good note for me. The first 50% of the book is essentially just smut and for someone like me who prefers at least double the plot than smut, it was unbearable to get through. I was extremely close to calling this my first DNF but I agreed to stick it out until the half-way mark... Thankfully, the book finally caught my eye around that time (although it could have also been from the fact I cheated and skipped to certain parts of the book to see if I was actually wasting my time or not).Now, just to clarify, I'd say this book is made up of about 60-70% smut. Which I hated and resulted in me skipping those scenes. They were redundant, boring and unnecessary. Only a select few actually contributed to the story. The rest of it seemed like a page filler to me.It was hard for me to connect with the three MCs. For one, Luke, which is the only pov we get (in first person) is never actually described. So, I have no idea what he looks like and if he was described then I completely missed that because I don't remember any description about him regarding his appearances besides a reference to his father. Richard and Matthew, the other MCs, are perfectly described. But the thing is none of them know anything about each other. Like nothing. At ALL. They jumped into bed together at a club. Three times. Agree to go on a date. Still know nothing about each other. Then move in together. Still not knowing anything about each other. I didn't like it. Especially with the fact Luke didn't want to put Matthew or Richard into a situation of possibly getting hurt by his father but he still moved in with them when he knew his father would eventually find him and seek to make their lives a living hell. Yeah.....Anyway, so, yeah. I was frustrated throughout most of the book. To me, the relationship wasn't believable. I still don't understand their relationship. Yeah, at the end, you can tell they loved each other but it was made impossible for me to love them because there was no dialogue between them getting to know each other. What we know of them is what Luke gave us in brief summaries of what he learned from their 'dates'. Well, I wanted to actually experience those dates. Instead, I got the smexing after the date.Needless to say, I didn't much like this book. I couldn't connect with the characters or their relationship, the smexing put me off so much from the start there was barely a chance of redemption for this story. With that said, I did appreciate Sloan Parker's writing. It drew me in when the smut didn't overpower the pages. That's what captured my attention and made me want to keep reading when all I wanted to do was complain about the book. I was ready to give up on it but then the smexing lessened slightly and her words drew me in. The conflict revolving around Luke's father was a bit cliched and unbelievable but it still made me stick with the story.Overall, I'm sorry, I can't recommend this book. I never connected with the characters. I still feel as if they don't really know each other and none of it was believable to me.