Review: A good start to The Kinky Truth series
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 01 12, 2013
Three-Part Harmony is the first book in The Kinky Truth series and also the first book I have read of this author. I was intrigued by a pop singer falling for her manager but then a lunatic stalking her where she needed the FBI's protection. What I found when I read it was slightly different than what I pictured it to be. Let me get into the review to explain more.Dasha Moore is on top of the world as a very popular pop singer, but she longs to show her love for her manager, David Pennington, who goes through women like dirty socks. Once again disappointed in her father for his lack of attention to any part of her life, Dasha decides to take matters in her own hands and show David she is the woman he wants. But there are qualities David seeks in his women that Dasha might be shocked at.David Pennington has been attracted to Dasha, but he is a Dom with sadistic needs he is sure Dasha can't handle. When she makes a move on him, he comes clean on what he needs, sure she won't be able to handle him. But Dasha holds her ground and David can't say no.When a rabbid fan starts threatening Dasha, David has to accept the full help of FBI Special Agent Kress Moridian. While the two men clash at first, they find a common ground in the fact they are both Dom's with similar tastes. Kress wants Dasha just as much as David and the two start to share her between them. But as they share her, Dasha's heart grows to love both men. How will she say goodbye to either of them once it is safe?As I moved through the book, I had a lot of issues with a few things. Dasha and David have a scene right away when they go at each other, but then take a two week break. When they decide to move forward, there is no talk about limits, soft or hard which rubbed me the wrong way. See, David is at times pretty sadistic and Dasha is pretty innocent in the ways of BDSM. Their first true scene is a harsh one where David does something permanent to Dasha that I objected to very much. There was no discussion of what was to happen. There was no scene really before hand. No talk of limits. And Dasha just takes it. She does object some, but quickly is overrode with some gentle and at times firm reminders. It just rubbed me all the wrong way.David also wasn't totally committed to the relationship. Or at least he wasn't thinking it would be a long term relationship. That was another reason I didn't like the permanent marking of Dasha. If he wasn't going to stick around forever, then he should have given her a choice of what was going to happen.David and Kress work on changing Dasha's relationship with her father, which probably helped. But when they punished her over it, I wanted to pick up a flogger on David because he too was dealing with issue that  maybe he needed to be punished over.While Dasha is a pop singer, you never see her in concert or practicing. It was just like it was a side item in her life. I would have liked to see her work more in her craft as that is part of who she was.The scenes between the three were often intense and very sexy. I liked how the author handled the uncomfortable situation the characters were feeling as they got to know each other and figuring out their places in the relationship. While they fell easily into the play scenes, their hearts were not so easy to sort and basically that came down to a lack of communication.The side story of a crazed fan was ok. It was a little predictable, but in the end, that wasn't really the reason I was reading the story.I am a big fan of discussing limits when reading BDSM stories. A lack of knowledge of what each partner wants or needs or even is scared of is important. Even if the story doesn't give you the details of this, it needs to be mentioned they were discussed. The first scene was too harsh for me to accept easily, not that I didn't want to see it happen, I just would have preferred there be talk about it before surprising her.The authors voice was a delight to read and kept me interested. I can't wait to read more of her stories and watch her writing grow. I recommend this to anyone who loves to see true love form between characters and have the characters grow from beginning to end.