Dec 18 2010
A trio of menages: Sweet Thursday by Mari Carr, Maggie’s Mates by Bronwyn Green, and What She Craves by Anne Rainey
Sweet Thursday by Mari Carr
Lily, Killian and Justin were best friends in high school. Lily had secretly longed for both of them, but couldn’t summon up the courage to out her feelings even on their last day together after graduation. Fast forward ten years later. Lily, Killian and Justin find themselves at their high school reunion and this time, Lily isn’t going to allow an opportunity to live out her fantasy pass. She propositions Killian and Justin, knowing from the rumors and her own observations of their predilections.
Killian and Justin snap up her offer but Lily only meant for this fantasy to occur for one night. One night isn’t enough and Killian and Justin convince Lily to spend the weekend. Once the weekend is over, however, Justin doesn’t want it to end. He wants to see if the three of them, who have always been close friends, can integrate a physical component into their relationship. Lily isn’t convinced and while Killian emotionally would like to explore a committed threesome, he feels the idea is only workable in concept. Killian is particularly worried about his family and the reaction of his father to whom he is very close. Lily’s younger brother is appalled at this idea of her being with two men.
This isn’t a very long story and so the emotional conflict isn’t as well explored as I would have liked but I appreciated the exploration of how the fantasy doesn’t always work in real life. B-
As a side note, I think this book is outrageously priced at $5.20 given that it is only 40,000 words so that may impact whether others think it is worth reading.
Book Link | Kindle | All Romance eBooks | EC
Maggie’s Mates by Bronwyn Green
The conflict of this story reminded me a lot of Sweet Thursday. Maggie returns to her hometown after five years in New York City. Her ex-boyfriend has followed her to Baraga, a town in the Michigan’s Upper Pennisula. Why he has followed her there is never really explained but Maggie brushes him off by planting a big kiss on Lucas Makwa and then implies that Lucas and his brother, Quinn, and she are together.
After the ex takes off, Lucas and Quinn suggest that Maggie continue in private what she started in public. Maggie’s easy to convince. This is another short story but it’s humming along just fine when all of a sudden Lucas and Quinn turn into werebears to fend off a wolf attack on Maggie and her dog. Yes, werebears.
After the werebear appearance, I could barely read on. Fortunately for me, the story ended shortly after the revelation leading me to wonder what was the point of the werebear. This occurs in Chapter 5 and the story ends in Chapter 7. I ended the story with my mouth agape. I don’t really know how to grade it. Up until the werebears appearance, I was enjoying it. The story took a sharp downward turn though and the introduction of the paranormal element was a complete fail. It was completely tacked on and so while I though the story started out okay, in the end it didn’t work out in any way.
Oh, werebears. D
Book Link | Kindle | All Romance eBooks
What She Craves by Anne Rainey
I was intrigued by this book based on the blurb that Rainey left on our “Open Thread for Authors” post. Tory Jeffries is single and it is the holidays. Rather than attend her friend, Con’s, annual holiday party alone she agrees to go with other friend Devon Mason. Devon and Con have always wanted Tory to be the creamy filling in their cookie sandwich but have hesitated to make the moves lest they lose her as a friend. Devon decides that they have waited long enough and plans to make his moves on her during, yes during, the holiday party. The three of them take off in the middle of Con’s party and hie up to his bedroom to have their menage encounter. I mean, really?
What disappointed me the most is the story started out good. I liked the flirtation that went on between Devon and Tory before the party started. I liked the hints of jealousy and possible conflict between the two men that arose when Tory was confused about her feelings toward them and the concept of a committed menage. But most of the story seemed to be told from Devon’s point of view and we understood little of Con’s ideas about this relationship. The emotional connection between the three of them was wafer thin and made for an uninteresting and unmoving romance. The lack of emotional connection makes the sex scenes perfunctory. C-
Book Link | Kindle | All Romance eBooks
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Dec 18, 2010 @ 11:27:14
Jane, I just looked at Sweet Thursday on the Kindle link and it’s $8.32.
Dec 18, 2010 @ 11:41:49
At All romance and elloras cave the book is 5.20. EC apparently sets its retail for twice as much as it’s own bookstore because of some contract terms between EC and the authors which would make EC lose money or something. I have to go back and look at my emails.
Dec 18, 2010 @ 11:58:52
Wow, ebooks are getting expensive. I mean, $10 for a short novel? That’s outrageous, but I’ll probably buy it anyways.
Dec 18, 2010 @ 12:30:41
I appreciate the review, Jane! Sorry the story didn’t appeal. :)
For those interested, please note that What She Needs is in Con and Tory’s point of view. Those two alphas seemed to demand their own story. Go figure! LOL
Dec 18, 2010 @ 13:07:34
Hi Jane,
Thank you for both reading and reviewing Maggie. I appreciate it. :)
Wishing you, your family and your readers a wonderful holiday season!
Dec 18, 2010 @ 15:06:47
Is there cheesecake in ‘What She Craves’?
I seem to recall a cheesecake related “tragedy’” that made me sad and have mad cravings! (grrr, want cheesecake)
Is there a ‘most times cheesecake used in comment’ contest? Cuz I’d totally win.
Dec 18, 2010 @ 15:15:12
LOL!! There sure was, Jaye! I was getting hungry writing that scene! :D
Dec 18, 2010 @ 15:50:42
Thank you for nice review. I also have a Kindle. I suggest that Kindle-users buy directly from EC or ARe for the cheaper price. You can purchase the .prc format. It’s not wireless, but it saves a few bucks. Happy Holidays. :)
Dec 18, 2010 @ 16:42:58
You are one tough cookie on the reviews, lol. For anyone’s who wants to know, EC sets their prices based on the length of the book.
I have read Mari Carr’s Sweet Thursday and have to say I loved it. Of course I loved the entire series.
Dec 18, 2010 @ 16:51:26
Well, I’ve read Mari’s stuff before and liked it – and will get this – but yikes! I know stuff everywhere’s getting more expensive so I’ve got to suck it up, but when most novellas are going for $3.50 at Amazon, even a couple of bucks more at EC seems a little much. I really hate their attitude towards Amazon. I know Samhain’s prices get knocked down a tiny bit, but it’s barely 50 cents generally (if I’m remembering correctly).
Not that I’m begrudging anyone their paycheck, really!
Dec 19, 2010 @ 02:19:35
I begrudge Ellora’s their paychecks! I stopped buying their books several years ago because of their prices…FULL STOP! They need to get over themselves. I don’t care how great the book is..it’s not worth the price they charge. Maybe that’s just me.
Dec 19, 2010 @ 23:44:43
Sweet Thursday sounds pretty appealing to me if expensive. I know it’s short, so not as much exploration as would be nice… but did you still feel like they had an HEA at the end? Like the threesome relationship would last?
Dec 20, 2010 @ 02:29:01
What’s with menages and character names in alphabetical order? Justin, Killian, Lily. Con and Devon.
Dec 20, 2010 @ 07:42:16
@Silvia: Yes, I did feel there was a satisfactory HEA at the end of Sweet Thursday. I am also interested in reading other Mari Carr stuff, even though I think the prices are high.
@Anita Chax: I didn’t even notice, but the Justin, Killian, Lily thing seems pretty obvious.
Jan 01, 2011 @ 01:21:54
Okay, why is 5.20 high for 40,000 odd words but 2.99 for 15,000 and 2.50 for 15,696 not?