[Siren Menage Everlasting: Erotic Western Menage a Trois Romance, M/F/M] Desire, Oklahoma: The Founding Fathers...and the courageous women who dare to love them. Here is how it all begins...When Eb and Jeremiah Tyler left their father's ranch five years ago, Maggie Simms thought she'd never see them again. But now they're back. But different. In the years they've been gone, they've become strangers--hard, cold men she barely recognizes. Dangerous men. But her heart knows them. And knows she'd never survive watching them walk away again, even though they see her as nothing more than the woman they'd helped raise, one who understands ranch life. Knowing she could never let them suspect that she loves them both, she dreams of marrying one of them and living happily ever after on their father's ranch. But she's stunned to learn they have plans of their own--plans to share her. To take her away from the only home she'd ever known. To a ranch in Oklahoma, called the Circle T. In a town they call Desire. A Siren Erotic Romance
It sounded so promising ... I quite like the idea of communities with their own rules and since it's a common trope in this kind of book I get to indulge my tastes quite regularly and the idea of seeing one from the start really made me happy because I absolutely love historical romances. And cowboys! Who doesn't love cowboys?
I really, really wanted to like this and I didn't hate it, it was a pleasant enough read and the sex scenes were pretty well done; not the hottest I've ever read but pretty sexy. The guys were pretty sexy and the heroine was confident and sassy enough that I didn't feel the need to slap her - a common problem with historical heroines. There's a fine line between not writing someone who would be completely unsuited to the setting and writing a doormat your readers want to shake and too often writers of historical romances slip off that line. Ms Dare did a pretty good job at portraying a smart, capable, adult woman who wanted to be treated as such. Unfortunately her heroes simply reacted to every attempt on her behalf to get some respect by either patronising her, ignoring her, or spanking her. So I wanted to slap them instead.
I'm as much a fan of a well written spanking scene as most readers of this kind of erotica, but too often I felt the author crossed the line from sexy to sexual assault... something made worse by the fact I'm pretty certain she didn't recognise this. Like too many authors I rather felt she needed to be smacked over the head with a sign reading 'arousal does not equal consent'.
There were moments when I thought that they were all going to act like sensible human beings and communicate with one another, but they inevitably slipped by without anything happening and the characters went back to acting like idiots. I'm mostly talking about the two heroes but the heroine isn't blameless either - while she was perfectly capable of standing her ground when she needed to she never once addressed the issues except when they'd come to a head and the three of them were in the middle of an argument over something.
All in all it was a little disappointing and I think that's my major problem with it. I went in with high expectations because of the premise and when I finished the book, none of them had been met.
I won't say don't read it as it's an enjoyable way to pass an hour or two, but don't go in expecting more than some mental candy floss and a handful of sexy scenes.
VERDICT - Readable but overall unsatisfying. 3 out of 5
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