Review: Tart – Lauren Dane

USA Today bestselling author Lauren Dane serves up a sweet, sensual, and hot-to-the-touch novel in which one woman’s most intimate desires are stirred by two very special ingredients
Juliet Lamprey is having the time of her life running her successful bakery, TART, when Gideon Carter comes back into her life. Returning home to help his grandfather run the family on the farm, Gideon is back for good. When they meet again, the spark between them is immediate, and it isn’t long before the former childhood friends play catch up in bed.
That’s not good news for local lawyer Cal Whaley. Though the sexually open but strictly monogamous Cal has loved Jules for a long time, he’s hardly ever taken it further than friendship. When he sees her start to fall for Gideon, he knows he has to make his move or risk losing her forever.
Who would have anticipated that all three of them would connect on such an intimate level? The trio’s scalding liaisons take them places they’ve never dreamed. But such an intensely passionate and unusual relationship comes with equally as complicated emotions, and when Jules must suddenly leave town, she wonders if she’ll have a choice to make when she returns

Series:  Delicious #2
Release Date:  November 6, 2012
Publisher:  Berkley Trade
Source:  Provided by Publisher
Buy the book at:

Reviewer’s Thoughts:

Lauren Dane sure does know who to write a good menage story.  Her couples are more about feelings and how they related to each other, rather than just a bunch of sex thrown in for sex sake.  That formula was perfect for Jules, Cal and Gideon in Tart.

Jules has live on Bainbridge Island her entire life.  While her parents marriage may have imploded and left her on the island by herself, she’s surrounded herself with a group of friends that have become her family.  If you read Never Enough (Brown Sibling #4 by Lauren Dane), you’ll recognize many of the people she has surrounded herself with, including Adrian Brown and his family and friends.  But what Jules longs for is a man to give her what she’s missing in her life.

Gideon Carter moves back to Bainbridge Island to help his grandfather run his farm.  When he runs into Jules, he’s instantly attracted to her and reminded of all the times as kids he used to run around with her on his visit.  Gideon may have been had bad luck when it came to his first marriage, but he sees something in Jules that he refused to ignore and plans on grabbing with both hands.

Cal Whaley has been in Jules’ life for many, many years.  As the oldest brother of her best friends, Mary, Cal’s watched Jules grow from little girl to the beautiful woman he loves.  Cal’s denied his feelings for Jules for years, instead trying to lose himself in the men and women he dates.  But when he discovers his good friend Gideon is back and he’s staking a claim in his woman, Cal decides it’s time to step up to the plate.

The relationship between Jules, Gideon and Cal was interesting.  While I was expecting a lot of sex, what we got was the development of the emotional connection between the three of them.  Jules and Cal has a lot of “stuff” to work through to get their end of the triad on solid ground, but that also spilled over into how Jules and Cal built their relationship with Gideon.  While they did hot have some hot sex, as a threesome and separately as couples, I enjoyed ‘watching’ them build their triad (especially since the dynamics between them were so different from Erin, Todd and Ben’s).

I really enjoyed this story.  Not only having this new relationship grow, but to also see what was happening with some old friends.  Adrian and Gillian’s wedding was perfect and being able to visit with the Browns and Copelands is always a plus.

I can’t wait for the next book to see what is going to happen with Mary.