Menage at the Mode Boutique by Bella Settarra Series: The Men of Moone Mountain, #4
Published by Etopia Press Publication Date: November 19th 2015
Pages: 174
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They stole her heartβbut is that all they took?
Melinda Samson recently split with her boyfriend after he tried to muscle-in on her business, a small lingerie boutique in Moone. She believes she's never been happier to be alone so she can focus on her business. But when two hot cowboys come to Moone, she finds her heart beating faster. Not only are they both gorgeous hunks, they are fun, kind, and respectfulβand their dominant manner sets her pulse racing.
Brodie McGlynn and Callum "Cal" Kennedy had to leave their previous townβand jobsβwhen word got out that they were bisexual. Being ostracized by so-called friends, they found life intolerable and hit the road, finding solace in the tranquility of Moone County and the open-minded folks living there. And soon both men find themselves falling for Melinda.
Things quickly heat up between the three...until her safe is cleaned out and the stolen money is found in Cal's belongings. But there's more keeping the guys running than their mere sexuality, and that threat endangers Melinda and the entire town.
Reader Note: contains mΓ©nage elements, light BDSM, male/male love, MMF
Cocktails and Books received this book for free from Manic Readers in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect our opinion of the book or the content of our review.
First I want to say that the story was not bad. Not at all. It was an interesting plot. When reading the 4th book in the series, you take your chances if you are not familiar with the previous stories. However, this was not the problem here. Menage at the Boutique can easily be read as a standalone. That’s always a plus in my book.
What started off as kind of sexy too quickly turned almost mechanical. I guess I expected too much form the characters, which is entirely my fault and no fault of the author which is why I am giving it the rating I am. The writing was surprisingly smooth and had a great flow. The relationship between the characters was a bit rushed, but what would you expect from such a short book. It’s not as if you have 100 pages to build up the romance between them. Even so, it flowed well from one scene to the next.
At the start this promised to be a pretty enjoyable and sexy read. However, somewhere along the line, the heroine’s inability to see what was right before her eyes when as a reader I could see it a mile away started talking some of the enjoyment out of it for me. I get being cautious when it comes to two men she essentially just met. However, you will trust them with your body but not with money? How does that make sense? She is a difficult character to really get a read on. One moment she’s a strong independent woman in charge of her own life, kicking butt as a single woman, running her own business and checking out strange cowboys’ behinds. The next she’s running from them because they’re not professing their devotion to her after one scene at the local bdsm club. It’s a scene… not a marriage proposal. Just because they asked her to do a scene doesn’t mean it’d going to lean towards a happily ever after for the three of them. After all… they just met! The men on the other hand seem to have more depth. We don’t know their secret, but it’s obvious they have one and they fear that past will catch up with them.
Because of the promise of a good read and the fact that I did actually enjoy the beginning of Menage at the Boutique, I am willing to overlook the obvious flaws and give this author another try. I honestly believe that given the opportunity this could be an author I would greatly enjoy.
