I enjoyed this one, but a few things were off for me. It's short, but there's a lot of emotion here - grief, love, uncertainty, anger, guilt, not just from Emmy who has just lost her husband, but his two brothers as well. Maya Banks gives us a different twist on the menage story. Usually the men are the ones initiating the relationship while the heroine is unsure. Here, Emmy professed her love and desire for the 3 brothers in this story - Sean, Greer, and Tagg, 4 years ago. Not understanding how a relationship of that nature would work, Greer and Tagg - although they love her, reject her while Sean eventually marries her (knowing she also loves his brothers) then he and Emmy leave their hometown to pursue Emmy's singing career.
It was refreshing to read the transformation in Greer and Tagg; yet they don't ignore the challenges that a menage relationship will present. The love scenes fell a wee bit flat for me. Perhaps this is due to the fact that this dynamic is new to Emmy, Tagg and Greer. Unlike many menage stories, these heroes are not familiar with sharing a woman. Ms. Banks does a good job at making the reader feel that uncertainty.
The subplots - Emmy's abusive father and a ranch foreman who thinks Emmy is a depraved whore who the brothers need to be rid of - weren't needed, IMO. I could have especially done without the killer plot. Although it's mentioned early on that Sean's killer was never found, there was no lead up to Emmy's kidnapping and the story behind Sean's death. It was just throw at the reader and I wasn't ready for it. Then, of course, everything is resolved and the epilogue wraps everything up in a sweet bow.
3
