Just yesterday I was asking that more epubs have bestseller lists as I’d like to know what other people are reading. Well, now I know and wish I hadn’t. I kept an open mind because stories that feature ménage à trois are not usually my fanfare. But if you ask me about plot? It’s absurd. Ask me about dialogue? Ridiculous. What about the sex? Hot, hot, hot. But is that enough?
Oh, Hell to the no.
Here is the captivating back blurb that should have had red flags waving at me but I didn’t see it:
Brianna Wyatt may be a victim of her father’s machinations, but one look is all it takes for Cole Masters and Tyler Cannon to offer her their own style of ménage a trois blackmail.
Brianna Wyatt’s father is blackmailing her into doing what he wants by threatening to send her brother to an institution. She would do anything to keep that from happening, including go along with his demented scheme of her getting pregnant by Cole Masters–a man who’s been rumored to share a woman with his best friend, and who leaves Brianna’s innocent senses in shambles.
Cole is sure he’s about to be blackmailed—why else would a man whore his daughter? But there’s something about her that neither Cole nor his best friend, Tyler Cannon, can deny. They want her, and don’t hesitate for a second on making their own offer. Her brother’s protection for her body.
When danger flirts with Brianna’s life, there is nothing they won’t do to keep her safe. Including listening to what their hearts are saying.
This ebook represents the perfect example where you have hot sex with no believable plot whatsoever. For some readers there is nothing wrong with that. The plot was utterly ridiculous and I couldn’t read another word. I did take Jane’s advice and skimmed to the sex scenes and sure enough they were hot. Maybe some readers just want the sex, screw the story (no pun intended there). As for me, I’d like a balance of both, thank you.
Everybody in the story “blackmails” each other. Sometimes, I wondered if they knew what the word “blackmailed” meant because I think that word got bandied around a lot, hence the title. The plot was weak, characters were ridiculous, dialogue the same. This was a DNF and the fault is mine. I should have read the warning at the bottom of the page before I hit the submit button. There are ménage à trois stories that are done well (Hello Emma Holly) and some that are just plain awful (Bye-bye Ms. Annmarie McKenna).
Ms. McKenna might be laughing right to the bank as her book sits right on top the bestseller lists. Thanks to morons like me who didn’t read the back blurb first. *head desk*
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
Hi ReneeW,
My spam eater had your post in quarantine for a while which is why it didn’t show up. I don’t know why but to respond to your comments about A Hunger Like No Other — I’ve set it aside right for right now. I find it rough going as well by my tech at work assures me that things get better once they reach Scotland.
Within the context of the sexual act itself, the dialogue was fine. It was the dialogue and internal monologues that took place between the characters, ie. Brenna and her father or Brenna, Cole and Tyler, outside of the bedroom that are virtually unreadable.
Outside of the bedroom, these characters are rather silly. I didn’t even finish it so I should say that the dialogue with the sex scenes made them rather hot, sex is graphic-explicit, but I’m not into the ménage à trois stuff, I’d read Emma Holly’s Menage and that’s it. Dear Author did a better review but this book was a DNF. Jane read the whole book. The plot was just too absurd for me to finish.
Hmmm, so this has me thinking.
Can a book with horrible dialogue have hot sex? Or even a poorly written book — can it have hot sex?
I guess it can if it hits some of your hot buttons but dialogue is one of those ‘make it or break it’ kind of things. I used to have a physical reaction (almost like my back was clenching) whenever I read the word ‘babe’ or ‘baby’ as an endearment. It could totally ruin an otherwise sexy scene. Nowadays, that the least of my problems because cute pet names became quite a thing for a while — ugh.
So are we using the word ‘hot’ to mean explicit now or do these scenes work for us regardless of dialogue or plot or quality of writing?
Okay, that might be a too personal question. I just sometimes wonder about how a sex scene can work if every thing else about a book is wrong. Then again, I used to read Mulder/Skully NC-17 fanfic (I read the ones that were considered the top 10) and yeah, some of them worked very well. Some just sucked rocks!!
CindyS
You are too funny. I agree…Hot sex is great and all but I want a plot and characters I can care about.
I see you are reading A Hunger Like No Other. I finally finished it but it was tough going for a while. I didn’t like it as well as some people did. I’d love to hear what you think. I think I have Midnight Man floating around here somewhere too but haven’t read it yet.