4.7 stars

4.5 ⭐️

I loved this one! Tony and Spencer were both such pure, sweet souls. And I love the found family in this whole series. I want to join a cuddle pile with all the Littles.

4.2 Stars!

This book is the 3rd in its series, but can be read as a standalone. I purposefully held back on reading the first two books so I could determine if the 3rd was truly fine as a standalone - and it was! But now I can finally give myself a chance to read the other two books, because this one certainly made me want to read more from August Jones!

This is the story of two professional baseball players (Vince, a seasoned player, & Race, a rookie) and one porn director who used to be a pornstar. Right away, we've got two of my favorite things in a book - athletes and adult entertainment. Vince and Race do not get along, and are pretty volatile about it. Vince meets Elio at a party at Elio's Utah house, and the sparks definitely fly between them. Then, for reasons, Vince and Race end up snowed in with Elio after the party.

The spice begins right away between Elio & Vince. But then Race [who, by the way, is straight (right, right)] decides to take advantage of the open bedroom door and watch them in bed. And he gets...confused. Aroused. FOMO, maybe. And he just can't resist joining in...

From there, the three start to become closer. Elio is determined to close the rift between Vince & Race. And the two athletes, while growing closer to each other and Elio, are intent on showing Elio that he has worth in the relationship. At its core, this is a book about three men blossoming and figuring out who they are, both together and separately. This book has a crazy amount of spice (among the top 10% I've read), but it is also full of emotion and will tug on your heartstrings. The way the characters were written, I was able to fall deeply into the story and feel their emotions along with them. It was painful, but in the end, triumphant.

I would describe this book as having mid-to-high relationship angst. There is a lot of push and pull between the main characters while their three-way bond is forming. In some ways, I'd say this is the most realistic portrayal of the formation of a triad that I've read. Although I can't speak from personal experience, I'll say that I can't imagine in real life that all three members would develop feelings at the same pace as each other and without having insecurities. So, in my opinion, the author did a fantastic job of making this believable.

Shout-out to Stasia, female side character and best friend of Vince. She is side character perfection.

Some Details:
Relationship: MMM, Vince & Race & Elio
POV: 1st Person, Multiple
Tense: Present
Angst: 3.75/5
Spice Frequency: 4.25/5
Spice Level: 3.5/5

I received a free ARC of this book; this is my honest review of it.

4.75 Stars
I've now finished this book thrice, so it's about time I write a review, eh?

Despite being adamant that I do not like Grumpy x Sunshine, I really love this book. Like, so much. I think Egon's character is just sooooo sweet (we must protect Egon at all costs! Rakesh would agree). I like the minimal panic on his end, as well, about being into a man. I mean, he definitely had a moment about it, but compared to all the other stuff in his life I felt like it didn't really register, and that was a-ok with me. I love how Rakesh does that perfect grumpy-character thing where he starts taking such good care of Egon and then, like, grumbling about it in his head. Like, sweet perfect Egon, let me buy you some food and bathe you and literally dress you and then, internally, he's like Shit! Why am I doing this?! Noooo stop doing it, Rakesh! I'm not gonna stop doing it though. *chef's kiss* Also, I freaking LOVE that

Spoiler

they get married around 3/4 of the way through the book, so we get a solid few chapters of seeing them be married and seeing Egon's name change on his hockey jerseys and such. It's over the top and I'm here for it!

What would have bridged the gap from 4.75 to 5 for me?
There are a couple times where Rakesh refers to Egon as "my big jock" / "my big hockey jock" / "my big boy." I'm not saying there's anything wrong with these terms, but I felt like they didn't fit the characters here, and therefore they kinda stuck out and made me feel icky. Egon definitely has a praise kink and so I understand all the "my good boy" names, but adding "big" in there like "my big boy" made it feel a little bit like DD/lb, and I don't think that was supposed to be the vibe here. (To be clear, no one gets called Daddy in this book, though.)

Some Details:
Pairing: M/M, Rakesh & Egon
POV: 1st Person Dual
Tense: Present
Angst: 3/5
Spice Frequency: 3/5
Spice Level: 3.25/5
HEA?:

Spoiler

Yes

Strict Top/Bottom?: Yes
Is Top or Bottom bigger?: Bottom is bigger
Breakups?:

Spoiler

Yes, lasts 1 month

Tropes:
Sports
Grumpy x Sunshine
Tutor/Student (variation of Teacher/Student)
Bi-Awakening (not explicitly stated as Bisexual, but implied)

Kinks:
Cockwarming
Praise

Triggers:
Cheating outside MCs
MC with another person (Female, MC is not cheating on other MC)
Mental Health struggle

Some random notes I took while reading (these will be spoilery):
-

Spoiler

63% - My heart breaks for Egon when Rakesh starts acting shady, and Egon totally knows something is wrong and just kinda quietly cries and leaves

-

Spoiler

omg the part where Egon is wondering what he did wrong and like maybe he's a bad kisser :( :( :(

-

Spoiler

72% - Rakesh better spend the rest of their lives making up for this or I swear I will come for him (not in the good way)

-

Spoiler

73%ish - When Egon doesn't even wash the soap out of his hair because he wants to see Rakesh and make sure Rakesh doesn't leave again :( :( :(

-

Spoiler

Love the obsession when they get back together. Is it healthy? LIKELY NOT. Do I care? LIKELY NOT.

-

Spoiler

Caulder is so sweet and supportive. Bless him!

Milestones:

Spoiler

Egon Breaks Up with Temca:
27% : Chapter 10 / Page 34

First Manual Sex:

Spoiler

36% : Chapter 13 / Page 120

First Kiss:

Spoiler

43% : Chapter 15 / Page 138

First Oral Sex:

Spoiler

44% : Chapter 15 / Page 141

First Frot (off-page):

Spoiler

52% : Chapter 19 / Page 172

First Penetration:

Spoiler

58% : Chapter 21 / Page 190

Spoiler

Breakup:
63% : Chapter 23 / Page 207

Spoiler

Reconciled (approx):
75% : Chapter 28 / Page 248

First L Word:

Spoiler

78% : Chapter 29 / Page 258

Publicly Out:

Spoiler

83% : Chapter 31 / Page 274

Spoiler

Proposal:
86% : Chapter 32 / Page 283-288

Spoiler

Married (off-page):
87% : Chapter 33 / Page 289

This is the story of Vincent and David. It's book 3 in a series, but it can be read as a standalone. Some of the relationships of side characters that starred in the previous books were a little confusing, but I figured it out eventually, so the book is definitely safe as a standalone.

Both of the main characters were likeable (which I always appreciate, because that's not the case in every book I read). And each had their own unique personality and voice in the story, so it was easy to tell whose POV I was reading. David is a really sweet Master, who is (in the words of Vincent) a Short King. He's a sadist but also feels very strongly about caring for his sub and providing quality aftercare. Vincent is a tall, tattooed/pierced sub and masochist with a bratty but endearing personality. These are my favorite "Vincent being Vincent" moments:

I sing along with the music, nodding my head and wiggling my ass to the beat. I feel like Emma Stone in that movie, you know the one with the birthday card?

I do know the one, in fact! And this V moment too:

"Alexa, play my Bad Bitch playlist." In a few seconds, No Scrubs by TLC is blasting through the speakers.

Anyway, Vincent is kind of adorable.

I will say that I didn't really feel their connection form, but then once they were doing more scenes and dating, they were very sweet together. I would have liked to feel more of the emotion though.

Some Details:
Pairing: MM, Vincent & David
POV: 1st Person, Dual

4.6 Stars! ⭐⭐⭐⭐