Pearl's World of Romance - Reviews with a Passion: Rough, Raw and Ready

March 8, 2009

Rough, Raw and Ready - Lorelei James

8:19 PM |

Back Cover Copy:
...Torn between the love he has…and the love he’s always wanted.

Chassie West Glanzer hasn’t been a stranger to drama and tragedy. A year of wedded bliss to sexy-as-sin cowboy Trevor Glanzer has brought her the happiness and contentment she never thought she’d find, and mellowed Trevor’s rodeo wanderlust. Then Trevor’s old roping partner ambles up the driveway—and Chassie’s life changes drastically.

Trevor never expected to see Edgard Mancuso again, after it became clear he couldn’t be the man Edgard needed. Now Edgard is back from Brazil to sort out their tangled past, and Trevor is plagued with feelings he thought he’d buried over three years ago. Although Trevor is hat-over-bootheels in love with his sweet, feisty wife, the sense his life is missing a piece has always gnawed at him.

Chassie’s shock that Edgard and Trevor were once lovers turns to fear of losing her husband. Or worse, fear that Trevor will stay with her only out of a sense of duty. Yet as the three of them spend time together, the sins of the past blur and fade, leaving raw emotion—and unbridled passion.
Passion that could heal…or cause irreparable damage to their future.

Warning: this book contains unbelievably explicit sex, including multiple cowboy/cowgirl/cowboy ménage scenes, juicy, hot, male on male action, a bucketful of politically incorrect situations and true Western ideology.

What do you do when you find out your husband had a male lover he's never told you about?
That is the question Chassie West must answer when she finds out Edgard Mancuso is more than just her husband's former roping partner. Trevor Glanzer has made a new life for himself with Chassie whom he loves deeply even if he never totally forgot Edgard, but since Edgard left him more than 3 years ago, he has put it all behind him and focused on making Chassie happy. That is, until Edgard shows up for a visit. Edgard's leaving prevented closure on the men's relationship and this has to be sorted out now.
Trevor however, has never told Chassie about his complicated relationship with Edgard and soon they all discover that there is something between them that is unconventional but as strong as in any other relationship, even with and despite of the all the problems they have to fix along the way.

This is book 5 in Lorelei James' Rough Rider series and it dives further into the lives of two secondary characters from LONG HARD RIDE (book 1), Trevor and Edgard. From the way they ended things in LONG HARD RIDE we go ahead in time a few years and Trevor has married Chassie after a whirlwind romance. It's a happy marriage despite their individual hang-ups and familial troubles. Trevor has told Chassie about his sexual uninhibited past but he never mentioned what he had with Edgard. Now with Ed's return Trevor discovers his feelings for him rival those for Chassie and he realizes it's time to confess and face the consequences. Before he has the chance Chassie finds out and she is devastated. It adds to the lingering insecurities she already had. I truly felt for Chassie when she found out about Trevor and Ed. But she bounces back and after the first shock she decides to make the best of her marriage and the situation between Trevor and Ed.

Trevor and Ed are two characters who are alike and at the same time so very different. Both are stubborn, dominating and intense. But where Trevor has a short fuse and is hotheaded and blunt, Ed is quiet, gentlemanly and compassionate. The attraction between them is sizzling and profound. It’s the tough and non-too gentle attraction as should be expected between men.

Chassie is outspoken, feisty and perceptive. But her parentage, an unloving father and many difficult circumstances in her family also have made her self-conscious and a bit insecure. Once she accepts Ed into her marriage and she makes the best of the situation she handles both Trevor and Ed magnificently. She doesn't accept any crap from either of them and doesn't allow their past behavior to come back to haunt them.

The witty banter between Trevor, Ed and Chassie was a great counterpart for the intense emotional moments between them. This book took me through the entire scope of emotions. From laughter to sorrow, from arousal to sympathy and from endearment to anger.

There are many secondary characters. Most of them known from former books, some of them new, but all of them provide background and depth for the three main characters of this book. The way Lorelei James integrates the main characters with the relationship angle and the secondary characters with their own little side stories is nothing short of amazing. It gives the books in this series something unique and makes them more stand out from average erotic romances.

Prominent roles in the secondary cast were given to Colby and Channing, which was understandable because of the events and storyline with Trevor and Ed in their book. As with all the books in the series it's about more than just the romantic relationship between hero and heroine or in this case the three-way relationship. The story of Trevor, Chassie and Ed is the focal point of the book but there is so much more going on, for example a traumatic situation within the McKay family, the struggles of managing a ranch and how to deal with a family consisting of narcissistic, demanding and judgmental people.

Lorelei James writes strong, leap-of-the-pages characters that are fleshed out extensively. This way you really get to know the persons behind the sexually charged scenes through their actions and their past. In the first part of the book the focus is on the emotions rather than the hot sex. That comes later, after Chassie deals with accepting Trevor and Ed and their feelings. But anticipation is half the fun because when those love scenes eventually come to happen they are some of the hottest I've read and believe me, I've read my share of erotic love scenes. The three of them set the pages on fire in all combinations possible. From the moment all three of them accept each other and Chassie and Ed realize there is more between them than just their individual connection to Trevor, the book takes on a great vibe, showing so much more between them than first imagined. They are there for each other in every emotional way, they complement each other in characters and sexuality and Lorelei James works towards a HEA that is believable and perfect.

Like with the books preceding it, the book is a combination of interpersonal relationships, eroticism, ranching and family dynamics but once again Lorelei James has brought something new to the table in this series. For me this was the most complex installment to date because though threesomes aren't uncommon in this series, this permanent three-way relationship is in a totally different category. While she could have taken the easy way out and keep it light and erotic, she chose to make it a complex, emotional journey of three people to an ending that is happy but not without complexity.

I love the way Lorelei James puts different elements as characterization, eroticism and background together to create a layered and rich story. Her books are filled with both emotional intensity and rapturous love scenes that undoubtedly are able to warm up even the most frigid readers. And this book showed her writing skills at best with a complicated, tear-inducing and emotionally gripping story. It had me reaching for tissues after just a few chapters and searching for a fan when I got to the last few chapters.

With ROUGH, RAW AND READY, she has given me a story I could embrace and accept to the fullest and on top of that one superhot erotic romance featuring man love extravaganza with a side of sassy female. This is storytelling in a class by itself. Lorelei James has rivaled with my favorite erotic romance authors and won her top position fair and square. It will be hard to top this story with a next installment but I'm challenging her to do it.

Quotes:
It was heady stuff to be the focus of total sexual energy from a man such as Trevor; wickedly gorgeous, wickedly experienced and wickedly virile. Trevor pushed her boundaries and she trusted he’d never hurt her in his quest to bring her complete sexual satisfaction. Sometimes Chassie wondered what Trevor considered kinky.

“Chassie, baby, you weren’t my last choice; you were my first choice. My only choice. I wanted to give you everything that I’d never given another human being: my loyalty, my faithfulness, my love, and my name. I cannot imagine my life without you.”