August 26, 2010

Coming clean never felt so good….

Grant and Vivi Michaelson share everything in their marriage: love, commitment—and their wildest sexual desires. But their relationship is tested when Vivi admits she wants a threesome with Grant’s old friend Cade, proposing their annual trip to the lake as the perfect opportunity to fulfill her fantasy.

All three of them are aroused by the idea. Vivi and Cade have long felt a smoldering attraction to each other…and Grant and Cade have hidden an illicit desire for decades. Going through with the mĂ©nage will test their boundaries, reveal old secrets…and maybe tear them apart. After all, there might be room for Cade in bed, but is there room for a third in their marriage?




Title: Coming Clean
Author: Inez Kelley
Series: Dirty Laundry Series, book 3
Genre: Erotic Romance, Contemporary Romance
Publisher: Carina Press
Year of release: 2010, August 30
Format: eGalley
Source: Received a digital ARC from publisher via NetGalley
First line: How do you ask your best friend to f#ck your wife?
Memorable Scenes:
- Cade and Vivi dancing, Grant watching them > hotter, more seductive, more enthralling than the actual sex scenes, I'm a sucker for dancing.
- "Ground rules" scene > so sweet and hot

The story is short so I am leaving out a summary as the blurb covers that satisfactory so I’ll get right to business with my review

Even before I'd read one word of the book, Inez Kelley earned herself an extra point! In the contents I saw that the chapters were named. The naming of chapters is something I haven't seen in a very, very long time and I really liked it.


COMING CLEAN had an excellent start that pulled me right in, and of course a first line like that (see above), my attention is definitely drawn. Inez Kelley also has the uncanny ability to seduce and captivate me with her writing like few other authors can. Her writing is indescribable, it just pulls you in and I think it’s a wonderful style. A few examples to underline what I mean are:


The beat of his racing heart nearly drowned out the sexually tinged melody.

Fear mixed with dread and was fed by guilt.

Jealousy swelled like a tsunami before common decency tramped it back down.

Her writing is smooth and fast-paced with lots of showing and not much telling. It starts right at the heart of things and little by little the character backgrounds and the origins of their fantasies are weaved into the story. Easy banter, scorching desire and unadulterated lust alternate in an easy, fluent way while the lead-up to the ménage unfolds, but beneath the wit and the heat there's also doubt and fear.

Vivi wants the threesome not only for herself but also for Grant as she sees his feelings for Cade, which go beyond just sexual desire and she fears losing them both to each other. It's not a threesome the three of them embark on light-heartedly or without trepidation. All three have their doubts and insecurities about it and all three think about and consider the feelings of the others. I really appreciated hat they didn't do the mindlessly diving into a ménage routine.

I really loved how the "Dirty Laundry" theme of the series was subtly incorporated in this installment, in the refreshingly unique way I've grown used to by now in this series. Seriously, this is my favorite new (and newly discovered) erotic contemporary series of 2010.

One very minor point of criticism: the ending was kind of sudden, when I turned the page, ready for some more triangle action and I got the 'About the Author' page I just stared at it in disbelief and disappointment because surely this couldn't be the end. I flipped back and forth again but unfortunately there was no more and I really wanted more.

The m/m part of this ménage is...just wow...I have no words to do it justice. As known I only accept m/m action if there's a female somewhere in the equation and there is in COMING CLEAN but at the same time Inez Kelley gave me a taste of the most explicit m/m sexy times I have ever read in my limited experience of this subgenre and lo and behold: I loved it. True, I was anxiously waiting for Vivi to come out and into play too but still I thought the Cade and Grant raw chemistry and tentative exploring of each other was brilliantly written and I must thank Inez for giving me a first real taste of m/m, and not just the suggestion of it (which was fine with me and my comfort zone) and making me love it!

That being said, I still liked the parts where Vivi contributed to the sexual play the best and I don't believe I'd ever go for the straight m/m erotic romance but COMING CLEAN definitely proved to me that with the right kind of m/m/f ménage writing I can appreciate that part of it.

I was supposed to read this book slowly, little snippets spread out over a few days, in between other books I needed to read, but I couldn't because every time I closed the reader to go do or read something else, I'd keep thinking about it and opening the reader to go back to Grant, Vivi and Cade so eventually I read it in practically one sitting. Curse you, Ms. Kelley for keeping me entranced with this enticing piece of erotic romance! *shakes fist*

COMING CLEAN is a fun, poignant and dirty sexy erotic romance that will please both m/m and ménage lovers and it pleased even this non-m/m reader immensely!


Favorite Quotes:
Betrayal soured in his mouth. He’d crossed a line no friend should ever cross. Since fourth grade they’d been blood brothers, buddies, the guy you couldn’t call to bail you out of jail because he’d be sitting in the cell with you asking “Man, what the hell did we do?”

A soft command husked with gravelly texture. “Tell me what you’re thinking right now.” His sultry tone slithered across the air, shedding a skin of doubt and revealing scales of lust and promise.

Cade, Grant and Vivian were a triangle. Three sides of equal strength, joined together.



4 comments:

Leontine said...

Of all your Dirty Laundry reviews this one appeals to me the most >> A; I love MĂ©nages and B; I heart M/M action :)) Great review pearl, I really must sample this story soon!!

A Buckeye Girl Reads said...

Vivian Arend got me hooked on menage story lines, so I think I'll like this one better then the second one in the series that I read. Great review! I still have to read book one. :)

Inez Kelley said...

Squeeeeee!

I am so happy you liked COMING CLEAN. This story sat in my brain for about two years but I never thought I could write it. I wanted a threesome as it might really happen, not the expected "hawt damn, let's do it" and the same old Double penetration scenes. I decided to take the plunge and I have to say, I can't decide who is my favorite in that threesome, I love them all.

And hey! I managed to engage you in a m/m scene even if you were waiting for the F to show up. It's a start!

SusiSunshine said...

I so agree Pearl. Wonderful book.
And these 2 guys were just yummy.

Nice to meet you!

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Pearl
Netherlands
39, married to my real life romance hero, addicted to TV shows, reading romance novels and Twitter. I'm a chronic (e)book hoarder and my absolute favorite genres within romance fiction are contemporary romance and romantic suspense, but I don't shy away from historical, paranormal or erotic romance either. Even the occasional (urban) fantasy romance, futuristic and sci fi romance may make it to my Mount TBR. This is my corner of the world wide web where I let you know what books I'm hoarding, reading and reviewing.
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