February 6, 2011



About a month late because of my drowned iPhone and not having access to all my review-notes but hey, better late than never...Here's my review of the last Wild Irish book that was supposed to close of my Wild Irish Week...

The child who is born on the Sabbath day, is bonny and blithe and good and gay.

Sean Collins is happy working at the family pub and sharing a house with the woman of his dreams. He and Lauren are equals in every way, including in bed, where they burn the sheets. Life is good. Even if he must hide a couple of secrets to keep it that way.

Lauren is madly in love with Sean. They share everything—almost. She can’t deny sensing…something. A certain feeling when she, Sean and their friend Chad are all together. But she doesn’t press. How can she when she’s not being completely forthright herself?

Chad is feeling pretty miserable, and renting a room in Sean and Lauren’s home has only made it worse. In a house filled with secrets, Chad’s are doozies.

When an opportunity arises to explore their deep desires, the trio plunges into a sex-filled, emotionally charged ménage. Long-buried feelings are revealed, changing their lives irrevocably. Whether for better or worse, only Sean, Chad and Lauren can decide.

Trope/themes:
Ménage, friends-to-lovers, D/s, spanking, m/m, toys,

First Line:
“Where’s Chad?” Lauren asked breathlessly as they entered Sean’s apartment.

Memorable:
The scene in which Chad confessed to kissing Lauren and Sean's reaction that followed > very powerful and pivotal scene.

The baby shower (not spoiling who's shower) > both emotional (serious talk between Lauren and Keira) and LOL funny

The 3 Sundays > some of the best ménage sex scenes I've read since I started reading erotic romance

Review:
The main characters in ANY GIVEN SUNDAY are Sean Collins, Lauren Chase and Chad Watterson. They have been friends forever and at the beginning of this book Lauren and Sean decide to move in together and for various reason invite their best buddy to shack up with them. What they don’t know is that each individually has yearnings he or she is hiding deep down…yearnings that make their living together a lot more complicated than they could have imagined.

Sean is the youngest Collins sibling. He’s impulsive, romantic, outgoing and a heart on his sleeve type of guy. Throughout the series Sean was always an element of tranquility among the boisterous Collins family. He was the one with sound advice and a listening ear for his siblings when they were balancing on the amorous edge.

Chad Watterson is Lily’s younger brother. He’s perceptive, guarded, solitary and an over-thinker. He’s not the most talkative or sociable of men but when he’s in his comfort zone (mostly with Sean and Lily) he loosens up and a different Chad emerges. You might remember Lily as the heroine from SWEET THURSDAY. When I first found and read the blurb for ANY GIVEN SUNDAY I was pretty surprised that Chad was one of the main characters as his reaction to his sister’s relationship with Justin and Killian was pretty explosive. He was considerably younger in that book, but still I was looking forward to all the possibilities this development was going to bring to this book.

The woman in the middle of these two fine specimen of men is Lauren Chase.
She’s direct, open, headstrong, chatty and has a steel backbone. From early in their friendship she’s developed strong feelings for both Sean and Chad but she keeps her feelings for Chad quiet as she and Sean pursue a relationship together. What she doesn’t know is that in their friendship she isn’t the only one keeping feelings hidden and unspoken.

The final installment of this series definitely packs a punch. It started off scorchingly hot and actually never let up. Mari Carr held me captive from start to finish with this journey and exploration into secret and hidden desires. It’s all about admitting and submitting to them. She made ANY GIVEN SUNDAY about love between 3 people...pure and simple yet emotionally complicated

Sean caught my attention from the first time he set foot in this series and his story being the last was both fitting and torturous. Mari Carr definitely delivered on the promise for Sean's story! From the first line to the last I was enthralled by this excellent closure to the Wild Irish series. The prologue at the start sets the tone and once again it was all there: the heat, the family dynamics, the relational dilemmas, the humor, the excellent storytelling and the emotional ending. ANY GIVEN SUNDAY may well be the most intricate book of the series. The HEA isn't as cut and clear as in most of the other books.

I'm in awe of how Mari Carr tackled the ménage-theme in this book, she showed the problems and dilemmas and never took the easy way out. Approaching the possibility of à threesome from all angles and not making it mainly a sexually triggered one makes this book a keeper on my shelves and Mari Carr a definite favorite.

It's known m/m is a trope that is not on my erotic romance menu much. I can count the books that include m/m action that I've liked on one hand and there are very few authors who can make me forget my reluctance to read m/m scenes or romance. Mari Carr turns out to be one of those very few.

I've praised Mari Carr in previous reviews about her ability to keep all the books in this series unique and fresh despite known tropes and recurring subjects and themes and with this book she remained true to form. Underneath all the emotional intensity of this book there's still that humor I like so much in the books. It's subtle, giving way for the intricate and heavy emotional struggles

If you thought previous books in this series were hot, brace yourself for this one! To say ANY GIVEN SUNDAY is one sizzling hot book would be the first and biggest understatement of this new year.

Words fail to describe the emotional impact this book had on me and I can't but give this lovely closing installment of the Wild Irish series my highest rating!

Quotes:
Years as best friends had bred a comfortable familiarity. It had also built up some pretty deep-seated need in Sean. If he didn’t get her into his bed soon, he was likely to do himself an injury. Sporting a hard-on 24/7 couldn’t be good for anybody.

Chad felt like a middle-aged accountant whenever he stood next to Sean. He spent too much time indoors. While he was trim, no one would call him built. He certainly wasn’t sporting a six-pack. Shit. He’d be lucky to find just one in his pack and his skin was too pale from lack of sun.

She curled against his shoulder as he engulfed her in his large embrace. For once, she wasn’t trying to solve the puzzle. For once, she gave up all her internal struggles and placed herself in Sean’s capable, strong hands. And for the first time in a long time, she felt happy.

(Sean) He’d tossed and turned and jacked off all night as he lay on the couch thinking about Lauren’s proposition and that damn kiss. She’d reached into his head, pulled out all his naughtiest fantasies and was now offering them to him on a silver platter.

She’d been a fool to listen to Riley’s advice. She’d thought she was engaging in a ménage, exploring some wicked fantasies. With her stupid plan, she’d blown the lid off an ancient, unseen volcano and she had a feeling they were all about to be taken down in the ensuing scorching lava flow.

Sean gave them a shit-eating grin before moving to his knees and crawling forward. He didn’t stop until his face reached Lauren’s and he gave her a long, wet kiss. Chad marveled over how natural their closeness felt. He’d always been a firm believer in personal space…but Lauren and Sean fit in his space.





1 comments:

barbara said...

Thanks Pearl, great review! Can't wait to read this one. :)

Also, love the new blog look! Congrats!

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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On My TBR Shelf

  • Unforgivable - Laura Griffin
  • Snapped - Laura Griffin
  • Darkness at Dawn - Elizabeth Jennings
  • Sizzle and Burn - Alexis Grant
  • No Mercy - Lori Armstrong
  • Animal Magnetism - Jill Shalvis
  • Crazy for Love - Victoria Dahl
  • Kink - Saskia Walker/Sasha White
  • So Sensitive - Anne Rainey
  • Dark Taste of Rapture - Gena Showalter
  • The Darkest Secret - Gena Showalter
  • Vampire in Atlantis - Alyssa Day
  • Vampire Dragon - Annette Blair
  • Captive Spirit - Anna Windsor
  • Chosen by Blood - Virna DePaul
  • Rebel - Zoe Archer
  • Stranger - Zoe Archer
  • A Taste of Desire - Beverley Kendall
  • Mistress by Midnight - Maggie Robinson
  • To Desire a Devil - Elizabeth Hoyt
  • To Tame a Dangerous Lord - Nicole Jordan

Digital TBR Next

  • Driven - Jayne Rylon (reread)
  • Shifting Gears - Jayne Rylon
  • Beg Me - Shiloh Walker
  • Tempt Me - Shiloh Walker
  • Jazz Baby - Lorelie Brown
  • Playboy Prankster - Pamela Britton
  • Just Like That - Erin Nicholas
  • Sweet Inspiration - Penny Watson
  • Breathe - Donna Alward
  • My Gigolo - Molly Burkhart
  • Scent of Persuason - Nikki Duncan

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