Review – Melt Into You by Roni Loren

Publisher: Berkley
Publish Date: Out Now
How I got this book: copy from publisher

Her first love has returned, and he’s brought a friend…
After running away from home and the boy who broke her heart, Evan Kennedy has kick-started the perfect new life with her celebrity fiancé. So what if said fiancé prefers guys? She knew the deal when they got engaged. And with her ticket to The Ranch, an exclusive resort where any fantasy can be satisfied, she can find someone to fulfill her less-than-traditional desires on the side.

She just never expected that man to be Jace Austin, her old heart-breaker—all grown up, hard-bodied, and holding out a collar. She knows it’s a world-class bad idea—especially since Jace has brought along his buddy Andre, who’s every bit as irresistible. But if they can stick to the no-strings rules, so can she.

Too bad Jace has never been so good with rules. Evan is convinced “forever” is a word used only in greeting cards, but Jace and Andre have one last fantasy of hers left to fulfill. It’s time to go big or go home. And neither man has ever been a fan of going home.
*Blurb from Goodreads*

Ever since I picked up my first Cherise Sinclair novel, I’ve been hooked on BDSM romance. When Loren’s first novel came out earlier this year, I gobbled it up right away. While I was a little hesitant about the second book in the series, I knew I would have to given Loren a shot to win me over on my m/f/m menage fears. I’m happy to report that this is one of the better menage books I’ve read in a REALLY LONG TIME.

Evan will do anything for her best friend, but living a lie is getting to be harder and harder, especially when Jace walks back into her life. He was the one boy she always loved, and those unresolved feelings come back to the surface when she meets him again. When they are faced together once again at The Ranch, Evan has an even harder time as her life begins to implode.

Jace doesn’t do one-on-one BDSM play anymore, and his best friend Andre helps him keep his subs at a distance. But both Jace and Andre have a hard time keeping play and their emotions separate from Evan, and each other. The more time they spend together, the harder life gets. But when Jace and Andre offer Evan the world, will she be strong enough to take it?

I’ll admit to being very hesitant every time I pick up a menage book. I always feel as if one partner is getting the short end of the stick, and while Andre doesn’t have the history that Jace and Evan do, I never truly felt like he was a third wheel. While he did – at times – play second fiddle to Jace when it came to Evan, he also found a way to insert himself into the triad as a solid third member. He was honest with Jace about his feelings toward having a relationship between the two of them, and he went out of his way for one-on-one time with Evan as well. I was glad to see that he didn’t just serve as an extra plaything.

Loren does an incredible job portraying the BDSM lifestyle in a sexy and romantic way. The intimate moments are hot whether they are done at The Ranch, in the bedroom, are full of blindfolds and handcuffs or are strictly vanilla. I love the honesty in her writing, and the way the sexy aspects of the book are handled start to finish. For BDSM romance fans, Loren should definitely be put on the must-read list.

I will admit that there were a few times I wasn’t one hundred percent on board with this book. And unfortunately, most of those times came when Evan was dealing with her “fiance.” I found him to be a self-centered a-hole who never really seemed to take Evan’s feelings into consideration, especially since she had to sit by and be the prim and proper wife-to-be while he got to keep his boyfriend on the side. It wasn’t fair, and many of the times I felt as if he treated her like less than a best friend and more like an employee.

There were also times when I thought Jace was going to be too overbearing, too stuck in his ways, too stubborn to move forward. I was pleasantly surprised to say he wasn’t. While it seemed like he might have popped a blood vessel a time or two, he was surprisingly good at taking a step back and evaluating things from every angle and making the right decisions. When Andre dropped his bomb, Jace was somewhat quick to acknowledge his feelings for the other man and act on them accordingly. However, it was Evan who was quick to run and quick to hide herself. I hoped she would open herself up sooner than she actually did.

All in all I was very happy with Loren’s second novel in the Loving on the Edge series. I am really looking forward to the next book and was very happy with the way this one turned out. I actually found myself liking and believing in the menage relationship. While I would have liked more POV moments from Andre, I was glad to see the romance work for all three, the sexy times were hot and the story flowed beautifully.
I give Melt Into You a B+

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