Sometimes three is deliciously better than twoRaleigh McKean has borne witness to every conceivable way one person can take advantage of another. He sees it all the time in his job as a book publicist, especially working alongside his boss’s daughter. Everley Shannon would be amazing if she wasn’t such a pain in his ass.All Raleigh wants is something real. But when the captivating stranger he … real. But when the captivating stranger he agrees to go home with turns out to be Bruce Engle, the elusive rock star, it’s a harsh reminder that users are everywhere. Raleigh’s his route to a book deal, nothing more.
What Raleigh doesn’t realize is that the brooding musician is also searching for something real—and it’s possible he’s already found it in Everley’s arms. But is there room in those arms for one more?
With Everley’s own dream of getting out from under her father’s shadow crumbling into chaos, it feels like the perfect time to embrace something new. But when Raleigh’s insatiable attraction to both Everley and Bruce makes it impossible to keep his distance, there’s only one obvious solution…assuming they can learn how to share.
This book is approximately 75,000 words
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What I loved the most about Three Part Harmony is how unique each of the characters was, especially Bruce, a rock star who barely knows how to converse with people and would rather hide in disguise than brag about his fame. Bruce introduces himself to Raleigh at a concert as “Theo,” in order to remain anonymous. After their hot tryst, when Raleigh finds out who Bruce really is, and that he knew who Raleigh was all along, Raleigh suspects Bruce was just using him for his connections as a book publicist.
Meanwhile, Everley is toiling away at Athena, the same publishing house as Raleigh, which is owned by her father, even though she hates the work and the treatment she gets from her coworkers. She and Raleigh have never gotten along, even though they each can’t help checking each other out.
I really appreciated that Holley Trent drew out the tension between all of their relationships for the maximum amount of time. There are some very hot sex scenes, but even more yearning and discovering and second-guessing. Bruce was by far my favorite character because he’s so far from dashing. He’s in many ways the one who needs rescuing, from his family’s expectations, from his bandmates, and sometimes from himself. He’s strong willed but also uncertain at times, and very often clueless.
That Raleigh and Everley make him feel safe, each in their own ways, and that each of the trio unlock a part of the puzzle of each other’s personality, is the beauty of this book. It’s a sequel to Writing Her In, but you don’t need to have read that first. If you’re looking for characters who are out of the ordinary and a love story that’s beautifully off the beaten path, check out this menage romance!
What a perfect collision of guardedness and vulnerability and honesty. I tried to go slowly so it would last longer, but I couldn’t stop myself from reading it in one sitting. Holley’s writing is just lovely in this. I kept pausing to reread lines, because they were so perfect. Messy and perfect. Loved it.
Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team
Ruthie –
I absolutely loved this book – so much that as soon as I finished it, I got hold of Writing Her In (book #1) and read it straight through too! You could read this as a standalone, as the characters involved are new, but we meet Raleigh and mention of Everley in book one.
All three characters in this book have one very important thing in common – they have pressures on them to perform in a way that satisfies others at a significant cost to themselves. Each of them have dealt with this differently, but in all cases their level of trust in someone engaging with them because they are attracted to them, not because they want something, is zero. Makes it difficult to have a relationship, that’s for sure.
Everley, thankfully, breaks the cycle by being the very best friend to Bruce – but even that seems to have an expiration date… oh, three such betrayed people have a lot to cope with when opening up, dealing with each other’s foibles, and having faith. I don’t want to say more, as you need to have the goodness revealed as you read.
I cannot begin to tell you just how much I loved this story, and how I stayed up until very, very late, as I just got so involved with this trio of fascinating and deserving of love people. I also love that they are all open to what love can mean, and that gender is not a rational determinant of it.
Sarah –
I completely fell in love with Writing Her In earlier this year and this is a very worthy sequel. I think the characters might be more interesting in this second book, but it doesn’t quite have the explosive sexual tension that the first book did. This is the story of Raleigh (Stacia’s editor) and the two people he finds himself reluctantly drawn to.
Everley is my favourite character in this story. We first see her through Raleigh’s eyes as a cold and ruthlessly ambitious woman whose career has been buoyed by blatant nepotism. And then we get her perspective. Everley is lonely, isolated, and slowly dying inside as she attempts to live up to her father’s expectations. I love Everley’s journey and the growth in her character.
Bruce is fascinating and enigmatic, but I struggle with him as a romantic lead. It’s because of Bruce that the triad relationship makes sense – while they love him, Raleigh and Everley both need more than Bruce can sometimes give. I love that the author has included a character who isn’t neurotypical and I love that neither Raleigh nor Everley attempt to change him.
I found Raleigh extremely annoying in Stacia’s book, but I loved him here. He isn’t quite as smooth, quite as pushy, or quite as confident in his own book. I love that he’s human and raw at times and I love his difficult past.
I love all three characters, but I didn’t engage as well with their relationships as I did with the first book. This feels like a lower heat read and the large gaps of time between characters connecting and reconnecting doesn’t do much to build or sustain sexual tension. The story feels slightly fractured in places as two of the three characters connect and the other is excluded. While there are a few too many long and slow passages in the middle of the book, the story races to the end. For me, things are wrapped up too neatly and too quickly.
I have really loved Holley Trent’s writing in both these books. Her use of language is beautiful, and her characters feel wonderfully human. These are sexy stories that feel more like real life poly relationships than the titillating ménage so common in erotic fiction writing. I can’t wait for more from this author.
Reviewers received a free copy of this book to read and review for Wicked Reads.
This book was amazing. I basically read it in one sitting. Bruce, Everley (whose name I will NOT spell wrong), Raleigh, each main character was so unique and different and likable, and you rooted for all of them–each trying to figure out how to exist after being hurt so many times (primarily by their parents, whose expectations none of them ever lived up to, even though they each took different coping tactics–i.e., fleeing, pleasing, fighting). Watching them come together and each be right for the others as a group was just wonderful. Also, bonus, ever moment of Stacia in the book was just fabulous–I loved getting to visit with her and Dara and Adrien again. Just so good. I am so glad I read this book!
Having read the one before this I had to get into this one. It is nice when you can follow the next one in the reading with all there is out there to pick.
Since this will not be your normal path you quickly get caught up into Raleigh’s path in life with all his ups and downs. Add into that Bruce and Everley to the equation and the level of reading goes up. You have been captured with these puzzles wanting to see how they will fit if at all. The emotions will build with us holding our breath and loving every minute.
A good story but didn’t quite live up to its promise for me.
Three Part Harmony is the second book in the Plot Twist series but it reads fairly well as a standalone. The first chapter or so had quite a bit with characters from the first book so it kind of got me up to speed. After that, though, the story was pretty strictly about Bruce, Everly and Raleigh.
I was really excited to read this book as it’s been a while since I’ve read an MMF (male/male/female) ménage story. It turned out to be a good story but it took me way longer than it should have to finish reading it. (It’s a longish book at 384 pages but I’m normally a really fast reader.)
The story had a lot of promise to be really hot but turned out to have only a few hot scenes, which was a bit disappointing. I really loved Bruce/Theo; he’s a quirky character and I almost always enjoy them. Everly and Raleigh were pretty good, too but it took me much longer to connect with them.
For some reason the author’s writing style in this story just didn’t work really well for me. I found myself drifting a bit while reading and I often had to read portions again to grasp what was being said. I suspect that this had as much to do with me as the writing. Sometimes it’s really better for me to put a book aside and come back to it later and I probably should have done that with this one.
If you’re looking for a really hot ménage story, I don’t think this will be what you’re looking for. But, if you’re looking for interesting characters, along with a good story, this should work quite nicely.
A review copy was provided by the publisher via NetGalley but this did not influence my opinion or rating of the book.