CBRBingo16: Détente
The characters want to be together but there are conditions to their union. Self-sacrifice, responsibility, and fear of the unknown hold them back.
The Roommates (Three Player Grind #1)
by Allyson Lindt
With her daughters on vacation with their father, a reluctantly relieved Daria is ready to begin her week of relaxation in Hawaii. Since she will be gone, she offered her daughter’s swim coaches, Colin and Tanner, to stay in her home while their shared apartment is being fumigated. When her boss calls her with a last-minute request, Daria agrees to it on the condition that she is well-compensated for her cancelled vacation.
Colin and Tanner are best friends and run their own coaching program at the local rec center. When they find out that Daria has to stay home, they offer to stay in a hotel but ultimately come to a mutual agreement that they are very willing to be roommates in Daria’s home for a week.
This is an interesting take on the ménage à trois and forced proximity tropes. Daria is a self-sacrificing mom and a successful account manager. She is not immune to the eye candy of having two fit, friendly, and kind younger men staying with her. She only offered to let them stay because she knows both of them after attending her daughter’s swim meets and lessons. Colin and Tanner are bffs, but Colin has a secret crush on Tanner. Both men are interested in Daria. Daria, however, confronts Colin about his feelings for Tanner and explains that she does not want to be the person to drive a wedge in their friendship. She urges Colin to talk to Tanner before things go too far.
This book is nice because the adults actually act like adults. Well, most of the time anyway. Daria is afraid to let her guard down knowing that the threesome has an expiration date. She cannot imagine having a lasting relationship with both men, especially without her thirteen-year-old daughter discovering it. While she is interested in both of them, she thinks that laying out ground rules and setting a time limit is the best path forward.
Things quickly become more complicated when Colin sort of gets what he wants (Tanner) but Tanner doesn’t understand the depth of Colin’s feelings.
While there are rocky parts, everyone except Daria’s ex behaves in a mature way. I really appreciated how each of the three lovers took time to think about their feelings, why they were reacting the way they were, and how they could better communicate their needs and fears among themselves.
His Reluctant Omega Mate (Sweetwater Pack Book 1)
by Jax Stuart
This is the first book in the Sweetwater Pack series. In this world, Alphas, Omegas, Betas, and humans live together, however the ABO contingents live in their own enclaves for protection and also as part of their internal governance and education structure. Kade and Blake are both wolf shifters from different clans. Kade is in a sort of witness protection program from his father. Kade’s father promised him (a young omega) to another alpha to gain more power within the clan. Fearing his father and the cruel way his father treated omegas, Kade assumed a new identity and fled to Sweetwater.
Blake is the head of the Sweetwater clan of wolf shifters. When a creepy alpha comes to his compound searching for a missing omega, Blake and his brothers immediately fear something weird is going on.
There are so many odd politics in this book, I’m loathe to describe them in more detail than necessary. The gist of the story is that Blake inherited the main alpha role after his father was killed. He is trying to rebuild his clan from an aggressive and cruel governing style to one where alphas, omegas, and betas can live their lives with the safety, respect, and independence they deserve.
Blake and Kade are fated mates and eventually get together. Blake has to protect Kade from his father. Kade has to learn to trust Blake despite his past trauma from other alphas.
I received both of these books through a Stuff your Kindle Day from Romance Bookworms.
For this year’s CBR16 Book Bingo Reading Challenge I’m choosing albums from the 1970s that helped raise me. When I think of Détente, I think of Killing Me Softly from Roberta Flack’s album of the same name (1973).
Side note: I really wanted to use My Sharona by The Knack. But I reread the lyrics and looked at the cover for the single and was grossed out. It’s a great bop but luckily there are so many other albums to choose from.