Title: Carnal Compromise
Author: Robin L. Rotham
ISBN: 978-1-60928-591-3
Genre: Comtemporary, MMF Menage
Publisher: Samhain Publishing, Ltd. (August 9, 2011)
Length and Format: Novel 396 KB
Heat Level: Explicit
Heart Rating: ♥♥♥♥4Hearts
From the Publisher: Joe Remke has just one qualification for his lovers—he wants them gone before sunrise, which makes his new bunkmate AJ about as safe as a woman can be around him. It also makes his determination to sleep with his boss downright stupid, because if Brent ever gives in, he’ll be looking for a new job.
Ladies’ man Brent Andersen knows sex with his right-hand man Joe is inevitable, but he’s not going down without a fight. Putting the new female hired hand in their cramped RV was a stroke of genius, taking the heat off him while protecting her from the horny guys on his custom farming crew.
AJ Pender’s hard-bodied roomies may hide their feelings for each other from the rest of the crew, but they aren’t fooling her—Brent and Joe are hot for each other, and it’s all she can do not to cry at the thought. If they ever found out she fantasizes about being the meat in their farmer sandwich, they’d probably die laughing.
Fortunately for Brent and Joe, fantasies have a way of revealing themselves and AJ’s are right up their alley. But even threesomes have their risks, and AJ can serve as a buffer for only so long before the tension between them explodes.
About the Author (From Amazon): When I complained of being bored the summer before 7th grade, my mother (who worked at a bookstore at the time) handed me a stripped copy of Victoria Holt’s The Shivering Sands–and I was hooked. I became a voracious reader and an aspiring author, bringing home stacks of books from the library every single week. The next year, I did a school report on Ms. Holt and wrote to her asking for information. In reply, she sent me an autographed photo and a lovely two-page hand-written letter in which she encouraged me to follow my writing dreams. Sadly, both the photo and the letter were lost over many moves, but my writing dreams remained.
My Review: I am usually hesitant to read books involving threesomes because too many of them seem to be all about the sex and not enough about their relationship and character development. I think that Ms. Rotham did a good job finding balance with AJ, Joe, and Brent but I had parts I enjoyed more than others.
At the beginning of this book, Joe and Brent are very close friends. They have known each other for years and while Joe (who is bi) openly acknowledges his attraction to Brent (who has always considered himself straight) the two have no awkwardness between them at all. They share the occasional woman between them, work together with easy camaraderie, and are comfortable together. I love that the author had the 2 male characters already have a bond between them before the sex came into play.
AJ is a bit on the feisty side, which I like. She seems to hold her own with the guys pretty well. Her active imagination has her fantasizing about being with Brent and Joe and she is mortified to be interrupted by them during a very private moment but it just gets the boys moving a little faster to get her into bed.
I would have played that first sex scene out a little differently than the author chose to. I don’t want to give away any plot details but suffice it to say that Joe is a bit of a jerk. While it has been hinted at that he has some serious commitment issues, we don’t really understand WHY. In face, we don’t really know a lot about ANY of the characters history before they end up in bed. We know they are close and enjoy each other’s company but not really what makes each one tick. I think that throwing a little bit of back story into the book as it progressed would have helped me understand the characters better.
I liked the characters, the sex scenes were hot and well written, and I liked the story itself. I just would have rearranged things a bit so that the character’s histories and feelings were a little bit more well understood before the bedroom scenes hit.
Overall, though, a good story and I will certainly be checking out other books by this author!