Keep You Both: An MFF Holiday Novella

by Kathryn Nolan

What’s the first rule of wedding planning? Don’t fall for the couple…It was supposed to be a quick trip to the mountains. I was going to show my best friends Beau and Flora their wedding venue, hope they said “yes,” and check another task off the long list of things to do before they tie the knot. Oh, and continue to keep my feelings for the bride and groom under wraps.What I didn’t plan for was a sudden blizzard to trap all three of us in a cozy cabin over New Year’s Eve weekend. Just me, the dirty-talking paramedic, the flirty baker, and too many bottles of champagne.Oops.Talk about a disaster. Resisting temptation is the only option—because revealing my secret would ruin their relationship and our friendship.I’m not willing to lose them both.Even if the couple I’m forbidden to have…might want me back.KEEP YOU BOTH is a (super) steamy MFF novella set over New Year’s Eve weekend with a guaranteed Happily Ever After.

Genres: Novella, Friends To Lovers, Romance, Holiday, Polyamory, LGBT, Forced Proximity

152 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 17, 2023

Reviews

[Monique · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute, spicy and festive. If MFF is something you're into you'll love this quick read for sure.

[lexi · Rating 2 out of 5]

NEVER TRUST TIKTOK

[Romancing the Reader · Rating 4 out of 5]

Simple, spicy and swoony…

If you just love love, you’ll enjoy this novella.

📕 𝗕𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝗜𝗻𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: Keep You Both by Kathryn Nolan

📙 𝗦𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀: Standalone

📗 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗗𝗲𝘁𝗮𝗶𝗹𝘀: E-book on Kindle. 🆓 on KU.

📘 𝗚𝗲𝗻𝗿𝗲: Holiday erotica

📔 𝗧𝗿𝗼𝗽𝗲𝘀: LGBTQIA+, FFM, snowed in, novella.

📖 𝗦𝘆𝗻𝗼𝗽𝘀𝗶𝘀: Paige is planning the wedding of her best friends, Flora and Beau. When a snow storm leaves them stranded, it becomes clear why they’ve been dragging their feet on finalizing wedding details.

🌟 𝗥𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄: Sometimes you just need something so full of romance, you could burst.

I loved this novella. It was spicy to the max, but I loved the underlying message of love being what you make of it. It was full of declarations and proposals and sweet moments… by 50% this polycule was happy and ready for forever.

Certainly a great little queer romance if you’re in need.

𝗥𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴: 4/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐

𝗦𝗽𝗶𝗰𝗲 𝗟𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹: 3.5/5 🌶🌶🌶

[Leigh Kramer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Legitimately hot novella! Wedding planner Paige finally gets together with her engaged best friends Beau and Flora. If you can’t tell your friends how you feel while you’re snowed in at a cabin for NYE, when can you do it?? This was a steamy FFM treat. These three had chemistry for days and it was so satisfying once they finally acted on it. It would have been better—and way more believable—if they hadn’t gotten engaged after one day of sex. I didn’t have any issue with the “I love you’s” since they’ve been best friends for so long. But why can’t they date for a while, tell their families, and see what a polyamorous relationship is actually like before they jump straight to marriage? Flora and Beau can obviously postpone their wedding. It just didn’t make any sense to me. Related: I wish Beau and Flora would have talked about why they made a move on each other and not Paige if they’ve all had crushes on each other this whole time.


Characters: Paige is a bisexual white wedding planner. Beau is a bisexual white paramedic. Flora is a bisexual white bakery owner. Beau and Flora are engaged. This is set in Telluride, CO.

Content notes: blizzard, twisted ankle, past infidelity (MMC’s ex-boyfriend cheated, Paige’s girlfriend cheated with Paige’s best friend), on page sex, FFM menage, bondage, champagne play, auditory voyeurism, anal play, rimming, sex toy, masturbation, alcohol, past inebriation, ableist language

[kc · Rating 3 out of 5]

MFF

[sunny · Rating 1 out of 5]

no romance or developed connections for this poly relationship just smut that i’d give a mid rating

[Nya Brightly · Rating 2 out of 5]

Can we get a “queer” word count cuz …… wtf

[Romancingthroughlife (Sivan) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this holiday novella! It had the perfect amount of spice and story to it! I liked how we first read about Paige being in love with her two friends, Flora and Beau. She’s planning their wedding, and yet wishes she could be with them. I liked reading how the three of them get stranded in a cabin due to weather. It finally forces them to make a move. The steamy scenes were the best! Honestly, the highlight of this book! The three of them together is so hot. I loved reading how they were all connected with each other. You really felt the love. I liked how Beau and Flora navigated the relationship with Paige in it.

Read if you like:
Heroine’s POV
MFF romance
Friends to lovers
Forced proximity
Open door romance
Communication yay

[Johanna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful Story

This is a love story and a romance intertwined.

They have all been friends on some level for years and had all been harboring feelings for each other. Beu and Flora had already been an established couple but didn’t know exactly how to tell Paige that they wanted her too. She had NO CLUE if she should open up about her feelings. UNTIL one snowy snowed in New Years weekend and the shenanigans ensued, the flood gates opened and they found their HEA together

This book is short and beautiful and pure lust induced haze lol

I didn’t love it but I didn’t hate it either. Kept me intrigued and I wanted to see how it all played out. I love how the epilogue wraps up some really small but cute arguments they made that first weekend ❤️

[Nik · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book takes place where I mostly grew up, so it was fun to catch all the references. Love the celebration of queerness the story was. Love seeing bisexual rep. It's beautiful to see stories of queer triumph and happy endings instead of struggle and pain.

That said, it was pretty boring for me. The writing, and especially the humor, felt a bit forced. The smut was fine but not interesting. I found myself speed reading.

Overall, really lovely premise that I just didn't vibe with.

[Andy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very quick read. I enjoyed reading from the different perspective of a bisexual, polyamorous person. But I was not prepared for detailed "spicy" group sex scenes, which seemed to be the focus of the book. Not sure why this showed up in my suggested reading list...

[Shalana · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was both cute as hell and spicy.

[Mae Bennett · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can't remember who recommended this one to me but it was just the steamy read I needed. I loved the dynamics, as Paige is snowed in with her two best friends she's wedding planning for, and also secretly pining for. Sweet and steamy all at the same time, this was a great read!

[Jenna Kindinger · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute quick FFM novella. I love that this wasn’t an insta-love like you normally see in novellas, but gave a back story of the characters as well.

⭐️: 3/5
🌶️: 4/5

[lily · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Stephy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short novella, only 110+ pages. Kindle recommended for Pride month, 🫶🏼

[Bookish Lotus · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love me a good MFF story!

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

The MFF version of Gifting Me to His Best Friend by Katee Robert.

[Hannah · Rating 3 out of 5]

The writing was a 2 the spice was a 4, so I'm calling it a 3.

[cait:) · Rating 1 out of 5]

if i had to read the word queer one more time i will lose my shit, i genuinely skim read the last 30%

[Elyse · Rating 2 out of 5]

Book 7 of 2024

This was teased as NYE weekend novella, and so I decided to jump on the #BookTok trend and try it out. Let me say this – I understand that this is a novella, but I hate when something should be a full-blown book instead. The dynamic between our three main characters is based on the assumption we as the audience understand they have been best friends for a long time – two of them are engaged, and the other female friend desperately wants to be in relationship with them both. So when they all get snowed in a cabin together for a weekend, things happen. But here’s the thing – it all seemed nonsensical because we don’t have the years of history here to make this shift make sense. So instead, it just feels like bringing in Paige is an unnecessary addition to Beau and Flora’s lives. This type of thing happened in the other MFF book that I read, and it felt sudden and unnecessary (Odd Man Rush by Kristen Granata). I will say that this one did a marginally better job, but it still felt sudden – especially when they made the decision to get married after one night together. If @KathrynNolan had the intention just write a short and smutty story, then she delivered on that. For me, I wanted more to make it all make sense (but I will also admit I am probably still frustrated with my last MFF book and bringing some of that here too).

Rating – two stars
Format – kindle unlimited

[Come_read_with_me_ · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm sorry but this book wasn't for me.
It tells us the story of Paige, who is organising her two best friends' wedding. The problem is that she is in love with them both!

This is a novella, so it is very quick, and I totally understand there is not much time to develop a storyline or the characters. However, for me, I got nothing at all. This felt like Paige's dream, to be honest. Everything worked out EXACTLY like she wanted it to. In my opinion, there was way too much lust and spice and not enough emotional connection.

Sorry but this was a no from me

[Mary Camille Waycaster · Rating 1 out of 5]

I’d honestly rate it a 0! Do NOT read this book unless you are gay. No offense if you are, just not for me!! I didn’t read what it was about or MFF before I read it… at 60% in I wanted to DNF it but pushed through. NOT FOR ME….. AT ALL. AND IVE READ CREDENCE !!!!

[CiCi | bookameme · Rating 5 out of 5]

A simply filthy about the power of undying love.


Quote:📖
But if wanting them was wrong, why did every single second I spent in their presence feel so unbelievably right?

Thoughts: 💡
This books is crazy hot and filled with all the angst of good gay love story. It’s short and simple but manages to tell a full story that gives a lot of depth to the three main characters. There was some really inspiring prose and super hot smut scenes.
In the author’s note there’s a description from a friend that says, “After my best friend read the first draft of this book, she said, ‘As soon as you tell me it’s simply filthy, I know it’s really about the power of undying love.’” And I would have to full heartedly agree with that description.

Writing Mechanics: ✍️
This book seemed very well written and edited with beautiful elegant descriptions at points, extremely fun and descriptive smut scenes, and a surprising amount of depth for the characters in a shorter story. I also loved that the writer is bisexual because it made the characters' narratives feel very authentic. The author’s positivity and beliefs really shines through the story.

Fun Bits:
🏳️‍🌈 Big Gay Lovefest ❤️‍🔥
🥵 Dirty Talkers
🌶️ Smuttastic
💔 Angsty
🪩 Disco Love
🛏️ Close Proximity
💗 Throuple
🌻 Friends to Lovers
💖 Second Chances
🫂 Hurt/Comfort
🥂 Champagne & Cupcakes 🧁

Stats:📊
Spice Scale: 4.5 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️/ 5
Character Dev: 5 💙💙💙💙💙/5
Genre: Erotic Bisexual Romance📕
Tropes: (Poly Group, Bisexual Romance, Friends to Lovers, Second Chances, Forced Proximity)📘
Published: Nov 17, 203 🗓️
POV: 👩‍❤️‍👩👩‍❤️‍👨💃🏻💃🏼🕺
CW: Mentions of Cheating (not the MCs)⚠️

[Marielli (lellireads) · Rating 5 out of 5]

“I wanted to be Beau kissing Flora. To be Flora, kissing Beau. Wanted to be between them, with them, part of all of it.”

Look at me back into reading a random book on KU after seeing someone recommend it! FFM is truly my weakness.

This novella has completely swept me off my feet! Like I said, it's been a looong while since I picked up a new author, and god, was I lucky with this one! There are delicious sex scenes, no drama (!!!!), and it's super cute and sweet. It's a feel-good book through and through. I truly spent the whole time making this face 🥹 as I read.

It's fast-paced, as one would expect from a novella, it all happens on a weekend (not counting the epilogue). You still could see the realest connection these three have with each other, the longing. I loved how their relationship was depicted. Despite being just under 150 pages, the story had me fully engaged and deeply invested in this throuple. I also loved how the conversations between them about what their relationship would be like going forward were included in the story. It's such a crucial aspect of this kind of dynamic, but it's still underexplored in books.

This book has gotten bonus points for 1) chapter titles (I love them so much) 2) the sweetest epilogue and 3) a bonus scene!!!

As for the dedication, yep, I totally panicked!

I'm always on a quest to find more FFM books, so I'm thrilled to have found another one that I love, along with a new author!

[Callie Kakascik · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is another new author I wanted to try out, and someone referred this one to me. It was on KU, so I figured, why not?

This book talks a lot about the queer community, and while it may be mentioned a few times more than necessary, I still liked the book.

Paige is a wedding planner, and she's planning the wedding of 2 of her best friends. Flora and Beau are getting married, and have been very difficult to pick a venue. They end up snowed in together at a cabin in their latest attempt, and that's where all is revealed.

There aren't too many F/F books out there, and this is an MFF. I think the story was absolutely great. I loved the character-building and ended up really liking all 3 of them.

There are some past/present tense issues in the beginning, but it gets better afterward. No 3rd act breakup and a lot of actual discussion after the first smut scene. I've noticed a lot of times after the "big scene" happens all the characters spend the rest of the story in bed, so this was a nice change.

3.75 rounded up to 4 star read.

[Booklover Judy Lynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

This holiday standalone is written in first person from Paige’s POV and ends with a HEA.
Paige is a wedding planner tasked with planning the wedding of her two best friends while keeping her very big feelings for both of them under wraps. All the secrets and feelings come to light when the three of them get snowed in at a small cabin over New Years.
This was a delightfully romantic and steamy read. I loved each one of the characters so much! I loved that they were all bisexual and free in their exploration of that and the way they live. This was a beautifully written love story. The New Year’s Eve scene made me swoon. I really admired that the author doesn’t pretend that it was an easy path to their HEA, but instead addresses some of the steps they took together to make their complicated relationship not only work, but to be amazing. This was a heartwarming exploration of big scary love, and I can see myself reading this one over and over.
I am voluntarily leaving this honest review after receiving an advance reader copy of the book.

[Chelsea · Rating 2 out of 5]

50% anxiety, 50% smut, but the smut doesn't smooth over the anxiety at all.

I don't know, I guess I'm expecting too much from a novella but with all the angst and build up the first half of the story, the last half is just a hunky dory, no conflict smut-fest. Paige even brings up very valid points (the power dynamic of being the third to enter an established relationship, public/family/friends opinion's of their unconventional throuple, etc.) and all of it is just brushed under the rug with a quick "we'll just be honest all the time." Huh?

And then you get to the end and everyone is totally happy for them. Where is the conflict?? If you wanted this to just be a fluffy snapshot of a throuple's beginnings, why bring up very valid potential conflicts?? It just felt half done, like the author wanted to delve deeper and flesh out a full novel with a full plot but couldn't pull it off so she just solved everything with "we'll just be honest with each other" like that actually solves anything.

[sahra (readwithsahra_) · Rating 2 out of 5]

***DNF at 50%***

if you know me you know that I’m always here for some queer joyful mess and when I heard about this holiday novella, it’s premise and the fact that it was a poly couple I was all in. I read the dedication and I knew it was a story I would enjoy. and, in theory, I would. it’s queer, it’s messy, we are talking about a wedding planner planning her best friends wedding but turns out she’d been in love with them both for a long time now

but the execution was not what I expected and wished it would be. this type of story should be built on angst longing tension but they were all so very opened and okay with getting it together that it didn’t bring a novelty to the story. so the story end up being smutty with no profound emotional attachement and it’s a shame bc that’s why I was here for

it’s a bit of a disappointment for the romance part but if you are searching for a novella that is celebrating queerness in the writing it might be a book to consider!

[Maggie | MagReadsBooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

I went into this with the novella mindset and I liked it! I usually want a more beefy story, but I was intrigued by the tagline and had to try it out. There was a LOT of build up and basically one super hot, super spicy scene and then that was kind of that. I usually love the tension to naturally build until it overflows but it felt a bit too strung out for me here.

My other big issue was that it felt like it was trying too hard to push the queer agenda. Something was blatantly said about being queer in (I think) every chapter and it felt like overkill. I get it. They're queer and 2/3 come from queer parents and Paige wants everyone to celebrate queer-ness but it was just too much at times.

Overall, I liked it. If you want 140 pages of build up and a super hot FFM scene- read it. Thats exactly what you get.