Darcy who? This may be the only actual review I ever write on here, which should tell you how disappointed I was. I wanted so badly to love this book as I have the rest of the series so far. And I was extremely excited about the prospect of a poly relationship, especially after all the group play we saw in earlier books. Yes, the spice was definitely spice-ing, to no surprise. For the sole fact that the spice was incredible, I’m giving it 3 ⭐️ (which is really a rounded up 2.75) and 5 🌶️, even though I seriously wanted to list it at 2. I’m not one to write full reviews but I was so frustrated with this one that I had to share, and I noticed others had similar issues. I’m glad to hear I wasn’t alone. I have not finished the book yet but I am 94% through and I had to step away because this was really bothering me and I had to get it off my chest.
Spoilers ahead:
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I LOVE a good MMF story, I thrive in the “Why Choose” genre. But this realm takes a lot of character development and relationship progression. Which, granted, Max and Dex had (some of) that. But where on earth was Darcy????
I would like to note that we had maybe two or three 1:1 spice scenes with Darcy and one of the guys… the entire book…. And it was only ever Max (unless by some miracle Darcy gets some Dex lovin’ in the final 4%, which doesn’t seem likely). Max and Dex? Honestly the two of them probably had more spice scenes than the throuple AND Darcy’s “solo ventures” combined. Don’t get me wrong, I loved Max and Dex together as much as the next person. And I loved seeing their relationship unfurl (ha, get it?). But with the way the group dynamic developed (or didn’t, really) this should have been a monogamous relationship between the two guys with maybe some group play that included Darcy, similar to other books in the series.
Darcy didn’t fit in the “throuple” AT ALL. And I dislike it more because Darcy even mentions (albeit twice and only internally) that she’s afraid of being left behind while Max and Dex go off into the sunset (which was a very valid fear and not far off from what happened) and it was never touched on again???? All of a sudden she was perfectly content with being CONSTANTLY left out and even encouraged it with no reassurance from either men that she was at all important or relevant in any situation? She was always an afterthought.
Not to mention that we didn’t get to see her relationship with Dex develop AT ALL. It was like they had their first hookup, Dex freaked out, Max screwed him a few times, and suddenly Dex is confessing his love to Darcy??? He doesn’t remember she exists half the time! And with that, all the “progression” we saw of Max and Darcy was in the first 25% of the book… I’m confused how the hell anyone “caught feelings” for her or she for them. The entire book was about Max and Dex, and I get why, I really do. Dex was struggling with that side of himself and Max pushed him into acceptance. If this was a monogamous MM relationship I probably would have given the book a solid 4⭐️. Alas, it wasn’t. If there was even two or three scenes that Dex and Darcy had together, 1:1 (THEY DIDN’T EVEN HAVE TO BE SPICY), I would have liked this so much more. I could have forgiven the lack of development for Max and Darcy together. But to not even TRY to develop Dex and Darcy’s relationship was criminal. Anything they had together was always off screen and therefore the whole dynamic felt forced.
So yes, the spice was great, 5🌶️ for sure. The story had some SERIOUS potential, with even a tiny bit of development with Darcy’s relationships. And if she didn’t exist at all, it really wouldn’t have been any different, but it would have made more sense.
Will I keep reading the series? Absolutely. But this one was a huge, unfortunate, disappointing miss for me.
(Side note, what was up with the random fancy words and descriptions thrown throughout?? It pulled me out of the story so often because I had no clue what the hell was happening. And truthfully, anyone who does probably isn’t reading this book.)