Deliciously handsome lawyer Jake Doyle is set to marry his college sweetheart, heiress and socialite Amanda Climent. Both scions of prominent, old money Los Angeles families, they seem like the perfect couple who have it all, but their happiness is not shared by everyone, and the people closest to them are desperate to tear them apart.
When Jake introduces his new girlfriend to his parents, his mother becomes dead set on breaking things up from the start. Turns out she had an affair with Amanda’s father years before, a secret known only to the two of them. But there’s more that she’s been hiding ever since, and to keep a scandal from unfolding she does everything she can to rid her son of Amanda and her family for good.
Meanwhile, Jake’s longtime bromance with his best friend, Kirby, complicates things. What began as homoerotic horseplay between high school jocks has evolved into something far more serious and enduring. Although Jake has chosen to marry the girl he loves, he's blindsided when Kirby comes out and professes his love for him.
As competing forces collide, untold secrets and lies threaten to derail Jake and Amanda's dream of a future together, and Jake is faced with a decision he never imagined he'd have to make.
**This book is intended for mature readers (18+) and contains adult situations, including M/F and M/M sexual intimacy.
Trevin “T V” Hartwell is the author of The Platinum Series, including The Platinum Triangle, The Platinum Rebound, and The Platinum Reunion.
His sweet spot is a story with drama, hot love, and a dose of suspense. You might get a little religion, politics, history, and pop culture thrown in the mix too as he enjoys writing stories that feature real life issues, in contemporary settings, and with characters who feel like people you know or might read about on the Internet or in magazines.
Trevin earned a BA degree from Pepperdine University and an MA degree from American University. He lives in California.
Initially, in the first chapter, I felt it was rushed but soon after I changed my mind as everything started to fall into place. There are several side stories within and I really liked this. They all intertwine and made for intrigue, mystery and kept me wanting more!! The lies, denial and cover up are just wow!!
There is mm and mf in this book. It was just a great read and seemed so authentic to me. I was able to connect with the main characters because the development of each was described so well and were so relatable. The sex was hot and spot on and just the right amount. I never felt like it needed more or that there was too much. I've read books like that and I skimmed it. The descriptions of the location, their careers, homes and lifestyles were so thorough that I was totally immersed and taken away!! We'll done.
Spoiler alert!! Stop reading now.
Ok Jake and Kirby's "friendship" was so hot and it left me craving more. I wanted more of that intensity and the carnalness they share. I felt so sad and hurt for Kirby when Jake denied Kirby and hurt him. I just feel Jake is in some real denial. These two have been friends since like middle school and have had this secret bromance that is sexual, caring and loving. However they both have managed to keep it a secret because they're roommates and each have steady girlfriend's.
Things get very complicated as Jake is in love with Amanda while keeping his sexual relationship with Kirby a secret from her. Kirby is no better as he's doing the exact same thing but realizes he's not in love with Laren but with none other than Jake! ! Drama!!! It only gets more mysterious as Jake's mother, Jamie, never liked his girlfriend who becomes his fiancé for some odd reason. She's a bitch to her for no reason really. Well she has a reason but it's all wrong.
I'm not going to divulge it here. You really need to read this. I felt Jake's mother needed slapped a long time ago! ! Errr... She just creates a family mess that Jake has to suffer for and Why why she didn't divulge it earlier?! Oh I remember now. .to save her status among others! !
I think the only thing I didn't like is the lie that is told by Rick, Amanda’s dad, to Jake to cause the break up of their upcoming wedding. This all begins with Jake's mother, Jamie, as she and Rick make up this scheme. I just felt it was far fetched. He knows this girl. He's been with her for several years. If I was Jake I would've just spoke to Amanda. Screw what they thought and what they wanted!! Here again, it's manipulation at its best. Well done.
There is a reason for this lie about Amanda’s health. It all to save Jake's mother's ass!! She is the cause. The reason why it needs to happen I agree with but the way they do it is so hurtful to watch unfold. You see, there is something Amanda and Jake have in common unbeknownst to them. I won't divulge it but damn!!
This ends in a cliffhanger and I will say right now...I just knew it would happen! I can't wait to see Jamie eat crow too!!! Ughhhh
This is a story about two young and beautiful rich kids who meet and fall in love. But to say they live happily ever after would be a stretch. There are problems. Many, many problems. From meddling parents, to an epic amount of lies, to double-lives, to more hidden secrets than an Egyptian tomb.
And, since this is from the erotic romance genre, there is also a lot of sex – both traditional and non-traditional. Some involving committed relationships and some not so much. The sex takes a chapter or two to fully ignite, but when it does – WOW! It smokes the joint up.
In general, I liked this book but I did have some trouble keeping all of the characters straight. There also could have been a little less detail in some spots as well.
But nitpicks aside, I found the book compelling on several levels. For instance, a lot of the diaglogue is right on. It felt real and made the characters more interesting. I also liked that I just had no idea what was going to happen next. I caught myself trying to predict the next plot turn, only to discover that every single time I was wrong. I had to keep reading to see how everything turned out … just like you will.
Deceit, drama and sex. Jake plans on marrying his college sweetheart, but he also has a secret to hide with his best friend Kirby. His mother seems dead set against this wedding and has secrets of her own. Will this couple ever make it to the alter or will to many obstacles get in their way? I enjoyed the story, my only wish is that it flowed a little more smoothly, perhaps it was just so much going on. Looking forward to reading more.
I won this book as a giveaway in exchange for an honest review.
Actual rating. 1/2 a star.
Well, I've learnt a valuable lesson here. Don't just click on any old book for the giveaways. I wish I could unread this. It was just terrible. I've never watched that show The Hills (because who would??), but I imagine that this is the book version of that show, but with cultural diversity and LGBT representation (that's where the 1/2 star came from). It's about some spoilt, pretty, rich kids from LA and their relationships.... Annnnnd... That's it. No plot. Just RELATIONSHIPS. Ugh. The only thing I could think when I was reading this is "why should I care?". I could stomach relationships being the sole plot focus (barely), but you have to make me CARE about the people in the them. And every character here is an empty shell, you can sum them up in a single sentence and they don't develop in any way throughout. Also, they're unlikable and with no destinct personality traits.
The book also contained massive amounts of info-dumps. The very 1st chapter is "this is how this person meets that person". Skip ahead to the present for a while, then "this is how that person meets that other person" and so on. Stilted storytelling with very little flow to it.
Also, as a personal opinion, I don't like how these characters don't consider it cheating just because it's with your same-sex friend, or because you don't finish. Not cool.
I hope people like this don't really exist IRL. I weep for humanity. I'm going to go back to my fantasy books now and try and put this whole sordid affair behind me.
Today marks the official release of The Platinum Triangle, and I give it five solid stars, but, needless to say, I’m biased. I came up with the idea of this story in the fall of 2013, stuck in traffic on my way to an ethics class in Berkeley, California. Although a fluke and completely coincidental, this book turned out to be chock-full of ethical and moral dilemmas of various kinds. While the main characters in this triangle of love have some steamy scenes, it’s not about the sex. It’s more about human frailty and conflicting emotions and the extent to which people are willing to go to conceal and cover up the truth to keep their pride and secrets intact.
It’s a story that’s funny, sad, heavy, tragic, touching, sexy, and outrageous all at once, and I hope you enjoy reading it as much I enjoyed writing it over the past year. Thanks for adding it to your reading list.
ARC provided by netgalley for an honest review. This book is unlike anything I have ever read. It was so funny and I did roll my eyes a lot at some of the things that happened in this book, I loved Jake thought he was really cute and a great guy and I also loved Amanda and thought that she and Jake were great together and a perfect couple. I hated Jake's mother Jamie she was down right horrible for the secret she kept and by trying to ruin Jake and Amanda. You so have to read this book to get the full story all I can say is wow I really didn't see that coming.
This book was a quick, fun, read. It was full of plots, twists, and romance, just like a soap opera. And like a good soap opera, it kept you riveted, wondering what was going to happen next. I was rooting for Jake and Kirby, but it doesn't look like that was meant to be. However, Jake and Amanda were great together too. Looking forward to the next book in the series.
Phenomenal story! This book was full of suspense, twist and turns and I could not put it down. It was interesting reading about Jake and Kirby's sexual/best buddy relationship along with Jake and Amanda's romance. The author wrote a well researched story about high society money, deception, scandal and romance. I highly recommend this book and cannot wait to read the continuing story.
Five chapters in and I just couldn’t do it anymore.
The writing is atrocious, the dialogue doesn’t flow or seem natural (when there actually is dialogue), the author is constantly jumping around, and it’s written with a very strange pace.
I’m not one that doesn’t finish a book but I just couldn’t read another minute of this story.
The Platinum Triangle, Book One: The Platinum Series, T V Hartwell Review from Jeannie Zelos book reviews Genre: New Adult Romance, I loved the sound of this, a great story in the making. Sadly the execution just doesn’t work for me. Its a real shame because the plots have great potential (IMO) and could have made a great five star read for me. So what went wrong? Well firstly its a very Tell book and I like Show. The kind of novel where the action is based around dialogue and the histories and characteristics of each person gets revealed slowly by their actions and inner thoughts. Its a slower way of giving information and stays with me better. I need to feel I’m there “in” the book, living it along with the characters. Maybe its just me? I don’t know but I’m drawn to books that are delivered that way. In this novel I just felt overloaded with information when this was done by way of pages and pages of text, and there was a lot of info about characters who were secondary and we didn’t need to know that much about them. I skipped much of it as I just couldn’t take in any more info. The story itself is told via current time – one month and upwards to the wedding – and flashbacks; but reading it felt too much like school history books where we get told lots of facts, but don’t get the action behind them. There were a few dialogue based scenes but they were a mixed bunch, some worked well and others – the sex scenes for example – just were...off-putting. I like sex in a book, but here it read oddly, with words and actions that just felt artificial and overdone, and didn’t seem to fit the story. Some people can write sex scenes and some can’t, and for me I think Trevin should maybe just leave most of them inferred. There were a few other oddities too such as the restaurant owner, when saying goodbye to them we’re told he out his hands together in Namaste position and did a little bow. I just felt – why? We knew very little about him, he wasn’t a major ore even secondary character, and it just felt wrong, like something added to just to put in some detail and colour... The plots – there are two main themes, and they were a great idea. I’d have liked to have had more build up of the romance between Jake and Amanda, I didn’t feel any real magical, sexual tension between them, they seemed more like friends with benefits. Equally the bromance with Kirby – its gone on so long could Amanda and others really not have noticed? Did Jake really think it was OK to be with his friend this way when he was also with Amanda? It brought him down in my estimation. Then when the drama hits and Jake has to make the big decision, instead of thinking of that he spends the weekend quizzing another friend about gay marriage and adopting children...WTF springs to mind. I would have thought he would have been researching more info to base his decision on. I didn’t really get a sense of either of them as people, not just book characters, and I didn’t feel that either would be heartbroken if things fell apart – I need them to be so close that anything separating them is going to be heart stopping, solid drama, where I’m almost in tears for them. That’s what draws me to the New Adult genre but I didn’t feel it here. Still, these are as always my personal thoughts, and of course there will be those for who this way of telling a story is perfect. That’s the way it goes, not all stories suit all readers. Its a debut book and well done to Trevin for that. I tried writing years ago and its tough and something I just can’t do, so I applaud anyone who sticks with it to make their dreams come true. I hope he’s not put off by my review, I mean them as constructive comments, if others also feel as I do. Like everything writing is a skill that gets honed, and authors are constantly learning. That really applies to all trades and hobbies, and is why i was still having lessons after twenty years of horse riding, or still attend workshops on painting techniques. Stars: Two, sorry but it just didn’t work for me despite being a really interesting premise. ARC supplied by Netgalley and publishers
The Platinum Triangle. This was a difficult book to read because I couldn't connect with the characters. The author presents an interesting concept yet the follow through is a little lacking. This book could have been full of betrayal and intrigue, yet instead it felt shallow and a little two-dimensional. There were a lot of side stories and I felt like the author did do a good job of entwining the stories to make something complicated and interesting.
But I couldn't get over the characters. One of my major problems with this book that I was kind of thrown into these complicated relationships and dynamics within the book. Jake is in love with Amanda and plans on marrying her, yet seems to be okay with having sex with his best friend Kirby. I mean they aren't married yet so it's not technically cheating right? Not to mention Jake isn't gay or interested in guys... he just likes Kirby... WTH!
Literally I was almost hitting my head in frustration. Especially since Amanda seemed completely clueless to the whole dynamic! This book was just emotionally frustrating. It was pretty obvious that Jake loved both Amanda and Kirby, but chose Amanda because Jake wasn't willing to admit his feelings for a man.
I have to hand it to the author in this aspect, they did a great job of bringing about a complicated issue and giving it a face and a story. Jake doesn't want to admit his feelings for Kirby because that would be an acknowledgement that he is gay. This to him is unacceptable because of both his culture and family values. This issue is presented in an interesting light and one of the main reasons this book scored so high with me.
Overall this book isn't a terrible or amazing read. Just a complicated one. The dynamic of the characters is equally as frustrating as it is interesting as they work to discover the truth of themselves and those around them. I'm sure that there will be many a reader who will fall in love with this book and many a reader that will not think the best of the situation. It is just one of those books that will have an acquired taste ;) .
Before I get started on my thoughts I want to say this will be a fairly short review because I couldn't stomach more than 50 of this. Furthermore, the only reason I am spending my time even doing a review is because I won this in a giveaway. There was only 1 good quality I saw in it and that is that it was easy to get through it didn't drag. However, I felt like the couple most definitely rushed the relationship. I mean on page 4 while it was still the first day they had met he had already decided that he was going to marry her. I mean come on really no one that actually wants a meaningful long lasting relationship ever does that weird to say the very least. Also, the way he wanted to know ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING about her so quickly not only was it creepy and stalker-ish it really irritated me. Don't get me wrong I like a romance as good as the next woman but have a STORY around it don't just make the couple absolutely infatuated in the first 2 pages and have the rest of the book be about how they are struggling to not have sex. In short, if you like insta-love books and having "almost" sexual encounters described this is definitely the book for you but completely not for me
I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
I gave up on this at 43% and to be honest, I'm kind of regretting that I even read that much.
I really wanted to like this book. The premise was compelling, and I was excited to read it, but the execution was just horrible. The prose was juvenile and clunky, the characters weren't likeable at all, the pacing was all over the place, the sex scenes were cringeworthy at best and hysterically bad at worst...like, not good at all. The author tried to juggle several different story lines at the same time but it just fell completely flat--the only thing I can liken this to was watching a bad soap opera, it was totally ridiculous.
The author did succeed, however, at creating the setting. The descriptions of locations were richly detailed and immersive, which was nice, but all in all this was a disaster, and a total waste of time.
DNF, apologies. I'm so frustrated that this turned into a DNF as I was really looking forward to it based on the synopsis. I think it was the way in which it was written and presented. I couldn't get my head around the writing, the 3rd person narrative just really didn't work for this story. Written this way it was really hard to get that initial hook on the characters that I find crucial, that's what impels me to continue reading. I couldn't get it here so I asked myself if I could continue and see if the characters would grow on me. I continued but still found it difficult to connect with the story as a whole due to the way in which it was written. For me the verbiage bordered on childish in places and I felt a discord with Jamie's character immediately. I knew then I couldn't continue. Aplogies
Very Disappointing Ending Jake and Amanda met their junior year while taking Game Theory 101. While they seem to be the perfect couple, people are trying to tear them apart. I liked almost all the story until the end. I don't believe a man as in love as Jake was supposed to be would walk away that easily. I also didn't see the need for his other lover. There was just too much going on. I did read the whole story and was very disappointed. **I received an ARC of this story in exchange for an honest review
What to tell you all about The Platinum Triangle... The premise is great, it grabbed my interest when reading the blurb. But for some reason it did not and could not hold my interest throughout the story. I always keep going until the end because stories can always just grab at you very late in... So those of you interested in this story, reading this review right now. Give it a whirl. A 2.5 rounded to a solid 3 rating.
I'm not going to rate this, but yikes..... The story could not capture me in any way, it would be a major waste of what little time I have to finish this.