Okay this is a hard one to really rate because it does include cheating. If you know me I'm not a fan of cheating in romance books. This was an interesting read for me because of that element, but I think I understand what the author was attempting to do. This by no means excuses the behavior. 3.5 stars
This is one of the few Black love books that I know of that's FFF. It is a polyamorous relationship between Draya, Mack, and Camille who have been trying to figure out the dynamics of their relationship since college. Eventually the three make a move together where a lot of their secrets have been revealed. There is cheating that occurs from two of the three characters and I'm not a fan of cheating in any capacity. Harper seemed to open dialogue about the assumptions people make about polyamorous relationships and the disregard of the amount of work and communication that it actually takes to make these relationships work. I think that Draya, Mack, and Camille form a lot of their relationship based on lust and physical attachment and completely ignore their inability to be an effective group of individuals in a relationship. There is a lack of communication, a lack of respect, a clear lack of understanding for everyone's needs which leads to individuals making choices to cheat. I don't think that Harper condones the cheating in any way; however, it's still difficult to work your way through if it's an element that you don't enjoy. This book does serve as a great way to illustrate that communication is an important component of any relationship, but it's even more important when more than two people are involved. I also believe that not all the characters in this book belong in a polyamorous relationship. It's clear that they like the ability to explore their options and while that's okay it's not the mindset that is effective in any relationship.
The writing was easy to get through. There were some grammatical mistakes; however, I'm more likely to be lenient on that because it is an indie book. The ending though! This is definitely a book that ends in a HFN. I wish readers would have gotten more about these characters or that there was a second book because the way it ended was a little confusing. I understand that due to the events of the book readers couldn't necessarily get a clear cut ending, but there are some loose ends that needed to be tied up. Overall, this was a solid read. I was surprised that it remained a solid read for me because of the cheating but I was interested in what the author was attempting to do. The book was steamy, I mean extremely steamy and well done in terms of expressing the physical and at some points emotional connections the characters shared. Hopefully the author will revisit these characters in the future.