Three to Tango (Anthology)

Antho-Three to TangoEvery so often, I get in the mood for a really steamy romance and I typically start looking for a good menage story.  It can actually be pretty hard to find a good menage based on a blurb, but after finding out about Three to Tango, I started getting excited.  A collection of menage stories, featuring two authors I’m familiar with and two I’m not, sounded like something I needed to get my hands on.

Dirty/Bad/Wrong by Lauren Dane

Though Ava left her hard-knock Georgia childhood behind, she never forgot Luca and Angelo. Together they were best friends with a bond that could never be broken. But when she returns, the three must decide whether to face the fires that burn between them, or forgo their desires forever.

Dane has been teasing us with excerpts for the past couple of weeks and damn they don’t do the story justice.  Dirty/Bad/Wrong starts off the Three to Tango in such a fabulous way, that I’m left with a lot of expectations for the rest of the stories.  Not only are we given a great romance between three old friends, but there was never a moment where it didn’t seem to work.  Everything flowed so well together and the pacing was spot on that I really had a hard time putting Dirty/Bad/Wrong down.  Ava, Luca and Angelo worked well together and their chemistry just clicked.  I’m never disappointed with a Lauren Dane story and you won’t be with this one either.

Just For One Night by Megan Hart

Fun-loving couple Kerry and Jeremy find themselves in a triangle of trouble when Kerry’s old crush, Brian, returns for a school reunion, and Jeremy gives her his enthusiastic approval to seduce him. But while Jeremy has no trouble sharing Kerry, Brian isn’t sure he can handle what’s coming.

I can honestly say, I’m not sure what to say about Hart’s Just For One Night. When I first heard of Three to Tango, I was thinking sweet, a collection of menages for when that mood strikes, and while Dane’s story hit the mark, I have to say that Just For One Night didn’t.  There was a solid romance to it, but yet there wasn’t and it’s all Jeremy’s fault.  I just did not like him.  He was very oblivious and completely unfeeling when it came to Kerry and Brian.  The only scene with all three of them in it is so uncomfortable that I just wanted to get through it.  Thinking back, that is the one thing I’m remembering the most about Just For One Night – that I just wanted to get through it.  The threesome of Jeremy, Kerry and Brian was not a healthy one and now I’m hoping Emma Holly’s Flipping for Chelsea will help me forget about it.

Flipping for Chelsea by Emma Holly

Shay and Liam shared an unforgettable night with their lifelong friend, Chelsea, awakening a rush of forbidden feelings—feelings they have to reckon with when the three reunite, and the unrequited lust between them is too much to bear.

Flipping for Chelsea was a pretty good story; definitely better than Just For One Night.  The chemistry between Shay, Liam and Chelsea was actually kind of sweet in the beginning and showed a sign of alternative lifestyles that I really haven’t seen much of.  A menage story usually involves more experienced characters who have had a few years to figure out what they like, but that’s not always the case.  I liked the idea that, even as teenagers, age doesn’t really dictate what our preferences are.

However, while the story and chemistry were good, there was one aspect I’m not totally on board with.  Shay, Liam and Chelsea had one night before all three are separated.  Then after a separation of at least a decade, the three all end up back in bed again.  There’s enough back story given that Liam and Chelsea getting together isn’t that big of a deal, but why Shay shows up out of the blue, thinking he’ll have the chance to score with them both is where Holly lost me.  The whole reason Shay and Liam were separated in the first place was because Liam wasn’t totally confident in who he was; yet Shay walks in 10 years later thinking he has to at least try for Liam (and essentially Chelsea).  While the idea is a pretty good basis for a plot in a romance, it’s the confidence that Shay has that’s throwing me off.  Yet, this doesn’t throw me off enough to not enjoy Flipping For Chelsea.  So all in all, a good addition to the Three to Tango anthology.

On the Job by Beth Kery

Years ago, Walker walked out on Madeline when she needed him most. Now, the ex-Secret Service agent is back—hired to protect Madeline by her billionaire boss, Tony. Madeline is determined to make him pay for denying her desires—and she’s not above bringing Tony in to sweeten the deal.

As a romance, On the Job was good, but I wouldn’t call it fabulous.  As a menage romance, it fell flat.  This wasn’t a menage romance at all; just a pity f*ck between friends before a life changing event.  If I hadn’t gone into the story expecting to see three people work on having some form of a relationship (you know, the basis for pretty much any romance story), then I wouldn’t have a problem with On the Job.  Except, that was what I was hoping for and the story just fell flat because of that.

Honestly, I think the story of Walker, Tony and Madeline has a lot of potential for a novel.  There’s a lot of areas that I wouldn’t mind having a little more of – like the fact that there is an attempt at a pretty decent plot.  Of all the stories in the Three to Tango anthology, we finally have a story with a plot other than getting A, B and C together.  With the plot that is there, I wouldn’t call it rushed, but it was very neatly put together.

Overall, the Three to Tango anthology was an okay collection of stories.  I loved Lauren Dane’s Dirty/Bad/Wrong and Emma Holly’s Flipping Chelsea was a great first for me.  However Megan Hart’s Just For One Night and Beth Kery’s On the Job just didn’t fit in, at least not for me.  Neither story was really a menage romance and with a title like Three to Tango, I came in expecting to read four menage stories.

Also reviewed by:
Fiction Vixen
Dear Author
Book Lovers Inc
The Book Girl
Secret HEA Society

About Jackie 3282 Articles
I am a 30-something SAHM with two adorable boys and a supportive husband who is very tolerant of my reading addiction. I love to read and easily go through about a dozen books a month – well I did before I had kids. Now, not so much. After my first son was born, I began to take my hobby of reviewing a little more serious and started Literary Escapism to help with my sanity. I love to discuss the fabulous novels I’ve read and meeting all the wonderful people in the book blogging community has been amazing.