X Marks the Spot

I've read several books by this author, one I really disliked, but a couple of others that were fairly good, and this one sounded intriguing so I decided to give it a try, and I'm sorry I did, since I've been ambivalent about it from the start, and having read it, and after spending part of last night and all of this morning mulling over what rating to give it and what to say about it, the best rating I can give it is 2 stars.This novel centers around Abi, the heroine, and the two men in her life, Liam, her husband, from whom she's been separated for two years, and Del, her brother's best friend, whom she met in college, and who has been her emotional support system ever since. She found herself falling in love with Del, but his friendship with Abi's brother, Kurt, kept him firmly in the friend zone, a role he'd like to change since he fell in love with Abi as well. However, when she became pregnant with Liam's baby, Liam asked her to marry him and she accepted.The death knell of Abi and Liam's marriage of less than one year came when Abi had a miscarriage and Liam ignored her pain and grief and threw himself into work to deal with his own pain. She was devastated, not only by the loss of her baby, but by the fact that her husband simply wasn't there for her, and she came to believe that he only married her because she was pregnant, not because he loved her. When her doctor told her she couldn't have more children, and knowing how much Liam wanted a family, she filed for divorce. Through all the turmoil, Del has been her best friend and confidante, all complicated even further by the fact that Liam and Del are good friends.So far, I was in Abi's corner, but that didn't last long. When Abi's brother, Kurt, secretly invites Liam to his wedding, hoping to get Liam and Abi back together, he doesn't know about the plan Abi and her sister had hatched, which was to book Abi into a suite adjoining Del's room, in the hopes that their proximity might get finally get Abi and Del together. You know what they say about best laid plans, right? In this case, the aphorism holds true, when there's a sudden change and Liam ends up in the room next to Abi's. She finally gets up her courage and parks herself naked in the bed she assumes Del will be using. But it's Liam who sees her there, and it's Liam who thinks she wants him back, and halfway through making love, she realizes that the man in bed with her isn't Del, but it's Del that Abi says she loves. And this is where I began to have serious problems with this novel, because from this point on it simply dragged.Abi seems to have no problem at having incredible sex with whichever man she's with at the time, and it's this bed-hopping and emotional manipulation that irked this reader enough that I nearly stop reading this novel. If Abi was with Liam, she loved him, but the same was true of times when Del was in her bed, and Abi still refuses to believe Liam loves her, yet she allows him to manipulate her sexually every time she sees him. As far as Del is concerned, when Abi unexpectedly turns up pregnant, he asks Abi to marry him, even though the baby is Liam's. While I have no problem at all with graphic sex scenes, that's pretty much all there is for the first 75% of the novel, and there's more waffling on Abi's part than on a Sunday morning at Waffle Hut.Additionally, there's Del, Abi's rock to cling to in any storm, and we learn virtually nothing about him at all, nor is there much time spent on exploring his feelings about the situation. The three of them strike a deal when Liam needs to head to a resort he's considering purchasing for three weeks, and both Abi and Del are going along. Although Abi has promised Liam to give their marriage one more try, things don't quite work out that way. You can see where story this is headed from a mile away, and I could have predicted the outcome after the first few chapters. Aside from the bed-hopping, there's not much else in the way of a plot, and Abi's inability to make a decision irritated the heck out of me. I've read many menage romances, but this is the first time I've actively disliked the female lead character, who, in my opinion, comes off rather shallow and trampy, and who, despite her decision to choose between these two men, is so weak-willed and whiny that she's unable to say no to whichever man she's with at the time. The endless internal dialogue of "I really love Liam," and "But, I really love Del" grew incredibly tiresome.X Marks the Spot is not the best menage romance I've ever read, nor is it the worst, and if you're looking for hotness, you'll certainly find it here. Ms. Carew writes well, but what I missed most in this novel was more of a plot, more drama, more forward momentum, and even a subplot to give the reader a break between the seemingly endless sex scenes. For this reader, it fell somewhat flat and repetitive, and while I didn't hate it, I didn't love it either--it was just okay.I voluntarily read an advance reader copy of this novel. The opinions expressed are my own.

Three stars for "X Marks the Spot"; Ms Carew introduces us to Abi a young women who finds herself wanting to move on with her life, separated from her husband for two years waiting on him to sign the divorce papers Abi finds herself reluctantly looking forward to her brothers wedding . The wedding brings the oppurtunity to see her freind Del. Del was the first person she met when attending college for her masters ; a freind of her brother's who stopped in to watch ove her a dell her acclimate .Abi had feelings for Del form the start but Del's sense of honor would not allow him to move forward with his mutual attractions to his freinds sister and as it turned out Del is the one who introduced Abi to her husband Liam .With some meddling by Abi's sister Jamie the perfect opportunity to actually get Del to engage with her on more than freindly level is at hand , that is until Del switches rooms with his freind Liam, thinking he is actually helping to spare Abi from seeing him at the wedding ; leaving Abi naked in the wrong mans bed, her husband and hopefully soon to be X .Abi makes some poor decisions , such as staying in Liam's bed, when she really wants Del.This action prompts Liam to push for more time alone with Abi to work through and talk about feelings and possibly keeping their mrriage together , which Abi keeps falling in his bed to spite having finally moved on to a relationship with Del and being in his bed..For me Abi's wishy washy , I love both of them and she can not decide was driving me nuts , until this wishy washy Abi turned into naughty bold Abi asking for threesomes. This is where MsCarew excels because she writes sexy, steamy and erotic scenes ever for these three that eventually lead to a HEA for all.Arc copy received via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Abi has been in love with Del for years, but they never got around to acting on their mutual attraction. And then she met and married his best friend, Liam.But when Abi and Liam’s marriage falls apart, Abi decides to take control of her life and find her happily-ever-after with Del. So when they’re all staying in a country inn for her brother’s wedding, Abi decides to slip into Del’s bed and seduce him…except she accidentally ends up in Liam’s instead.Liam never stopped loving Abi, and he plans to use every blazing hot trick in his book to keep her in his bed…even if it means sharing her with Del.Review:Okay, I have to admit I saw the cover and Author and asked to review this book, not having read the actual blurb. Needless to say I spent a good part of the book hoping that Abi picked Liam...lol...and then I figured out it was a menage. Well, that was totally my fault. I did like the story and if I had read the blurb I probably would not have stressed while reading it.This like the Author's other books is full of sexiness and heart. There is good tension in the story as Abi tries to navigate her feelings for her husband and her best friend. Like I said because of my lack of reading I misunderstood the story line, but was fully engaged in the characters and what the outcome would be. Once I figured out it was a menage the feel of the story changed and I was rooting for Liam, Abi and Del. The ending was super satisfying too.4Stars*I voluntarily read an advance reader copy of the book provided by the publisher.*