REVIEW: Four of a Kind by Kayci Morgan -

Title: Four of a Kind
Author: Kayci Morgan
Genre: Erotica / Polyromance / MMMF
Goodreads

My Rating:

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Blurb

Four stories. One romance.

Blake and Leah have been friends for years, but Leah wants to get physical.
Preston just wants a peaceful life, while Blake rolls in and turns his world upside down.
Leah can’t stand her new coworker Conrad. But she also can’t keep her hands off of him.
Conrad meets the woman of his dreams… and her two boyfriends.

Polyromance. M/M, M/F, MMF and MMMF
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“People are far more complicated than they seem.”

My Review

Four of a Kind consists of four different narratives, told by each character’s point of view, in first person. It is as if you are sitting with them, and listening to them telling about the beginning of their relationship years after the events took place.

The story
Leah and Blake are best friends from second grade. After a bad date, Leah makes a move on Blake, and they establish an open relationship.
Later Blake meets Preston, and they feel a very strong attraction to each other. After a couple of months seeing each other, Leah wants to meet Preston too. Blake invites Preston over for dinner, and with that, the relationship of the three of them starts.
Suddenly, we are five years later, integrating Conrad into the relationship too.

♥ ♣ ♦ ♠

Characters

I don’t like Leah. Her character misses intimacy, tenderness, grace. She is pushy, arrogant, and careless in her sex life.

Blake is my favorite. His cheerfulness, humor, open-mindedness, and frankness are awesome.

Searching through the literary fiction section I found something I had recently enjoyed and handed it to him. “Fine, fine. I’ll read it and let you know what I think.”
A day and a half later he returned. “The characters were flat, the pacing was slow and the ending made me want to kill myself. Can we just have sex now? I don’t think I can take another of your top picks.”

– Blake & Preston

I like Preston, too. He is exclusively gay, but he is willing to have sex with a woman in order to please his lover. He finds himself in this relationship, his shyness disappears and he finds confidence, not only in the erotic sphere, but in his career too.

You see Conrad first from Leah’s viewpoint, and it is not positive. They are rivals at work, and as both of them are very strong personalities, they obviously have conflicts. For some mysterious reason, Conrad is head over heels for Leah. I adore his perseverance as he keeps asking her out over six months, and doesn’t run away even when he finds out that Leah lives with two another men. In his arrogance, Conrad’s first thought is to get rid of Leah’s boyfriends, but when he meets them, he is immediately captivated by the harmony of the three of them.

He smiled at me and introduced himself as Blake, extending his hand for me to shake. I immediately knew why Leah liked him. Other than being incredible beautiful, which believe me, I’d rarely say about a man, but it applied, he had this free open demeanor compared to her closed off bearing. He was the warmth to her cold. The emotion to her logic. Her other half. I was screwed.

He is straight, but he is curious, and soon discovers the advantages of having a man lover.

♥ ♣ ♦ ♠

All in all

The story is great, but the writing style has its flaws, especially in the depiction of erotica and emotions. Here and there it’s a little bit dry, factual, and to the point. You are not involved in the story emotionally.

At the same time, from other parts of the writing, mainly from the dialogues Ms. Morgan’s brilliance flashes out, so evidently she can write. I wish this story was longer to see this writing style in the characters’ emotions and motivations and in erotica too.

I also would have liked to read more about the dynamics of the relationship of the four of them.