The Satin Sash, Red Garnier

Rating: 4.5 Stars

Publisher: Self Published

Genre: Bi Ménage Romance

Tags: Romance, Contemporary, Ménage – MF, MFM, MMF

Length: 318 Pages

Reviewer: Judy

Blurb:

Business partners Grey Richards and Heath Solis are best friends, even though they’re as different as night and day. Grey is calm, confident, and always in control. Heath is as passionate as his smoldering looks. No woman can resist them, and it’s always been easy to share. Until now…

Grey is head over heels in love with Antonia Kearny, a woman whose luscious body enflames his senses and whose playful, willing spirit captures his heart. He’ll do anything to see her smile, to hear her breath catch, to make her scream his name. And when he realizes that Toni wants another man—and that it’s Heath—he’ll make the ultimate sacrifice…

On a decadent weekend in Mexico, Toni will experience the hunger, the touch, the taste of two men. But will her desire bring them together, or tear them apart?

Three nights, three lovers, and one choice that may destroy them all.

The Review:

There’s so much I want to say about this book. I’m gonna put it out there right now, the editing is kinda tragic. For me though I was able to look past it to the story, for this reason I have given a rating of four and a half steamy stars instead of five. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not winning any awards for literary genius, but if you need a little Cabo action on your weekend? Get on board and prepare to sizzle.

This has been one of my most recommended books, and one I really wanted to share with you all. If you like inventive, raunchy sex, alpha males who balance each other impeccably and deliciously decadent ménage action, you’ll love it too. Literary Viagra, maybe? So the story goes… Heath meets Toni and takes, takes the Satin Sash from around her neck at a benefit after practically violating her in a room full with senators and the like, not to mention her lover of two years – Grey Richards. And she let him!

I laughed at the quirky little ‘Toni’ Antonia Kearney, she seemed real enough that I was transported to her world of rather ordinary hopes and dreams while the story played into the fantasy of having the world at your fingertips too. She is dating one of the hottest self-made men in the city after all. (Lucky bitch!) Not only is she dating him, but he’s absolutely devoted to her.

Toni’s heard all about Heath from Grey in their many conversations about his life (I loved that this was their special thing – he didn’t talk like that with anyone else, apart maybe from Heath) she had spoken to him (Heath) on the phone many times, but none of that prepared her for the impact of meeting the man. ( ‘Rawr!’) Heath is one hot piece of delicious man. I mean Grey would do it for anyone, but Heath has this extra special appeal, he’s dark and dirty, naughty and mysterious. I just wanna throw him down and have my wicked way. But he’s also very intriguing; he has this whole inner dialogue that shows him being everything he’s not supposed to be. He’s not supposed to have feelings, want things beyond the physical. He’s not supposed to love or be loved.

For me, Heath makes this story. He’s an enigma. While the whole romance is going on between Grey and Toni (and believe me they make a rather racy story, read it!) Heath has decided that for once he wants to FEEL, he wants to KNOW what it’s like to have someone of his own. See, for two years he’s listened to Grey bang on about Toni and he’s taken quite the liking to the idea of being inside little Miss Toni Kearney. He’s even resorted to taking women home and insisting they be called Toni.

I always root for the underdog, but Heath, he is only the underdog in that suddenly he is acting out of character. (I mean seriously, he’s sex on a stick, and he’s not lacking any action.) Normally he is happy to live simply, free to come and go as he pleases – no strings. He’s a loner, his life is on the road (or air really.) He travels internationally, does the work that nobody else would do for the company Grey and Heath own together. He’s Bi-Sexual, a man comfortable taking pleasure when its presents itself, man, woman, whatever. (Ooh, baby!) The problem is that Heath I think has been thinking about how his life could be if he had a Toni of his own. What he doesn’t take into account is the immediate attraction he recognises in Toni. When he finally meets her he is jolted by that attraction, jolted enough to take action. Action that will forever alter the relationship that he has coveted for so long, not less the ONLY relationship Heath has ever had – his relationship with Grey.

Heath had nothing. His days came and went all because he kept leaving, avoiding rejection. He left, he moved on, the few acquaintances he made forgotten. If he didn’t want anything, he wouldn’t care if he wasn’t wanted. But he wanted Toni. He wanted that rosy-cheeked girl, and even fantasised at tearing her away from the one person he’d always cared for – Grey. Nobody ever had made Heath want to hurt Grey.

Toni is an ordinary girl (could be me, ha!) she is not shy; comfortable in her own skin, yet insecure in her relationship. Will he ever say those three little words? She loves wholeheartedly; she isn’t a slut wanting a good rogering wherever she can get it. She’s devoted to Grey. She’d do anything for those she loves and Grey loves that. She’s adventurous, malleable, passionate, and lively; basically the opposite of every other girl who he’s dated.

Grey is one of those untouchable, unattainable pie in the sky types. He’s beyond rich, drop dead sexy (I’d say gorgeous, but I don’t see that as his appeal) he’s accomplished, self-assured, ruthless in business. You know the saying – men want to be him; women want to be with him. He is hetero, a man who has experimented widely; threesomes, orgies, not your garden variety kink, but he grew up/moved on when the company took off. Moved on to stereotypical Barbie types a cookie cutter version of what is acceptable or expected of someone of his position. Grey was taken immediately by Toni. He admires her passion for the work she does as a graphic designer, working for herself. He is proud of her independence, her work ethic. She’s a mess, and he loves it. She revels in messing him up, bringing disorder to his strictly ordered life. Grey is blissfully happy to let her do it too. It’s like their own brand of love.

Grey is a self-made man. His family life was not a happy one and he feels he’ll never measure up to the ideal his father has carved out for him. Sexual experimentation certainly would not fall into the mould his father has in mind. Grey has lived wildly, he has no problem watching man on man action, but it’s not something that has ever appealed or offended him. Having a friend like Heath he’s learnt to accept. Toni can’t hide her true feelings from Grey, he knows her well. He knows Toni thinks about how the two of them (Heath and Grey) will pleasure her. What it will be like to have two men focussed on her pleasure. (Imagining it now?)

Yes, it’s gratuitous! It is erotica! There’s a decent plot. There’s a story that intrigued me from the get go. Grey and Toni in love, their relationship seemingly perfect, coveted from Grey’s closest friend Heath and maybe the only family Grey’s ever had (Grey is certainly the only family Heath’s ever had). Toni takes a liking to Heath; Grey wants to give Toni the world. So they have a horny threesome weekend where it’s all supposed to run its course, serve a purpose, get it out of their systems. But that is far from what happens.

I’ve read this story many times, I have to confess. What seems basically like gratuitous porn is written in and around the lives of three people who didn’t know they had the capacity to love as they do. Grey is torn by the idea of losing Toni. Toni is gutted at the very real possibility of ruining a perfectly good relationship with the man she loves more than anything. Could they EVER go back from this? Grey formulates a plan with rules for Heath to follow in order not to ‘hurt’ Toni.

The most compelling parts of this story for me were when Grey and Heath featured. Clearly they have a one of a kind relationship; it’s more than friendship. Like family, but more.

When it comes to the sex, Toni and Grey have had an explosive love affair, sex is raunchy, dirty, rough, just how she likes it. On the weekend in Cabo Toni takes exception to Grey ‘having sex impersonally’ with her. While Heath can fuck her every which way from Sunday, Toni wants Grey’s connection in their encounters. (Keeping him close, the key to their bond.) And I liked that.

It’s funny because Grey also had a problem with that encounter, he wanted that connection too. They are connected beyond words or actions and when they loosen up and follow their instincts the three seem to move in harmony (Grey and Heath have done this before, lucky bitch) Toni and Heath’s connection ignites further as Toni takes time to really know Heath, to see him like none other. But when Toni pushes the men? Oh my! I was literally panting at those images.

Their weekend isn’t without drama, but it’s not something they were trying to develop either. At least not from the outset. Heath thought he would have his chance to know what it was like and he could guard those memories as he went about his life, pulling them back out when needed as a reminder of what it was like. What it was like to feel. Toni was so full of confusion. She recognised that something had changed, something had shifted. How would Grey and Toni ever get back from this? Was it all a terrible mistake? Would they ever be the same again? Would he leave her now that she was just another one of the many threesomes he’d shared with Heath?

Grey’s heart was bleeding. Heath was destroyed beyond recognition. He couldn’t get excited about anyone other than Toni. The Sash a memory.

Life after that weekend was no longer the same. Grey hardly touched her, his warm gaze replaced by the same cool one he gave everyone else. Toni was distraught. What had she done? Gray will leave her, she thought. Little did she know Grey had planned on asking her to marry him, but now?

Toni begged Grey to bring Heath back to them. She told him that she didn’t want him to go away alone, that he belonged with them. Grey was furious, he knew that their actions could lead them to where they now found themselves, and yet he had taken them there. Now, he made Toni choose. Grey or Heath, she had to decide.

She begged and pleaded with Grey to bring Heath back to them, told him that they could make it work – the three of them. She had researched unconventional couples and had read that some people make it work. She wanted them to try. She had fallen in love…with Heath too. It was Gray that made her love him. He had talked so eloquently about Heath, so wonderfully. She saw Heath through Grey’s eyes. She loved his soul; she wanted to give him a home, a family; the three of them.

I balled like a baby at the thoughts they each had. They each were destroyed by the idea of ruining what they once had. Why couldn’t they just leave things well enough alone? There’s a juicy little problem when the media leak photos of the three of them on their weekend in
Cabo. Life is thrown upside down. Public perception is the least of their problems when a conniving friend and overbearing parent ask questions none of them want to answer.

The best part of this book for me is the gut-wrenching love scenes that follow their reunion. Toni finally gets the courage to ask for what she truly wants, and that is for Grey and Heath to go beyond experimenting. Those few scenes were the hottest by far. Toni, the voyeur, wow! (Fanning self) If you like HEA’s, angst-filled, ménage romance I reckon you’ll love this quick read. I’ve read reviews on this book that really didn’t do it justice. When you feel the need to wriggle and squirm, blush and pant. Lock down your partner/s because when you get all hot and bothered, you’re gonna need someone to scratch that itch. 4.5 Smutty Lickable Stars.

Previous post
Drama Queens and Adult Themes, Kevin Klehr

Next post
The Taming of the Hawk, Anne Brooke