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Kendall has adored Maya from afar for years, but he is done being her “go-to guy.” He’s always been her confidant and her husband’s best friend. Now widowed, Maya is through with living life in half-measures and regrets never asking both men for what she wanted.
A posthumous letter reveals Maya's husband knew she loved Kendall and challenges her to follow her heart. During a visit to Kendall and his brothers' ranch in Divine, Maya finds that her heart still longs for a ménage. Attraction blooms between Maya and his brothers: intuitive, dominant Boone and quiet, somber Richard. Maya is determined to not repeat the mistakes of the past, even if it costs her the censure of the Divine Community. Does she dare to build a life with all three handsome cowboys? Can Kendall, Boone and Richard protect her when danger from her hometown knocks on their door?
The death of a spouse can be just about the worst happening in a person's life--and like all losses of those closest to us, is really like an emotional amputation. When the marriage is a happy one, the grieving process can be quite protracted and unwieldy. The heroine in this sixth book in the "Divine Creek Ranch" series was aided greatly by a husband who took death seriously and even though his death was never anticipated--he died in a hit-and-run accident--he made preparations in many ways, not the least of which was writing letters that were to be delivered to his wife throughout the first year after he died. Thus, he was able to help her deal with the need to move on with her life, handle the financial issues, and now, he is revealing that he always knew about her love for Kendall Warner, a man who was his best friend since college and one who he knew would have asked Maya to marry him. Morgan just asked her first. Maya's life-changing "ah-ha" moment came during the reading of this letter, a moment when she realized that she had always wanted to live in a menage configuration but was unwilling to butt up against society's censure. She also now knows that she still wants that kind of love relationship for the future, and when Kendall reveals that he has received a similar letter posthumously from Morgan, Maya realizes that she has a new opportunity to "dare to live" not only with Kendall but possibly with his brothers Boone and Richard.
Perhaps my best response to this book is that it is another fine story from an author who has stated that she believes that love can be generous enough to embrace relationships that are outside society's norms but which are positive, life-giving, and productive. All of these characters are able to find the answer to their life's needs in this relationship. For Kendall, this is the culmination of a dream he has held close for many years and a sense that all he has wanted in life is now become real. For Boone, this new relationship has opened up possibilities for ways of expressing love that were just now present. He is a very dominant man and even though he is not "hardcore" BDSM practitioner, he definitely has his kinky side. Few if any of his past relationships fulfilled this need in him--he was declared a pervert by a majority of the women who found out this was his bent. Now Maya brings her own past experience with a husband who was also a dominant player in the bedroom, and Boone has begun to believe that there really is "his kind of woman" who is in his life. Richard, a sad and lonely man who believes his one great love is now dead, begins to believe once again that he can live--truly be alive and have a love relationship with a person who cares as deeply for him as he does for her.
Those who have read the previous novels in this series will be happy to know that the characters who were featured in those previous novels have their stories continued and updated, and they all form this fantastic friendship circle that embraces Maya when she comes to Divine to explore this new relationship with the Warner brothers. Readers have met Kendall, Boone, and Richard briefly in previous books when they have come to Divine to explore the possibilities of buying property for their own ranch and to be close to their cousins, Jack Warner, Ethan Grant, and Adam Davis--the husbands of Grace Warner and owners of the Divine Creek Ranch. This book is chock full of great people, kind-hearted citizens of Divine who recognize the legitimate love and caring that is a part of these avant garde marriages and who are delighted to have good people living in their town. But as is always the case, there are judgmental folk--some who are even willing to engage in criminal acts in order to enforce their ideas of how people should live. Maya is yet another woman who knows her own mind, is comfortable with her life and in her hopes for the future, and who cares little about the opinions of those who want to control her. There are some issues with these detractors which are yet to be resolved, but there are still two more novels in this series.
This is a very erotic novel and the love encounters between Maya and her men are well-written, yet they do not take over the story. If you like Alpha males who put in a lot of time and effort for caring and protecting their women, you will love Kendall, Boone and Richard. And if you are a reader who enjoys reading books that celebrate the power of love, the healing power of friendship and the power of caring and community to overcome prejudice, then you will like this book a lot. This is Ms Rainier's first series and yet she demonstrates a writing skill that is right up there with the best of them. It is a more than worth while use of time and one that I know is already on my favorites list.
I give it a rating of 5 out of 5 because I just can't find anything about it that I don't like.
You can read more from Judith at Dr J's Book Place.
This book is available from Siren Publishing. You can buy it here in e-format.
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