Rating: 5 “Daddy and Sir” Stars

Publisher: Colette Davison

Genre: Gay Polyamorous Romance

Tags: Contemporary, Age Gap, BDSM/Kink, Interracial Polyamorous Romance, Series

Length: 378 Pages

Reviewer: Cindi

Purchase At: Amazon

Blurb –

A photographer, a rope artist, and a model. Can three create a beautiful romance?

Blake
Apparently I’m a disaster—no steady job, brothers who have to help me manage my money, and I’m constantly late. When two very different men command me to be theirs, how do I pick? Or can I make them see I’ve enough love for both of them.

Gabe
Cal, my best friend and a photographer, introduces me to Blake, a model. From there all bets are off as Blake’s attraction to both of us makes me see Cal in a whole new light. But will Cal and I be able to step beyond friendship into love when we both like being in charge?

Calvin
Friends for several years, Gabe and I both like to be in control. When Blake steps in between us, my feelings are anything but rivalry. With the chance to have something amazing with these two men, I must now show Gabe with Blake’s help that friendship can lead to love.

B is for Beg is the story of three men discovering that shibari, blindfolds, sexy lingerie, and rules can change everything. It’s the second of three steamy, low angst novels, which follow each of the ABC triplets as they find love. You can read Archie and Corey’s stories in A is for Aftercare and C is for Comfort.

An age-gap M/M/M romance.

Review –

The Alphabet of Desire series is about triplets Archie, Blake, and Corey. Archie’s story is book 1, A Is For Aftercare. While I liked it well enough, I LOVED B Is For Beg. Of the ‘ABC triplets’ Archie is the anally organized personal assistant, Corey is the single dad art teacher, and Blake is an underwear model.

All three of the books take place during the same time period.

I adored Blake. I adored him in the first book and I really adored him in his. MMM books are usually hit or miss for me. Some are written well enough. Others, not so much. My biggest issue with poly books is that there’s usually jealousy by at least one of the three. Not in this one.

Calvin (a boudoir photographer) and Gabe (a welder slash shibari artist) have been best friends for years, along with Hamish (from the first book) and Spence (a MC in the third and final one). Cal has just photographed a new lingerie model (that would be Blake) for an underwear company, and contacts Gabe about him to tell him how perfect Blake would be tied up and photographed. Gabe and Blake meet and he agrees completely. He’s also very attracted to his new model, but then so is Calvin.

Hamish is having one of his kink parties. After figuring out that Blake is Archie’s brother, Cal and Gabe get a little sneaky and invite Blake – and his brothers – to the party. Calvin and Gabe do want Blake there – and they really want to play with him – but they’re also using him as an excuse to finally get Hamish and Archie together. In the first book, it was this party that had them taking their relationship beyond employer/employee.

I say finally, but Archie had been working for Hamish only 2 or 3 days at this point.

At the party – after a few hurt feelings when Blake learns it was all a setup for Hamish and Archie – Blake agrees to play but not just with Cal or just with Gabe. He wants them both at the same time, which is a problem. Blake’s obviously a sub, or a boy, but Calvin and Gabe are both Doms who are into kink, just not with each other. No, not just Doms, but best friends who never saw each other like that. Not that Blake’s suggesting they play with each other, but it does put ideas in both men’s heads. Blake is all about being controlled. Calvin is all about being in control. Gabe is more of a Daddy.

Their first time together, they play just with Blake, and let me tell you, that was SO hot. After the party, they all want to see each other again. This is when both longtime friends start seeing each other in a totally different light. They’re suddenly wondering how it would be to kiss and maybe do more. This is helped by Blake, who (the sneaky bastard) finds a way to get them to kiss. And when they do? Just… wow. That one kiss turns into a whole lot more, with Calvin and Gabe slowly taking things further. Of course, this taking things further involves Blake, who’s perfect.

Unlike in Hamish and Archie’s story where both men were kind of bland (sorry, but it’s the truth), Blake, Calvin, and Gabe were all about showing (not just telling like in the first book) their feelings. At any given time the reader can see what each man is feeling. There’s no guessing, especially when it came to Blake.

Poor Blake. He broke my heart so many times, especially when it came to his horrible parents.

“Why can’t you see who I am now?”

“You say that, but you haven’t grown out of your childish fads.”

I blink. “What childish fads?”

“You’ve just mentioned them.” He gestures toward me. “Wearing knickers and make-up. You still wear girls’ underwear, don’t you?”

There were also a couple of times when I got a little angry with his brothers as well, especially Corey, who has his story next. They’re all close, and they love each other dearly, but one particular scene when Blake was already depressed enough, Corey made it worse. I’d already been iffy about Corey to this point, but this kind of cemented my opinion of him. Unfortunately, that opinion didn’t change when I read his book, the 3rd in the series.

As for his parents… they infuriated me. I didn’t like them in the first book but I DESPISED them in Blake’s. Blake doesn’t have the classic education like Archie (a PA) and Corey (an art teacher). He tried college years before and flunked out because he didn’t want to be there. For some, college just isn’t the way to go. That was Blake. It’s not like he could go to his horrible mom and dad and tell them he didn’t want to go the same route as his brothers. It’s six years later and they’re still throwing it in his face. That’s bad enough, but what’s really bad is how they are CONSTANTLY comparing him to his more successful brothers.

“My parents, on the other hand…” He puffs his cheeks out. “They’re definitely disappointed in me. You could be doing so much more with  your life,” he says, putting on a deeper voice.

My chest tightens painfully as I stare at the hurt ingrained on his face.

“You’re wasting your life standing in front of a camera,” he carries on in the same affected voice. “It’s not regular work, is it?” He changes his voice to a more feminine one. “What happens when you’re too old to model? What will you do then?“

I’m the youngest of three girls. My middle sister and I spent our entire lives being told that we’d never be as ‘perfect’ as my oldest sister. My heart broke in two when I read all the things Blake’s parents said to him, not even trying to be subtle about calling him a lazy failure. They didn’t care who heard it. They were right, damn it, and they wanted everybody to know – especially Blake. I hated them both with a passion.

Blake wasn’t lazy, and he damn sure wasn’t a failure. It all started – the parents and their jerkiness when it came to him – when he was 12 or 13 and was shopping with his mom and brothers. She was buying Archie, Blake, and Corey underwear. Blake spotted lacy panties and wanted those instead. What did dear old bitchy Mom do? Walked away from him and pretended she didn’t know him because she was embarrassed that her son would be interested in anything other than what she considered the norm.

I gesture to myself. “Take a good look at me. This is who I am. I’m pansexual. I’m a successful model. I wear lingerie and make-up. I’m in a committed relationship with two amazing guys. And your doubt in me aside, I’m happy. Please accept me for who I am because I’m not going to change to make you love me.”

If I had a dollar for every time my mother told me I was embarrassing her or ordering me not to embarrass her I’d be pretty well off.

The triplets’ mother and father were very vocal (not caring who heard) about how they preferred Archie and Corey over Blake. They never tried to hide it, and they made sure BLAKE knew it as well. Some of the things they said… God, I hated them. I still hated them at the end of the book even though the author TRIED to make them a little bit okay. Uh, no. Total bitch and bastard and there’s no coming back from a lifetime of being treated as less than.

I really liked that Blake never tried to hide his love for lace and pretty underwear and even wearing make-up. It hurt him when his parents treated him differently for it, but he was very open and honest about it. This love of lace and pretty underwear led to him modeling and ultimately to Calvin and Gabe.

These three guys together were beautiful. It’s the classic friends to lovers story with a major twist. That twist being, of course, Blake. Cal and Gabe may not have ever seen each other ‘that way’ until Blake came into their world, but once they did, there was no weirdness or trying to hide their feelings. The two together were nice. All three made for one hell of a perfect triad.

There’s a lot of kink in this book, mostly consisting of roping and orgasm denial. Even so, the kink didn’t overshadow the relationship, unlike in Archie and Hamish’s story. Calvin, Gabe, and Blake talked about things. They may have jumped in head first at Hamish’s kink party, but it wasn’t just about the sex and kink. It was getting to know each other as a triad, coming together as a triad. Calvin and Gabe were there for Blake during his down moments, not just the sexy times. For that reason, this was an easy 5-star book for me.

Corey’s story is next. I’m not a big fan of Corey, and haven’t been since he was introduced in A Is For Aftercare. As for his love interest, Spence, he wasn’t in either of the first two books enough for me to have any kind of opinion of him either way. I did, however, love Lexi, Corey’s five-year-old little girl. She was such a little sweetheart and loved her Uncle Blake dearly.

I can’t end this review without mentioning something that really bugged me outside of the bad parents. Blake was a little ‘out there’ but he was a lot more responsible than his brothers gave him credit for sometimes. There were months he was short on money for bills because he didn’t have the typical 9 to 5 job, but he always paid the difference back, and wasn’t in debt to them in any way. He wasn’t always on time for things when it came to himself, but he always, ALWAYS was when it came to his niece. They all took turns picking Lexi up from school, but it seems that Blake was the one there the most. He was also the one who did most of the cooking and playing with Lexi. I get that Corey and Archie were busy with work, but what I saw was Blake giving the little girl a hell of a lot more attention and care than the other two combined, with one of those two being her father.

And when it came time to move out of the house the triplets had shared for a long time, it appeared that only Blake and Lexi felt sad about it. Archie had already moved in with Hamish, so he wasn’t an issue. Not really anyway. But Corey… I had a hard time with him. He was all too eager to agree when Blake suggested Corey rent a home just large enough for him and Lexi. Blake had no clue where he’d be living or even how he could afford to. He and Calvin and Gabe hadn’t had the ‘move in together’ talk yet. When Corey should’ve been concerned for his brother – you know, the one who basically did most of the work when it came to Corey’s daughter and who literally had nowhere to go – he came across as relieved over Blake moving out.

I’ve read all three of the books now, having waited to publish my reviews until I finished the series. The paragraph below explained my thoughts on Corey before I read his story. I normally go into drafts after and make necessary changes and update things here and there before publishing reviews for a series. Not this time. I’m leaving my thoughts on Corey that I had immediately after finishing Blake’s book.

I’m typing this review having not read Corey’s story yet, so my opinion of Corey may change. I guess I ended this book hoping to see Corey suffer a little when it came to taking care of his daughter without the help of his brothers, namely Blake. Maybe I’ll see that in his book, or maybe I won’t. When I say wanting him to suffer a little, what I’m saying is that he needs to open his eyes and see that the brother he thinks is so scattered is the one who does a majority of pretty much everything when it comes to taking care of Corey’s daughter. Corey takes him for granted while at the same time acting like Blake is a total airhead who can’t take care of himself or anybody else. But I will say that I didn’t like Corey at all in the first two books.

For the record, my opinion of Corey did change somewhat, just not for the better. I make that pretty clear in my review of C Is For Comfort that is full of spoilers. Had that book been the first in the series, I would’ve abandoned it and walked away.

Overall, B Is For Beg is a fantastic poly story.