Why I read it: I enjoyed the first book in this series and bought this one as soon as I realised it was out.

What it’s about: (from Goodreads) One woman, two lovers. Double the pleasure, or double the trouble?

Rule of Three, Book 2

Former goodie-two-shoes Kassidy now has three pairs of shoes under her bed—hers, Chris’s and Dag’s. While she relishes the hot threesome that makes her friends jealous, she can’t deny things are…complicated. Namely, whom to tell about their unconventional relationship, and whom to keep in the dark.

In the dark category? Definitely Chris’s parents, which should be simple, since they live far away. Except they’ve sprung a surprise for their son’s thirtieth birthday. They’re coming for a visit. Then there’s Kassidy’s best friend Danielle, who’s home from Europe, clueless to recent events, and flirting with Dag like crazy.

Awkward!

Family, friends, coworkers and a wedding put three lovers’ best intentions to the test, making them wonder if this unique brand of love has a chance in hell of working out.

Warning: Spoilers ahoy.

What worked for me (and what didn’t): This novella starts off the day after the end of book one and the trio are still trying to find their feet and work out how their relationship is going to work – from who they will tell and when, where they will live, to communication and picking up laundry. I felt that it made a good start on some of the practical issues three people in a permanent menage might have, even if there was a tad too much melodrama for me when Chris told his parents (Dag’s reaction was a bit scary for me actually and I thought it was out of line even though Chris’ dad was a douche). Once again, there was plenty of smokin’ sex – I appreciated that there was a just Dag and Chris scene – I felt it needed to be there so show that Chris was becoming more comfortable with his heteroflexible side.

While I personally wouldn’t have deleted any of the sex scenes, I would have liked the story to have been longer. In the epilogue we got this:

Their lives weren’t perfect. There were still people who couldn’t accept their relationship, although surprisingly few, and there were still people who didn’t know about their relationship. They’d become friends with a few others in poly relationships whom they’d met through a counselor who’d helped them work through some of the issues they faced. They had worries and problems. Kassidy’s dad had had a heart attack a few months ago, but was okay now. They all had problems at work. Jeff and Sarah now had a beautiful baby, but she’d had complications during her pregnancy and ended up in the hospital the last month before Jaden was born, scaring them all. Kassidy had freaked out about Dag wanting to go skydiving, and Chris and Dag rolled their eyes when Kassidy bugged them about putting the empty peanut butter container back in the cupboard and leaving their wet towels on the bathroom floor.

They argued about stuff like Chris working late too many nights when Kassidy wanted to get home, and, yes, they argued about money, not that they lacked it, but there was still a bit of a power struggle between him and Dag over who paid for what. They argued about leaving the toilet seat up and who should vacuum, because they all fucking hated vacuuming, what movies to watch, and the fact that Dag had to eat beef at damn-near every meal.

Which is full of interesting and important things as well as some of the more mundane. But that’s all we got of those things. Just that they happened. I’d happily have read another 100 pages to see Kassidy, Chris and Dag (oh that name – *shudder*) work those things out rather than just a chock-full paragraph at the end of the story. What there was of it in the story wasn’t enough for me.

There was one other thing which bothered me ~~a little~~ – but this may be because even though it was 15 years ago, I remember all too well the headaches of guest lists, RSVPs and table placements at our wedding receptions. Kassidy is invited to the wedding of one of her college friends. Her single best friend Dani is also invited. Both have a +1 invite. Dani offers to take Dag as her “date” so that both of Kassidy’s men can attend but Kassidy (to her credit) is uncomfortable with that because she doesn’t want Dag to feel superfluous or tacked on. But then, she rings the bride and flat out asks if she can bring two dates instead of one and when the bride, embarrassed by the request, gently explains that they are having difficulty keeping the numbers down already, Kassidy politely says thank you and sorry for even asking (as she should). But then, she RSVPs that she’s not going at all. Girl – what about going with Dani and having a girl’s night? The bride is a college friend and doesn’t know Chris or Dag so it sounds like the perfect solution to me. But instead, Kassidy gets all martyrish (and annoying) and lets down her friend who wanted her to be there (as well as her BFF who was also expecting her to attend) and won’t go. Wah. /rant

What else? There were good things. Like I said above, the sex was hawt. But also, the chemistry and connection between the three was apparent outside of those scenes as well and I appreciated that they recognised that good communication was a key to making their relationship work. I forgave Rule of Three for not getting into those aspect all that much because it was about the very beginning of the relationship. Even though this book (for the most part) covered only a few weeks immediately after the events of that story, I had hoped for more of that practical working out on the page. I admit to a fascination. There was enough to whet my appetite but not enough to satisfy entirely.