Cocktails and Books
Written on May 28, 2016
Max, a news report from a very influential family, and Wes, a British chef, have been in a relationship for four years. They’re committed to each other, despite the fact that Max doesn’t let his relationship with Wes leave the four walls of his penthouse. Wes knew the score when he saw Max and he’s willing to take what he can from the man who has a hard time when it comes to his emotions. But when they discover their new maid watching them while they’re having sex, Wes finds himself inexplicably drawn to Jane and wants her just as much as he does Max. What follows is a dance, of sorts, with Max, Jane and Wes figuring out their relationship with each other. It’s not easy, but these characters make you desperate for them to figure things out.
Jane is a hot mess. She’s often times stubborn and opinionated, but she’s loyal and she wants nothing more than for someone, for once, to love her and want to keep her. When she finds herself cleaning Max’s apartment and stumbling upon he and Wes, she’s drawn to them both. She fights the attraction. But both men have a way of breaking down her walls. She sees the good in both of them and she loves how they are when they’re together, especially Max. But more importantly, she loves how she feels when she’s with the. She’s safe. She felt protected. And her loyalty to both these men shows when she goes to bat for them when they really need each other.
I loved Wes. Of both men, he was the one I most connected with. His was witty and flirty, but you knew he acted that way at times to hide how he was really feeling. He wore his heart of his sleeve, both for Max and Jane. He truly loves both of them, but the stress of Max’s family and his unwillingness to make their relationship public was wearing down on him. And when that stress threatened to break him, I loved that he turned to Jane to comfort. They’re like two peas in a pod. Understanding each other on a level that Max can’t or won’t.
Max is a mass of contradiction. He knows who he is and has no problem with his sexuality. Even when he questioned why Wes would want to add Jane to their relationship and fought against it, he was really fighting against his attraction to Jane and how that would change the dynamics of his relationship with Wes. But once he let Jane in, he was all in. The issue came with his public persona. His mother is a political powerhouse and he’s a news anchor who’s views are very right wing. He kept his two worlds separate. You could almost see that weight from the secrets pushing his shoulders down. Like it was only a matter of time before the real Max was shown to the world and he had to decide what he was going to do.
I loved the dynamics between these three characters. Jane was the piece that kept wild Wes and conservative Max at an even keel. She soothed them when they needed it, yelled when they were being unreasonable and let them take care of her when they found this important piece to their relationship was hurt.
The book ends with a bit of a cliffhanger, but it’s one that has me eagerly awaiting the next book to see if these three can somehow make everything work. Their relationship was real, messy, funny, incredibly sexy and had me hooked from the very beginning. I look forward to see what WJM has coming next.