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454 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 20, 2023
We have the third and perhaps final installment of the Slate City books, a “steamy” 🙄 RH “romance” series that is much more erotic romance, and leaning heavy on the erotica.
Like the other books, we’re dropped into our FMC’s world and hardly receive much of an answer for why the FMC has certain friends. Sure, they banter, but because their answer is for the FMC to fuck, I can’t understand if they’re actual friends or superficial “work” friends.
They’re superficial “work” friends.
Our FMC Sloane is the new primary ballerina for her company, the neglected FWB of the Big Bad Craig, and a fill-in gogo girl at a club that will never be mentioned again.
In the day time, she’s just a ballerina. Just a normal girl with a normal life.
No one knows that she has a secret.
🐞🐈⬛
PFFFFFFFFFFFFT
No, the secret is that Sloane scent-matched with her bestie/Alpha/fellow dancer Asher five years ago. While he was kissing another girl.
😬
So five years later and she’s resigned herself to vibrators and villainous men. But who woulda think Asher would be the newest dancer of her ballet? AND that one of his packmates would be running BTS as well?
(I did. I knew that.)
What’s on the tin of this book resolves quickly. Asher’s pissed, but not really, and he and Sloane are undulating to their passion. Sloane explores erotic ventures with her new Alphas. The romantic chemistry was hardly there outside of her and Asher, maybe. I know all the MCs cared for each other, but because erotica was the primary relationship and romantic second, I questioned the validity of their relationship.
This book honestly might’ve worked better if Asher and Sloane alone had their own monogamous relationship. I would’ve liked seeing Roman, Jace, and Gabriel with their own omegas, honestly. I think each one deserved their own story and romance. I wasn’t really sold that Sloane was the omega they needed romantically and personally?
The thing about the omegaverse dynamic is that it’s both “found family” and a woman at the focus and worship of several men. And while this is 🌈escapism🌈, that doesn’t mean we should discount actual viable chemistry.
For example, I felt that Roman and Sloane were nice platonically and erotically, but romantically? I think it would’ve been fascinating for Roman to meet an omega who could’ve been selectively mute or someone who used alternate forms of communications, and we could’ve explored the different forms of communications.
For Gabriel and how calm he keeps himself, I would’ve liked to see him with an omega who gets under his skin. And enemies to lovers. An omega who makes him slip up, and the omega is proud of that and much more of a dangerous risk taker. Gabriel learns when he can show his temper healthily and his omega learns when to be calm.
I truly don’t know about Jace. He felt so added into a back that I forgot about him other than him having a baby girl kink.
Anyways, the plot persists. Craig and the new director Ian are the antagonists who are hyperfocused on Sloane for not bending to their manipulation. Sloane sees little reason to block Craig, who continues text-bombing her. And, of course, he slips through the cracks, violating his restraining order, to come for her. Ian gets his when it’s revealed the unethical behavior he treated previous studios.
And all’s shell that ends shell.
I dunno. This just wasn’t for me. RH romances are normally hit or miss for me because they are erotica leaning and fast-track it. Taking the time to build up chemistry is normally lost into instalust and biology 🤢 which can be AMAZINGLY DONE and frankly, muy caliente to the max 🥵. And in that, it can leave us to having an external plot with no third act break up. 👏🏾👏🏾
BUTT 🍑
I just wasn’t bought and sold.
I’m happy the MCs communicated. But somehow, their ease of communication is the reason I couldn’t understand their relationships. They got each other without any growing pains, without anything really. It was easy. Which, again, can be fine. But I didn’t understand why it was so easy for them considering all of them very little had much in common.
MK.
👍🏾
Just a 3 ⭐️ read. I’ll reread for the smut but not for the characters. This is disappointing. I really did enjoy Esme’s book the best. But all the books suffered from us being handfisted side characters with little understanding as to why they have the relationship they have with the MC, and then relied on instalust to convey romance when instalust can ignite romance, but it doesn’t always.
🤷🏾♀️