"Their Bride" is the story of Vanessa, Darrius Warwick, and Benedict Norfolk. Darrius and Benedict have known one another since boyhood and attraction has always simmered under the surface. Benedict would love to act on it, but Darrius will not in any way he acknowledges afterwards. When Darrius' Viscount brother, Arthur, jilts Vanessa on their wedding day, they circle to find a solution after her unfeeling parents cut her off and abandon her. Vanessa worries that she is simply undesirable as this is her second broken engagement and her parents blame her for the censure that society is bound to heap on them for it. As excuses are made, Vanessa hides out at the Warwick estate and embarks on a romance with both men with the end goal of choosing one to marry.

"Their Bride" reminds me of Katee Roberts' "Gifting Me to His Best Friend." I don't mean that in a bad way, but in that they are both MMF romances in which male best friends with decades of sexual tension finally get to act on it by sharing a female lover. Their Bride is written fully in the third person, so we get to hear the thoughts of each character and I feel like Michaels does a good job of allowing the reader to understand why Benedict and Darrius don't act on their attraction, even in 'safe' spaces though I also understand that time period is also a MAJOR factor inherent in Regency romance. This is the only truly standout aspect of the story. At 120 pages, everything feels rushed and the reader has to believe a lot about the relationships of the three MCs with no foundation to base it on. Benedict and Darrius' attraction holds a little more water because we see a tense sexual encounter in the prologue (one I don't understand as Arthur is passed out drunk near by and could wake up and ruin them) that sets the push/pull nature of their situation. Both men's attraction to Vanessa and vice versa is harder to believe as they've only known one another for six months while Vanessa was engaged to Arthur and we see none of this time; we miss the building of tension between her and each of the men. There's also very little thought given to how their relationship will work in the real world and that drove me crazy as the book quickly drew to a close. For most of the book, both men are 'Mister,' with no known income and Vanessa's parents insisted that they would cut her off from her dowry with the second broken engagement. Darrius is the heir apparent to his Viscount brother, but in his absence, the estate is being mismanaged and while he could house them all in the meantime, there's no income.

Once they embark on their menage, the sexual encounters seem very quick with mutual passion being enough foreplay for penetration MOST of the time. Fewer sex scenes in lieu of better, more detailed ones would have been more impactful. I'm used to Jess Michaels stories where the tension and preparation are better built and again, part of this is likely because the book is only 120 pages.

All in all, nowhere near my favorite Jess Michaels book.



*****SPOILER*****
The unspoken issue of how they will support themselves is solved by the big Deus Ex Machina of Arthur dying and Darrius ascending to the title of Viscount, thus making him Vanessa's obvious choice for marriage. As the Viscount and Viscountess, they will have the appearance of being a regular couple of the Ton with their 'close friend' Benedict by their side. Vanessa also swears that she will bully her parents into releasing her dowry with her marriage, despite them not showing one ounce of care for her reputation before. I didn't find it believable that they would care about their daughter being an impoverished Viscountess.
*****END SPOILER*****

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I wanted so much to love this fourth novella in Jess Michaels’ Theirs series, but this story was a disappointment for me. Books One and Two are among my favorite historical MMF stories, (Their Marchioness and Their Duchess), but Their Bride just didn’t have the raw, intense chemistry that the others did, and that chemistry is what made the earlier novellas so special, and so incredibly hot.

I liked Vanessa, loved Benedict, and found Darrius very intriguing, but without that palpable chemistry, I just didn’t feel connected to the characters or their story, and the steam didn’t do much steaming of my kindle screen.

Still a good novella, but definitely my least favorite of the four. I’m looking forward to reading the next in the series with the hopes that Ms Michaels will give us the chemistry and connection that she did so well in the first two novellas.

My thanks to NetGalley and The Passionate Pen LLC for the eARC. All opinions are my own.

I was really in the mood for this book. I did not read the blurb when I saw this in NetGalley just that it was Jess Michaels a new to me author I really enjoyed. Her books were sexy but I would say this is more erotica its hot and very steamy. the plot was there and completed. I do wish we got an epilogue of them being a happy family together. Thank you NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

3.5 Stars

Another good addition to the series. Poor Vanessa has been cast off by her fiancé and her parents when she is jilted on her wedding day. To the rescue comes Darrius, her fiancé’s brother and friend, Benedict. It was nice to see prior characters in this series. The love part came a little too soon for me but this is a shorter book so there isn’t any time to drag it all out. I like that the threesome have each other, finding pleasure and happiness only each other can bring.


*Received via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review*

Benedict and Darrius have been on and off friends and occasionally lovers over the years, but have never quite been able to get on the same page regarding their relationship. When Darrius’s brother leaves Vanessa at the alter, Vanessa finds this to be her opportunity to act on the attraction she has always felt for both Benedict and Darrius. Together the three embark on a journey of discovery.

I have read the last couple books in this series and really enjoyed them. I think I liked the other two better, but I still enjoyed this one. The steaminess was a little more tame in this one than I recall from the previous two. I felt like this one relied on instalove becuase we were told and not shown Vanessa’s feelings for Benedict and Darrius prior to the book. I did like Vanessa, Benedict, and Darrius and as always wish the novella was a bit longer so I could savor them more. The throuple from the first book in the series does make an appearance which readers of that book will enjoy. If Jess writes another book in the series I will happily read that one as well.

Thank you to NetGalley and The Passionate Penn for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I’ve enjoyed the previous books in this series, so I was anxious to read Their Bride. This super steamy romance was short and low angst, and I read it in one sitting. It was a little bit too insta-love for me, but I enjoyed it overall. I also really enjoyed revisiting characters from the first book.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley. This is my honest review.