Make Mine Midnight by Annmarie McKenna

TITLE: Make Mine Midnight
AUTHOR: Annmarie McKenna
PUBLISHER: Samhain
LENGTH: Short story (roughly 15k)
GENRE: Contemporary menage erotic romance
COST: $2.50

Erotic romance author Claire hasn’t had nearly all the experiences she’s written about. So when two hunky guys seem interested in her at her best friend’s New Year’s Eve party, she decides to throw caution to the wind. The thing is, the guys aren’t strangers. Hunter and Mason have been in love with Claire since high school, and now that they’ve outgrown their gawky stage, they’re ready to show Claire everything she’s been missing…

This book has been sitting on my TBR for quite a while. I bought it before I changed my personal rules about what I was willing to pay for, and actually helps cement my conviction to stick with those from now on. The rule in question? Don’t buy books with heroines as romance authors.

The plot is simple. Plain Jane Claire is at her best friend’s New Year’s Eve party when a hunky guy begins checking her out. Then his friend is checking her out, too. They ask her for a dance, at which point reveal they knew her in high school, when they were computer geeks and nobodies. They’ve filled out nicely since then and both men are determined to finally have Claire the way they always wanted. She takes them back to her place for a night of fantastic sex, then wakes up convinced it was all a dream. But of course, it wasn’t.

It’s pure fantasy and shouldn’t be read in any context of realism whatsoever. The characters are all types rather than individuals, slotted into the appropriate place in bed to try and make this as painless and hot as possible. Claire doesn’t buy her own attraction, the guys went from zero to hero and are now the perfect men, and so on and so on. It’s all been done before, and better. Not even the sex is enough to save this, especially with the attempt at drama right near the end that gets resolved almost as quickly.

I must admit, I don’t understand the appeal of authors as heroines. Every time I see a blurb like that – which is at least a couple times a week, it is so overdone – I automatically think it’s fantasy material for the author. And placing the author into the story is incredibly uncomfortable. I don’t want to do it. I don’t want it even hinted at. But this book in particular makes it hard not to, when the heroine’s voice is so casual and conversational (and really tries too hard as it strives for that) and she shares things in common with the author. Like I said, I’ve changed my policy about buying them. I’m not sure I’d even buy an autobuy author who did it. I probably should have filed this one away as unread and trusted that I’d made the right choice by skipping it. Lesson learned.

Readability	7/10 – Clean but boring with a casual voice that tries too hard
Menage	4/10 – Complete fantasy
Characterization	3/10 – Stereotypes to play into the fantasy
Entertainment value	3/10 – The sex wasn’t hot enough to counter how unbelievable the rest of it was
World building	4/10 – There’s not enough room or development for any of this
TOTAL:	21/50

Starting Over by Annmarie McKenna

TITLE: Starting Over
AUTHOR: Annmarie McKenna
PUBLISHER: Loose Id
LENGTH: Novella (roughly 21k)
GENRE: Contemporary gay menage erotic romance
COST: $4.99

A hit and run accident puts Aaron Gardner in the hospital with multiple injuries, including a fractured leg, concussion, and a dislocated shoulder. He’s surprised when he wakes up to discover that the cop who witnessed it, who provided an anchor for him while EMTs arrived, is still at his bedside, and even more so when one of his doctors is the cop’s lover. Dane and Garrett are both taken in by the damaged Aaron, and when they learn he has nobody local to help him out, they offer to let him stay with them. What they don’t tell him right away is that they’re hoping he’ll become the third that completes their relationship…

Though this is my first review of this author for my blog, it’s not the first time I’ve read her. However, those were het paranormal stories, read before I started posting reviews online, so I wasn’t sure what I was going to get when I picked up this gay ménage. I’d liked her voice in the past, and while she’s still highly readable, I had too many problems with this to really enjoy it.

The biggest stems in my inability to resolve what is clearly meant to be a story of contemporary realism with an element that requires my complete suspension of disbelief. Aaron is hurt badly in the car accident. He is constantly hopped up on morphine to deal with the pain. Yet, even in the hospital, he’s getting a hard-on for Garrett and Dane, and within just a few weeks, indulging in sex. Not only should it be physically painful for him to do so, but morphine inhibits erections. They make it very clear that they are keeping him on a regular schedule of painkillers, so I just can’t settle it in my head without requiring a massive suspension of disbelief. It might have been possible, but the author is very clear to give Aaron valid reasons to be reluctant to enter into a relationship with Garrett and Dane. He’s in a grieving process, and has been for two years. He’s still so damaged from his lover’s accidental death that he still has panic attacks just thinking about the related causes. This is heavy duty drama. This in no way encourages me to pretend it’s a fantasy world where a guy on a bike getting slammed into by a Mustang going 65 mph can become a walking hard-on the next day.

Therein lies my other primary problem. Aaron is damaged, both physically and emotionally. Yet, he overcomes both obstacles without the attention the story suggests they deserve. This dichotomy of serious drama/too easy answers never sat well with me, and though I could smile at her charming – though too perfect – Garrett and Dane, and I could feel bad for Aaron’s plight, I was never able to believe any of them or the romance and emotions they professed. Even the mild D/s elements, sexy though they may be, did nothing to add to it. A real miss for me.

Readability	8/10 – Humorous and readable, which made for a quick read, but lacks any kind of depth
Menage	4/10 – I had difficulties believing both the speed at which Aaron was able to be interested in sex again and the quickness he was able to throw over his grief
Characterization	5/10 – Though the three have promise, I never believed them
Entertainment value	5/10 – The story is very readable, but since I could never buy into the romance or believe the characters, I couldn’t care much
World building	5/10 – In spite of some verisimilitude regarding the settings, I can’t give a high score to a story striving for contemporary realism with Aaron’s grief and pain when it ignores both medical reasons and depth of exploration
TOTAL:	27/50