Love and Lust recs: 'Trouble Comes in Threes' and 'Silent'

Enjoyable reading can take many forms. Trouble Comes in Threes is romance at its most erotic. Silent is a love story at its intense beginning.

Trouble Comes in Threes by MA Church

What it's about (courtesy of Dreamspinner Press):

A snowstorm in the South—on New Year's Eve—is a perfect recipe for a catastrophe. After two soul-crushing bad breaks, Kirk's waiting for disaster number three to strike when, naturally, two stray cats arrive on his doorstep during the storm and decide to make themselves at home. Tenderhearted Kirk lets them stay even though there's something decidedly odd about his overly friendly felines.

Out of the punishing weather and full of tuna, Dolf and Tal are happy to be snug in Kirk's house. But then their human goes outside for firewood and suffers a nasty fall that leaves him unconscious. Now the two cats have no choice but to reveal themselves.

Kirk wakes up to find the two kitties are actually Dolf and Tal. They're cat shifters—and his destined mates. Being part of a feline threesome is enough for Kirk to grapple with, but soon he learns they come from a clowder that doesn't believe humans and shifters should mix. Kirk knew those two cats would be trouble. Little does he know the real trouble lies ahead.

Why you should read it: Ready for an exciting shifter book to start your year of reading off right? Trouble Comes in Threes is a cat-shifter story, an MMM ménage, and a thrilling mystery to solve as well.

Kirk is reaching middle age, feeling bad about his looks and his inability to find a steady relationship. Into his life comes, not a man, but two stray cats, seeking shelter from a snowstorm. Or so Kirk thinks. Dolf, the black kitty, and Tal, the white one, are planning to watch Kirk for a while before revealing the paranormal world, and their role in it, to him. They recognized Kirk as their mate while on a shopping trip, much to their own surprise and certainly an unexpected life twist for Kirk. When Kirk is injured bringing in firewood they have no choice but to change their plans in order to get him to safety.

It takes a bit of time to get Kirk to realize he isn't having an hallucination as he lays dying from his minor injury, but Tal's lustful impatience when Kirk, thinking he's dreaming, tells Tal to love him up, starts a process that will only result in a DNA conversion for Kirk that leads him to becoming not quite human, but not a cat-shifter either. In for a penny, in for a pound, there is nothing to do but go forward, and so the ménage begins. And this is only the beginning. There is a lot of hot sex that could set the place on fire, let me tell you.

Unfortunately, although Dolf and Tal love their human partner, not everyone in the kitty clowder (what wolves would call a pack) where Dolf is the alpha-to-be feels the same way. Someone makes his dislike of humans known and either that shifter or someone else is out to do serious harm to Kirk and perhaps others. Can they discover the identity of the attacker in time to thwart his plans? And is Kirk the real target? You'll have to read this exciting book to find out.

Silent by Sara Alva

What it's about (courtesy of the author):

Alex's life as a teenager in South Central L.A. is far from perfect, but it's his life, and he knows how to live it. He knows what role to play and what things to keep to himself. He's got it all under control, until one lousy pair of shoes kicks him out of his world and lands him in a foster care group home.

Surrounded by strangers and trapped in a life where he could never belong, Alex turns to the only person lower on the social ladder than he is: a "special" mute boy. In Sebastian, Alex finds a safe place to store his secrets—those that sent him to foster care, and the deeper one that sets him apart from the other teenagers he knows. But Sebastian has secrets of his own, and when tragedy rips the two boys apart, Alex will stop at nothing to find the answers—even if it means dragging them both through a past full of wounds best left buried.

It might just be worth it, for the slim chance at love.

Why you should read it: I enjoy reading Young Adult and New Adult romance, but this novel is exceptional, no matter how it is classified. We watch as a young man battles to overcome numerous obstacles in his troubled life to find his own path to adulthood and a future of his own making. One of the first things he must do is find a way to accept himself, not easy when you are gay and on your own in a tough environment.

Not all teenagers have to be kicked out of their homes to find themselves alone. Alex lives in a decaying neighborhood with a mother who has lost all interest in everything, including her son, and a father who escapes his own pain by inflicting it on others. Knowing little else, Alex struggles to earn the respect of other street people by selling drugs and trying unsuccessfully to escape the thug life of a gang. Alex knows he has no future in the world of gangs where the secret he keeps will cost him his life in a brutal way if it were to come out.

When Alex is accidentally outed he is yanked out of the only environment he knows by a social worker who places him in a place of safety. Adrift and feeling abandoned, full of anger and hatred for himself and everyone else, Alex finds comfort in the most unexpected of people, the silent and lovely Seb. Never expecting to find love at all, Alex is at first reluctant to accept the feelings he is developing for Seb.

This is a character-driven novel that will grip you from the opening sentence to the very end. We come to know and love Alex and Seb, wanting to pull them out of the pages and give them shelter from the storm that their lives have become. Never having lived this life myself I was surprised how much I was able to identify with both boys, thanks to the amazing writing style of Sara Alva. This is a book not to be missed, and I can't recommend it highly enough.

Becky Condit is a widow, mother of three and grandmother of 10 who reads all kinds of books, but her go-to comfort books are erotic romances. A romance novel coupled with just-out-of-the-oven chocolate-chip cookies and a glass of cold milk is her idea of heaven. She reads and reviews more than 250 books a year, so you won't often find her without her Kindle in hand, but when you do, she'll probably be gardening, doing needle crafts, working in her upholstery workshop and spending time with her family.