"This Is Not the End," by Sidney Bell
Contemporary Polyamorous MMF Romance
1 Smooch ~ Cozy
2 Smooches ~ Warm
3 Smooches ~ Simmering
4 Smooches ~ Red-Hot
5 Smooches ~ Scalding
Book Blurb
Zacary Trevor is the love of Anya Alexander’s life. Their sometimes tumultuous marriage has survived ups, downs, and all the in-betweens. With successful careers, a lovely home, and a beautiful child, domestic bliss is a hard-earned reality for two people whose hedonistic days are in the not-so-distant past. They’re happy.
Enter Zac’s best friend, the deeply reserved Cal Keller. Zac’s friendship with Cal is the foundation of his career and—until Anya and their son came along—the most important relationship of his life. Cal’s a cipher, someone Anya can’t help but gravitate to, even if they don’t always get along. Even more, she’s drawn to the Zac she sees when he’s with Cal—a careful, cautious version of her husband, someone with hidden thoughts and desires kept secret even from her.
Inviting Cal into their home, deeper into their life, is a risk.
Zac should say no. He knows he should. But he doesn’t. From the first, the hint at the life the three of them could have together is exhilarating. And finding a new definition for family just might be worth the risk to every bond that exists between them.
My Review
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing an advanced copy of this book. I am providing a voluntary review. All thoughts and views are my own.
Okay, first and foremost, I adore the way Sidney Bell portrays the polyamorous love triad in This Is Not The End. She gives both Cal and Zac a healthy bisexual identity, and Anya’s secure in her sexuality and not afraid to voice her needs. While I was concerned over the amount of time spent with these characters as they introspective battles about the validity and “rightness” of their wants and needs—paired with them then turning around and essentially saying “F*ck anyone who isn’t okay with who we are”—I feel the overall portrayal was well done. I just wish there would’ve been some external conflict in the story outside them trying to decide whether their love and lust for one another would or should be accepted by the outside world.
That being said, I think a lot of their concerns are valid—there are a lot of hateful people out there who don’t accept things that aren’t exactly as they believe they should be. But I do wish Zac, Cal, and Anya would’ve made the decision to put their love above all else a little earlier and had a larger conflict in the story that stood in the way of them finding their HEA.
Now, all that aside, I really did love this story. It had brief but steamy love scenes—lots of them!—and I think it handled the dynamics of the triad very well. I felt the love from all sides and it wasn’t something that felt forced or unnatural for the characters.
I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who is into erotic romance and who loves love. I think this would be a wonderful read for anyone who wants more diverse romance couplings in their reading world. 💕
Sidney Bell
She/Her
Sidney Bell lives in the drizzly Pacific Northwest with her amazingly supportive husband. She received her MFA degree in Creative Writing in 2010, considered aiming for the Great American Novel, and then promptly started writing fanfiction instead. More realistic grown-ups eventually convinced her to try writing something more fiscally responsible, though, which is how we ended up here. When she's not writing, she's playing violent video games, yelling at the television during hockey games, or supporting her local library by turning books in late.
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So, what are you waiting for? This Is Not the End is available for your reading pleasure on or after its release date, January 11th, 2021! Get your copy today!! 📖
