ARC Review: Forgotten Promise (Trinity Masters: Crossroads Contempt Series #1)

Forgotten Promise (Trinity Masters: Crossroads Contempt #1)

by Mari Carr,  Lila Dubois

Blurb:

She holds the key to their survival.

Kailani’s family have kept a secret for generations. She never thought it would put her in jeopardy until the night her phone rings and a stranger says, “Our society is under attack.”

With danger all around her, Kailani is forced into a deadly race across the country to find the others who share her secret. But she’s not going alone. Because before that call, she had an entirely different crisis on her hands–her arranged marriage to two men, including the man who broke her heart, Benjamin.

A centuries old secret becomes a race against time and the survival of the Trinity Masters hangs in the balance. Kailani, John, and Benjamin may not survive the mission. But even if they succeed, the fate of their trinity is at stake due to past mistakes and present tensions. And in the end, Kailani may seize the power to dissolve their marriage.

Themes:  Erotica, Ménage

Rating: 4.5 stars

Heat Rating: 

Review:

Ok I’m going to get this out of the way first… No, I will not tell you who kidnapped Juliet and Devon … No, I will not tell you who becomes the acting Grand Master. Phew, there, now I can give you my thoughts on the book now.

The newest mini-series in the Trinity Masters/Masters Admiralty world kicks off right where the last story ended, with the aftermath of the kidnapping of the Grand Master and one of the Husbands.  There has been so much anticipation for this story it’s insane and I was thrilled to get the chance to devour it early, and I can tell you as a long time reader of this series that you will be screaming, laughing and crying through this book. Mari Carr and Lil Dubois have a magic touch with their ménage marriages, but they have gone way above and beyond with their newest trinity and the drama revolving around them.  That said I am dying for the nest two in this trilogy and learning what comes from this newest crisis the society faces as they come together.  

Kailani Iona is dealing with the fallout of the disastrous binding ceremony with her trinity, one the ex-lover she loved with all her heart that left her broken, and the other a stranger that she left confused and angry, when her world stops with one phone call.  John and Benjamin have traveled to Hawaii to await the final word on whether their marriage will come to pass when Kailani is suddenly called to enact a designated survivor fail-safe when the Grand Master is kidnapped.  John and Benjamin refuse to let her undertake the danger on her own, so the three of them undertake a cross-country task that forces them into close proximity, giving John and Benjamin a chance to pull Kailani from behind the wall she’s built around her heart.  The passion between them builds to a breaking point and soon the heat between the boils over, but will that passion be enough to get them past year of hatred, denial, and the hurt that can so easily tear them apart.  Not to mention, with the uncertainty of a new acting Grand Master, will their trinity marriage actually happen or will the feelings between them be forever severed.

I loved every second of this story and was barely able to put it down.   Like everyone else I was dying to find out who would be replacing Juliette and who kidnapped them, but the more I read the more I was rooting for Kailani and her men to find their way through all the personal pain and to love.  Kailani was an obviously proud and sassy woman, whose strength has serves to protect her in a mostly male dominated world of wealth and power, but I loved to see her open herself and finally have fun with her men, releasing the stress that could have broken her otherwise. John has lead such a heartbreaking life, his past filled with sadness that could have broken a lesser men, but instead he put in the work to make sure that he knew himself and despite almost allowing his hurt to lead to disaster, he had the grace to forgive and accept the beauty of love when it was offered. Benjamin was a little harder to get to know, mostly staying in the shadows of his lovers, but when he finally came out of them to show his true nature his was sexy, deliciously demanding, and alpha in the best of ways, despite having his own issues with trust, faith, and loss.  These three were truly made to be together and once they got past their issues and accepted that they completed one another and could really only work with all three of them together, they were a beautiful trinity.  I look forward to seeing more of them throughout this trilogy.

The secondary plot of this story, second to the trinity romance of course, was the kidnapping of the Grand Master and the possibility of a new enemy.  This lead to a new acting Grand Master (nope still not giving that one away), some interesting scenes between the current counselors, and some surprising scenes with Franco, revealing a side of his personality we’ve not seen before.  We got to see several trinities from previous novels, bringing them into the plot in big and small ways, and I am seriously looking forward to seeing where this plot leads us in the next two novels in the trilogy (Stolen Faith, Jagged Salvation) which should be coming soon.  In the meantime just keep breathing through it ladies, I promise you’ll survive the impatience!

*eARC provided by author for the purpose of an honest and unbiased review.  No compensation was provided.