Steady and Strong (Italian Stallions #7)

Mari Carr

Blurb:

Luca has resigned himself to a life as a bachelor. He’s watched all the Morettis fall in love, but nothing’s ever clicked for him. Until Harper…and Conor.

Former super model Harper has spent too much of her life living up to other people’s expectations of her. Perfect hair, perfect body, perfect boyfriends. For the first time ever, she’s able to forge her own path. New career, no more diets, and—hopefully—a relationship with a man of her choosing, one who sees past the pretty face to the person inside.

Conor has spent his entire life lost in the shadows, the forgotten Russo, but he’s decided it’s time for that to change. After all, both of his older brothers have found love. He’s determined it’s his turn, and that resolve gets a little push in the right direction when a new investment means he’ll be working with the man he’s always had a crush on. But if he likes Luca, why does he suddenly have feelings for Harper too?

Themes: Menage

Rating: 4.5 stars

Heat Rating:

Review:

I have been so curious about this story since we got hints of it in the previous story when Conor let his feelings slip at the most unexpected moments. It just goes to show us that we never really do know everything about someone that we thought we’ve known all of our lives and we never know all sides of a story without talking to everyone involved in a story. Mari Carr is one of my favorite authors in her ability to also shock readers with relationship, emotional upheaval and allowing characters to come to realizations about their own sexuality that they never might have otherwise. I have loved every story in this series as each of these sensually interesting men and women have found their match (or matches) in men and women that they might never have thought would complete them but are so obviously perfect for them. This newest installment brings together three people that shouldn’t be perfect in a relationship, should probably not even be friends on paper, but they turn out to be so perfect together that you wonder why you missed the perfection from the very beginning. I am dying for the last of the Moretti bachelors to fall after that captivating epilogue and I just cannot imagine how Mari is going to pull off another throuple given the circumstances, but I know that she will manage to have Joey, Miles and Lucy in the loving triad by the end of Kiss and Tell and that magic is perfect and I kind of hope for another spinoff but will bite my tongue on that hope until we learn more from Mari herself.

Conor Russo is truly out of his comfort zone in his newest business venture, taking on not only a sexy new business partner in Harper Branson but also trying to bury the hatchet on a lifetime of pain by working with Luca Moretti. While the restaurant begins to encounter some strange happenstances, the three of them are spending more time together to deal with the setbacks, but that time together is bringing up a lot of personal feelings that none of them were prepared for. Conor once loved the sexy and laidback Luca, but after having his young heart broken, and spending a lifetime distancing himself from everyone, he is not sure he is willing to put himself out there again. Harper has had her heart broken again and again, but the two sexy men that have quickly become so much more than friends are entrenching themselves in her heart. Luca never once looked at Conor as anything more than a childhood friend, but as so many of his siblings and cousins have found their mates his eyes have opened and both Conor and Harper have captured made him. But the closer they get to one another and to a successful opening, the more someone wants to stop them, and they have to protect their love and their future by opening up to one another if they have any chance at a HEA together.

These three have got to honestly be one of my favorite throuples since the original series that spawned this one (Wild Irish Series) and if Mari manages to top this in the future it will have to be true magic. Conor is the quintessential broken alpha hero; he had the type of childhood that really scars and leave an adult crippled emotionally, even as he functions and presents a good front to those around him. Conor has managed to hide his problems from those around him all his adult life, but as he slowly begins to lose his heart to Harper and Luca, he comes to see that ability to hide might have been a hinderance more than a help. His intelligence, sweetness, determination, and protectiveness are wonderful traits, but the best part about him is his ability to bring out the best in others and show them part of themselves they never realized they were hiding. Harper has been dealing with a lot as she changed not only her career but her entire life, but finding herself falling for two men was never in her plans. She is beautiful, inside and out, but her dedication, sunny disposition, loving nature, and inability to given up on those she loves are what make her the perfect match for these two men. She is obviously the light to Conor’s darkness and the calm to Luca’s hot temper, rounding out their triad perfectly. Luca never imagined he’d find himself attracted, not only to a man but to Conor Russo, the friend that deserted him when they were teens. While he knew the moment, he saw Harper that he was attracted, it took a little longer for him to understand that the tension between him and Conor was so much more than old hurt and temper, but once that understanding dawned and he accepted that attraction there was no denying that he was all in. Luca’s hot Italian temper, spicy sensuality, hardworking determination, and his determination to drag Conor and Harper along even if reluctantly into a relationship show that while he might be pretty laidback, he is in no way a pushover. I loved getting to know all three of these characters, digging into their psyches, their fears, pasts, and their needs to see just how their individual puzzle pieces needed to come together to make that perfect triad.

Steady and Strong truly not only describes the individual characters in this story, but the love that develops between these three as they are first business partners, then friends before they take that leap into lovers. I loved getting to know Conor, Harper, and Luca, and experiencing their love as they got to know one another as well. Conor is a loving, broken, caring, and devoted alpha that has spent so many years with a crippling fear of the future that has held him back from a loving relationship; when he finally allowed himself to open his heart to his lovers, he became the strong and balanced man he was always destined to be. Luca is a man that has never doubted the love of his family or his own fate in the world, but when his groundwork is rocked a bit, he goes with the flow and opens his mind and heart to allow for Conor and Harper to lead him into a world that is even more filled with laughter, love and fulfillment. His strength and passion are a perfect foil for the fears and pain that his lovers have face in their past and give their triad the strong foundation they need to move forward. Harper is a sassy and sunshiny woman that has decided its time to make a change, and gone through with it without a backward glance, but meeting Luca and Conor definitely lead her to take even more chances and she never regrets it’s for a second. The passion and pull between these three is apparent in the tension and chemistry from the very second, they are together, but the heat really takes off when they all begin to understand the emotions that have been hidden for years and there is no putting out that fire. I am dying for the next book (Kiss and Tell), and I am hoping that more come in the series after that, or maybe another series afterward. Mari Carr Is truly one of the best erotic romance authors I have ever had the pleasure of reading, intermingling sensuality, emotion, drama, and love in a way that leaves you wishing for more every time.

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