Steady and Strong (Italian Stallions #7)
Mari Carr
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.
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