TITLE: ⟫ Ben
AUTHOR: ⟫ Cora Rose
RATING: ⟫ 3/5
SERIES: ⟫ Unexpected #8
BLURB: ⟫ It’s often said that everything is impossible until it’s done.
And while I’ve always known my infatuation with Cash and Ford was meant to remain an unfulfilled dream, I never really lost hope.
Hope that the two men, twice my age, would ever see me as more than just a kid. As more than just their best friend’s son.
But I’m not a kid any more, and at twenty-one, they’re about to see that little meek and quiet Ben is old enough for many things. Old enough to finally attract their attention. And frankly, old enough to know better. To know that these stolen touches and lustful trysts behind closed doors could never really amount to more.
Because everything will crumble as soon as Cash, Ford, and my father find out what I’ve been up to. That I’ve been keeping secrets from them all.
I can’t possibly keep them both.
I can’t keep them at all.
I know our love is impossible.
But, god help me, when has that ever stopped me?
REVIEW: ⟫ I find myself agreeing with another review that I saw that said this book could have just been a smutty novella without the unnecessary side-plots. Basically, this book was a sexfest from start to finish – not a bad thing by any means, but after a while I found myself wanting something more.
Ben was a confusing character for me. His insistence on secrecy made sense initially – having two best friends who happen to be your father’s age/friends and having sex with both of them secretly is a humdinger. I appreciated the fact that he told both Cash and Ford upfront that he wasn’t exclusive with either of them, thereby avoiding any hint of actual cheating. However, once the cat was out of the bag with those two, and it became increasingly obvious that Dean just wanted to connect with Ben and wouldn’t judge him, the concern about his father’s views seemed a little overblown and like padding that the story didn’t need.
I loved the dynamic between Ben, Ford and Cash – although I felt that their behaviour at the party was more than a little outrageous – and would probably have enjoyed this book more if it had been shorter. Full of Cora Rose’s standard banter, inner dialogue and interesting side-characters, this was well written but I do think it could have been much shorter and had a little more relationship development and a little less sex!
