Book Review: Rivals for Love by Eve Vaughn

Title: Rivals for Love
Author: Eve Vaughn
Release Date: 26 May 2010
Publisher: Carina Press
Source: copy provided by publisher through NetGalley
Purchasing Info: Goodreads, Author's Website, Carina Press

Grade: 5 stars

Novellus perfectus!

Goodreads appetizer: Hayden Sinclair has it all: a job she loves, supportive friends and a drop-dead gorgeous boyfriend. She should be happy-and she should say yes when Luc proposes marriage. But one thing stands in her way: Sawyer Underwood, her impossibly sexy ex, who disappeared almost a year ago.

When Sawyer returns, he has one goal in mind: to win Hayden back, and away from his long-hated rival, Luc. Sawyer's willing to do anything it takes, and he'll use all his powers of persuasion to convince Hayden that he's the man for her-especially in the bedroom. But Luc's not willing to give Hayden up without a fight!

As the two men battle for Hayden's affections, she is torn between them. If only they could reach a compromise-then maybe she wouldn't have to choose...

My Thoughts: I have never read anything by Eve Vaughn before, but after Rivals for Love I added her to my "Must-Watch-Authors List".

Even though Rivals for Love is categorized as a ménage story, there is no ménage until the very last chapter of the book! Yes, you read that right!

Hayden is a sympathetic character, a woman to whom monogamy and loyalty are essential, so imagine her confusion and panic when she discovers that although she is in love with Luc, she isn't over her love for Sawyer, and that she loves both men just as much as the other.

Eve Vaughn's writing is of great quality: her story flows naturally and her characters are completely believable. Usually with ménage stories, you feel that the setting is forced and that a threesome could never exist in real life, but Eve Vaughn makes it all seem possible and credible.

The story comes to life through her writing: you feel Hayden's guilt and confusion and the men's trepidation and panic at losing the woman they love. Rivals for Love is more an erotic romance than an erotica novel. Don't misunderstand me, there is plenty of very hot, scorching love scenes, but they are love scenes: there is an emotional setting, meaning to the act, not just the sake of sex. The explored emotional depth of the characters was amazing and gripping.

Verdict: The writing style was extraordinary, Rivals for Love is a brilliant novel, one I would definitely recommend, even to those who are a bit shy of saucy novels ;-)

Plot: 9/10
Characters: 9/10
Ending: 10/10
Writing: 10/10
Cover: 6/10