Stranded With Her Bullies by Sam Crescent
Publisher: Evernight Publishing
Genre: Contemporary, Erotic Romance, LGBTQ
Rating: 3 stars
Reviewed by FernWhen a lockdown is declared, Daphne is forced to close her successful bed-and-breakfast for the foreseeable future, which she expects to spend alone. However, three men from her past didn’t leave with all the others. After twelve years, her high school bullies are back. She doesn’t know what game they’re playing, but she won’t be part of it.
Eric, Micah, and Dean intend to win her heart. What started as a challenge soon turns into more as the three friends band together to claim the woman of their dreams. There was only supposed to be one victor, but now they will all win.
Daphne doesn’t plan to fall for them, but when an opportunity opens up, they’re just too damn hot to turn down.
It’s a lockdown full of promise. Three guys, one girl, and many possibilities. Why not enjoy the moment, even if she doesn’t intend for it to last forever. Or will it?
Daphne had carried on with her grandmother’s B&B, a beautiful quaint place near the mountains. Closed until further notice due to the pandemic and the lockdown, she’s looking forward to the quiet as a chance to recharge her batteries and tinker with the B&B and be ship-shape when they reopen. She hadn’t counted on the three very determined men who flatly refused to check out or leave her premises. Eric, Micah and Dean had been her high school bullies – the three handsome, popular, intelligent men who had made her teenage years miserable. They were determined to win her over, but Daphne was equally determined never to let them have any sort of power over her ever again. Can they weather this storm together?
A part of me wasn’t sure if this was a little too soon for me. With much of the world still in dire trouble from the pandemic – and lockdowns and clusters still popping up here and there to keep society as a whole on their toes – I really wasn’t sure I wanted to read a story where, even loosely, the pandemic and lockdown was a part of the fictional world I immersed myself in. I feel strongly for some readers this won’t be the right fit – yet – and so I’m grateful the author was quite up front about those settings. I still don’t think I want to be reading too much about pandemic life and lockdowns, but I have to admit the references were fairly fleeting and limited to only sporadic comments throughout the story which I was grateful for.
I also wasn’t really sold on the idea that Daphne could overlook such horrible treatment through school from the trio of men and give in to her sexual craving for them. To actually enjoy the story I really needed to just disconnect my brain and try to go with the flow. I didn’t question the logic – regardless of how sexy they were or how hot the attraction, how could someone fall in love with the bullies who made her childhood hell? – and I just relaxed and enjoyed the sexy shenanigans.
Once I got to this place, I thoroughly enjoyed the story. Three hot and handsome men with no one else around to judge or criticize Daphne or her choices… It was a decent fantasy. Readers looking for a steamy hot menage style of story – three men with one woman – should find that this suits their needs delightfully. While the three men are best friends, they are not sexually intimate, but they are open and communicate their desires and talk about the changing scenarios of their desires with Daphne, so there’s no real cheating (in the traditional sense) and while Daphne is kept in the dark about their discussions and bets/deals for some time, the men are all honest with each other.
I really don’t feel this will be enjoyed by every reader – both the style and plotline are a bit on the edge of what’s romantic verses what’s erotic/dark-romance, but for readers who want something a little edgier I feel this is a well written and quite intense storyline that should appeal to many. With plenty of intimacy and some intense scenes this is a very explicit story but a full length novel that should appeal to many.
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