Book Review: Her Warriors’ Three Wishes by Carrie Ann Ryan

Title: Her Warriors’ Three Wishes
Series: Dante’s Circle, Book 2
Author: Carrie Ann Ryan
Genre: Paranormal Romance, Erotic Romance, M/M Romance
Sensuality Rating: Erotic
Source: review copy provided by author
Published: April 2013 by Fated Desires Publishing, LLC

Humans aren’t as alone as they choose to believe. Every human possesses a trait of supernatural that lays dormant within their genetic make-up. Centuries of diluting and breeding have allowed humans to think they are alone and untouched by magic. But what happens when something changes?

Ambrose Griffin is older than most, if not all, civilizations. As each year passes, he submerses himself into his training, only relaxing around his protégée and friend, Shade. After losing his wife and children in the last Angelic Wars, he guards his heart and has no desire to share it with another.

Bookkeeper and romance novel enthusiast, Jamie Bennett dreams of being swept off her feet by a white knight. However, her life is no romance book. Since meeting Ambrose—a sexy, delicious angel—she’s been twisted inside out and doesn’t know why. Things are happening that she can’t control and now her life is in danger.

Balin Drake is stuck in hell, literally. His life of refusing to take souls, even though it’s part of his demon nature, has caught up with him. He’s dying and now must search for his true half, but even a mating may not save him. When he meets the two people who could fill that part, he’ll need to fight for something he hasn’t felt in over a century—hope.

Warning: Contains a rigid angel who needs a certain sexy woman to help him unwind, a book keeper who finds herself the creamy center of the best cookie ever, and a demon who has a certain taste for pressing them both against walls.

Reviewed By: J9

In a Nutshell: Great MMF romance with strong world building, good action plot, and lovely secondary characters that all combine to keep me hooked on the series and recommending it to others.

The Set Up: Humans may be oblivious to the supernatural beings around them but bookstore owner Jamie and her friends aren’t so lucky as they’re turning into supernaturals after a strange lightning strike. Jamie meets Ambrose, an ancient angel, but he leaves her before they can start to build a relationship until Jamie is captured by demons and he must rescue her. Balin is a demon who refuses to ingest human souls so he knows his death is imminent but when he sees Jamie being tortured, he rescues her only to run into Ambrose doing the same thing. Can these three misfits of a demon, an angel and a human-hybrid build a relationship together?

Why I Read this Book: I squeed like a fan girl at book one in this series and couldn’t wait for Ambrose’s story.

What I Liked: I readily admit I don’t read a lot of ménage books because in my opinion there isn’t enough MM action in the MFM ménage—not true here! This is clearly a MMF ménage and that’s delicious. Ambrose and Balin form an emotional and physical intimacy together just as they each do with Jamie. I really like how Balin and Ambrose develop a relationship that is just as loving as it is with Jamie. Sometimes in ménage a point in the triangle is neglected but that’s not the case here as all three characters and the romances between them are fully developed.

This is a straightforward ménage romance that isn’t angsty. The characters are fairly open with each other and communicate often which I like. The love protestations happen much earlier in the novel then I expected so the rest of the book I could just enjoy this sexy but not too deep romance.

What I Also Liked: This is a nice long-ish novel which allows for plot and secondary characters as well as sexy times between the leads. The plot involves Ambrose archenemy who is also Balin’s father and how he uses Jamie to punish both men. The sub-plot of what Jamie is turning into was just as interesting as in book one and both plots kept my attention.

I also love the secondary characters here. Jamie’s friends are still a lovely family-of-choice and I can’t wait to read each of their stories. Dante, the Dragon bartender, is also a mysterious and captivating character I look forward to reading more about. The world building goes along with the characters and isn’t an info dump that could take away from the characters, romance or plot and I enjoyed this.

What I Didn’t Like: I’ve previously admitted here on the blog and do so again, I notice minutia. So when Balin says at the beginning of the novel that he’d had sex with men and women, I remember that when in the middle of the story it says he’s never wanted men “for more than just a passing glance in the past.” Math doesn’t add up there. In my humble opinion the men’s sexuality needed to either be a non-issue since they were both bisexual or needed to be explored as part of the romance since they were suddenly in an MMF menage. This inconsistency offered neither of those options for me as a reader and that was something I noticed.

IMO: Even with my little nitpicking, this is a great romance and a great second book to the series which will keep me coming back for more.

J9’s Rating:
4 Frogs