'Texas Tangle' by Leah BRAEMEL

Received from NetGalley

From the BLURB:

Thanks to her cheating ex-husband and her thieving brother, all horse breeder Nikki Kimball has left is a bruised heart, an over-drawn bank account and an empty home. When sex-on-legs Dillon Barnett and his brooding foster-brother Brett Anderson start showing more than just neighborly attention, Nikki is intrigued…and a little gun-shy.

Dillon and Brett have a history; back in high school, the two friends fought a bitter battle over Nikki. Now, ten years later, Brett still longs to be the man in Nikki’s life, but he’s determined to stand back and let Dillon win Nikki’s heart.

Society says Nikki must choose between the two men she loves. Is Nikki strong enough to break all the rules in order to find happiness?

Nikki’s dead-beat brother has just cleaned her out. He has taken her furniture, clothes, money and has stolen her identity to create a bunch of fake credit-card accounts. Right when Nikki is at the bottom of her life’s barrel, her old high-school crush and next-door neighbour, Dillon, bails her out. Dillon offers her his home until she gets back on her feet. And while Dillon and Nikki share the same house, old feelings come burning to the surface and they can’t help but give in to their temptations...

But Nikki is also tempted by Dillon’s adopted-brother, Brett. Back in high-school Nikki also had a crush on Brett, and at one point their unrequited love triangle led the brothers to a knock-out fight that ended in years of silence between the two of them.

Right at the worst time of her life, Nikki finds herself nestled safely between Dillon and Brett; both men offer her love, protection and so much more than she could ever dream for....

I liked Leah Braemel’s ‘Texas Tangle’. I didn’t *love* it, but I enjoyed reading it. I think part of the reason I wasn’t completely ‘wowed’ by the book was simply because the ménage storyline is old-hat in erotica, and ‘Texas Tangle’ isn’t reinventing the wheel.

I really liked the set-up for Dillon/Nikki/Brett and the fact that they had high school history. I would have liked to read a few scenes in flashback, or even have had the story start in the past and then skip ahead a few years... anything to heighten the tension and make Nikki’s decision between Dillon and Brett all the harder. Regardless, I still sympathized with Nikki for being caught between these two incredibly gorgeous and generous men.

She chanced a look up, if only to try to figure out just how much Dillon’s mom knew. Instead of condemnation, she saw sympathy on her face, heard understanding in her voice. “You care for both my boys, don’t you?”
Miserable, she nodded and stared at her hands still flattened over the album. “They want me to decide between them.”
Faith sighed. “Oh, honey, you’re the baby in Solomon’s Wisdom, aren’t you? Only it’s the two men you love splitting you apart.”

Dillon and Brett were probably the best part of the book. These two were such sweethearts! They were total Texas gentleman and I wished they were real flesh-and-blood fella’s fighting over me!

The story about Nikki’s brother stealing from her is purely a plot trigger – a way to get her into Dillon’s house (and bed!). But I wasn’t fussed about that being a side storyline, because I very quickly got wrapped up in the Dillon/Nikki/Brett saga... especially when things got steamy in the bedroom. Braemel writes sensually scorching smutty scenes – the perfect balance between kinky dark and squeaky clean.

I did like ‘Texas Tangle’. If you are a frequent erotica reader then you won’t find anything new in ‘Tangle’, but if you like your ménage’s hot and steamy then this is a novel for you.

3.5/5