Review, Excerpt & Giveaway: Crosstown Crush by Cara McKenna

Crosstown Crush (Sins in the City #1) by Cara McKenna

Publication Date: September 1st 2015 by Signet

Purchase Links: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo

About the book:

The first in a new series from the “wicked-hot”* author of Hard Time and Give It All explores the fantasies of a daring married couple—and those of a stranger invited to play along in their scandalous little games… When he’s working, Mike Heyer is all business—every inch the alpha male, with the hard, capable body to back up his persona. But at home he can be a different man entirely, harboring appetites only his wife gets to glimpse…

When Samira first learned of her husband’s fantasies, she was reluctant, even alarmed. But after witnessing the way they set him on fire, she yielded, and happily indulged. As their games have intensified, so has the rush. And now so has the risk—they’re poised to take Mike’s indecent desires to the next level, by opening their bed to a sexy, brazen stranger. A man seeming custom-made to grant every last one of Mike and Samira’s sinful wishes.

Welcoming someone new into their lives was always a dangerous proposition, but the couple imagined if anything was at stake, it was their privacy…not their hearts.

My Thoughts:

Cara Mckenna’s writing is beautiful, sensual, and thought provoking. She somehow peels back the layers of a person’s psyche and delves straight into what motivates needs and desires.  I’m not into multiples in a relationship. I’m not a fan of reading about ménages, and certainly not more than two in a marriage, so when I read the synopsis of Crosstown Crush I didn’t think this story would be for me. BUT I do adore Ms. McKenna’s writing and I thought if anyone could make me understand and get on board with this kind of unconventional romance it would be her.  While I do think I get some of the needs and kink Mike, Samira, and Bern got into, I can’t say I was won over.  But hey, that’s me.  If you can enjoy a ménage and like exploring the many facets of this type of kink, this story will exceed your expectations. 

I’d never known what cuckolding meant before I read this story, and I still don’t get the appeal.  For some men the thought of catching their wife with another man gets them incredibly hot.  The humiliation of not measuring up to her lover, the jealousy of another man satisfying her better than he could, and then recapturing and reclaiming their wife after turns their crank. Mike and Samira, or Sam, have been married for three years and have been play acting out this scenario, but Sam gets the idea of introducing a real man into their play.  This is where Bern comes in.  He’s turned on by the thought of someone watching while he has sex.  The fact that Sam’s husband would be the voyeur is a bit of an unsettling idea at first, but it thrills him as well.

To me this is a case of “be careful what you wish for”:

Deep in his heart he feared their charade would become reality—she really would favor some stranger over Mike and he’d lose her. He’d lose, and it wouldn’t be the actions of the cruel, heartless women she pretended to be for him. He’d lose her to a man she liked more, and it’d be Mike who’d shoved her into his arms.

Ya think?!

The reason I don’t really care for multiples in a relationship is because I’ll never believe that it could work long term.  I feel that there will always be two out of the three that will be into each other just a little more, and how can the third be happy about that? I know I wouldn’t want to come second in someone’s affections, so this just doesn’t appeal to me.  I think Mike and Sam were fools to think that Sam wouldn’t get her heart attached to Bern.

“My kink is about sex. Sex isn’t sacred to me, apparently. But feelings are.”

“He can touch my body but not my heart? Is that it?” Mike nodded once.  Sam heaved a sad breath.

“Wish I could separate the two as tidily as you can.”

Sam was attracted to Bern initially, she picked him, and it’s just near impossible for a woman not to become emotionally involved with someone she’s sleeping with! This is my opinion. I’m sure some would disagree.  And here’s where I started to dislike Sam, because they were role playing, just the two of them, but she’s the one who wanted to introduce an actual man into their lives, because the thought of sleeping with another man excited her, but this is somehow only Mike’s gift?  Yes, I’ll admit she did it for Mike as well, to get him hot and bothered like nothing else, but still.  I didn’t have much respect for Mike, either. I just kept thinking: What kind of moron would share his wife with another man and think she wouldn’t have feelings for him?

“I don’t know yet. I just don’t know. Can you really promise that you won’t…fall in love with this guy?”

She frowned, said nothing for a long breath, then broke his heart. “No, I can’t promise that.”

Also, I guess this felt more like a romance between Bern and Sam.  Maybe because I witnessing their feelings slowly develop whereas Mike and Sam’s relationship was already established and I never saw them fall for each other. We’re introduced to them as a couple when Sam’s playing out a role tailored for Mike’s kink. I did feel somewhat bad for Mike in the end.  I felt bad for Bern, too. I didn’t feel bad for Samira one bit.

I just didn’t see this ending well in the long run.  HIGHLIGHT FOR SPOILER: I think two will end up shoving one out of their arrangement, or everyone will go their separate ways not able to repair the emotional wreckage.  So while this story leaves off on a happy for now, END OF SPOILER I just didn’t buy it.

I know this comes off as a really negative review, and really, I have no idea how to rate this (see below).  The story did disturb and upset me, but it stayed with me, made me think, made me feel.  And mother of all things holy, this story flipping HOT!!! Hot does not cover it, trust me. We’re talking molten-lava-hot, pulse-pounding, writhing, get-a-warm-willing-body-now-HOT!! So if you can separate yourself from the situation (which I obviously can’t) and sit back and enjoy an emotionally charged, intensely erotic story, Crosstown Crush is for you. 

Sex: 5 Suns

Writing: 5 Suns

Emotional Impact: 5 Suns

Bern: 4 Suns

Mike: 2 Suns

Samira: 1 Sun

Excerpt:

She headed for the bustling bar, and oh fuck, there he was.

Bern.

He’d told her what he’d be wearing, but it was his face she recognized. Funny how accurate her mental picture had been, based on only that one snapshot. She slowed to a halt, her stomach plummeting to her feet, the room feeling like an elevator with a snapped cable.

Be cool, kid. You’re a shameless slut tonight, and don’t you forget it.

She blew out a tense breath and kept on walking.

Bern’s picture had attracted her, but he was so much . . . more, in three dimensions. Even seated on a stool, she could tell he was big. Big and substantial, with long legs and a strong, handsome profile. His hair was as messy as in the photo, tucked behind his ears, black in the low light of the bar. That picture must have been taken at the height of summer, as his complexion was fairer than she’d expected. A modest beard covered his jaw, neither wild nor fussy. He looked rugged and capable, as though he’d just come from the woods, doing something obscenely manly. Or that was what Sam’s libido decided.

She swallowed, throat feeling thick. He was as sexy as any guy she’d covertly checked out during the girls-only cocktail dates, casting her fake flings. Sexier. A pang of pleasurable guilt warmed her skin.

Sexy and punctual.

Move aside, Nick.

Bern turned as she approached, and she thrilled at the recognition that flashed across his face. His smile was the perfect mix of mischief and shyness, so exactly what she felt, herself.

There were no free stools, giving Bern a chance to bank some chivalry points and kick off his role as smooth-talking, seductive stranger. He stood as she reached the bar. Sam kept her attention on the taps as though she were deliberating.

“Here,” he said, patting the stool.

“Are you sure?”

“Please.” He grabbed his half-drunk glass of beer and stepped back so she could have a seat. She sat with her back to the bar, crossing her legs. Just as her single self might’ve done if a handsome, actual stranger approached her, she kept her purse in her lap to camouflage any unflattering business her snug jeans might be doing to her belly. Huh. Twenty-five again, indeed. She hadn’t felt this self-conscious in years.

“Thanks.”

“Sure.” Oh, he was tall. Taller than her husband, perhaps six two to Mike’s five eleven, meeting one point of his criteria. As promised, he wore a plain gray T-shirt, and beneath it she could make out the contours of his chest and shoulders, trim and powerful as his bare arms. She liked the soft-looking hair there, the shapes of the fingers wrapped around his glass.

I could totally bang this guy if I wanted. Crazy. And did she want that? For herself, as much as for Mike . . . ?

“Can I buy you a drink?” he asked.

“Sure. Cabernet, please.”

He came close, leaning between her and the next seat to get the bartender’s attention. She studied the silver streaked at his temples and peppering his facial hair and nearly swooned right off her perch. His eyes were blue, but not bright like Mike’s. More a stormy sea than a summer sky. Breathing him in, she found no cologne, just the faint but distinct smell of a new man, a scent you couldn’t buy at Sephora. He ordered her wine and told the bartender to add it to his tab, his voice twice as rich and deep and thrilling as it had been on the phone.

For a split second Sam felt busted, realizing Mike was watching her checking Bern out. But busted was the name of the game.

Bern passed her a dangerously large glass of red and stepped back, tucking a thumb in his front pocket and sipping his beer. His thigh was only a couple inches from her crossed knees, and she wondered how warm he’d feel through their two pairs of jeans.

“On your own tonight?” he asked.

She nodded. “You, too?”

“Yeah. My name’s Bern.” He freed his hand to shake hers. And what a shake—firm and warm and solid. She wished Mike could have felt it, too. Meet the man I might just want to fuck while you watch.

Connect with Cara McKenna:

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The lovely people of Signet have kindly provided a Paperback Copy of Crosstown Crush by Cara McKenna to one Waves of Fiction follower. The giveaway is restricted to US & CA residents only.   Fill out the rafflecopter below for a chance to win. Good luck!

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