Genre: Werewolves, Curvy heroine
Menage: MFM
Series: Alpha Doms, book 4
Stand Alone: yes
Re-issued/Re-edited: no
Length: 101,773 words / 329 pages
Published by: self published
Published on: Mar 19, 2013
ISBN # CHRLVL00000020
Author’s blog – Twitter – Goodreads – Facebook – Smashwords – Amazon– AllRomanceEbooks
Synopsis
Max is a broken woman with secrets drowned in a rough past. She’s looking to start over in a new town several states away. Never did she expect her past to follow her. Neither did she expect to find not one, but two men, anxious to love her.
But they have a secret of their own, and it follows them everywhere.
Ayden is the alpha of the local werewolf pack. Josh is the alpha of the neighboring town’s pack. They grew up together; best friends. There’s little rivalry between these two…until their voluptuous, plus size mate walks into their lives.
Will a shared mate bring these two best friends closer, or tear them apart?
The decision is made for them when their mate turns to them for help. They will stop at nothing to protect Max, but how far are they willing to go?
Learning of their beastly dark side, will Max be able to face them without fear? After all, it’s a past full of fear she’s trying so hard to escape…
Review
Where do I start? Guess my intro will be: “I feel as if I have been running a marathon for days…”
Stereotype, I know.
I am not fond of big heroines. I like them once in a while but I am not looking for them when I buy a book. I generally discover the heroine is curvy when I start reading the story. Even if it is mentioned in the blurbs, most of the time, the authors pictured them as a “little” curvy but not “overly” curvy like big boobs but hardly with a round stomach. Guess if we need sizes numbers, they are generally a size 14 (which is the average US/Can woman size by the way) but rarely 3X or higher. So for me a size 14 does not fit the “curvy category” but the “normal category” unless the heroine is 5 feet with a 34DDDD which at this point would better fit the “fake category” still not the “curvy” one for me. A big woman is big all around not partially.
So which one of this pic is for you curvy or big or small… For me I pictured Max as the girl on the end right in pink 🙂
Most authors thinks curvy but never big… except Christin Lovell.
She completely surprised me here. She never really say her size but all her descriptions, curves and all the allusions, it is a sure thing that she is at least a 2X girl. In my head I pictured her 3X closed to 4X. Christin Lovell is a well-known published author and she writes about curvy heroines. I visited her site and it is quite impressive. If you are a new author, I invite you to read her FAQs: extremely interesting 🙂
I am not always into the “damage heroine” genre. After a while, I need her to bounce and move on. I understand the pain, fears and insecurities and the timeline to heal, if ever. But in my romances, I want them to move on relatively quickly or I feel she is turning into a whining character and that bores me. However, Max was never a whinny character. Full of fears, years of believing what someone convinced her she was fat, ugly, stupid and all the worse you may imagine but somehow never whining. I did not expect to be included in the roller coaster of her journey. This is a very long novel: 329 pages. But I was glued up to the end.
Christin Lovell dissected all the insecurities a woman can have after an horrible relationship spent with a man who abused her emotionally and physically (warning: many flash back). It was just incredible how each step to heal felt right. If I did not know that the author is specialized in curvy heroines, I would have thought that it was her own healing journey.
I loved the males heroes. I believe what made this story very special each characters took a turn, chapter after chapter and i got to get intimate with each one of them. It was three stories in one. Each of they voice raised their fears, hopes, insecurities. I really liked this different POV from two males and one female, step by step. I am convinced that if I did not get the male’s POV, I would have probably think that the heroine did not move on quickly enough. I would have probably get bored with her constant low self esteem too.
And this is what made the difference for me to enjoy this story. It was not a redundant whinny heroine stuck with her fears. It was a true journey with three people patiently evolving to a long term loving and trusting relationship.
I guess I related to her somehow. I think a lot of woman lived some kind of abuse, from little to ugly. In my opinion the emotional abuse is the most common and a lot of women (and men!) do not understand they are living one. Most of the time we are not prepared and we do not want to acknowledge it is abuse because if there is no physical, it cannot be. We fight and we move on. But when the nasty, ugly, mean comments become daily. When a woman go to bed upset, wake up upset and act like a quiet zombie, afraid to start an argument, this is abuse.
Now. How do we get out? Can you get out even if you do not live with the abuser? Can you heal? Can you trust again?
This story is about both emotional and physical abuse.
Two times the charm is a romance of fiction and I am sure that the author did not write it to be a therapy for women who are big. But I am sure, since the society is trying to make use believe that being curvy is ugly, many women (including me) will find a little piece of themselves in Max.I sure did.
My cons would be :
SEX: You will not find sex scenes in each chapters. The sex tension was built accordingly with the story. My 3 stars is judged about originality not the numbers which i think were appropriate in sequence.
PLOT: I could not give a 5 stars also with the plot: I thought that 2 or 3 chapters were not really necessary at the end, but I totally enjoyed the epilogue.
INCONSISTENCIES with the series: The only thing I thought was not appropriate was the comment of one of the heroes saying that all the were not curvy because of their metabolism… but since the series is all about curvy heroines, including werewolf, I thought it was not consistent with the series theme. The name of the series is “Alpha Doms”… I am a little bit uncomfortable to associate this story with “Dom”. There is no BDSM in this story besides cuffing and blindsiding the heroine once and the mention that she is a submissive. The abuse was not in my opinion a D/s relationship at all. However, the author did not insist much on the BDSM part and beside the association with the series, it did not bother me much.
CHARACTERS: I wished that the heroes were not that physically perfect. I would have enjoyed it more if they had some flaws somehow, but that’s me 🙂 I would have liked also a bit more difference in their way of thinking, maybe some drama in their past too? Something that would distinct from each other. At times, I thought they were a bit too much alike.
This said, I gave a 5 stars because it was an outstanding story and the author brought me with her with the journey of three people and I was glued up to the end.
Christin Lovell writes MF, MM genres mostly and I may be wrong but this is her second menage. I really invite you to read her. For me Two times the charm is a MUST READ.
AUTHOR’S QUOTE
I must say, next to Darkness Falls, Two Times the Charm is my greatest literary achievement. I LOVE these characters. I’m so invested in their story. They left a lasting impression on me, and I hope they will have the same impact on you.
Characters never cease to amaze me. They truly do write their own stories. There were times when I was fighting to cut Two Times the Charm short, but Ayden, Josh and Max just wouldn’t let me. I’m so glad I kept with them; I know their story was meant to be as it is, over 101,000 powerful words. They re-defined love for me. They re-defined strength. And, I’m hoping, they re-define something for you.
Two Times the Charm is, hands down, for me, the best book in the entire Alpha Doms series. It’s a book I know I’ll re-read, even as the author. It’s a book I can’t wait for you all (18 & older) to read!
note: I did not know that authors re-read their own work… but why not eh? 😀
Overall Review: 5 stars
Characters: 5
Plot: 4
Sex Heat: 3
Equality Level: 5
Credibility: 5
Originality: 5
Editing (poor/fair/good): fair
You can buy HERE.
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