More [Paperback]

Warning: This review might contain what some people consider SPOILERS.

Rating: 9/10

PROS:
- More than perhaps any other m/m/m ménage story I've read, this one convinced me that the guys could only ever be together as three. Each guy loves his two partners equally, yet I felt instinctively that no combination of two would ever really work. This is a threesome in which all three guys are NECESSARY. It also wasn't easy for me to pick a favorite among the three main characters. Each of them has a (realistic, limited) number of good qualities as well as human weaknesses, but their characteristics complement each other both sexually and personality-wise.
- This book is more realistic than most m/m/m books I've read. When the three guys first meet, for example, there's no hedging or pretending that their hookup is anything other than what it is. Later on, the story faces problems inherent to threesome relationships (for example, the difficulty of taking only one partner to an important business meeting peopled by a bunch of conservatives) head-on rather than trying to glaze over them.
- Luke struggles a lot with letting go of his past and allowing himself to love Richard and Matthew. Yet surprisingly, the book's angst level is pretty low. There are no prolonged periods of suffering or misery. The characters have their rough patches, but they work through them quickly and emerge more solid as a result of them.
- There's a healthy amount of sex in this book: the bedroom is, after all, the main place the men connect with each other, especially in the beginning. The sex isn't near as graphic as I've seen before in this genre, so I wouldn't say that I found it particularly hot; however, I didn't find it boring, either. I never knew quite what to expect from those scenes because all three of the guys are versatile and flexible when it comes to bedroom roles and specific acts.
- Occasionally, Parker's writing is very funny. The story is told in first-person from Luke's perspective, and he's dry and (tries to be) unfeeling and matter-of-fact. Here's one of my favorite sentences: "Gay sperm probably had no clue when they shot out of the body their fate was much less noble than creating life."

CONS:
- Luke is difficult to like early on. I hesitate to put this as a con because his prickliness toward the beginning is contrasted so greatly by the man he becomes by the story's close, but I feel that I should warn potential readers that he's kind of a jerk at times and that he does get better--much better--as the story progresses.
- There are a few plot points, especially regarding Luke's father, that are not resolved at the end of the story. The relationship ends so well, though, that my mind was more than happy to assume that everything turned out as blissfully well as the romance.

Overall comments: I liked this book from the start, when the guys are just meeting for semi-anonymous hookups. Once they make the decision to start getting to know each other, though, and their personalities really start to come out, I loved the book. If I had to recommend a "starter" ménage story for a reader who's not sure whether s/he likes threesomes, this would be it.

4.5 stars. ****spoiler alert****

I consider myself still new to m/m and I don't usually choose menage books, let's say I read them when they happen to me (the books, obviously, not menage). I don't think I've ever read a menage book where I saw all the persons involved start together and it was great.

The book is written in first person and there is only the narrator's point-of-view. When the perspective is so restricted I have a doubt lingering that: first, there are parts of the story or feelings that will always be out of reach for me; second, that not every single person in the menage gets what they really need.

As for my first concern, it's not the case here, because the narrator, Luke, is the less open of the three. Richard, the older man, is rather pushy and bossy, probably because he is the most experienced of them and he really knows what he wants. When something doesn't go as he's planned, he talks about it and he goes deep into it, until everything is explained. Matthew, the younger man, carries his heart on his sleeve and he is sweet and affectionate. He is the one who can calm the other two and his generous sensuality is soothing and arousing at the same time. It's like Richard is the brain in the relationship and Matthew is the heart. But what is Luke? That's hard to say. Maybe he's the gut, the least noble part of the body but what makes it function, he is the courage to want to change. And this solves my other concern: each one of them gets what he needs from this relationship: someone to love and to care for and to go home to for Richard; someone who lets you be and appreciates you for what you are for Matthew; a safe harbour where you can be free for Richard.

Sex is an important part in the relationship and there's a lot of it, but it is always a way to communicate and it's never meaningless. At least it's never meaningless for the narrator, because Luke is probably the one who needs sex to express his feelings and frustrations, because he is also the one who cannot say how he feels.

The only reason I can't give 5 stars is that Luke's father is too bad. I think only the fact that he was a famous politician, running for the presidency and trying to hide he had a gay son was enough. (spoiler)*** The fact that he had been in love with another man and renounced it for his career was bad enough, and I could have believed that he envied his son in a way, but paying male prostitutes for himself, having his son's lover "cured" from homosexuality, stalking Luke, threatening him with a gun, it was too much, so just something less could have been enough to make the reader hate him, without turning the man in the epitome of evil.*** (end spoiler)

It's a great book, it's rather long, but Luke kept me glued page after page, while he was struggling to be a better man for and through the love of Richard and Matthew.

I am not all that in favor of M/M/M unless I feel that all 3 guys are better together than not. I have found the perfect combination in More. I like all 3 guys with their distinct personality. And the fact that their age ranges from 20 to 40 just make their need for each other more realistic. The story is narrated by 30+ year old Luke and often in narration if not done well the other characters become pale by comparison. Fortunately this does not happen in More and I am as taken by both Matthew and Richard. These 3 men really grow on you as I find myself wanting them to bond and stay together. Sometimes M/M/M sex can be too confusing if overdone and thankfully this did not happen here. I was not confused (LOL!) As this is a narration the story ofcouse evolves around Luke's suffering in the hands of his homophobic and powerful father. But we also get a bit of Matthew's and Richard's stories. Each man is likable in his own way but I really like Matthew. He may seem the weakest but he is the one who glued them together by his pure love for his men and the other two's desire to protect and care for the younger man.
There is a good plot here injected with excitement towards the ending, even if I do not favor "monster of a father" sort of story line. But ultimately it is Matthew, Luke and Richard who "up" this M/M/M for me and I would love to read more of them but with Matthew or Richard as the narrator.