Opal Carew is a master in bringing fantasies to life. The more taboo they are, the better. She gets straight to the point and delivers. I admit that that is a style that I also appreciate from time to time. But I prefer to have more of a story and character build up. A buildup to that moment when the hero and heroine are finally able to come together. A threesome is a very difficult relationship to balance in a romance novel. How do you keep it loving and exciting without making the reader cringe? And how do you remain fair to all the parties involved? In this instance I have to say that the only character I could grow to love and understand was Austin. And even with him I thought that he was being taken advantage of.

The heroine, April, has so many issues that I don’t even know where to begin. I don’t even mean the ones dealing with her birth and upbringing. She is weak, a pushover and only seems to care about how is going to get her next orgasm. The only man who seems to actually care and treat her well is Austin and yet she still is able to find excuses for Quinn and his behaviour. I get that they have a past, but how can you go from one man who believes you to be a gold digger and treats you that way to another?

Quinn has trust issues that he doesn’t even want to face or acknowledge. If it weren’t for Austin, he would have never given April the chance to explain herself and her reasons for breaking up with him in the past. And even then, he jumps at any opportunity to think the worst of her and treat her poorly.

I’m sorry to say that this story just didn’t work for me.

I have started and stopped the story a couple of times. I just had a hard time getting in to it and relating to it. I wasn't connecting to the characters like I typically do in an Opal Carew story. So this was a DNF for me. Sorry.

DNF’d at 21%. I could not figure out whose POV I was reading and when. They changed so rapidly, sometimes within the same paragraph. The characters, I think I could have liked them if I could get a basic understanding of who they were, but the constant POV changing left me feeling like the two guys were just pervs and the main girl had no life skills.

Great romance with well-developed characters that you quickly like and care about, a solid plot that keeps you interested, and steamy love scenes.

Ok stars are difficult for this book.... let me start by saying this was all in all a super hot sexy mfm story, BUT this needs serious editing. The flow of the book does not go smoothly, direction is changed with no lead into, at times it goes from one day to the next with no clear indication. There are paragraph breaks in completely wrong areas. So as far as the story and characters I would love to give this 5 stars, but the flow and editing issues are deserving of 2 stars.
The all can be forgiven once you read the captivating, steamy, toe curling loves scenes.

Opal Carew's "Stroke of Luck" has an outstanding premise: a woman, on her wedding night, ends up in bed with two men -- neither of whom she intended to marry that day. Unfortunately, it's execution fizzles instead of pops.

The two main male protagonists, Quinn and Austin, are virtually indistinguishable from each other. Quinn has had a past relationship with main female lead, April, and is a bit more tempestuous than his colleague. But it's easy to be left with the sense these guys look the same, because their actions throughout the book are fairly similar.

April's situation is a bit of a mess. Her fiance seems to have the power, which forces April into making a desperate decision, which then pays off handsomely, only to realize that her situation wasn't as desolate as it appeared (which we would have never known if the fiance hadn't reappeared, but I digress.)

Thankfully for April, she was scooped up by two men both looking in Vegas -- of all places! -- for the woman of their dreams, only for them both to fall in love with her. Their sexual adventures together, until the very end, are pretty much always the same. They're steamily written, but they start and end in pretty much the same way. (I'm uncertain why it never occurs to the guys to broach a legitimate threesome with April, but she finally suggests it with just a few pages remaining.)

Sex scenes are incredibly difficult to write, but I found myself rolling my eyes at Carew's insistence to use bud repeatedly for two distinct parts of the female anatomy (which then turned, weirdly, to "nub" near the end of the book). Also: "slick canal"? Yikes.

Also: Quinn was described as having "midnight" or "midnight-blue" eyes 16 times, which is probably 14 too many.

Perhaps this would have been easier with an audiobook, but Carew's reluctance to use forenames, especially during changes of scene, often had me confused about if Austin or Quinn was speaking at any given time. Then again, they're were essentially clones of each other. So I suppose that doesn't matter!

Long story short: I've read better erotica and I've read better romance. There were a couple of scenes, especially the final one, that were titillating. And I appreciated the twist, if you can call it that, at the end. But other that, this one was pretty forgettable.

Stroke of Luck was the first book I have read by Opal Carew, but not my first book in this genre.
It wasn't bad, once it finally got "down to business".
The storyline was semi-plausible and made for fun, but my main quibbles were two-fold.
#1 I think I was 40%+ into the book before there was any actual sex.
That is a LOT of reading to do in an erotic novel leading up to any action.
I will however say that once they got to it, it was sex for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
The descriptions were pretty good and inspiring, but it does lead to quibble #2.
For the most part, this was all 1 on 1 boy-girl action. With the set-up and premise, and early hints of gently BDSM, I kept waiting for something a little spicier. There was so much unexplored possibility here. Finally at the very end, there's one, just one single more adventurous scene, which you have to wait till 95% complete for.
So for those 2 reasons, I'd call this 3.5 stars, but since that isn't an option, I'll round up in the rating bar.
Thanks to NetGalley for an ARC of this book, my opinion is my own.

If you need to take a break and have a little light erotica reading, you will surely like this book.

"Stroke of Luck" was a solid erotica piece. It had most of the elements I need in such a book: hot steam, sexy setting, escapist plot, and multiple sex scenes.

The opening for this book was very strong, and really set up April and Quinn's meet cute perfectly. A bride sulking it out in a hotel reception area the day before her cancelled wedding? And stuck with the bill? Saved by an ex? Count me in for THIS storyline. In fact, I wish this HAD been how my wedding had gone instead of the way it actually went! Only half kidding.

Quinn and Austin were great male characters for an erotica book. Successful tycoons, good friends, powerful, but not jerks. There was one thing missing from this book, though. What do Quinn and Austin look like? The author spent a chunk of the book discussing April's perfect boobs, her perfect ass, and the way her dresses clung to her body, but she didn't mention the men's appearances at all! This is an MFM erotica piece written for straight women, isn't it? I have no idea if these men are large or shredded. Do they have dad bods or lean frames? I just don't know after reading this book.

Now onto my steamy romance components ranking:

From a scale of 1 to 10:

Romance -8 (I'd say it was pretty romantic. Quinn and Austin lay on the compliments and the mushiness)
Smut - 7 (pretty basic sex, albeit hot sex)
Humor - 0
Cat and Mouse - 2 (not really - April had it bad)
Rich man / Poor woman theme - 10 (it is the point of the book)
Sexy setting - 10 (a luxury suite in a fancy hotel, sign me up)

I requested this one on NetGalley because I had heard really great things about Opal Carew's books in the past, but this unfortunately didn't really do it for me. I didn't like the writing style OR the characters. Everything about this just felt like it was taking itself too seriously in the worst way and I really didn't vibe with it. With all that being said, the sex scenes in this were pretty decent, but I struggled keeping everything straight because the perspectives changed too frequently and I just couldn't keep track. This one really just didn't work for me.

This was my first read from Opal Carew so I wasn't sure what to expect as far as writing style or storytelling. Several of my reader friends are big fans and urged me to try one of her books so I was thrilled when I was able to get an ARC through Netgalley of this release.

April has gotten herself into quite a predicament, all thanks to her POS fiance. Her ex-boyfriend Quinn happens upon her at the most inopportune time but graciously bails her out. After the ex-fiance basically takes everything from her and ruins her life, Quinn and his business partner Austin take her in. As a solution to repay them, April offers them her body for the next thirty days. Quinn has been itching to get Austin in on some threesome action with a woman and this is the perfect opportunity.

I'm fine with all that, but the way it is presented just made it feel a little unbelievable to me. Maybe it's the third person narrative or the way it's written, I'm not entirely sure, but I wasn't really feeling this whole situation. Part of it I think had to do with the way Quinn initially treated April so horribly. I understand he was heartbroken by her back in college, but he wasn't winning any point with me. Now Austin I really liked.

This story has a ton of sex in it. Like, a ton. To the point where I skimmed some scenes until it got back to the actual story. I realize that is the point of the story, in this case an MFM story, but there needs to be a balance for me between the sex scenes and the actual story line.

Overall, I enjoyed the premise of the story and I enjoyed the interactions between all three, mostly Austin. It's a very steamy, sexy read so be prepared for that!

Many thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for providing me with an advanced review copy of this story in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.

April is in Vegas to marry her longtime boyfriend of two years, Maurice. It is the night before the wedding and she can’t find him. When she does, he hunched over another woman turning to yell at her to get the hell out. That was a man she didn’t know this meek woman only knew a refined wealthy, for the most part, spoiled man. She runs to their suite locking herself in and breaks.

He is irate pounding & yelling to afraid to open it she tells him to go to hell. In the morning she awakes to hotel security escorting her out while the packed her up and handing her a massive bill. This millionaire had stiffed her for everything plus more it will make your mouth drop.

This is not your normal ménage, well it is in that yes there is erotic crazy sex yet, there is an interesting and rather complex second chance romance plus one. You see Quinn could never stop loving April although he would never in this lifetime admit that not even to business partner & best friend Austin. His problem with April he never got over she left him a poor student for a rich guy.

This particular morning sees her sitting with security trying now to avoid his eyes he cannot turn his back if she’s in need. He shores himself up against her womanly ways because he knows he still loves her before he asks how he can help. Without blinking he does because today he’s richer than Maurice could only wish to be. Yet, Quinn does do it, he always her to see his bitterness.

He takes her to lunch but before he lets her know Austin is off-limits, he will not allow her to take advantage of him with her gold-digging ways. Figuring her ex got wise to her. When Austin and she meet they hit it off. They are both gentle souls filled with genuine kinds and joy for life, unlike someone who is bitter.

These three form a bond although it is unique and dysfunctional through past hurts, leaving trust issues. Opal gives them room for them each grows individually. You get Quinn your brooding alpha, Austin your kind heart man who wears it on his sleeve. Both very giving and good men. Then, April who has lived has lived a hard life looking only for simple everyday things yet, the two men she tried to love, have left her broken, empty, and alone.

See how this can be turned around. This for sure an 18+ read. I give this: 5 stars.
Provide by netgalley.com. Follow us at www.1rad-readerreviews.com

This book was very well written and I loved all of the characters.It starts out with our main character finding her fiance cheating on her right before their wedding. Not only is she out a wedding and a fiance but now she is struggling to figure out how she is going to pay for her hotel room. Then along comes her old college flame, Quin. Quin pays for the room no questions asked. When it becomes obvious that she has no clue what she
is doing with her life Quin and his friend Austin offer to let April stay with them at least until she gets on her feet of course. Quin then suggests that she stay with him and Austin for a month do everything that they say and she will be repaid in full. This is one romance book that I wasn't able to put down. I had to figure out what was going to happen to our main characters.I really liked this one because you don't see true love a lot between more than two people in a lot of romance books so it was something that I wasn't used to. Another thing that I really liked, is while some parts of this book are rather steamy there was real substance to the novel and
the plot held up well on its own. This book has everything that a good romance novel needs, Great strong characters, and lots of passion. Once I started this book I was unable to put it down I just had to see what was going to happen to our characters. Great story but also I loved the character development, these were the best characters that I've ever read about in a romance novel. I really liked how much all three had in common but at the same time I loved how different they all were in their lives and their mannerisms. After a book filled with this much fire and passion I can't wait to see what else Opal Carew has in store this won't be my last book by
her for sure. Thank you Opal and St. Martin's Press for allowing me to read this fantastic story

Picture it: Waking up in bed with a killer hangover and two insanely hot and gorgeous men who you are apparently married to. I mean what a sexy opener ????

April is heartbroken as she catches her finance Maurice doing the horizontal tango with a busty blonde on their wedding rehearsal night. Maurice is pissed at the way April handled things and decides to leave her stranded with the insanely exorbitant hotel bill, all their wedding expenses and no access to funds. In walks Quinn, her first love who has been carrying a torch for her ever since and more than a hint of resentment at how things ended to save the day

I believe this story had the potential to be great but there were huge chunks of the story that were in conflict, the character development was sorely lacking and I truly could not connect with this novel as the guys kinda came across as a douches.

I was expecting erotica and insanely fiery hot sex scenes that made me blush but instead the sex scenes were lack luster and super confusing, ranging from a wannabe dominant to a trying to hard sex dominatrix.

I do not believe the heroine was done justice as she totally came off as a gold digger only interested in being with someone who could "provide for her." She has the potential to be a strong and independent woman with the chance to start a new life away from a forceful man but inside she was portrayed as whiny and flighty.

Huge thanks for St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for providing me with an arc in exchange for my honest review.

Menage at is finest. Opal spins a worthy tale of a cheating fiance and his deception. The story line starts off with the female character April in bed with two guys (Quinn and Austin) and a wedding ring... The plot thickens and so do her bed mates. This book can be considered a second chance romance not holds barred kind of plot.

One word to describe this book? HOT.

What I liked about this book:
- the steam
- Vegas trope
- the hilarious dialogues
- second chances
- plenty of drama

what i didn't like about this book:
-the resolution with the douche ex

Honestly this is such a great book, if it weren't for the resolution with the ex, for me it would have been a perfect 5 . However with all the drama and pain he had caused, it felt to me he got off too easy, so I gave this book a 4 star rating.

Even so, a must read recommendation from me. A big thank you to the author, St. Martin's Griffin and Net Galley for this copy.

Stroke of Luck kept me up all night in it's story. I couldn't put it down. This was the first time I read this author and it won't be the last. April and Quinn have a past and when he helps her out they make a deal. April spends time with him in Vegas, but also with his best friend. This book will leave you wanting more. And I'm not giving any details away.

Stroke of Luck was entertaining and steamy!! One long MFM sexy scene really. A second chance trope. This book has it all. Hot sexy scenes, chemistry and humor.

Thank you in advance to Netgalley and the publisher for an advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

This isn't my first book by Opal Carew that I have read. I haven't read any in a while and it didn't have the same quality as other books. There was just too much of the story that seemed unrealistic. Would a hotel go into a guests room and take belongings from the occupant of the room based on someone else?

I voluntarily reviewed an ARC provided by NetGalley and the publisher. Thank you.

It it with sincerest apologies but I could not finish this book. The third person dialogue with three different characters was not working for me. I could not understand whose tone I was trying to decipher. Therefore, I will not be reviewing.