Review excerpted from my blog post over at Pan/Cis LGBT2SQ+ Romance Reviews (https://pancis.wordpress.com/2021/07/01/just-curious-by-ariella-talix/)

Overall Rating: 2 stars

Library recommendation: Not recommended for public library LGBT2SQ+ romance collections.

Warning: Hereafter, you chance spoilers. I will try never to reveal major plot points, but to review any book, you must reveal some parts of the story.

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Number of titles I have read by this author: 1

Love story speed: Fast burn

Relationship dynamics: The Rich Best Friends (H1 and H2) / The Rich New Neighbour (h)

Sexual content: Some; on-page, explicit

Gender Identity: Cis (H1) / Cis (H2) / Cis (h)

Sexual Identity: Bisexual (H1) / “Accepts no label” (H2)/ Straight (h)

Triggers: Web voyeurism; invasion of privacy; secret recording and blackmail; serious car crash with significant detail

Acceptance Rating: 4 stars

Acceptance Rating Explanation: There is more worry about acceptance than people being unaccepting (although there is that, too).

Grammar/Editing: My ARC had a few typos.

Review: This quick-paced novel is set mostly in southern California, but also in a variety of places that obscenely rich people like to travel to. The description of the settings is okay, but suffers from the author’s insistence on listing all of the things that the characters have recently bought; at times, the prose reads like a billionaire’s shopping list.

Willa, Casey, and Jackson are the main characters in this novel. Willa is a perfect, beautiful woman, and Casey and Jackson are perfect, beautiful men. Together, they do perfect things and love each other instantly and irrevocably. If your idea of perfection is being beautiful and rich, spending more money on frivolous things than a small country does on its entire population in a year, then this book is probably something you will enjoy. For myself, I found that the focus on materialism prevented my investment in the relationship. Much of the prose read like an episode of Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous combined with a luxury travel brochure, which left the romance feeling flat and unexciting. There were not many supporting characters in this book, except the chef and the villains. The villains are essentially ugly, unsuccessful people who are jealous of the beautiful people who have everything. They are easily foiled buffoons, which makes their dastardly actions seem almost slapstick in nature.

Full disclosure: I received a free advance review copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Just Curious by Ariella Talix was steamy and downright fun to read! I thought it brought some fun romantic elements between Willa and Jackson, who were both strong characters in their own right. I also found myself really enjoying Casey who was brought into the mix as Jackson's good friend. Overall this was a quick and enjoyable read that I would recommend to any romance reader.

Thank you Netgalley, Ariella Talix, and Ringmaster Publishing for this ARC in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

I enjoyed this "erotic romance" It was a super hedonistic fantasy fun romp. If you need a fantastical read for pleasure here you go. All you could imagine with some smart sexy and uber rich characters. At first it was more steamy and light on plot, but then the plot kind of took over and was intriguing. Also, was a bit cognisant of the repeated use of the word "curious" in the first half of the book. Finally I wasn't thrilled with the plot "twist" ending, but it kept up its happy fantasy world vibes, and I just went with it.

The premise of this book was very interesting. There were parts of it that were predictable, but overall, I enjoyed it and am still thinking about it days later.

This premise of this book sounded great, however I did find it somewhat lacking for me.

The characters were interesting enough, but they lacked any real depth
The story itself was rather repetitive, which took away some of the enjoyment for me.

Unfortunately this book wasn't for me.

Three very strong characters, who know what they want in a relationship. Loved the aspect that it was a give and get relationship, everyone participated in the scenes. Not one sided like some ménage books are geared towards, where someone is let out. Casey and Jackson's friendship did not falter because one more involved. Loved it immensely.

Just curious by Ariella Talix.

The main characters Willa Casey and Jackson are in a triad relationship.

The book has the potential to be a really good story but was very repetitive for about half the novel.

The characters needed a a bit more substance as were very bland.

Although the story did improve once the blackmail scenario started to unfold .

Overall I expected more but itwas an ok if you just wanted a quick read this book fits the bill.

Just Curious was exactly as described: somewhere between a romance novel and erotica. The writing itself was quite good, and I grew increasingly fond of the characters over time. Some of the conversation/emotion scenes were more drawn out than necessary, with characters essentially repeating the same thing over and over again. Nonetheless, for a reader interested in the MMF subject matter, I would recommend it without reservations.

Just curious
By Ariella Talix
Pub Date March 10 2021
I loved this beautiful romance Jackson character fun daring steamy hot. Jackson has plenty of money he rich he could have any woman he wants. I loved the chemistry between Jackson and Willa and Casey friendship between Jackson it’s like a love triangle I love the drama there is between the three characters such a lovely romance you enjoy. Such a good read. I love the writing style is beautiful written has you hooked from start to finished I loved every page of the book I would like to read more from this author in the future. The cover is beautiful.

Wow, what an amazing book this is. This book will suck you in to the pages from the first chapter, keeping you reading long into the night. This story is filled with suspense, drama, thrills and twists and turns. The characters were well written and worked perfectly together. This is a steamy romance story for anyone who loves MMF romance this is the book for you. This is an amazing story by this author and I can't wait to read more in the future.

I was given an advanced reader copy of this book in exchange for an honest review

Willa, Jackson and Casey are great characters in this story and are well developed and likable. They all seem to really have fun with each other inside and outside the bedroom. They all are successful and rich with Jackson being a billionaire. Willa was a romance author who really hadn't tried many of the things she wrote about. Jackson and Casey were life long friends who held special feelings for each other. The trio made one hot threesome. No shortage of steam or sexy scenes. Guaranteed to set your Kindle on fire. Plenty of MMF action. The book was a good read that was well written and hard to put down once you begin. A romantic thriller with some bad guys in the picture. Follow them as they travel the world and face threats, blackmail and career altering events. A steamy read that I read as an advance copy via Net Galley and voluntarily chose to review.

Willa falls for Jackson and his best friend Casey. The opt to go on an international adventure where their worlds will be turned upside down and jeopardize their careers as well as their lives. Fast-paced hot MMF read with loads of suspense and drama. I liked the characters and the chemistry is off the charts hot. A good read.

Another great book by Ariella Talix. From the beginning the characters are lovable, from the beginning you can tell they have dept. The moment Jackson stride himself into the book I fell in love. He is just so charming, sweet, kind, warm yet rough and hot🥵. I loved the different elements to this book, willa being an author, skiing, meeting a very lovable new character. The only bad thing about this book is that it ends😩.

Willa Camden, a successful author of steamy novels, becomes entwined with Jackson Mitchell, a brilliant billionaire, and his best friend Casey Melrose. Their love is shared equally, and Willa is not always in the middle.When I started reading I couldn't put it down.Ariella Talix is magnifysent and amazing writer.I cannot wait to read more of there books.Keep up the great work.You should definitely read this book.Can't wait for the next book.

Hot, steamy story. Great sex scenes, likeable characters and real development of the three-way relationship. Such a far fetched plot that you are totally emersed in the shenanigans of the threesome and those who want to take them down. Loved it!

I loved this story! It was fun and sexy. I will definitely re-read it as soon as I can. I loved how everything fell into place at the end

Willa Camden, is devastated to find out that the person receiving the Oscar for best screenplay has actually stolen her first novel. As she runs out to rage on the beach she meets her elusive next door neighbour Jackson, a sexy nerd who's latest creation is widely successful allowing him to live the life of luxury if he so wishes. They hit it off and that's where their adventures begin. Jackson introduces Willa to his best friend Casey who is entranced to discover their love is big enough to include him. Well there's certainly a lot of happening and adventure in this book, a bit of a wild ride!

Willa Camden she's a women I could get on with. Jackson and Wiilma what a pair these two are. I throughly enjoyed this book. Mind you it made me blush at times as well. Adding casey into the mix was something I didn't expect. This trio bouces off each other and make you smile along as you read thier story. The author has done a great job in keeping you involved in the story.

I know I shouldn't be but I was drawn in by the cover and the title. You have Willa a renowned millionaire author, Jackson her billionaire software geek next-door neighbor, and Casey the trust fund interior decorator. You start off with Willa being upset that someone stole her first novel and Jackson consoling her. Then you throw in Casey Jackson's best friend who he had a fling with. They soon become a threesome. They go on extravagant vacations as only the rich can. I just couldn't relate to Willa. I kept waiting for her to have a little more gumption and for Jackson or Casey to be a little more dominant. I excepted something a little more steamy. It just never got there for me. I liked the book but I just didn't love it.

I liked this book and I fought that the story was great but some things are keeping me from giving it 5 stars.
I give this book 3.5 stars but because it's not possible I'm giving it 3 stars.

First, one positive thing about this book is that it was easy to read and fast-paced, and it made you want to turn the page as fast as you could. However, I feel like this was a little too pronounced and it could sometimes feel like everything was happening too fast, especially some events that I would have liked to see more developed.

The second main thing is that the characters could sometimes lack depth. When I read, I personally like to be able to relate to the characters and it was hard for me to do so with this book because they seemed almost perfect in every way. They had problems in their lives but not it their personalities (which I'll admit is a weird reproach but when I see a character that is perfect, I feel like there is still a barrier between them and me). I'll explain : They were all rich and successful but none of them were arrogant or full of themselves. they were all genuinely kind and social... I would have liked to see a bit of shyness or a bit of brooding to make it more relatable.

All in all, this was a good book that I enjoyed reading but I wasn't able to immerse myself into the characters as much as I would have liked.

*This book was provided to me by publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*