I enjoyed this! A quick read that I finished in a day. It had a lot going on, to say the least, and so I didn’t feel the most invested in the romance but I appreciate the way that it talked about relationships.

In the glittering world of high-end cocktail bars, jaded bartender Mel’s belief in love is as shaken as her own romantic life. But when the charmingly quirky couple, Bebe and Kade, stroll into Terror & Virtue, everything changes. Bebe, happily in an open marriage, invites Mel on a date, igniting a whirlwind romance. As Mel dives into a world of grand gestures and steamy adventures, she finds herself drawn not only to Bebe, but also to Kade. With newfound self-confidence, Mel pursues her dreams of owning a bar and discovers that love might be more expansive than she ever imagined.

Polyamorous romance in traditional publishing? You know I had to get my hands on that!

Alexander has a talent for showing how connections grow over time between characters. I really felt like I was watching Kade, Bebe, and Mel grow closer together and understand each other in a way you just don’t do in the beginning when attraction or intrigue is all you can go off. Whenever I read a story where an established couple adds a third, I’m worried about the power and emotional dynamics, but not to worry, everything is well balanced and altogether wholesome here. What I will say is that I wanted a bit more cheekiness from the romance overall. The dates the three had were fun and cute and I could have done with more of them. Their relationship progression and communication was just so healthy and still kept me wanting more. Not necessarily drama, but more time spent with all three of them. I was so invested in Mel believing in love and the good of a romantic relationship again and could have spent even longer with her.

A small caveat for me was how Mel, Bebe, and Kade were acting with other people. A lot of the interactions of the characters, for example between Mel and people at work making her life troublesome—just felt very black and white to me. There was always a right way to go about it and a wrong way, and at times I felt like this book more so explained how to be a “good” queer person or a “good” ally or how to respect someone’s pronouns rather than show me just that. The same goes for everyone being very polite when something was wrong and then them apologising and everything going back to normal. There was potential for conflict and growth here but it always got capped at that small interaction, which then left me wondering what it meant to do to advance the story. I think it was meant to be subtler than for example telling two dudes that having feelings doesn’t mean they’re not manly etc. but it just always took me out of the story for a moment there.

Nevertheless, what Alexander excels at and what’s also super present in this book is normalised, casual queerness. There isn’t this need to come out because all characters are established and firm in their queer identity and to me, that is such a wonderful thing to read. I love and will always advocate coming out stories but it’s also wonderful to see—especially in adult romance—how queer people can find love even after having faced a hard divorce or people who are happy in their marriage exploring what could add even more joy and contentment to their lives.

Following a queer divorced bartender who learns to find love again—with a married couple—Triple Sec is a sweet romcom filled with queer joy and down-to-earth characters that is sure to make you crave a tasty cocktail…or three.

One of the standout elements of Alexander's work for me is their adept use of pronouns. I’m so glad books like this can exist where I can continue to. learn about proper use of pronouns, aligning with my values of inclusivity and representation.
And the dedication "to all sluts everywhere—cheers" I knew this was going to be a fun read.
Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for the eARC!

This was just as delectable, swoon-worthy, and sexy as I imagined it would be. I will forever read anything TJ Alexander writes, and this is on me, but this is the only poly romance I’ve read this year. I need to read more. Thank you TJA for opening my eyes to what I was missing with this fun and beautiful dynamic. I don’t have poly experience so I obviously can’t speak to the lived experience of that rep, but I felt it was written with sincere care.

Thanks so much to the publisher and Netgalley for an e-arc of this book.

I adore TJ Alexander, and this is another iconic romance from them!

Our main character Mel was such a fun head to be in, and I feel like I learned so much about cocktails (as a very basic bitch when it comes to drinks), and I am desperate to try that Paloma-margarita combo! It was nice to see a character in the service industry who genuinely loves what she does! Mel's emotional turmoil over entering polyamory, especially with a married couple, was so well-written, and I appreciated how much communication played a role in this book.

Kade and Bebe were such fun characters/love interests, and I was so excited to read more polyamory where all members of the relationship were together. I do wish we had gotten to know Kade and Bebe more, as they felt like they were mostly there for Mel's journey as the MC. I loved them both, how they communicated with Mel, didn't make her feel left out, and how earnest and passionate they both were in special ways!

I felt like the second half of this book was a bit rushed and that the front half was a bit slow. Mel and Bebe got a lot of buildup, but Kade, Mel, and all three of them did not get as much buildup as they should have, as this part of the book was also tied up in the drink-making competition.

I loved the little lists of their polyamory negotiations between sections and chapters as it helped make the characters feel much more real!

So I’ve been looking forwards to this book for months, and was thrilled to get an ARC. And it did not disappoint. I do think that someone more invested in drinks would see some of those technicalities differently than I do, but I, even as a sober adult, genuinely enjoyed Mel’s passion for it nonetheless.

I liked all of the characters, side characters included. It was great that they were all both flawed and engaging, very well rounded and individual. I also thought there was lovely dynamics between all of them, and they all felt like they had lives outside of the scope of the novel. Plus, they actually talk to each other about things like inside jokes, and Mel remembers thing to talk about later, etc. that made them all feel very enjoyable to read about.

I really really enjoyed the theme of clear communication. And, as the book says, it’s hard. But there was no miscommunication in this book, and I thought it had a lovely plot. I also loved the casual queerness in the novel. The splitting into parts thing was an odd structural choice to me, but it didn’t take anything away and the names and little images for them were fun.

The interesting thing about the competition subplot was that it felt very low stakes to me in terms of the story. Like no matter what the outcome, nothing significant would change. So I’m actually pleasantly surprised that I enjoyed how it went down. And I really loved the epilogue. I think the growth in multiple different fronts and for multiple different characters was absolutely lovely and exactly what they needed it to be.

My two problems are in relation to the love interests and they’re actually rather opposite. I quite liked Bebe and her character. But when Kade and Mel started dating, I feel like we lost her a little bit. Kade, on the other hand, I feel like had very little chemistry with Mel and very little explained personality until they started dating. So, save for the plot summary, the commencement of that relationship could have been a complete surprise. But then it finally felt like they were multi-dimensional.

I immediately clocked Kade as ND, but they way Mel saw them was not through that lens, so seeing the differences in how the two of them interacted with the world was really interesting from Mel’s POV. I also appreciated what we got of Kade’s background, and I kind of wish we got some of Bebe’s like that too.

Overall, I was excited to pick this book up when I put it down, which makes it a win in my book (no pun intended).

This is the first book from TJ Alexander I’ve read and I think I need to read some more.
Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for the e-arc in exchange for an honest review!

I thought it lacked depth when it came to the emotional side of polyamory. Did I enjoy it overall? Yes. Is it one that I’m going to think about 6 months from now? No probably not.

thank you to netgalley and Atria Books | Atria/Emily Bestler Books for allowing me access to this book. I enjoyed every moment of this book. I loved the rep and the characters.

i was sat when i saw that it was a polyamorous romance just because there are not many of those written. i loved the representation! and thought the book itself was fairly enjoyable :)

Don't see many polyamorous romances, especially with nonbinary and lesbian characters.
Very open door scenes, including a threesome... FYI!
I enjoyed it tho and love to see more diverse romances!

I have some mixed feelings on this book. I really enjoyed learning more about cocktails and flavor profiles. I enjoyed seeing Mel enter a poly relationship and seeing the relationships grow. However, I felt like there was a lot of filler. There was a cocktail competition, and I wish I got more of the actual day. Great spice. I liked how queer friendly this book was!
However, the filler I just can’t get over. It was a lot of fluff.

TJ Alexander can do no wrong in my book, and Triple Sec was absolute perfection with wonderfully written and well developed characters, laugh out loud moments, and steamy romance

This hit with the right amount of humor and Romance. This a love story but it’s not one in a traditional sense. This is a story of how Bebe met Mel, who met Kade who was already with Bebe. My favorite part of this book is the continued updated guidelines of the relationship as it grows throughout the book. This was a fun one!

Huge thank you to #atria and @netgalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

I would like to thank NetGalley for this e-ARC and say that all my opinions remain my own.

A poly queer romance? I could not have had higher expectations, and they were definitely met. Our main character is Mel, a bartender who meets Bebe and sparks fly. Turns out though, Bebe has a wife! (Kade, who goes by they/them pronouns).

I was immediately charmed by this story, and thought that Mel and Bebe had really good chemistry. I love the language, for example Mel describes Bebe as having a laugh that sounds like glitter. I really do wish that we had gotten Bebe's perspective in the beginning especially. I also wish we'd gotten more of Kade. I did note that at 40% I was still sort of wondering how they would fit in (and then died when they did eventually join.

The drafting of an agreement for their 'polyness' was absolutely adorable, and the ensuing amendments made it so much better to me. The communication in this story was really beautiful, The characters took the time to make room for eachother's quirks and preferences.

The sex scenes? oh, my. They were HOT. (Especially the cabin, WHEW) Truly this was one of the best written poly romances I have ever read. It was gorgeous and I really hope that I find more gems like this in life.

I really enjoyed this book, which isn't surprising since I've enjoyed all of TJ's previous books. It's really great to see a poly relationship at the center of a traditionally published contemporary romance. The characters were all really well developed, and I loved that Mel was a bartender - loved seeing all the mixology stuff!

I LOVED this book. It was such a breath of fresh air in the poly romance book world. The portrayal of the different nuances of each relationship felt totally realistic. Mel was a bit frustrating at times, but I feel like it was almost intentional if that makes sense? She seemed to deliberately misunderstand what a poly relationship would (or could) look like when she first started dating Bebe, but as the relationship(s) progressed so did Mel’s understanding. Point being, I think Mel had to be a little frustrating at first so that she could grow and develop as a partner. In the end, I was in love with Mel, Bebe, and Kade (but especially Kade, my sweet stoic artist). Poly romance books can often focus on the ~taboo~, but Triple Sec felt so much more authentic. Like, “hey we just three people navigating this big weird world and we just all happen to like each other.” Anyway, two big ol’ thumbs up from me - I immediately preordered a physical copy.

Thank you to Atria and NetGalley for an e-arc of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I loved this book as both a romantic introduction to polyamorous relationships and a peek inside New York mixology culture. Mel is a very relatable ball of anxiety and self-doubt and I loved witnessing her growth throughout the story. The writing was heartfelt and hilarious in turns and every character was beautifully down to earth, Reading this felt like hanging out with a friend and chatting about our days together.

if TJ Alexander writes it, I will adore it. They are a true talent of capturing the intricacies of queer love. I will hand-sell this passionately upon release.

A fresh twist on the love triangle trope, Triple Sec follows recent divorcee and mixologist Mel as she rediscovers what it means to be in a healthy relationship. First, she matches with bubbly lawyer Bebe after meeting at the cocktail lounge where she works. And later, sparks fly with Bebe's wife Kade, an intense NYC artist. Mel tentatively joins the world of polyamory, mixing fancy cocktails all along the way.

DNF at 30%. I did not feel any connection to the characters and was not invested at all in the story. I wanted so badly to enjoy this as it's a queer poly romance which I think deserves more representation in traditionally published romance. However, I struggled to even get through the first third.