Undertow

3.5 stars

This is the first M/M/M pairing of the SoulShares series featuring Rhoann Callte - a half water Royal bastard - and the Purgatory's human established couple: bartender Mac and bouncer Lucien. I'm usually not keen on relationship that started as 2+1 instead of 1+1+1, but the way Lucien's life left hanging at the end of Mantled In Mist?? There's no way I skip this installment!!

Lucien and Mac made quite a few appearances on the series though I genuinely didn't thought they would become part of the Fae community they unwittingly worked for. 65 year old Marine vet Mac and his partner of 35 years (standing applause to this couple), 55 year old Lucien, worked in the night club Tiernan Guaire owned for close to two years. The Marfach last attempt to gain access to living magick resulted in Lucien got viciously hurt and fell into a deep coma doing his job. Mac kept vigil by his bedside for months. On one his break Mac went back to where hell broke loose and captured the attention of the new fae to the human world, Rhoann.

Like every other books in SoulShares universe, this was quite a busy story with multiple POVs (bad, good, existing and new characters). And I really recommend new readers to read the book in order as not to loose the thread of events that gathered momentum from Hard As Stone to this one.

As part of the series, Undertow: Book 7 of the SoulShares Series served as a great continuation of how the Fae of the Demesne of Purgatory doing after the blast that demolished the night club the Fae named the demesne from. As a single book, with such busy actions going on I didn't get as much account of Lucien, Mac and Rhoann as I like.

Yes, I felt for Rhoann with the way he had been brought up, the solitude, the confusion and the struggle. Individually there were also a few flash back moments from Lucien and Max's POVs that get me how strong their ties was. What I hoped for more was the building connection between these three as a threesome. There was hesitation, understanding, and acceptance for the inevitable between Mac and Rhoann (which was understandable considering Mac was practically married to Lucien). It was the flip on the lake-bed that I felt was rather instant; from heartbroken to everything-bright-and-wonderful-in-this-world. There were that soulshare pull at play and the magick's voice - I get that. But I just wish there were more exposure of immobile Lucien to Rhoann than what we had here.

That saying, I'm glad the Marfach and Janek didn't appear as prominent in this book. And as much as I grumbled the lack of Lucien/Mac/Rhoann here, I was also glad to get to meet the other Fae and their scair-anam (I guess I'm greedy that way). As for steamy department; worry not, readers got plenty to enjoy here - in and out of water. Overall this rounded up another great force to the motley group (of Purgatory fae) and promise of more interesting things to come. I couldn't wait for Stone Cold to release in a few months!

Advanced copy of this book is provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.