Rating: 4.5 stars
Buy Link: Amazon | All Romance | Amazon UK
Length: Novel

When another adoption falls through, Gabe and his partner Shahid are ready to give up because they don’t know if they (or their relationship) can take any more disappointment. Then their friend Kendra steps forward with an offer that it almost too good to be true. She will surrogate for them… with only two catches. The first is that she wants to forgo all the impersonal IVF clinic, paperwork, and red tape by doing this the old fashion way. The second is that she wants to share parenting responsibilities with them.

Gabe, who is bisexual, is open to the offer, though he is concerned about how Shahid’s feelings. A devout Muslim, Shahid is more comfortable believing in faith that if they are meant to be parents, it will happen. Shahid agrees to the plan, so long as he doesn’t have to participate as he is 100% completely gay and he doesn’t think women do anything for him.

When the time comes, however, Kendra convinces Shahid to participate. Though reluctant, Shahid convinces himself he is doing this solely for the purpose of getting Kendra to conceive. Then the trio is hit with the devastating news that there are unforeseen medical complications and there won’t be any baby.

It should have been easy; everyone just walks away…except Gabe finds that despite his love for his husband, a huge part of his heart walks away with Kendra. Meanwhile, Shahid is facing his worst nightmare of losing the man he loves to a woman. Can Gabe’s and Shahid’s relationship survive? Will Kendra be left out in the cold?

I am usually not a fan of menage trois romances, but I have to admit, this story actually worked for me. Gabe and Shahid have been married eleven years and spent the last nine trying to adopt a child. Every time their dream is within reach, the birth mother changes her mind at the last minute, citing her fears of having a Muslim raise her child.

I fell in love with Shahid right off the start. Shahid is an emergency room nurse who spends long, grueling hours at the hospital. Seeing people at their worst day after day typically causes burnout, yet Shahid keeps going strong because he has such faith that he is doing what he is supposed to be doing. A devout Muslim, complete with a prayer room in the house, he clings to his religion despite it being the reason why they’ve failed to adopt. Again, he has faith that if Allah wants him to be a parent, it will happen. Which is why when Kendra makes the offer to be a surrogate, despite Shahid’s fears of losing his bisexual husband to a woman, Shahid agrees to the plan because he has faith that there is a force stronger than him out there dictating the outcome.

Gabe’s love for Shahid is obvious. Though he desperately wants a child, he isn’t willing to abandon his heart and soul just to make his dream come true. A bisexual man, he’s been with both men and women. For him, it isn’t the body, but the soul of the person that turns him on. Despite appreciating both men and women, his eye has never strayed the entire time he’s been with Shahid, until Kendra makes him an offer that he doesn’t want to refuse.

I will admit, I didn’t like Kendra at first. What type of woman makes an offer to surrogate a child to a committed couple that she openly admits helped her through the worst of times, only to take IVF off the table? Despite this, Kendra managed to worm her way into my heart as she continuously went above and beyond to include Shahid and make him feel comfortable with everything. And, I will admit, when Kendra received her diagnoses and the three of them realized that there wasn’t going to be a baby, it broke my heart to watch her walk away.

Don’t despair though, readers will get a happily ever after – and one that you aren’t expecting! I’ll also mention these sex scenes are smoking hot! There is nothing clinical happening between the sheets here. Foreplay is a requirement, and conception may be the goal, but it isn’t the reason the game is being played!

Overall, this was one of the best menage stories I’ve read. If you like M/M/F stories, you’ve got to check this one out!