CROSSTOWN CRUSH (Sins in the City #1) by Cara McKenna-a review

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ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date September 1, 2015

The first in a new series explores the fantasies of a daring married couple—and those of a stranger invited to play along in their scandalous little games…

When he’s working, Mike Heyer is all business—every inch the alpha male, with the hard, capable body to back up his persona. But at home he can be a different man entirely, harboring appetites only his wife gets to glimpse…

When Samira first learned of her husband’s fantasies, she was reluctant, even alarmed. But after witnessing the way they set him on fire, she yielded, and happily indulged. As their games have intensified, so has the rush. And now so has the risk—they’re poised to take Mike’s indecent desires to the next level, by opening their bed to a sexy, brazen stranger. A man seeming custom-made to grant every last one of Mike and Samira’s sinful wishes.

Welcoming someone new into their lives was always a dangerous proposition, but the couple imagined if anything was at stake, it was their privacy…not their hearts.

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REVIEW: CROSSTOWN CRUSH is the first installment in Cara McKenna’s adult, contemporary Sins in the City erotica series. This is husband and wife Mike and Samira Heyer, and Bern’s storyline- an erotic tale of a cuckold, his wife and the man who makes all of their fantasies come true.

NOTE: CROSSTOWN CRUSH contains erotic and graphic sexual imagery including strong language, infidelity, role play, voyeurism and M/F/M, M/F, M/M sexual situations.

A cuckold by definition is considered the man of an adulterous wife-often regarded as an object of derision; a husband whose wife is in a relationship with another man; or a man who derives pleasure from humiliation.

Told from three third person perspectives (Mike, Samira and Bern) CROSSTOWN CRUSH focuses on the kink in Mike and Samira’s marriage wherein several times per month Mike wants to feel emasculated by the idea of his wife in a sexual relationship with another man. For two years the fantasy has just been that, a fantasy role-play acted out in bed with his wife-but Samira offers to make the fantasy a reality inviting another man into their relationship and their bed. When feelings and emotions come into play a line will be crossed and there will be no going back.

CROSSTOWN CRUSH is a psychological study in paraphilia or sexual fetish- a sexual interest that is atypical and goes against what is considered the norm by society but one that is entered into wholly aware of the actions and consequences. There is no secondary storyline development-the focus is on the kink, the cuckold, and the wants and needs of everyone involved. There are no hearts and flowers; the wooing is staged; an act to create the illusion of an affair; but the heartbreak is painful and real. The conflict arises when the heart becomes involved when the body and mind lose control.

I am having a difficult time putting into words my thoughts and feelings about this particular storyline. I wanted to like the premise but the presentation and execution felt out of sync; I did not feel invested in the action or the players. A cuckold trope is not my ‘ideal’ storyline situation but who are we to judge another’s lifestyle that is different from our own. In the end, it wasn’t the sexual fetish but the overall ‘feel’ of the story that left me disappointed

As you can read I had some issues with CROSSTOWN CRUSH and perhaps it was my inability to place myself into this particular storyline. For me, I have to be able to connect with the players and feel their emotions; to be pulled into a storyline where I become one with the characters or one of the characters but CROSSTOWN CRUSH left me standing on the sidelines where I felt like a voyeur in the window of someone’s personal life.

Copy supplied by the publisher through Netgalley.

Reviewed by Sandy