Honey Red by Liz Crowe

Two men suffering from visible and invisible wounds meet by chance circumstance.

Nick Traynor and Ian Donovan spend a lot of time and effort keeping it very hot, only physical, and purely superficial. But when their resolve starts to slip, a woman is tossed into their midst.

Hannah Williams wants nothing more than to do her job until something better comes along, but is forced to own up to her visceral reaction to Ian, her new boss, and later to Nick, his sometimes lover.

Lust has a funny way of turning into companionship, and eventually evolving into a deeper connection. Faced with the internal and external complications of their potential three-way relationship, they begin to heal and trust, to consider that it might work. Then life tosses them a hardball, forcing them back into their respective corners, where each must choose what is most important.

Three people determined not to commit, thrown together by fate and undeniable attraction--their nights heat up and emotions run high in spite of a claimed mutual desire to "keep it simple." In the process of honest self-discovery, can they learn that while love is never simple, it is definitely worth fighting for?

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Now for my review of this fantastic read!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



I was provided a copy of Honey Red by Liz Crowe’s publisher Tri Destiny Publishing after a friend of mine hooked me up! I’ve never read anything of Liz’s but I’ve heard of her and after discussing this book I was very intrigued! This is a M/M/F ménage, which might not be for everyone, but I read all types of romance and knew this would be right up my alley. With ALL that being said let’s get to it! Honey Red opens up with Ian Donovan in the midst of an alcoholic, drug induced haze missing his “younger” bartender boyfriend who walked out on him. Ian is on a path of self-destruction and continues to take up with his co-worker, Carrie. Ian has no problems with his sexual preferences and he admits he his bi-sexual. Carrie & Ian have “hooked” up before and well……………………………………………… The book started “hot” and I was drawn in immediately but don’t think this book is all about the sex OH NO this book has a real-life aspect to it and story-line that will absolutely pull you into the story and soon you will forget the everything in the outside world, that’s what it did for me. Ian & Carrie continued your their ill-fated “romance” until after he brings her to visit his twin brother Gavin’s family in Michigan for Thanksgiving where Carrie tells Ian she is pregnant and she will DEAL with it………………………………………………………………………………………………. I thought I was going to freaking fall out of my chair! Time passes and Ian is notified by the hospital that “Crazy Carrie” has given birth to his son, James Donovan, affectionally referred to as Jamie throughout the remainder of the book. When Ian gets that call I swear I could picture him doing this………. Well that’s not even the icing on the cake NOPE Carrie gives birth, provides Ian’s name as the “Daddy”, checks out leaving Jamie behind and is never seen or heard from again. I so wanted to do this to her……………………………………………… Ian packs up Jamie and heads home to Michigan to work for Gavin. Gavin owns Ypsilanti Brewing Company which in the five years since Ian joined had grown and being the Head Brewer he didn’t have time to do “marketing” so he convinces Gavin that they need to hire someone and what better place to look for someone without paying top dollar than EMU a recent graduate would fit that billing. At this same time Gavin admits that he met someone and he had fallen in love. Poor Gavin was married to a…………………………………………………………………. They divorced, she took his two boys and moved west but when someone with some deep pockets came around magically Gavin’s boys were allowed to have more face-to-face time with him. Gavin meets Alyssa Traynor through work see Alyssa Traynor is… “Traynor… as in Traynor Wholesale Company.” their distributor the one Ian wanted to fire because in his words “they suck.” I can just picture Ian doing this once he figures out exactly who Alyssa is…………………. Alyssa invites Ian to accompany Gavin to her house for dinner and your probably asking yourself why is Kim explaining that? But you see this is a pivotal moment in the book Alyssa’s brother Nicholas, “Nick”, is living with her. He’s an Iraqi Marine Corp Vet who was seriously wounded while in Iraq. Nick was blinded in a firefight and was discharged with a Purple Heart and a Navy Cross. He has a service dog that assists him and also works as an Internet Security Consultant. Ian thinks that Gavin & Alyssa are trying to set him up with Nick since Nick is gay. Ian met Nick prior to him being wounded when he had a meeting with Alyssa so he remembers the “handsome” young man. Ian hadn’t gotten laid in four years and I swear when I read that part I was literally…………………………… When Ian arrives at Alyssa’s and hears Nick’s “rough, sexy as hell voice” all he could do was let his eyes wander over Nick’s form causing Ian’s entire body to go on alert. The description of Nick when Ian lays eyes on him had me thinking that if it was me and I would totally want to be a…………………………………………… Nick is suffering from horrible nightmares or what I likened to “flashbacks” of the firefight. He suffered not only mentally but also physically with debilitating headaches and he is on a cocktail of different medications in an attempt to alleviate some of the pain. When Nick relives his dreams I was doing this…………………………………. Oh yeah, my heart was ripped to out and then sliced and diced into millions of little tiny pieces. His story is so heartbreaking and Liz did an AMAZING job relating that in written form where I as the reader could actually feel his pain and depression oozing from the book. Nick lost his lover Dan in the incident and to see his thoughts and read his ever-present nightmares will move you in a way that not many books will. Let’s just say that after dinner that night Ian & Nick wasted no time getting down to business and boy oh boy was I could’ve done this……………………………………… HOLY HOTNESS BATMAN! I couldn’t imagine two finer specimens getting it on ;) But I still have a little more to share with you so I shall not get sidetracked any further. We still need to discuss Ian & Gavin hiring their new Marketing Representative who comes in the form of a fiery red head Hannah Williams who recently completed graduate school at EMU and is desperately in need of a job making more money so she could continue to support herself and her mother as well as pay her mountain of debt. Hannah arranges her interview with Ian over the telephone and all she could focus on was his sexy deep masculine voice that “curled around in her brain and nestled in her psyche.” Men had zero affect on Hannah and she hadn’t paid attention to anything other than her schoolwork in the past six years after a failed relationship with her “first”. But just hearing Ian’s voice had her…………….. Hannah arrives the following morning for her interview with the Donovan brothers. What transpired next had me literally………………………………………………. It was CLASSIC. Well needless to say Hannah is offered the position and good ole’ Ian is battling some major attraction and Hannah’s not immune herself. What about Nick you ask? Well, you see things are complicated. Ian manages to “hook-up” with Nick again and the outcome of that will have you……………………… Yes again, I know, but trust me on this I’m not some big cry-baby it’s just this story moved me in ways that are difficult for me to put into words other than trust me you HAVE to read this. The funny thing is before Ian hooked up with Nick a second time he had planned on seducing Hannah but things just didn’t turn out the way Ian had planned them in his mind. He does admit this to Hannah who was shocked to say the least as she thought Ian was gay but he clears that up quickly by admitting he is bi-sexual oh and he is in love with Nick. Hannah’s mind was telling her to…………………………………………………………………. Girl you just needed to keep on walking was my first thought, but where’s the fun in that? So I laid out a little bit for you but I’m not going to tell you anymore. I don’t do spoilers and you need to read this one for yourself to see how all the “key” players come together and what ultimately transpires in the end but as always I will share my emotional roller coaster with you from this point forward. There’s some……………………………………………………………………… Well there’s actually quite of few of those. I had a lot of………………………………….. As the story progressed there were times I literally…………………………………………. I’m telling you it truly was a roller coaster ride for me but the best kind with those really big highs and some really big lows. You see the three of them struggle to see where they fit in each other’s lives. True feelings for one another are not out in the open. I just wanted to yell sometimes and say, “Take that leap of faith!” The story is told from all three POV’s and that is what really made it for me and I don’t think a story like this could’ve been told any other way. In order for you to truly understand the characters and have that ultimate connection you needed to be in each of their heads. As with real life things happened it’s not smooth sailing. Feelings needed to be revealed, pasts needed to be dealt with and sometimes a tragedy in the making is needed for everyone to take stalk in what really is important in life. Kudos Liz I lived this book and when it ended I felt sad like I was walking away from a best friend. I didn’t want it to end I wanted to continue to live it! The secondary characters were well developed in such a way that I even had a connection with them! The epilogue well let’s just say I was doing this after reading it…………………………………………………………………………………………………….. I recommend you read Honey Red and take a journey into the lives of Ian, Hannah and Nick. You will not be disappointed! This is a 5 star read all the way for me! I cannot think of one thing that didn’t work for me! I look forward to diving right into more of Liz’s books!