Fangirl Review: Polished by Alyssa Turner

It seemed like they had everything, but they didn’t have Jack.

Without question Spencer Hartley burns hot for his girlfriend, Rory, but his other desires are hidden down deep. He might blow things up for a living and climb mountains for kicks, but the scariest thing in his life is the truth about his sexuality.

Jack Rothman works hard and plays dirty. After long, demanding days in his family's engineering firm, he indulges in the pleasures of silk restraints and fine wine. Lots of hot meaningless sex helps him forget that he's suffocating, with no one to give him a reason to breathe.

When a catastrophic accident traps Spencer in a flooded subway tunnel with Jack, they need each other to survive. But something strong stirs down there in the darkness, and it's more than their desperation to live. There's a spark between them that's impossible to ignore.

Rory Campbell would love to give Spencer the one thing he doesn't have, the freedom to explore his secret desires. But how does that fit into her picture-perfect relationship? When Jack invites the couple to his sprawling Hamptons beach house, Rory realizes that she has secret desires of her own--the kind only Jack's Dominant hand across her bare bottom can satisfy... 

I'm not sure who tipped me off to this book originally, but Baby reminded me of it. I'm so glad she did because I needed a good to excellent m/m/f book after my last forgettable foray. I can't believe it took me so long to read this!

This story has great characters, pacing, and story arch. Even the conflict was believable! None of that contrived nonsense that annoys me so. 

Just in case you haven't figured it out there are girl bits.

Rory and Spencer are an established couple. They've been together 3 yrs or so. They are gaga over each other and that doesn't change, but Spencer has a secret that is holding him back from popping the question.

Rory is no dummy. She's well aware of Spencer's "secret", but she's having a hard time finding a way to address it without freaking Spencer out.

Enter Jack.

Jack is very prickly, truth be told. He comes across as an entitled brat born with a silver spoon in his mouth. He is exceptionally good at manipulating people and a self proclaimed "man whore". Underneath all the bravado he struck me as lonely and isolated. His father is a fuckwit and uses him horribly. He has no friends. Really all he has is a job he hates working for his father who undermines him at every turn, but it does serendipitously pair him with Spencer.

He and Spencer survive a harrowing experience that put them in a flooded tunnel for more than 6 hrs. They bond and the first stirrings of desire begin. It so happens that Rory is instrumental in saving them and waits above ground. The triangle starts to come together shortly thereafter and ignites once Jack invites them to his Hamptons house as a show of gratitude. 

Turns out Spencer's not the only one with a secret. Jack's dominance awakens something in Rory that I don't think she even knew was there. Spencer is a natural sub. I believe I've made my feels clear on this subject.

It's SO HOOOOOTTTTT!!!! 

That kitchen scene... 
*grunts*
I'll never look at a pot rack the same again.

Then the shit hit the fan.

Of course it did.

I would've been pissed too. I'm glad they waited for Jack to make the first move because he screwed the pooch and he... no, I needed him to be the one to grovel.

These characters are well constructed and the pacing of the story is such that I devoured this thing in a day. With my recent outbreak of reading ADHD devouring a 350+ pg book in a day is damn near a seminal event.

There are touching side stories with Rory's and Jack's family and I thoroughly enjoyed the BDSM discovery and how it affected both Spencer and Rory, but by far I think Jack's progression/transformation was the most compelling.

If you like m/m/f ménage stories you should give this a go.

Find out more on Goodreads.