Review: Manties in a Twist (The Subs Club #3) by J.A. Rock

Look, I’ll never stop missing Hal, but this Subs Club my friends started to review suck-ass doms isn’t gonna bring him back or give him justice. For me, it’s just another chance to hang out with my friends, even if they think I’m too dumb to understand the important work we’re supposedly doing.

But maybe I’m not as dumb as they think—at least I know when I’ve got a good thing going. Which is why I just moved in with my dom. Ryan’s awesome possum. He’s really short, never makes me feel stupid, and is up for anything. One word: costumes. Two more words: women’s underwear. We’re all about the lace, no leather.

Except when we do pony play. We first tried it as a joke, but turns out I’m ballin’ at it. Now PetPlayFest is coming up, and I wanna take down the Subs Club’s archrival, Cinnamon the ponygirl, in the horse show.

My friends think I’m spending too much time with Ryan and ignoring my obligations to the group. But since when is friendship an obligation? Ryan’s my first serious relationship, and I want to take it . . . seriously. At some point I need to think about my future, not my past.

—Kamen

I know it’s the “job” of a reviewer to be objective when reviewing but I’m having a hard time remaining objective when it comes to this book. I think it’s the worst kept secret on the interwebs that I’ve been squeeing about this one for months. My level of excitement has increased with each installment mainly because KAMEN!!!!!!!!!!!

“…Your profile sounds like little orphan Annie grew up and married the sun and they had a child made entirely of the unblemished souls of infant animals.”

As soon as I read that description in The Subs Club I knew. I knew the way you know about a good melon. Then J.A. sprinkled some magic dust and gave him a MANTIES fetish! And he plays guitar, loves wings and Jolly Ranchers, makes up words, loves baseball and is kind of cocky about his ability to CRUSH anything sports related. So… basically perfect. And, strangely, could be me. But not in, like, an incestussistic way because that's just weird.

J.A. is doing an incredible job in this series capturing the voice of each of these characters and Kamen's voice whispered sweet nothings to me even before I worked out his fetish. Without doubt I wish like hell Kamen was a real person. If I click my heels three times will it make it so? 

*frantically clicks heels*

He’s no wordsmith nor will he ever be a Mensa member, but he is bizarrely creative and has a heart the size of Texas; EVERYONE loves him. As much as Dave pistol whips The Subs Club into shape with his control freakishness it’s my belief Kamen is the glue that holds them together. All the big life events, catastrophes and meltdowns that have happened with the guys they always go to Kamen for help which speaks volumes about his character and what kind of friend he is. 

Kamen met Ryan in the previous book, Pain Slut, so this is an established relationship. They have just moved in together after 4 mos of dating, an event that has been the source of many a snarky remark from friends and family. Kamen is troubled by the sassiness since he can’t comprehend why you wouldn’t move in with and declare your love for someone if you know it to be true. Who cares how long it's been? He leads with his heart and there isn’t an ounce of artifice about him. But his relationship with Ryan is a HUGE problem for his friends because they miss him. And why wouldn’t you? This is a totally realistic conflict if you ask me.

"…You’ve always been the one who makes everyone feel better. About everything. If you’re not around, like, what’s even the point?”

He and Ryan do have a little hiccup which they work out quickly and go on being amazematastic. They are the fun couple. Ryan is significantly smaller than Kamen, a thing that Kamen adores but also doesn’t miss an opportunity to poke fun at him. They are still trying out different kinks have mishap after mishap. All of which are hysterical. But PetPlayFest will go down in history as one of the funniest things I’ve ever read and it wasn’t just Rymen’s antics either. Everyone hates Cinnamon because she’s a bitch and a half that deserves to be knocked off her high horse. Er, I mean, her high pony? 

I’ve thought long and hard about what else has made me laugh this hard before and the only thing I could come up with was Katt Williams’ The Pimp Chronicles. No book has EVER made me laugh this hard. Every time I turned around they were doing something else that had me in stitches. I highlighted and bookmarked like I was studying for an exam! And in the middle of all my gasping, choking and eye wiping there’d be a moment like this:

…if he believed I could do something, I could do it.

Or this…

So I just sang it because it made me feel good, and because I wanted Hal to know fast cars didn’t mean tragedy and for Ryan to know that he and I were gonna keep exploring and that we didn’t have to end up with a life that made perfect sense-just one we’d built together.

So, yeah, they’re pretty much perfect for each other and I loved their story SO MUCH! I was kind of disappointed for a minute that it wasn’t sexier since MANTIES and PONIES (helloooo! /shocker) but then I just thought that’s stupid because this story made me so happy on so many different levels that to take points off for not being erotic would be a huge disservice to this unicorn of a book. A book like this doesn’t come along that often. Kamen alone deserves 5 hearts as does Ryan and the fact that it made me laugh so hard I couldn’t breathe deserves at least 20 hearts, so 30 Hearts it is! 

Definitely my favorite of the series and one that I’ll re-read. 

An ARC was provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

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