Roni Loren my smut queen, I missed you.

⭐4/5 stars⭐

another great read from Ms. Loren! I was so pumped to read this the second I read the synopsis a few months ago! O'Neal is a goody two shoes living a sheltered life with her grandparents for most of her life when she suddenly changes her mind about the all-girls college her grandparents paid good money for her to go to. instead, she chooses the school with the program she wants which just so happens to be the same school where her best friend's brother, Auden, goes as well. O'Neal has been crushing on Auden since they were kids but he always saw her as his little sister's friend, totally off-limits. then a kiss in the kitchen (harry styles reference on purpose) ignites the crush for Auden as well even though they could never, EVER be together. once she gets to his school though, within reach and away from their families, everything changes. O'Neal begins to spend more time with him and his roommate, Lennox and soon these feelings get harder and harder to ignore between all of them.
overall I really enjoyed this! the relationships between all of the characters together and individually were well-written and believable. I was so excited to learn that Lennox and Auden also had a relationship outside of O'Neal! it makes the throuple so much more enjoyable. while I wish the plot had been more developed with their families and O'Neal's journalism degree/independence, the relationships made up for it. I felt like some parts weren't 100% necessary to the story like O'Neal investigating her mother's murder. nothing came of that and I wish it either hadn't been included or more came from it. I also thought Auden's protectiveness came across as a bit misogynistic sometimes but Lennox helped in those situations and called him out on his bullshit.
I thought the epilogue tied the story together and learning about Maya's tea too was so cute! I can't wait for Roni's next book!
spice: 4/5 (Auden's words had me GIGGLING and the scene after the first movie night when O'Neal left and Lennox and Auden took care of themselves, WHEW)

I've read some sexy Young Adult stories, but nothing like Good Girl Fail. First, as a YA MMF romance, it's spicier by nature. Secondly, I loved the premise of a scholarly, sheltered teen age girl who's mothers' death is a mystery. Finally, for all her innocence, O'Neal Lory has gumption and is bold despite the small, prescribed world she's lived in.

When O'Neal goes against her grandparents decry and applies for a college program outside of their wishes, she knowingly finds herself disowned and at the college her BFF's brother, Auden, goes to. Her closest connections are now her crush, Auden, his sexy roommate, Lennox, and O'Neals' own roommate, the quirky Quyen.

As O'Neal begins to explore life at Bennett College, we learn more about Auden and Lennox and their relationship. As the three spend more and more time together, Auden's desire for O'Neal grows, and Lenox's interest blooms. O'Neal experiences the typical, and some not so typical, growing pains. The chemistry is pretty off the charts and well, one thing leads to another. The story is highly charged as their relationship(s) are complicated by the norms, emotional assumptions and expectations, the what ifs, and the why nots. Loren does great service showing their love story and the challenges of social constructs. 5 Stars and Recommendation!!

*I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review*

Roni Loren is my go-to for flawed characters. This is a very spicy polyamorous NA as a very sheltered Christian girl (O'Neal--could've done without the really quirky name) bucks her grandparents' iron grip and heads off to the same college as her hometown crush. (The reason the grandparents are overprotective is her mother was murdered--after possibly being sexually assaulted--while away at the very same college Auden and O'Neal attend now.)

That hometown crush, Auden, has always felt on some level the same towards her--but those feelings are complicated by what he's learned about himself sexually the few years he's been away at Bennett College (such as him and his roommate, Lennox, enjoying "sharing" women, among other things). Auden tries to stay away from her but can't, Lennox is developing his own feelings about her after she comes over one night to hang out and then runs into her more and more on campus, and O'Neal quickly learns their world doesn't feel so strange after all.

There's none of the more extreme kink here that's out there; the book blurb gives enough of a description that if you're fine with that, you should be on board. I don't yuck anyone's yum (at least not most of it), but read other reviews here if you're still not sure.

A towards-the-end reveal about O'Neal's mom I could've done without

Spoiler

looks like she was polyamorous, too, making this somewhat imply it's almost a biological trait

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If you're willing to accept this as a quick n' dirty novel, the character development is fine; if you're looking for something on the level of Roni's other series, you might be a little disappointed.

Listened to the audiobook and narrator Samantha Summers did a great job.

Ugh, I honestly don't know what to review here; I love Roni with all my heart, I love, love Roni's Say Everything series to the moon and back, BUT I...well, it's not that I dislike it, it's just that I didn't see much of a plot. First, O'Neal's thing with her dead mom was irrelevant to the story, no relation there, but okay. Second, I feel MMF was well written because hell it was hot and beyond spicy, BUT Auden's character was useless. Third, even though I have finished reading the book, I still don't know anything about the characters, nada, zero. WAY TOO MUCH DIALOGUE, INNER DIALOGUE. Yes, I ended up being in love with Lennox, he's the reason for my rating because other than that, again, nada, there was like 2 percent between 55% to 60% where I was like "Yes!!!! Lennox, c'mon you can do the relationship with O'Neal". However, nothing happened, this story was meh; it left me asking for action, but the only action it had was sex.

I enjoyed this. It’s very steamy and I loved how the book handled O’Neal and Auden’s relationship with their strict, purity-focused upbringings. Len was a really refreshing, entertaining character - he was sensible whilst being naughty and he suited both of them so much. I loved his relationship with Auden in particular - they had a lovely deep bond and it was a joy to see that turn into something more.

But I also loved how they both looked after O’Neal. Auden was a little stiff and frustrating at times, but Len was lovely to her (I think at this stage of the review it’s clear to see I fell a little bit in love with Len, but who could blame me). The dynamic between the three of them worked really well for me - it was sweet in parts and I liked how careful both Auden and Len were in introducing O’Neal to the world of sex. The pay-off was great - the sex scenes were hot and well-written, the chemistry was so good.

However, I wasn’t keen on the external plot. The backstory involving O’Neal’s mother and her murder was very heavy.

Spoiler

It was definitely handled sensitively, and there were some really touching points; the part where her mother’s friend described his last moments with her, saying goodbye and waving her off, were genuinely very poignant and made me tear up. This isn’t a complaint about the writing; Loren showed skill in how this story was covered and I appreciate it wasn’t all wrapped up neatly.

I just didn’t think it fit well at all with the rest of the book - it was very jarring and

Spoiler

I really didn’t like the parallels between O’Neal’s relationship with Auden and Len and her mother’s last few hours with her friends. I could see what Loren was trying to do here but it came across very weird to me.

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But the romance was very good. It was hot and steamy whilst still being quite sweet, and I loved how the conflict between them all resolved. They talked everything through and checked on each other constantly and that was really well-done, and as a whole, I thought this was a really solid, lovely romance.

Content Notes: Kissing lessons, BDSM, college.

Warnings:

Spoiler

Death of a parent (in past), murder of a parent (in past), murder, purity culture, references to sexual violence, misogynistic language, slut-shaming, toxic relationship with family, fire.

Other:

Spoiler

On-page sex, virgin FMC, Dom/sub dynamic, polyamory, praise kink, BDSM, use of restraints / bondage, spanking / impact play, dirty talk, daddy kink, double penetration, anal sex.

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