This week I’m pleased to welcome Clare London to the blog. She’s talking about her latest book which features a throuple. Read on to find out more.
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THREE’S A CHARM
“A ménage à trois (English: “household of three”) is a domestic arrangement in which three people have romantic or sexual relations with each other, typically occupying the same household. A form of polyamory, contemporary arrangements are sometimes identified as a throuple or thruple” (Wikipedia).
A throuple is what I decided to write about in my newly released book, Top and Tails.
A relationship with more people than just one couple has always intrigued me. Not that I think I could handle it in real life, but that I can empathise with how it could happen. Love is a broad, layered, generous, complex, and complicated emotion. If you can love more than one person, there’s always the possibility it can be at the same time. It would be a treasure if those persons also loved each other too.
In Top and Tails, Karel has always had a compassionate and wide-ranging attraction towards other men. He’d never force his way into or between an established couple—in a previous book Double Scoop, he’s drawn to the committed couple Patrick and Lee, but realises regretfully that they have eyes only for each other—but he’s a pragmatic, loving soul who can consider finding support and desire from more than one man at a time. As he himself says:
“He wanted that combination of strength and reliance, excitement and comfort. And if he couldn’t find all that he wanted in a single person… Would he consider joining an established couple?”
The book is never about cheating or infidelity. It’s about falling in love with more than one man, and wanting an equally committed and loving relationship with them both—and in the same house! There is little to no jealousy or confusion or resentment, at least not caused by their loving. Griff and Leroy make it easy for Karel to approach them in the first place, by their wooing of him. Then they all gradually accept that a throuple can—and does—happen, and that they all welcome it.
But in writing a menage a trois I tried to step carefully. The men are all very sexy together! but I didn’t want it to be only about sexual threesomes. All three are open-minded about sexual liaisons, but when it comes to playing around with their hearts, they’re all looking for commitment—and with the right man/men.
No, I was intrigued with the dynamics of three personalities, of how a household would work on a daily basis, of how compromises and complements would be made, and what rewards and richness there would be from three lovers working together.
“It’s not everything,” Griff said, abrupt again. “Being with one man. Monogamy. It has its down sides, too. A loneliness of its own, restricted to just one outlet, just one man’s company. One man’s understanding—one man’s familiarity.”
Karel frowned, a little confused. “You’re not happy with Leroy?”
Griff laughed loudly and obviously genuinely, pushing his glasses farther up his nose. “Shit, no! Gotta love him. Always have done. We’re together, all right.”
“But you find it restrictive?”
“It’s not that. I say things badly.” Griff frowned as if trying to work out the best way to phrase it. “We get in a rut. We know each other too well. You know? Can’t always see what’s best, when you’re too deep in to start with. And with just two… there’s no perspective.”
Karel turns out to be the man who can offer that perspective—and hopefully find the comfort and joy he deserves for himself.
As I said above, it’s not the lifestyle for me—and maybe not for you, either—but it was fun and fascinating to write it. And hopefully readers will enjoy the reading experience. I’d love to hear from you if you do!
Clare London
www.clarelondon.com
Note: Top and Tails is #9 in the With A Kick series, but all the books are standalone romances, so don’t necessarily have to be read in order.
BLURB:
Three men, one love—and a passion he only ever dreamed of.
Karel Novak is content with his busy job in hotel refurbishment, enjoying the social scene in Soho, London and the company of new friends he met through working at With A Kick. All he’s missing is a special man in his life. Or maybe two.
His first meeting with the mercurial pole dancer Leroy and his socially anxious partner Griff isn’t impressive, but none of them can ignore the sexual spark that flares between the three men.
Their relationship builds in steps of passion, frustration, and finally love. Both Leroy and Griff have complex issues in their lives to work through, and at first Karel brings a new dynamic that both settles and supports them.
But although he loves his men, Karel gradually realises the issues are still present. His partners struggle with living individually as well as together. His heartfelt wish is for them to create a lasting bond as a trio—but that means putting others first, all too often.
And will that mean sacrificing his own joy and dreams?
BUY LINKS:
Amazon (link to your local store): http://myBook.to/TopAndTailsCL
Other formats: http://clarelondon.com/top-and-tails/
BIO:
Clare London took her pen name from the city where she lives, loves, and writes. A lone, brave female in a frenetic, testosterone-fuelled family home, she juggles her writing with her other day job as an accountant.
She’s written in many genres and across many settings, with award-winning novels and short stories published both online and in print. She says she likes variety in her writing while friends say she’s just fickle, but as long as both theories spawn good fiction, she’s happy. Most of her work features male/male romance and drama with a healthy serving of physical passion, as she enjoys both reading and writing about strong, sympathetic, and sexy characters.
Clare currently has several novels sulking at that tricky chapter three stage and plenty of other projects in mind… she just has to find out where she left them in that frenetic, testosterone-fuelled family home.
Clare loves to hear from readers, and you can contact her at all her social media.
Website: http://www.clarelondon.com
E-mail: clarelondon11@yahoo.co.uk
Mailing list: http://eepurl.com/dv7Pl9
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/clarelondonauthor/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/clare_london
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/clarelondon
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/author/clarelondon/
Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/clare-london
Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/books/author?id=Clare+London
Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/clarelondoncalling/
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