Ménage à Music by Lily Harlem

Being attracted to people you work with can cause problems. Having two people you work with show an interest in you may be flattering, but will lead to trouble. It gets even worse if they are brothers…and in the music industry, we are not talking about regular egos either. But if they can work something out, this just might turn into a Ménage à Music.

Most women would think themselves eternally lucky to have a hot, sinfully sexy rock star giving them the serious come-on—so imagine how I felt to find not one but two giving me the eye! Phew! I was turning somersaults.
But of course this led to a massive and, quite honestly, unenviable dilemma. How the heck do you choose between two rock gods who want nothing more than to give you pleasure of the extremely intense variety?
Lucky for me these global superstars were brothers who knew just how to share the same toy—sorry, I mean woman. That left me free to take a break from managing the band and let their experienced, talented hands manage me.

Sylvia is the artist relations manager (that’s British for public relations) for the band Manic Machines. It has been six months since her break-up with her boyfriend Nick. Feeling over it and ready to move on, she gives herself a make-over, including a stylish new haircut and some sexy cloths. The results of the make-over are more then she is expecting...she catches the eye(s) of not just one guy, but two. And they are both band members, and brothers, she manages. Not only could picking one over the other cause problems between brothers and band members, but she has her job to consider as well.

Tim and Dean Coltrane are close brothers and band member of Manic Machines. Tim is the drummer and Dean is the bass guitarist. They both had noticed Sylvia before her make-over but were waiting for her to ‘recover’ from her break-up before making a move. They have also shared women in the past. Once, “long ago,” they both fell for a woman that ended up going back and forth between them unknown to either of them. When they did find out she was dating both or playing them, whichever, they fought over her before realizing she wasn’t worth it. After that, they agreed whenever they both liked the same girl to share her ‘just like Mom use to make them share toys as children.’ This is exactly what they suggest to Sylvia for Christmas Eve.

But after a super hot night together, where does that leave everyone? Can they still work together? Will they want more? Will Silvia be able to cope with it if they do? And these guys are in the spotlight, so what happens then?

Ménage à Music is the 3rd in the Mattress Music Trilogy. We do meet the characters from the first two stories and might have understood the interplay there better for having read those. But Ménage à Music works great as a stand alone and I didn’t miss any background from only reading this one (I do worry about missing previous books sometimes). As part of Ellora’s Cave Quickies®, this is a fast read that gets to the point (scorching scenes between the main characters) very quickly. This does have a romantic element, but remains graphic for all that. Also the blurb gives the impression that this is written to the reader, but Ménage à Music is in standard first person-point-of-view writing (easier to read in my opinion).

Ménage à Music has one aspect that is kind of fun for me. As an American, the little British words or phrases that are used throughout (just like the slang I often use) add a little extra fun for me. Not important or enough to pull me out of the story, but can cause me to smile at words I don’t use or hear often.

Ménage à Music is able to jump us right in the middle of the scenario since these characters already have a working, and somewhat of a friend-bade, relationship. Sylvia being the band’s public relation manager means she has gotten to know everyone fairly well, and they her. The brother’s obviously feel they know her well enough to be safe with both flirting with her. And when she seems interested in both of them, they feel safe enough to approach her about a ménage. Of course, being a short erotic, most of the story is focused around the evening spent together…

This is my first Lily Harlem book. If Ménage à Music is a good example of her other work, I am looking forward to reading more, especially ones like this. Ménage à Music doesn’t leave anything out…the background is quickly but nicely established, the characters interact well and have a bond together, the sex is searing hot, and I was happy with the ending. Very nice for a “read in one sitting” (well, with how fast I read anyway).