Read my reviews of the previous books in the Carnal Tower series:
Shades of Lust (#1) | Waiting on Forever (#2) | Taste of Greed (#3)
As a firm believer that sex work is work, I adore the simultaneously realistic and aspirational world of the Carnal Tower. We’re now halfway through the series, and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed watching this found family of flawed men enlarge to include, well, more flawed men, but in a way that has all these flaws combine into a greater, healthier whole. Lindsey has been dropping hints about Flint’s saga with Tomas since book 1, and though a few years have passed “in world,” I was more than ready to experience their second chance and journey toward happily ever after.
Except this is a Lindsey book, so the journey isn’t easy. They send us all the way back to the beginning of Flint and Tomas’ tale so that we “live” through the events hinted at, such as these characters’ first encounter. Flint is attracted despite Tomas’ physical issues, not because of them, and the immediate chemistry between them exists on a physical level but truly explodes in the way they recognize kindred spirits in each other. The subsequent events that lead to their separation, and the aftermath, serve genuine heart-wrenching angst at peak Lindsey levels. Especially because Tomas’ journey includes Luke as much as it does Flint. All three of these men are truly complicated characters on multiple levels; while this could have meant a complicated road toward happiness, all it really takes is them being willing to accept love freely given. The struggle toward that acceptance is so much more interesting than the real-world obstacles in their path, such as Tomas’ physical limitations and Luke and Flint’s respective professions.
A lot of my reviews of polyamory relationships emphasize that the characters are not using each other for what the other people in the relationship cannot provide and how important that is for the individual relationships to also develop. Lindsey’s obvious understanding of this dynamic allows them to subvert these concepts in unique ways as this trio does, in a way, use each other to compensate for needs but in a manner that also allows them to be truly whole together. This book isn’t an easy read, and I cried for these men more than once along the way, but the story truly measures up to the necessary difficulties of a man called Wrath finding his happily ever after…and the importance of how much those he loves also recognize the wrath in themselves.