I love Opal Carew's book but I feel like this one left me wanting. I loved the plot and the characters but struggled with the flow and pace. Parts of it just didn't make sense and I couldn't figure out what I was missing. It was a good book with a great ending but it definitely left me feeling like I was missing something!

I love erotic romance and I've read almost all books written by Opal Carew. Some people say this book went too far well, I think it's exactly the type of work that Opal Carew is known for. No disappointment here for me. I love her work this book is good. Well written, great characters. I recommend it.

Of the few Opal Carew titles I’ve read, X Marks the Spot is the most disappointing, so much so that I threw my hands up and quit at the 42% mark. Yeah, there’s some hot sex scenes, but the personal conflicts become an annoying, overly dramatic hurdle between Abi, her technically-still husband Liam, who refuses to sign their divorce papers after two years of separation, and Del, the best friend caught in the middle and source of Abi’s years-long infatuation. All the second-guessing and back-and-forth these characters go through in between getting hot and heavy is just too much and gets old, not to mention, annoying awfully quickly.

Opal is a hit or miss sometimes, and this one missed for me. While I've loved other books, I couldn't get a connection tot he characters which kind of flopped this one for me. The heat level is high but the fact that I didn't much care had me just skipping over sections.

Opal is always a major question for me. Sometimes she just nails it but this flopped hard for me. I hated these characters and its plot.

I voluntarily read an advance reader copy of this novel provided to me by NetGalley. The following opinions expressed are my own.

Opal Carew definitely writes steamy scenes - no doubt about it. That being said, sex is not enough for me to enjoy a book. I couldn't relate to the characters, and the book was all over the place.

It was just okay for me.

Copy kindly received via Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.

This one showed up on my NetGalley without me requesting it. I appreciate the opportunity to review, but I am not sure if I would have requested this one. I wasn't too sure if I wanted to read it as I wasn't overly hooked on the one previous book I had read by this author. I started this and it's immediately throwing you into what will inevitably be a love triangle that I just don't really feel that I want to read about. The main character is already so wishy washy and the POV's jump around alot.

Unfortunately this one is not for me, so I am going to DNF.

X MARKS THE SPOT by Opal Carew for me was just an ok read, I really wanted to love this book as I usually do with this authors book, but it just fell flat for me.

Don't get me wrong, the sex scenes were beyond hot and left me fanning myself, but I found I couldn't connect with the characters and the story line of the book. I don't usually have issues with storylines about cheating or threesomes but I just could not get past the way this relationship between Del, Abi and Liam came about was just not natural for me, it almost seemed kind of forced into for all parties just so that they can all have the best of both worlds.

The fact that this book was not a home run for me will not stop me from reading any of her other books, as they are usually great. I would give X MARKS THE SPOT 3/5 stars.

I LOVE OPAL'S WORK! lol I mean seriously, this woman is on point just about every single time! This was not only hot and sexy, but also a bit on the angsty side. That added a bit of depth to the usual story-telling this author does. LOVED IT!

this one was lack luster for me. there were a few good scenes but not enough to gain momentum or my full interest.

This book was smoking hot at times but I have to admit this is not my favorite from Opal I think it is because I just never really connected with any of the characters but that could just be me. It is worth reading just for the steamy bits though so give it a go you might like it more than me

X MARKS THE SPOT - Opal Carew

Mixed Messages - 3.5 stars

Plot - 3 stars - Abi has decided she wants Del to be more than a friend, so she plots to surprise him in his bed on the night of her brother's wedding. Oops, he has switched with her almost-ex-husband, so she ends up with Liam instead. Not a particularly savory plan, especially since Abi's married sister plots to help her. Shouldn't she know better? Would she want to be the one cheated on? There are definitely two camps, however, Team Liam (the ex) and Team Del (the potential). Abi just can't make up her mind which team she's on.

Writing - 4 stars - Carew certainly knows how to write a very sexy romantic scene. I'll admit that there's not a whole lot of plot to this story--Abi just keeps going back and forth between the two men. But Carew writes such hot and sexy scenes, that I couldn't help but become infatuated with both men.

Characters - 2.5 stars - Abi keeps sending mixed messages, and that's what turned me off about her. She says she loves Liam, but she has somehow convinced herself that he doesn't love her, no matter what he says. So since she apparently knows everything, she has decreed that they must divorce. Annoying. And then she has also decided that she loves Del as more than a friend, so basically she's leading him around by the nose as well. She just can't seem to make up her mind. Liam is a great hero--alpha and handsome and wealthy--the typical romantic hero who wants her and wants a family. He refuses to give her the divorce. Del is less appealing since he obviously wants to fool around with her even though she's still married, and after he decided that he must protect her all these years, even from himself. Very convoluted.

Title - 3 stars - The title refers to the signature line on the divorce papers that Abi wants Liam to sign. But he just won't put his "X" on the dotted line.

Cover - 3 stars - The bright red "X" on the cover, shading over a loving couple is interesting but not particularly eye-catching.

Overview - 3.5 stars - The characters detracted from this story for me. The plot was interesting, although Abi deciding to cheat on her husband (with her married sister's help) turned me off right from the beginning. The whole book was really one sex scene after another, and I'll admit that they captivated me. Carew can really write a sex scene...or two...or three! Abi is apparently endlessly horny, so there is a lot of action. Kind of like watching a porn movie--a little bit of story in between sex scenes. But it was enjoyable enough, and I will continue to read more from this author.

Fantastic read, well written with a great plot and characters.i was engrossed from start to finish. I can't wait to read more books by this author. I voluntarily read and reviewed an Advanced Reader Copy of this book from Netgalley.

I was grateful to receive a free copy of X Marks the Spot, in exchange for an honest review. I have loved every book I have read by Opal Carew, and this one did not disappoint.

The storyline was realalistic, and the characters were well developed. There were even a couple of surprises which made reading this book even more enjoyable.

Overall, great book. I look forward to reading more of Carew's work.

X Marks the Spot by Opal Carew
Source: Netgalley
My Rating: 2½/5 stars

**MINI-REVIEW**

The Bottom Line: For a very long time, I have maintained, I know what I’m getting into when I read an Opal Carew book. I know not to expect high literature, or something vastly and greatly new and exciting, but I have finally gotten to the point where I want something at least a bit different. The last several books I have read by Carew have been the same basic plot and format with slight variations in setting and character names. Yes, the sexy bits are still spectacular and fun to read, but I feel like I can skip over all the other bits because I already have the formula memorized. Yes, this all makes me very sad because I have long been a fan of Carew and supported her writing. While I am in no way revoking my support, I think it is simply time to take a break and come back to Carew the next time I need a quick, easy dose of naughty and nothing much beyond that.

Abi and Liam are a young married couple that are separated after a tragic loss emotionally tears them apart. Abi and Liam are friends but love each other and want more than just a friendship. As Abi looks to divorce her husband and begin anew with Liam, an untimed gift is given to Abi and Liam after one unexpected night of love making. Liam accepts this gift without questions, but will Liam let the new lovers be together or will he fight for his wife. Opal Carew writes a love story with a twist in X Marks the Spot.

I never requested this book and this author hasn't interest me in the past, so I can't provide a review of this particular book. I've read previous books by the author and the writing style just wasn't up to par with the level of books I normally read.

Abi waited for the one thing that would allow her to move forward with her life. Just a simple signature at every X. Liam, however, was not ready to let her go. She was the only thing he loved and he was hopeful the mistakes he made would stay in the past where they belonged. Being torn in two different directions with the love of two men she must make a decision and hopefully not break her heart.

I've read several books by this author, one I really disliked, but a couple of others that were fairly good, and this one sounded intriguing so I decided to give it a try, and I'm sorry I did, since I've been ambivalent about it from the start, and having read it, and after spending part of last night and all of this morning mulling over what rating to give it and what to say about it, the best rating I can give it is 2 stars.

This novel centers around Abi, the heroine, and the two men in her life, Liam, her husband, from whom she's been separated for two years, and Del, her brother's best friend, whom she met in college, and who has been her emotional support system ever since. She found herself falling in love with Del, but his friendship with Abi's brother, Kurt, kept him firmly in the friend zone, a role he'd like to change since he fell in love with Abi as well. However, when she became pregnant with Liam's baby, Liam asked her to marry him and she accepted.

The death knell of Abi and Liam's marriage of less than one year came when Abi had a miscarriage and Liam ignored her pain and grief and threw himself into work to deal with his own pain. She was devastated, not only by the loss of her baby, but by the fact that her husband simply wasn't there for her, and she came to believe that he only married her because she was pregnant, not because he loved her. When her doctor told her she couldn't have more children, and knowing how much Liam wanted a family, she filed for divorce. Through all the turmoil, Del has been her best friend and confidante, all complicated even further by the fact that Liam and Del are good friends.

So far, I was in Abi's corner, but that didn't last long. When Abi's brother, Kurt, secretly invites Liam to his wedding, hoping to get Liam and Abi back together, he doesn't know about the plan Abi and her sister had hatched, which was to book Abi into a suite adjoining Del's room, in the hopes that their proximity might get finally get Abi and Del together. You know what they say about best laid plans, right? In this case, the aphorism holds true, when there's a sudden change and Liam ends up in the room next to Abi's. She finally gets up her courage and parks herself naked in the bed she assumes Del will be using. But it's Liam who sees her there, and it's Liam who thinks she wants him back, and halfway through making love, she realizes that the man in bed with her isn't Del, but it's Del that Abi says she loves. And this is where I began to have serious problems with this novel, because from this point on it simply dragged.

Abi seems to have no problem at having incredible sex with whichever man she's with at the time, and it's this bed-hopping and emotional manipulation that irked this reader enough that I nearly stop reading this novel. If Abi was with Liam, she loved him, but the same was true of times when Del was in her bed, and Abi still refuses to believe Liam loves her, yet she allows him to manipulate her sexually every time she sees him. As far as Del is concerned, when Abi unexpectedly turns up pregnant, he asks Abi to marry him, even though the baby is Liam's. While I have no problem at all with graphic sex scenes, that's pretty much all there is for the first 75% of the novel, and there's more waffling on Abi's part than on a Sunday morning at Waffle Hut.

Additionally, there's Del, Abi's rock to cling to in any storm, and we learn virtually nothing about him at all, nor is there much time spent on exploring his feelings about the situation. The three of them strike a deal when Liam needs to head to a resort he's considering purchasing for three weeks, and both Abi and Del are going along. Although Abi has promised Liam to give their marriage one more try, things don't quite work out that way. You can see where story this is headed from a mile away, and I could have predicted the outcome after the first few chapters. Aside from the bed-hopping, there's not much else in the way of a plot, and Abi's inability to make a decision irritated the heck out of me. I've read many menage romances, but this is the first time I've actively disliked the female lead character, who, in my opinion, comes off rather shallow and trampy, and who, despite her decision to choose between these two men, is so weak-willed and whiny that she's unable to say no to whichever man she's with at the time. The endless internal dialogue of "I really love Liam," and "But, I really love Del" grew incredibly tiresome.

X Marks the Spot is not the best menage romance I've ever read, nor is it the worst, and if you're looking for hotness, you'll certainly find it here. Ms. Carew writes well, but what I missed most in this novel was more of a plot, more drama, more forward momentum, and even a subplot to give the reader a break between the seemingly endless sex scenes. For this reader, it fell somewhat flat and repetitive, and while I didn't hate it, I didn't love it either--it was just okay.

I voluntarily read an advance reader copy of this novel. The opinions expressed are my own.

I don't normally read books in this genre but enjoyed it. Good steamy scenes as expected. Thank you for letting me read and review this book