Great story, great characters and very well written. Enjoyable read. Thank you netgalley and publisher for this arc in exchange of an honest review.

In addition to being dumped by her wealthy fiancée the day before their Vegas wedding, April is stuck with their expensive hotel bill and has no way to pay. Her college boyfriend, Quinn, who just happens to be insanely rich and within earshot of April’s altercation with a snooty hotel employee, comes to the rescue. He’ll pay her bills provided she gives him closure and agrees to delivering unlimited sex to him and his business partner, Austin. What’s a girl to do?

I liked April’s backstory of being a foster child and craving financial stability and wish this could have been developed more to strengthen her character arc.

This book was highly problematic for me, because the advanced reader copy I received read like a first draft with flat characters, purple prose (e.g. referring to genitalia as “petals”,) uneven pacing, unrealistic plot points, coincidences, dubious consent, repetitive, cringe-worthy love scenes, lack of immersive setting details, and convenient amnesia.

The scene in the prologue repeats later almost exactly—would have been nice if the second time was at least in a different character’s point of view. Speaking of point of view, the narrator constantly flips between April, Quinn, and Austin within scenes, making it hard to develop deep connections with any of the characters. The men were so similar, I had trouble at times keeping track of who’s who. Quinn was almost like Austin’s evil twin.

Austin and April’s relationship is pretty much conflict-free. He’s happy to share her, happy to pamper her, and happy to hand over his cash. Quinn has plenty of baggage due to his history with April, but at no point did I worry the threesome wouldn’t find their happy ever after.

Maurice, April’s ex-fiancé, is a bit of an enigma. His horrible vendetta against her doesn’t make sense, considering he cheated on her, and their arrangements both in and out of the bedroom were odd at best.

I love a good wedding in a romance novel, but the weddings in this one were really rushed. This feels like a big missed opportunity to show how the three lovers bonded. Additionally, the Vegas setting was underutilized.

Fingers crossed that the final version of the book is heavily revised to eliminate some of these issues.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Griffin, an imprint of St. Martin’s Publishing Group, for providing an Advance Reader Copy.

Stroke of Luck is absolutely amazingly steamy. A cancelled wedding, a second chance meeting, a poker game turned erotic and you have all the ingredients for a super charged story. April is looking for security in her life and thought she'd found it with Maurice. But it was not to be. Not only is her wedding now off, but she is left holding the bag. In comes our savior Quinn who she hasn't seen in years. A deal is made, past hurts released, secrets unfolded and soon you have passion like you've never seen. Definitely steamy and erotic. 3.5 stars for me.

Unfortunately this was a miss for me. I loved the premise, but I truly struggled to connect with the characters and feel the believability behind their intent and actions. The extremes in behavior and actions were just too much for me.

I've read this author before & have liked her books, however, this was a little disappointing. It felt rushed & I definitely didn't make a connection with Riana (seem a little self-centered). I felt so-so about her ex-boyfriend Quinn, but really liked Austin (the business partner). Overall this book was just average for me.

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This book read super easy for me and I finished it in like a day since I couldn’t put it down. While it may have annoyed others of the jumping POV, I enjoyed that aspect of it! It was nice to read about reactions and thoughts in the moment while they were happening.

This book is also VERY steamy which was fun! I like how April grew and came to realizations about herself by the end of the book and that Austin and Quinn were both different and strong characters and I tell ya that Maurice, what a jerk!

Overall, this was my first book I’ve read from Opal and I enjoyed in a lot!

Found this to be an entertainingly, humorous romance. The characters are delightful with deep connections and terrific chemistry. Was impossible to put this amazing book down. Well worth the read!

I voluntarily read and reviewed this book; all opinions expressed are my own.

April is having the worst day ever. She finds her fiancé with another woman, is being kicked out of her hotel room because her credit card was cancelled and her cheating ex is having the hotel go through her stuff looking for things he bought. As she’s being led downstairs, she runs into her first love who can’t help but save the day. He wants to protect his heart but also help her. So he makes a deal with her for the next month.
Opinion
The story line was fascinating and provocative. This adult novel provided an interesting take on a woman being shared by two men. I quite enjoyed the plot well enough that I forwent sleep and finished the book in one day.

Erotica with an actual plot is my type of erotic fiction. This book doesn't disappoint. There's an actual storyline with character development and there's steamy bedroom scenes. I have never read anything by this author before. I'm adding the other titles to my TBR list. I can't wait to read more.

I've only read a couple of books by Opal Carew prior to reading Stroke of Luck, one of which I really didn't like and one that I did like, and since the Netgalley blurb sounded intriguing, I requested an advance reader copy of this one, and while I was pretty much hooked by the prologue, and was hoping for a great read, in the end, I had very mixed feelings about this novel, and can only give it a 3 star rating--it was an okay read, but not a great one.

The basic story line isn't a new or original one, April Smith, the heroine, is in Las Vegas for her wedding to wealthy Maurice, to whom she's been engaged for the past two years. On the night before her wedding, she finds Maurice having sex with another woman, and the wedding is off. April doesn't want to hear his explanations, realizes that he never really loved her, and after crying her eyes out, by the next morning, Maurice is gone, leaving her with an unpaid $100,000 hotel bill, no credit card (they had a joint one), and no money. As if that wasn't bad enough, he then contacts the hotel management and demands that April return his engagement ring, as well as everything he ever bought for her, leaving her with not much more than a few toiletries and items of clothing he didn't buy for her, no job (he owns the company where she worked), and no place to live (his company held the mortgage on her townhouse).

As April is sitting in the hotel lobby, brokenhearted, broke, and in shock, her stroke of luck appears, in the form of Quinn, her college boyfriend, and his friend and business partner, Austin, now both multi-millionaires. Quinn was once in love with April, but now assumes she left him for Maurice because she was just a gold-digger, and in college he wasn't rich. Quinn wants revenge because when April chose Maurice over him, she broke his heart. Quinn, without being asked, pays off her hotel debt, but April insists on somehow, someway, paying him back, and then the trio goes off on a drinking binge to raise April's spirits.

The next morning, April wakes up in bed with both Austin and Quinn, notices they are all wearing wedding bands, and is shocked to learn that she's now married to both men. Quinn finally comes up with a way for April to repay him--sleep with both him as her Master, as well as Austin, for the next month, do whatever they want her to do, annul the marriage thereafter, and, with no alternatives, she eventually agrees.

This certainly wasn't quite the M/F/M menage romance I was expecting, which was part of the problem I had with this novel, because although there were more than enough sex scenes, they all became rather redundant and unimaginative, except for one scene near the end, and Austin, who has only just met April, comes off as a much nicer guy than Quinn does. Had these two men done this sort of thing before? It's a question I felt should have been answered at some point, yet it was never addressed.

Beyond the all too frequent sex scenes, these three seem to get along quite well, until Maurice starts texting his apologies to April, and wanting her back, not only making Quinn jealous, but making it clear, as least to Quinn, that April is only interested in his money, and affirming his complete lack of trust in her. And yes, I had a problem with April as well. How does a woman, who, when dating Quinn, was saving her virginity for marriage, and who, in the ensuing years, has only slept with one man since then, Maurice, suddenly have no problem entering into a menage, when she's only just met Austin? With all the time and verbiage spent on April's feelings about herself, I found that she came off as rather shallow. I simply couldn't buy into a woman who just lost the man she'd loved for two years and planned to marry, suddenly jumping into a menage, no matter how hot the men involved were, or the debt Quinn repeatedly told her that he didn't want repaid.

I had problems with Quinn as well. Other than April's looks, and her willingness to accept becoming his and Austin's sex slave for a month, what exactly were his reasons for loving her? His feelings seemed to go from hot to cold and back again with regularity. If he had such feelings, they certainly weren't explained to this reader. In fact, the only character in this novel I actually did like was Austin, but we never really learn his story either.

If you're new to menage romance fiction, you'll probably find this an easy, enjoyable, somewhat sexy, second chance romance, but as someone who has read more than a few menage romances, I found this novel and its characters to be rather under-developed, not terribly exciting or sexually creative, and all in all, rather shallow.

As stated at the outset, I voluntarily read an advance reader copy of this novel. The opinions stated are my own.

This was a so-so book for me.. Nothing more to say. I voluntarily read this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

*I was provided a review copy of this book by NetGallery in exchange for my honest opinion.*
First, I was not able to connect with the characters and I felt that they had no chemistry, yeah sex scenes were good but I was not able to get into the story or the characters. It left me wishing for so much more, and I really dislike Quinn.

1.5⭐️

This book was so CRINGE. It was a mess from start to finish. I’ve never read any from this author before, but if they’re anything like this one then yikes.

Now mind you, I know you don’t read a book like this for the plot. But even with the lowest of expectations, I was still let down. I had a lot of issues with this book and the plot.

April/Riana was a leaf of a character. She had no agency, no personality, no presence. She literally exists only to serve the men in this story.

As for the men they are your run-of-the-mill alphas. For a MFM book, I was really expecting a true throuple polyamorous relationship. But what it really is is two dude bros high-fiving over banging the same girl together.

However, what really threw me off was the the style of writing. The POV changed every time someone spoke. Some paragraphs were barely a sentence or two before jumping to another character’s perspective. So within one chapter you would have upwards of 10+ breaks and jumps. I’ve never seen anything like it, and I don’t want to ever again.

All I can say is this book needs a lot of work.

Stroke of Luck - Opal Carew
⭐️⭐️⭐️

I enjoyed this story by Opal Carew but I think I went into it with visions of her early work dancing in my head.

April, Quinn and Austin were entertaining characters, their story was good but I felt it was just one long sexcapade. That’s not normally a bad thing and I think the truth is this was just lacking a little more depth to the story.
It would have been a great novella but alas, it was a full length standalone.
Maybe some exploration of April’s backstory would have provided the depth it needed.

A pleasant read. Plenty of serious heat.

April wakes up in bed with two men and does not remember how she arrived there. Then she starts to remember.
Yesterday was her wedding day, and she found her fiancé Maurice sleeping with another woman. She called off the wedding and was left with a huge hotel and venue bill.
She ran into her ex-boyfriend and explained her dilemma. She propositions a wager to rectify the situation she.
I felt the book did not have a strong plot line, And was 90% love scenes. I love a book with steamy love scenes but this was a little too much for me.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley For a free advanced Copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I had originally determined that I would not be giving feedback on this title because at the time of reading, I expected it to be different, i.e., I thought April would be torn between two guys, not she would have multiple threesomes with them.

I recently re-started this book and I thought it had an excellent amount of steamy chemistry and scenes between all of the characters. The story and the writing was fine - I found Quinn's animosity toward April a little much sometimes - but the erotic aspect of the book was fantastic.

This was my first Opal Carew book and it did not disappoint. It’s a fast read and has non-stop sex scenes throughout. If you enjoy erotic romances with rich men in 5 star hotels, then you’re in a for a treat.

In brief, April is abandoned by her good-for-nothing groom in Las Vegas, leaving her destitute and alone. Here to save the day and swoop her up is her former college boyfriend, Quinn, who is in the same hotel with his business partner and best friend, Austin. The story is a fast read and gives a few insights on April’s backstory. Without giving spoilers, the book ends in a HEA, but I just wish there was a little more revenge on April’s part when it came to her ex-fiancé.

Although I’m not a regular reader of threesomes, this book was a delightful steamy read. It didn’t have any BDSM, spanking, or tying up of the sort, so for me, the book was enjoyable. (I did mention non-stop sex scenes, right?) On the romance spectrum, well, the kindness, love, and protectiveness of Quinn and Austin drew me in. Quinn was a tad stubborn, but Austin was a true gentleman throughout.

I will definitely look up another book from the author when I get a chance. She writes some really good scenes for erotic romance.

Thank you to NetGalley for an arc to this book for an honest review.

STROKE OF LUCK is erotic and the steam is ramped up but there is a sweetness that just sucks you right into the story line and keeps your fingers crossed for the best for all three of them. There is a bit of a twist and sometimes what happens in Vegas doesn't stay in Vegas but it all comes out exactly as it should.

Annetta Sweetko, reviewer for Fresh Fiction

Complete review may be found at: https://freshfiction.com/review.php?id=72184

Stroke of luck was a fast paced book. April was a girl who was very self deprecating who stumbled a cross her ex from college during a very unfortunate time. In walks Quinn to save the day. Followed closely behind by his business partner and best friend Austin. While both Quinn and April battle this past relationship and still lingering feelings towards one another they find them selves in an interesting predicament.

I was drawn in from page on of this book but found it hard to keep up with whose POV was being used each page. It went from Austin to Quinn, and April in a blink of an eye, making it difficult to keep up with whose head you are in.

DNF @ 45%. This book is very confusing, the POVs jump a lot. Aprils ex was a complete ass but it was just over the top with his taking everything from her... she truly had nothing of her own? The "arrangement" was fine but Quinn was too hot & cold. Maybe this will work for others but there are better erotica books out there.