Scan barcode
hilariea's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
phoenixinthecity's review against another edition
3.0
I found out about this final book in the series from Weatherspoon on Twitter - I wasn't expecting it and was surprised. I enjoyed the books in the series although the premises were kind of bananas and because of this, I've come to realize that romantic suspense isn't really my genre.
On Harbor - it wasn't a book I anticipated/needed like the other series finales that came out at the end of June but I had to read it because I'm a completionist. The book opens up after the double murder/suicide of a couple in a hotel room. The murdered man is Brooklyn, Liz from Sanctuary's sister's fiance and the woman is in a triad with Vaughan, a patents lawyer and Shaw, a carpenter. They were cheating on their partners and murdered by a random guy who had been stalking the woman. Here is where the details trip me up because I'm wondering how they met in the first place to carry on an affair for 7 mos since he lives in NYC and she in Boston, even though it's irrelevant to the story.
Anyway - Brook and Vaughan first meet because he finds her at her fiance's funeral hoping for some kind of closure. The three meet for the first time in her hotel room in Boston which she suggested because she wanted privacy(!) and I immediately think, no, dummy, how is that safe when you don't know these men and you've lied to your friends and family about where you are? B obviously lives to tell the tale and to eventually fall in love with Vaughan and Shaw and they live HEA.
One thing I've noticed about this series is that Weatherspoon isn't afraid to let a lot of time pass between her characters first meeting and their eventual coming together. In this book it was 16 mos and in Haven it was something similar....her characters had to go away and deal with their trauma/grief before they could get together again to fall in love and I like that because it seems more probable than the stories where the characters fall in love in a week.
On Harbor - it wasn't a book I anticipated/needed like the other series finales that came out at the end of June but I had to read it because I'm a completionist. The book opens up after the double murder/suicide of a couple in a hotel room. The murdered man is Brooklyn, Liz from Sanctuary's sister's fiance and the woman is in a triad with Vaughan, a patents lawyer and Shaw, a carpenter. They were cheating on their partners and murdered by a random guy who had been stalking the woman. Here is where the details trip me up because I'm wondering how they met in the first place to carry on an affair for 7 mos since he lives in NYC and she in Boston, even though it's irrelevant to the story.
Anyway - Brook and Vaughan first meet because he finds her at her fiance's funeral hoping for some kind of closure. The three meet for the first time in her hotel room in Boston which she suggested because she wanted privacy(!) and I immediately think, no, dummy, how is that safe when you don't know these men and you've lied to your friends and family about where you are? B obviously lives to tell the tale and to eventually fall in love with Vaughan and Shaw and they live HEA.
One thing I've noticed about this series is that Weatherspoon isn't afraid to let a lot of time pass between her characters first meeting and their eventual coming together. In this book it was 16 mos and in Haven it was something similar....her characters had to go away and deal with their trauma/grief before they could get together again to fall in love and I like that because it seems more probable than the stories where the characters fall in love in a week.
lunarxcross's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Biphobia, Cursing, Death, Grief, and Murder
Minor: Gun violence
wren_rainbow's review against another edition
4.0
A book with healthy communication within a polyamorous relationship and BDSM dynamics! I enjoyed reading about each of the characters and seeing their journey and growth as they also processed their grief. I would recommend this book for anyone who wants to read books with a polyamorous relationship specifically because it depicts what ethical non monogamy and communication should look like. The BDSM scenes were minor and also pretty damn good! I appreciated the discussion of limits and consents prior to engaging in a scene and the check ins during the scene, all are so very important and are often left out in many books. The sex scenes were spicy and not at all disappointing.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Grief
Minor: Murder
kad21's review against another edition
emotional
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.75
abbythompson's review against another edition
4.0
A perfect example of REAL people dealing with extraordinary events, having REAL conversations with each other, making mistakes, forgiving, trying again, and *therapy*
verityw's review against another edition
4.0
*****E-arc provided by author in exchange for an honest review*****
Well I can confirm that this is at the steamiest end of Rebekah Weatherspoon's writing. I couldn't read this on the train because it made me blush so much! This is a romantic suspense, with an exploration of grief and loss and some very complicated feelings I was a little sceptical about how the central relationship was going to work out, because their meeting is grounded in shared trauma, but actually Weatherspoon does this very carefully. I liked Brooklyn as a heroine, but I really loved Vaughn and Shaw and their relationship. I thought the relationship between the three of them developed and evolved really cleverly, so that you can see that Brooklyn has power and control and is giving consent. My only criticism is that I thought that the ending wrapped up a little too quickly - at 80% read I was wondering if I'd missed a memo and this was actually the first part of a series where it would only resolve itself happily and finally at the end.
If you've only read Weatherspoon's A Cowboy to Remember, maybe work up to this with Xeni - unless you're used to reading menage, BDSM, polyamory romances.
Well I can confirm that this is at the steamiest end of Rebekah Weatherspoon's writing. I couldn't read this on the train because it made me blush so much! This is a romantic suspense, with an exploration of grief and loss and some very complicated feelings I was a little sceptical about how the central relationship was going to work out, because their meeting is grounded in shared trauma, but actually Weatherspoon does this very carefully. I liked Brooklyn as a heroine, but I really loved Vaughn and Shaw and their relationship. I thought the relationship between the three of them developed and evolved really cleverly, so that you can see that Brooklyn has power and control and is giving consent. My only criticism is that I thought that the ending wrapped up a little too quickly - at 80% read I was wondering if I'd missed a memo and this was actually the first part of a series where it would only resolve itself happily and finally at the end.
If you've only read Weatherspoon's A Cowboy to Remember, maybe work up to this with Xeni - unless you're used to reading menage, BDSM, polyamory romances.
emmalita's review against another edition
4.0
Yesterday a magazine posted an article about how we should read romances during this pandemic because they are dumb and will give our brains a break. I had just finished reading Rebekah Weatherspoon’s Harbor (Beards and Bondage) and wanted to cry in frustration. There is nothing dumb about this book, and even if it were pure porny fluff, if it accomplishes the goal of helping the reader cope – it is not dumb. There are so many amazing, smart writers in romance today. Rebekah Weatherspoon is among the best of them. In Harbor, she explores complicated grief and heavy subjects with a deft hand, weaving in humor and lust, and friendships and family.
Brook, Vaughn and Shaw share the experience of losing a significant other and at the same time finding out that they were unfaithful. Each of the three has to confront grief, anger and trauma in their own way. Because of the circumstances they are drawn to each other, but are also aware that while shared trauma can create an intense bond, it is not a good basis for a long relationship. Knowing this, the trio come together and retreat a few times before getting to the Happily Ever After. While Vaughn is all heart-eyes and hard penis around Brook, she has to set terms of engagement with Shaw who can hurt her with his prickly version of honesty.
Weatherspoon addresses the stereotype of the strong Black woman with Brook. She is a strong woman. She knows herself, she’s smart, she is capable of taking care of herself. At the same time, she is vulnerable. Losing her fiance the way she did makes her question her own judgement. On top of that, she has to struggle with her friends’ desire for her to be okay when she wants to be allowed to feel sad, angry and lost. Brook directly addresses the pressure she feels to be strong and the way it hurts her. She is unwilling to have a relationship with a man who will not accept her full range of being.
The sex in the book is steamy, explicit, and has light BDSM. I’ve read many menage romances, but this is one of the few that feels realistically polyamerous (I say this as a person who has never been in a polyamerous relationship, so take that for what it’s worth). Vaughn and Shaw have a romantic and sexual relationship independent of their relationships with Brook. It was damaged by the murder of their partner and they are working on it – independent of their relationships with Brook. It feels lived in. Unlike a lot of standard menage romances, the focus is not on the two men having sex with the woman, but on each of them getting their needs met – physically and emotionally.
Harbor is beautiful, sexy, thoughtful, and surprisingly funny for a book that deals so much with trauma. For all the things I bring up in the review there are many more I didn’t know how to talk about without giving everything away and then even more that I probably didn’t even see.
I received this as an arc from the author in exchange for an honest review.
Months before she’s set to walk down the aisle, assistant district attorney Brooklyn Lewis suffers an unthinkable loss. It’s bad enough her fiancé is violently taken from her, but along with her grief she must also process the fact that the man of her dreams was unfaithful. Friends and family want to see her heal, but Brooklyn doesn’t know how to move on from trauma and deception until she discovers she’s not the only one broken by this tragedy.
Attorney Vaughn Coleman and his partner Chris Shaw have also lost the love of their lives, who was found lifeless in the same bed as Brooklyn’s fiancé, taken from them by the same killer.
Brook, Vaughn and Shaw share the experience of losing a significant other and at the same time finding out that they were unfaithful. Each of the three has to confront grief, anger and trauma in their own way. Because of the circumstances they are drawn to each other, but are also aware that while shared trauma can create an intense bond, it is not a good basis for a long relationship. Knowing this, the trio come together and retreat a few times before getting to the Happily Ever After. While Vaughn is all heart-eyes and hard penis around Brook, she has to set terms of engagement with Shaw who can hurt her with his prickly version of honesty.
Weatherspoon addresses the stereotype of the strong Black woman with Brook. She is a strong woman. She knows herself, she’s smart, she is capable of taking care of herself. At the same time, she is vulnerable. Losing her fiance the way she did makes her question her own judgement. On top of that, she has to struggle with her friends’ desire for her to be okay when she wants to be allowed to feel sad, angry and lost. Brook directly addresses the pressure she feels to be strong and the way it hurts her. She is unwilling to have a relationship with a man who will not accept her full range of being.
The sex in the book is steamy, explicit, and has light BDSM. I’ve read many menage romances, but this is one of the few that feels realistically polyamerous (I say this as a person who has never been in a polyamerous relationship, so take that for what it’s worth). Vaughn and Shaw have a romantic and sexual relationship independent of their relationships with Brook. It was damaged by the murder of their partner and they are working on it – independent of their relationships with Brook. It feels lived in. Unlike a lot of standard menage romances, the focus is not on the two men having sex with the woman, but on each of them getting their needs met – physically and emotionally.
Harbor is beautiful, sexy, thoughtful, and surprisingly funny for a book that deals so much with trauma. For all the things I bring up in the review there are many more I didn’t know how to talk about without giving everything away and then even more that I probably didn’t even see.
I received this as an arc from the author in exchange for an honest review.