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snarkymotherreader's review
4.0
One of the more difficult aspects of reviewing is the need to remove your own biases and let the story stand on its own. For this reason, I want to discuss a few issues with Common Ground. I’m giving it four tombstones because the story is solid, the characters are vivid and easy to visualize, and the sex is steamy yet sweet.
With that said, I have a huge problem with characters who cheat. Marcus, the injured party, didn’t consider it cheating so it didn’t affect the score, but I did, so it affected my enjoyment of the story. There is a scene where Marcus finds Sair, his bloodmate, pleasuring another woman. He finds it attractive and a foursome including the other woman’s mate ensues. Everyone is happy but me. I’m sorry, but there is a huge difference in asking your mate, “Hey, I kind of want a foursome. You in?” and in performing a sexual act with another person while your mate thinks you are in bed with him. It comes off as underhanded and selfish and it turned me off to Sair as a character. All she seemed to care about was sex. Not Marcus, not the bond, just sex.
This was the first book in the Tales of the Darkworld I didn’t thoroughly enjoy. The other books were heavy on the sex, but they focused on the relationship more than anything. Common Ground wasn’t like that. I didn’t feel Marcus and Sair’s love for each other. All I felt was their need for sex. By themselves, with others, and in a graveyard (I actually loved the graveyard part). I won’t stop reading the series because of one book, but I also wouldn’t necessarily recommend Common Ground to new readers. It will skew your view on the series if you begin here.
With that said, I have a huge problem with characters who cheat. Marcus, the injured party, didn’t consider it cheating so it didn’t affect the score, but I did, so it affected my enjoyment of the story. There is a scene where Marcus finds Sair, his bloodmate, pleasuring another woman. He finds it attractive and a foursome including the other woman’s mate ensues. Everyone is happy but me. I’m sorry, but there is a huge difference in asking your mate, “Hey, I kind of want a foursome. You in?” and in performing a sexual act with another person while your mate thinks you are in bed with him. It comes off as underhanded and selfish and it turned me off to Sair as a character. All she seemed to care about was sex. Not Marcus, not the bond, just sex.
This was the first book in the Tales of the Darkworld I didn’t thoroughly enjoy. The other books were heavy on the sex, but they focused on the relationship more than anything. Common Ground wasn’t like that. I didn’t feel Marcus and Sair’s love for each other. All I felt was their need for sex. By themselves, with others, and in a graveyard (I actually loved the graveyard part). I won’t stop reading the series because of one book, but I also wouldn’t necessarily recommend Common Ground to new readers. It will skew your view on the series if you begin here.
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