The Distance Between Us (Distance Between Us #1)

Title: The Distance Between Us (Distance Between Us #1)
Author: L.A. Witt
Publisher: Samhain Publishing
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Genre: Contemporary M/M, M/M/M
Length: category (short novel, 146 pages)
Rating: 4.25 stars out of 5

After ten years together, Ethan Mallory and Rhett Solomon are calling it quits. They’re more than ready to dump their heavy emotional baggage. The only thing they can’t seem to unload is the house. They’re stuck living as roommates with a hefty mortgage hanging over their heads…at least until they can bring in some extra money to pay it down. Solution: rent out a room.

Enter Kieran Frost. Suddenly, the only thing Ethan and Rhett both want more than getting away from each other is getting close to their single, young, hot roommate. Complicating things is the fact that Kieran doesn’t mind the attention from both, and he certainly doesn’t mind sharing.

Their combined chemistry ignites something else that Ethan and Rhett had thought was long dead—the mutual attraction that drew them together in the first place. Except bitter jealousy over Kieran could only push them even farther apart…

THE REVIEW

Ethan (42) and Rhett (39) were moving on after being lovers and partners for a decade. Told in Rhett’s first person POV he seemed to be in a big hurry for Ethan to leave because he could no longer stand to live in the same house with him. Too many bad memories had left him bitter now that his long-time relationship was officially over and he was single again. Unfortunately, they had to continue living together until they could sell their house when the real estate market improved and in the meantime they needed help to pay down the mortgage. In order to do so they decided to rent out a room, but when the applicant showed up he was so unbelievably hot that it was a whole new ballgame for Rhett, once he picked his tongue up off the floor. Keiran was not at all what he was expecting, and for the first time in 10 years he was attracted to someone other than Ethan. When Ethan met Keiran his reaction was identical – the only question was: who would make the first move to bed their new 25 year old roomie?

That night Ethan made his move. It was only a few weeks since they had officially split, but they had not had sex in months so he was very horny. When he and Keiran had sex they were so noisy that Rhett could not sleep that night and the next morning when Ethan showed up in the kitchen he had the battle scars to prove what a wonderful night he had had. Soon it was Rhett’s turn and he made the most of it right after he taught Keiran the fine art of weightlifting. This is the first time that I have ever seen a lesson in weight training being used as foreplay. Soon Rhett and Ethan were taking turns almost nightly with their hot roommate who was like a wind-up doll, or Eveready bunny. Then the stakes escalated when Rhett came home after work one evening and found Keiran giving Ethan oral sex in the living room; instead of being mad Rhett became aroused. Being a voyeur was not enough for him and he wondered what it would be like if they all had sex together, and from there it was only one step from thinking about it to suggesting this new kink to actually doing it. However although it was the hottest sex that any of them had ever had there was something missing, and for the life of him Rhett could not figure out why Ethan was acting strangely and seemed almost withdrawn. But doing the deed once whetted Rhett’s appetite – would once be enough? What about Keiran – how did he feel about being in the middle of the ongoing war between his f**kbuddies?

If there’s one compliment I can pay this author it’s that she can write hot sex scenes that are not boring, even when there’s lots of it as was the case in The Distance Between Us. Most of the time the sex did advance the plot, although with three dicks in play I wondered if Keiran would fold under the pressure to service two such horny men. There was one casualty after the threesome. The relationship between Ethan and Rhett which was bad before, seemed to go further downhill mostly because Ethan appeared to want something more, and he and Rhett were speaking a different language. Then Rhett was faced with losing Ethan forever and it was only then that he realized what he had lost.

If your idea about sex or romance in these books is that there should be only two men in a gay relationship at any one time, you may have difficulty reconciling the theme of this book because it certainly is not your everyday average romance. The Distance Between Us is definitely complex and after I finished it I thought that the author did a good job on the plot and the protagonists, especially Rhett who was blind to his own faults and issues. L.A. Witt’s solution to mending the relationship may not have been everyone’s desirable option, but it sure was a whole lot of fun and incredibly erotic, and in the end achieved the purpose of getting the guys to talk to each other. However, I still don’t understand why many authors use “The Big Misunderstanding” trope in their M/M romances, because it makes the characters seem as if they are wearing blinders.

What I liked

The relationship between Rhett and Ethan and their 18 year old daughter Sabrina (she’s really Rhett’s daughter but they both treated her as their daughter). The fun between both guys and Sabrina gave the book a change of pace so it wasn’t just sex 24/7  and her grief at their breakup showed a different aspect of how this would affect her.

I liked Rhett’s friend Dave whom he used as a sounding board whenever he didn’t know what to do about his problems with Ethan – Dave had a unique sense of humour which poked fun at Rhett’s situation and he couldn’t figure out why Rhett was having problems, after all “Twice the cock, what’s the problem?” Another good line from Dave when Rhett complained that he could hear everything from the next room “What wouldn’t I give to spend a night in that house, it’s like audio porn from all directions”

I liked Keiran a lot and I hope that we get his story next.

The Distance Between Us is high energy, very funny, with a lot of angst and two complex flawed protagonists who proved that hot sex between three people doesn’t necessarily translate into intimacy. Surprisingly, the catalyst who helped Rhett crystallize his  feelings was Keiran, the man with whom both men were having sex. While the way things worked out was plausible, I thought a couple areas needed a bit of work especially Ethan’s character which I didn’t get to know until the end since this was all from Rhett’s POV.

If you’re looking for a book that’s different, a lot of fun, mucho recreational sex between three hot men who can’t get enough, then you should pick up this book. Many of you probably know that I don’t normally like books with lots of sex but The Distance Between Us was very entertaining and actually had a plot. Definitely recommended.