Review: “Three’s A Crowd” by Everly Ashton

Series: Love in Apartment 3B, #2

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐💫

Steam: 🔥🔥

Release Date: March 1st, 2021

Add to Goodreads | Amazon.in (Available on KU)

Damn, the man has the body of a god. Like a real-life statue of David or something. It’s unfair that someone so annoying looks so delicious.

Keane and I have been enemies since childhood. He thinks I’m a Goody Two-shoes and I think he’s an arrogant a$$hole.

Years later nothing’s changed except the fact that we’re cohabitating in the same apartment along with his sister, who’s also my best friend.

Even though I’m fighting like hell to keep the city from tearing down the building he wants to replace with a new restaurant, we somehow find ourselves doing the horizontal mambo.

Maybe it’s the magic of the letter I found in our ancient apartment that predicted I’m going to meet the man of my dreams. Or maybe it’s just hormones. But just when I start to buy into us as a couple, someone from his past shows up with a shocking secret that Keane’s adamant is untrue.

Now I’m questioning if I can really trust the guy who told the entire football team in high school that I still slept with a stuffie at fifteen years old. In my experience, the answer is no.

Three’s A Crowd is my first Everly Ashton book and it was a helluva lot of fun! It had two great tropes – enemies to lovers and best friend’s brother – so you know you’re in for a treat with a story like that. And it’s the second in the series, so you know you need to read the first and most definitely look out for the third!

Fiona and Keane are the leads in this book. Keane is a chef at a popular restaurant in the city and Fiona is the childhood friend of his younger sister Marlowe. They’ve butted heads forever and they have just never liked each other. Fiona’s always thought of Keane as an asshole and Keane’s thought of as a suck up and goody two shoes, so obviously they’re struggling to get along. Till a fire in his apartment building displaces Keane and he ends up having to stay with Fiona and Marlowe.

“Christ, she’s like my own drug concocted to make me an addict and bring me down.”

That’s when things start to get interesting. I love how Keane is aware of his good looks, his washboard abs and how much he distracts Fiona, but I also love that he doesn’t try to hide those parts of him. Yes, he wants to get her flustered and it works, but he’s not doing it with the intention of doing that. It’s just the way he lives his life and he’s not planning to change for anyone. Fiona’s not looking for anything, especially not with Keane, but the more he puts himself in her way, the more she feels like she wants more.

I really enjoyed watching these two come together because they are so vastly different. Fiona’s fighting for those who can’t and Keane’s trying to prove himself to the world and himself. They have different goals and ideals, but somehow that doesn’t stop them from wanting to be together. Their relationship is a little fast, but given that they’ve known each other for most of their lives it also makes sense. The banter and the romance and the steam is all very exciting and I loved the gradual shift they go through.

The part that really stumped me and annoyed me was that Fiona didn’t stand her ground when it was clear that Keane was still going ahead with the restaurant even though she told him that they were trying to fight to save the space. And Keane kept making it seem like Fiona was being ridiculous about wanting to save it when he just wanted to prove something to his family. That was a big point of conflict for them, but it kept getting brushed aside for other things that were less important.

While I had my issues with the story and the way it all came together, I did enjoy Fiona and Keane’s relationship. And I am really looking forward to seeing how Marlowe’s life is turned upside down!

Thanks to Everly Ashton & Wildfire Marketing Solutions for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.