Reviewed by Mal
TITLE: Party of Three
SERIES: A Sapphire Cove Suite Secrets Novella
AUTHOR: C. Travis Rice
PUBLISHER: Self Published
LENGTH: 195 Pages
RELEASE DATE: June 24, 2025
BLURB:
C. Travis Rice’s Suite Secrets Novellas are steamy, standalone stories in the beloved universe of Sapphire Cove, a beautiful luxury resort on the sparkling Southern California coast, where strong-willed heroes release the shame that blocks their hearts’ desires.
“Jealousy was your word, babe. Not mine.”
Buckley Mitchell lives to put people back together again. The charming, warmhearted EMT is exactly who you want holding your hand in the ambulance after you’ve broken a bone. And he’s just the boyfriend Mateo Cano needs to help him embrace his sexuality after years of repressing his true self. But Mateo hasn’t been entirely truthful about the complicated relationship between him and his best friend from his Marine Corps days, the accomplished crew chief who saved his life during a training accident gone wrong. Why did Master Sergeant Jeff Braxton vanish from Mateo’s life right after Mateo and Buckley got together?
When Buckley and Jeff meet for the first time at Sapphire Cove, a posh oceanfront resort in Southern California, a more complicated history is revealed. But Buckley isn’t jealous. In fact, he’s something else altogether. Something excited…and hungry. He’s spent the past year bringing Mateo’s fantasies to life. Now it’s his turn to have his fantasies realized. And to do it, Mateo will partner with the handsome older Marine who taught him everything he knows in the bedroom, turning their lavish villa at Sapphire Cove into a gateway that brings secret passions to life. Will their wild weekend be little more than a fling? Or will it change all three of their lives for the better?
Want more Sapphire Cove? Don’t miss the novels in the series.
Sapphire Sunset
Sapphire Spring
Sapphire Storm
Sapphire Dawn
REVIEW:
When I read the blurb for this one, I knew I had to read so my expectations were quite high. It’s a shortish novella, featuring a MMM pairing with an established couple and fantasy at play with an old experienced flame. That sounds extremely hot to me so I expected a ton of smut and spice with some relationship dynamics to move the plot along.
To be fair to the book it does deliver on exactly that. Buckley and Mateo are on Sapphire Cove celebrating Mateo’s birthday. Exploring kinks and fantasies that appeal to Mateo is Buckley’s kink and boy does he like to deliver. Mateo’s been estranged from Jeff and is butt hurt he won’t reconnect so Buckley takes it upon himself to tell a lie and build a scenario where Jeff has to come to Mateo’s party.
Through a series of coincidences Mateo thinks the surprise is a threesome with Jeff and Buckley. Buckley having been turned on massively by Jeff and Mateo’s past exploits lends credibility to this assumption. However when all is revealed they do still progress to a raunchy intimate connection with a load of sharing and spice. I think Buckley was my favourite character- I just loved his take no prisoners and no bs attitude, o liked soft hearted Mateo who is kinkier than he believes but I think I was almost disappointed by Jeff.
These three, while they has a decent physical dynamic had no real chemistry and the banter was honestly forced and stilted whenever Jeff entered the picture. I also did not connect with the writing style at all. It is tipping into the mundane and speeds up only when it comes to the spicier scenes but again I felt very little chemistry between the protagonists expect Buckley – all the stars I’m giving are for Buckley. I also didn’t enjoy the story in story concept since I have no idea who the protagonists are since I havnt read the rest of the series and considering this is platformed as a standalone that pulled me up a bit.
If you’re looking for a token plot (which in my opinion could have been explored more) and some smut with a dash of role play and kink with a MMM pairing you might want to check this out.
RATING: 
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