Shiny Objects

by Karenna Colcroft

Elena is happy in her relationship with her live-in boyfriend Corin. But when she runs into her former lover Niko at a party, she realizes she still has feelings for him. Her attempt to form a friendship with Niko goes off-course when the two of them kiss. When she confesses to Corin, he encourages her to not only remain friends with Niko, but to pursue a relationship with the other man. At first Niko has no objections, but the two men soon become rivals, and Elena isn't sure she can handle being shared.

300 pages, Paperback

First published August 20, 2011

About the author

Karenna Colcroft is a mother, wife, partner, and former teacher who began writing romance and erotic romance in 2006. After a few years' hiatus, she returned in 2022 to rerelease some previously-published works and bring new stories, primarily paranormal romance, to her readers.

Karenna has previously written both heterosexual romance and male/male. As of January 2023 she is focusing solely on male/male romance.

Karenna is a polyamorous nonbinary human who kinda stinks at writing bios on websites like this but does her best.

Reviews

[Alaina · Rating 4 out of 5]

I searched high and low for this book and I found it for free online. The only reason why I read this book was for a challenge but I am happy that I got another new author under my belt this year. January has been a crazy month for me because I found a ton of new authors. Some I loved and liked but I haven't found one I hated ... yet.

Shiny Object was a pretty interesting read. I knew absolutely nothing about it and just saw that it had the word shiny in the title. The reading challenge was to find a book with the word Shiny in the text - so that is what I did.

Overall, I liked the book. It didn't have an insta-love feel to me and the relationship wasn't based off of lust throughout the book either. The characters that Karenna provide you actually love each other while in this MFM relationship. I just feel like Karenna did a great job providing readers with a really well constructed relationship that was deep and full of love and respect.

It was just different from other romance novels that I've read this year. I guess there's only really one flaw with this book and that is the cover. I hate the cover. I was kind of hesitant to read this book based off of the super ugly cover. I know, I know! Never judge a book by it's cover but I definitely judged the heck out of it.

I would recommend this to everyone but it is hard to find. So, if you can randomly find it - then yeah, go ahead and read this book. If you don't want to spend you days looking for it - then don't.

[Tofu Fairy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I won this via a giveaway here on Goodreads and was very very pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed it. I had never read a novel that dealt with a straight MFM relationship that was based in love and not just casual lust. I felt the author did a very good job of not only providing very hot sex/love scenes but also delving into the minds of the three characters with honesty and candor and surprising amounts of real emotion. I felt that I knew these people very well and understood where they were coming from and the confusion they all felt over their emotions in a society that looks down on MFM relations. Very well done and highly recommended to anyone that enjoys erotica and is open to straight MFM.
PS: My only issue with this book was its horrid cover. The male models are NOT attractive at all and the female, while pretty enough, has orange makeup. It made for a very cheap looking book. I think it would have been better to just have the back cover repeated on the front and no people to be honest. Just my opinion.

[Tara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Elena is in a serious and committed relationship with Corin. They have an apartment together and are perfectly happy. When Elena is reunited with a former lover named Niko at a party, her feelings towards Niko confuse her. At Corin's insistence, Elena and Niko struggle to have a friendship, but a mere friendship is impossible for either to maintain. When Elena and Niko kiss, Elena confesses to Corin. Corin is surprisingly understanding and actually urges Elena to explore a relationship with Niko and him at the same time. Will this unusual arrangement work for the three of them?

I really enjoyed Shiny Objects. It was so fun to read because it's a situation you will probably never encounter! The passion between Elena and Niko was amazing and the novel was fantastically detailed!

*I won this book as a goodreads First Reads giveway*