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Witches Knot #4

Thrice United

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It all started with a deck of tarot cards. Holly knew she had some kind of magical gift but she had always been forbidden to even speak of it by her now-deceased mother. Alone and suddenly free to explore her curiosity, Holly spreads the cards and has a vision and the first piece of the puzzle falls into place.

But suddenly she's a target of an attack and two hotter-than-hot vampires burst in to protect her and claim she's their mate. Even as she finds it hard to believe these two alpha vampires want her in their bed as well as their lives, she falls under their spell and begins to believe that she just might be worthy of love after all.

But there's no forgetting that she's got a past and a lot of unanswered questions, and her ignorance is putting her at risk. It's a journey that takes her from Seattle to New Orleans, where she confronts her past and embraces her future.

Reader Advisory: This book features scenes of explicit male/male sexual exploration.

233 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2006

7 people are currently reading
581 people want to read

About the author

Lauren Dane

111 books5,001 followers
Lauren Dane has been writing stories since she was able to use a pencil, and before that she used to tell them to people. Of course, she still talks nonstop, and through wonderful fate and good fortune, she’s now able to share what she writes with others. It’s a wonderful life!

The basics: Lauren is a mom, a partner, a best friend and a daughter. Living in the rainy but beautiful Pacific Northwest, she spends her late evenings writing like a fiend when she finally wrestles all of her kids to bed.

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5 stars
306 (36%)
4 stars
291 (35%)
3 stars
180 (21%)
2 stars
37 (4%)
1 star
16 (1%)
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
Profile Image for Jac Zifos.
71 reviews4 followers
June 21, 2012
I really liked the first and second books in this series, but number 3 was way too whiney,and this one completely dropped the ball. The sex was blah, very unusual for a Dane book, and very disappointing. The
evil warlock who was after her was almost an afterthought. The true bad guy never even made an appearance, and the two "attacks" on Holly took a whole paragraph each time to describe. There wasn't much action and the big ending...wasn't. Very anticlimactic.

The premise was good, I was really looking forward to it after the third one flopped, but I'm just not feeling this one. Holly was a pushover, doing whatever anyone told her to do, and Nate and Rhett were constantly bullying her around, hell even her family bullied her!

When she had to be converted, it could have been a really cool and intense scene, but even that was sort of rushed through and glossed over.

Overall, this book was just Holly protesting everything initially, then almost immediately caving in, two vampires who claim her and immediately take over her life, "You're moving in with us", "You have to convert", etc... and a deep, dark family secret that could have been dealt with so much better. Instead, everything comes out in the open with no drama and then its just over. The end.
381 reviews5 followers
September 20, 2019
very nice, 4.5 stars on first two reads; 4 stars on later 2019 read • a young witch (Holly, related to Charvez women) who doesn't know her own powers, two vampires who find her as their mate, and an old money gang of wizards that cursed the young witch and her mother • some good sex scenes as the vampire best friends open up to their attraction and desire and love for each other as well as Holly => m/m/f as well as m/m and some regular m/f/m
my only criticism is the very same one I have of virtually all of Lauren Dane's books: she ends the book the very minute she wraps up the key plot drama, denying us (her adoring readers) from spending any drama-free quality time with the characters she's written so well • some of us get attached to the characters and their lives and we'd like at least a few (better yet, quite a few) drama-free (or less drama-filled) chapters to spend with them *after* the main drama gets resolved and before we have to part ways with them, trudging along with our lives until we hear tiny bits and pieces of their lives in subsequent sequels

Nate Hamilton:
[A] tall man with skin the color of café au lait. His chest was broad and he had dreadlocks that reached the middle of his back, eyes a light green that were almost translucent, high-defined cheekbones and his lips were full and bore a natural curve, like he’d been born smiling. The goatee he wore was perfectly trimmed and only emphasized those sinful lips. He was the most beautiful man she’d ever seen. “I didn’t believe in vampires until I became one seven years ago."
Nate had been in the FBI for twelve years, and although he’d taken leave just a year before, his training was always there and he wore it easily.
"the rough ropes of Nate’s dreads falling over and against the ebony silk of Rhett’s hair." [tsk tsk, author Dane: anyone who's been with someone who has dreads or who *is* someone with dreads knows that they're soft not "rough" and the juxtapositioning of that [false] characterization against "the ebony silk" characterization of the other, white man's hair is particularly problematic]

Holly:
[T]he voluptuous redhead with the shy smile... Close up she was really lovely. Curvy and lush. Her skin was like porcelain. Her features were pretty, rosebud lips, generous breasts, long, graceful fingers. There was something about her, a combination of the total package that created a sort of 1940s film goddess appeal.
She appeared to be utterly without artifice and he couldn’t recall the last woman he’d met who could get anywhere near how genuine this one seemed to be.

Rhett Dubois:
"He’s a bit shorter than I am. Black hair, brown eyes? Dresses like he’s in a GQ ad.” ... deep black-brown eyes.... His hair was just a bit longer than it should have been but it looked good on him.
“How long have you been a vampire?”
“Forty years now. Funny how time feels different when you have so much more of it. It seems like yesterday really. Anyway, my mentor was the head of the history department at Boston University. After two years of knowing him, he told me about this man he’d met. Gaius. Only Gaius was more than a mere man, he was an immortal.”
Rhett shrugged. “It was the sixties. There was a sense that there were more questions than answers. I went with him to meet this immortal and that night changed my life. I was mesmerized. Gaius then became my friend—a father figure. I had no family to speak of and he became that to me.
“He changed me that summer. In August. I was in the last stages of lung cancer.” He snorted a laugh. “At least I stopped smoking. Anyway, he saved my life and I joined his caste and remained at his right hand for four decades. Until a few months ago.”

----------------------------------------------
Quotations

Where Rhett was stylish and suave, Nate was dangerous and edgy. Rhett wore Perry Ellis and his hair had one of those cuts that looked effortlessly rakish but cost two hundred bucks at a salon where they got you a glass of wine while you waited. Conversely, Nate’s dreadlocks came to mid-back. His pants were leather and laced up the sides. His black motorcycle boots had silver buckles up the side. His T-shirt had the sleeves cut off and he bore tribal circlet tattoos around each of his biceps. Many men paid big bucks to look dangerous. Nate was dangerous. [Chapter 3]

"Rhett, This woman is not just drawing you. She’s drawing me too. And not in the way that I’d just step aside because you saw her first. There’s something more here and you know it."

Nate rolled his eyes at Rhett. The man had great fashion sense but no finesse.

He [Nate] wanted Holly more than anything he’d ever wanted. Wanted to tie her up and tease her flesh for hours. Wanted to watch the flush of desire move up her body as he made her come wearing a blindfold. Wanted to tie her up and fuck her from behind. And, he admitted to himself, wanted to watch while Rhett buried his face in her pussy, fucked her, loved her too. The idea of a relationship of three was suddenly so right. He imagined sleeping with her soft body between the two of them, of Holly being the bridge to making the undercurrents of attraction he and Rhett felt toward each other a reality.

“Sweetness, to put it bluntly, you are my other half, my true mate. The woman I’m meant to be with.” He sighed tiredly. “But you’re also Rhett’s mate. Usually it’s just one to one, but sometimes, in rare circumstances, it can be that two vampires have one mate who is human. It’s complicated, but you asked why we wanted to protect you, wanted to be with you? It’s because we are meant to be.”
“And it’s just a coincidence that this super-unique-mate-dealie happened with two men and you’re both friends? I mean, the odds on that have to be pretty astronomical.”
“I’ve been thinking about that all night, actually. Since I walked into the bar and saw you and felt so drawn to you. I think that on some level, Rhett and I are meant to be together too.”
Holly, despite her incredulity, had to pause for a moment as a particularly detailed image of the three of them burned through her brain.

"Vampire society is governed by caste structure in most places, except for unaffiliated cities where all live freely without hierarchy. But my [Rhett's] caste, the Nento caste, has faced some major power struggles for the last five years. Three months ago the elder who’d been opposing Gaius won and took over. All of those in Gaius’ ruling circle had to scatter or take an oath to serve the new leader of the caste. Most of us scattered. Gaius went back to Germany. He wants to live out the rest of his years quietly amongst the oldest ones.”

Nate opened the door at the very end and stood aside, waiting for her to enter first.
Once inside she was too shocked by the sight that greeted her to even hear him close the door behind them. Astonished and no small amount titillated, Holly gazed around the room openmouthed. An incredibly large four-poster bed dominated one wall. A wall that held rings above the head of the bed with cuffs hanging from them. Opposite where she was standing there were shelves that held things that, while she couldn’t tell anyone their specific use, she knew enough to know they were sex toys.

Chapter 8
[Josh, age 17 and] your other brothers, Penn and Eli. They’re eighteen and twenty. Eli is at Harvard right now and Penn is at Northwestern. I’ll call them home tonight. They’ll be over the moon.”
Simon [Decatur] looked to Alex. “How’s her power level?”
“Master status, easily.”
Simon grinned with pride. “Chip off the old block I see. Josh is too and Eli is nearly there. Penn is the wild card, he doesn’t have the magical focus but he’s competitive, if his sister is that powerful, he’ll buck up.”

Chapter 9
[Nate said,] “Keep your hands above your head. I’m not going to use the cuffs. My command is your restraint.”

"Holly, do you know what scrying is?”
“Um, if I’m remembering right it’s when a mirror or a bowl of water is used and spelled so that something can be searched for and seen. But I also remember something about the spell thinning the barriers between planes of existence and some practitioners getting pulled into the darkness.”
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Silvia.
271 reviews19 followers
April 22, 2018
This series seems to alternate books that I like with books that make me want to roll my eyes. I think there are a couple of things that annoy me about Holly in this book (and Em in hers). First is the deep insecurity. A little goes a long way and at some point it makes the heroines act like idiots (e.g. jealous of blood donors). Second is immediately giving in to insta-love. Paranormal romance tend to have that instant attraction when you find your mate, but sometimes it's overdone to the point of laughability.

Holly (unlike Em) is also kind of a Mary Sue character. There's nothing to her, but she has two gorgeous vampires fall for her instantly, and a family who loves her before they get to know her. She doesn't have much of a personality, accomplishments, ambitions, etc.

There wasn't much of a plot other than we love you, we mate you, and we want to keep you safe, with lots of sex. The ending was anticlimactic.

The sex was good, and Dane made it 85% of the way through the book before using my pet peeve phrase, "pretty pussy" (no one needs to be thinking about the appearance of their lady parts, IMHO).

Anyway, on to the next book with high hopes.
Profile Image for Angela Crockett.
294 reviews4 followers
September 20, 2017
Still hanging with the Witches Knot series. Usually by now you would come to a book in the series that was "meh". Not this one! I was so set on finding why a pregnant 15 year old would be cast out and not reach out to family or friends. . . . For her daughter to find out why she and her mother struggled all her life almost broke my heart. Sometimes you are ready for the bad guy to get his ass kicked. . . I was ready! The love story between Holly and hew two vampires. . .Two! lol good reading right?
3 reviews
February 23, 2020
Holly starts out as being a strong woman with the strong mind .. Rhett &Nate doesn't leave her apartment even after she asked them to leave they basically used guilt and mind games to get her blood. How can someone give blood freely if you do mind game?? Not and then they tell her they're both her true mate she's overwhelmed holly takes off.
They both find holly at work and right away she starts to cry and apologize to both guys. REALLY Just screams mental abuse, she just meet them within a day.

Just my opinion.

Profile Image for Dallass.
2,314 reviews
January 11, 2018
I read this only because I had read Triad at the end of last year, and didn't find it totally repulsive. This story also had a decent storyline (if you ignored all the sex), and it didn't suck, so that's a plus.

The relationship between Holly and her long lost family was interesting, and the premise would make an interesting book if the author wanted to expand on the storyline for a more mainstream audience.

3½ ★
9 reviews
May 24, 2017
It had too much sex and not a real storyline. I normally enjoy Laurens books but his one was not very satisfying. Hope to have a better opinion of the next one.
Profile Image for Sarah.
62 reviews
January 5, 2017
hello let me tell you the emergency kit for this book the kit includes tissues, panties, ice cream, a stress ball and sometimes on rare occasions pillow to scream in.

you'll meet holly i feel so bad for her lets just say her grandfather was a real piece of work if you read the previous books in the series you will have met elise she is hollys grandmother after her mother dies of cancer she receives a pack of tarot cards and when she uses them her world is turned upside down she finds a pair of vampires who want to mate her a family who wants to know her and a wizard out to kill her her mates nate and rhett who want her for themselves and have to learn to share her between the two nate who is sensitive loves bdsm there is some spanking and wrist tieing that will have you squirming oh and don't forget the paddle omg! then there is sexy confident rhett who takes her like a fragile flower but then they an attraction for each other there is some light m/m with the f watching a little kissing a lot of fondling and a new panty set needed before this book is done i enjoyed it hope you do too
Profile Image for Crazy4more.
2,818 reviews
October 23, 2011
4.5 stars

Warning, another hot erotic read and an achingly sweet plot. So hot that I'd give it a 5 stars for erotic. I'm beginning to hate these Charvezes. A long lost cousin, Holly, ended up with 2 hot vampires...some people just have all the luck. Holly's rough start made her who she has become, low sef-esteem, insecurred, untrustworthy. It took a combination of a hot-rough-dom ex-FBI vampire and hot-passionate-endearing vampire to break down those walls. The storyline is decent and lots and lots of love scenes...hence, the hatred...

I love this series. The storyline is interesting, endearing, plenty of alpha hotness and strong-smart witches combined with erotica made this a fast read!

Don't know when I'm going to get to the last two books. Don't know why my library doesn't have the last 2 books yet. They're from 2008. I've put in a request to purchase but don't really know if that's going to happen, sigh...
Profile Image for Monica.
143 reviews8 followers
July 23, 2009
Another great book by Dane. Number 4 in this series did not disappoint (and I do hope there's another one around the corner...)
I love that she brought a completely different character in this time and was able to tie her into the previous women of the books. Great 'steamy' scenes, but also another great story line that, again, I couldn't put down. (I would give this more of a 4.5)
If you love supernatural, a love stories, adventure, and mystery rolled all into one - this is the series for you!
Profile Image for April.
2,641 reviews175 followers
January 31, 2013
A wonderful hot and steamy read!! I really dig this series!! Good stories with intriguing plots. And oh the steam factor is high!! And a menage on top of it all!!
Profile Image for LaSarah.
643 reviews51 followers
October 17, 2010
Good story. I even had waterworks at sa time or two.
Profile Image for Ladyacct.
863 reviews
March 26, 2011
Story was really good, but I didn't like the ending. That would be my personal opinion, so I gave it only 3.5 stars.
Profile Image for Caitlin.
53 reviews3 followers
April 3, 2012
OH MY GOD! Just read it, you'll understand. I just ordered the first one and can't wait to get into it. The books are well written and it's not so bad reading them out of order.
Profile Image for Joy.
72 reviews2 followers
May 9, 2011
Really Liked it ... Gutted that its last book of the Witch Knot series?? (4th book) .... actually starting the 3rd book!! lol
Profile Image for Megan.
12 reviews
March 8, 2012
Good book. Liked the plot. FYI: sexually explicit! But it doesn't take over the story too much. If it did, I wouldn't be reading it.... And the description given doesn't match at all the plot.
Profile Image for Heidi Andrews.
1 review
Read
May 30, 2013
Wonderful book. Could not put it down until I was done with the book.
Profile Image for iliana G.
1,707 reviews26 followers
January 8, 2014
I really enjoyed Holly's book!

Strong independent funny and sexy!

i liked the boys,and how the whole story between them went.

always enjoy some bdsm and m/f/m action!
Profile Image for Amanda Kern.
726 reviews8 followers
February 21, 2015
I liked this book

I am revisiting old books. This series is one of my favorites and lauren dane is one of my favorite authors for this genre.
Profile Image for Kelli.
403 reviews15 followers
February 12, 2017
This book was so bad, it took me a week to read it. I couldn't seem to get into it, so I watched TV instead. Like, actually watched it. Not just put it on for background noise.

Holly had no backbone.

Nate and Rhett were boring and uninspired.
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews

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