This RITA® Reader Challenge 2017 review was written by VeronicaMcD. This story was nominated for the RITA® in the Erotic Romance category.

Here is VeronicaMcD's review:

I have to start this review by admitting that erotic romances are not my usual cup of tea, and when I looked at the sign up sheet, I did not expect to pick the category for my review. However, I changed my mind when I saw that there was a Nikki Sloane book nominated, and that it was one from her Blindfold Club series that I didn’t realize had been published. I read the rest of the Blindfold Club books last year after reading a SBTB guest review of a prior book. Three Sweet Nothings is the fifth book in the series.

The main characters are Kyle, an attorney and the brother of a previous book’s heroine, and Ruby, also an attorney, and Kyle’s law school girlfriend with whom he endured a terrible break up after law school because of a giant misunderstanding. Both those statements might be a turnoff for some readers, so it’s important to highlight this from the start: this is a second chance romance, and much of the conflict comes from two lawyers not being able to use their words (the ultimate irony, in my humble opinion).

Kyle and Ruby are an interesting pair, because she has trust issues and he has commitment issues. Kyle was raised by two parents that are shown to be very narcissistic and cold, and he lacks the ability to be emotive, especially when that emotion is love. Because of Ruby and Kyle’s previous relationship, Ruby has trouble trusting anyone. However, rather than talking through their issues like adults with professional background in rhetoric, Kyle draws up a sex contract. Basically, the premise of the book is that Ruby and Kyle agree to bone as much as possible, but not to be in a relationship. Kyle somehow thinks this arrangement will fix all of their trust issues and make it possible for them to have a “real” relationship. Um, okay.

The erotic portion of the romance comes in with the contract, which includes willing lists. I found this book interesting because neither Kyle nor Ruby is very into kink at the start of the novel. A lot of the sex scenes involve Ruby and Kyle trying something new to them, which was both refreshing for an erotic romance and, frankly, pretty cute. I tend to enjoy Nikki Sloane’s writing for two reasons: she writes realistic dialogue and phenomenal sex scenes. I felt that this particular story was enough of a departure from previous books that it didn’t feel formulaic. Unlike prior books in this series, the characters aren’t directly involved in the sex club as employees or clients, which I actually liked.

Despite enjoying the book for the most part, there were some problems. During the last few chapters, there was another major conflict, and I wanted to bang my head against the wall. Ruby and Kyle argue and are in a situation similar to the one that caused their original break up, and they basically behave as though they have learned nothing! They are no more trusting, and no better at just talking about their feelings! I was so frustrated, and I was curious to see how the situation got resolved. The resolution actually happened very quickly, and to me, it was out of nowhere and the mutual groveling was not proportional to how bad the argument was.

Another problem I had was that one of the most enjoyable parts of the novel were the cameos of characters from previous books. I liked Kyle and Ruby, but I think that this speaks to the fact that there wasn’t enough development of them that they were not the most memorable part of their story. Sloane also used quite a bit of this book to set up for the next book in the series. This is fairly typical of the books in this series, but there wasn’t any build up for Kyle and Ruby in previous books, so for me, the book lacked balance between the main couple and the secondary characters.

I think that this book would be an A- or B+ as a stand alone novel; however, in the context of the series, I give it a B-. I just didn’t see the same level of character development and plot just didn’t meet my expectations for a Nikki Sloane title. I would still recommend the book, as it’s a good read, and if this sounds like your style, the other books in the series are also great.