Short Review of Songbird by Maya Banks

Maya Banks
Songbird
Samhain Publishing, September 2009

Genre & Keywords: Contemporary, Ménage, Cowboys, Violence, Grief

Rating: êêê
Heat level: ¹¹½

The Back Blurb:
The voice of an angel, a husband who loved her. She had it all…until a tragedy took it away. A Linger story.
They called her their Songbird, but she was never theirs. Not in the way she wanted.
The Donovan brothers meant everything to Emily, but rejected by Greer and Taggert, she turned to Sean, the youngest. He married her for love, and she loved him, but she also loved his older brothers.
Her singing launched her to stardom. She had it all. The voice of an angel, a husband who loved her, and the adoration of millions. Until a tragedy took it all away.
Taggert and Greer grieve for their younger brother, but they’re also grieving the loss of Emmy, their songbird. They take her back to Montana, determined to help her heal and show her once and for all they want her. They’re also on a mission to help her find her voice again. Under the protective shield of their love, she begins to blossom… until an old threat resurfaces.
Now the Donovans face a fight for what they once threw away. Only by winning it—and her love—will their songbird fly again.

Warning: Explicit sex, ménage a trois, multiple partners, a committed polyamorous relationship, adult language, and sweet loving.

I’ve read a few books by Maya Banks before and I liked them most of the times. The first ménage romance I read was her Colters’ Woman, I think. That was a hot read that I enjoyed quite a bit. Songbird is another one of her ménage stories. Again it involves some hot ranching brothers. Originally there were three siblings, like in Colters’ Woman, but in this story one of them died an early and violent death. He was the one who was married to the heroine, Emmy. She loves all three of the brothers but the older two rejected her a few years back. Now with their younger brother dead, those brothers came to take Emmy back home and help her get over her grief. So far, the ingredients are promising. And the first third of the story was promising too. The characters were introduced, their feelings explained and their relationship was gradually developing into something beautiful. Emmy’s grief was heart-wrenching and the brothers were adorable in their behavior and insecurities.

However, the first thing that bugged me a little bit and took my out of the story was a description of Greer’s appearance. If it was done somewhere at the start of the story, it would’ve been okay, but now it came at a moment that I’d already made my own mental picture of the guys. Suddenly he’s described as bulky and the shorter one of the brothers and that so didn’t match my image of the guy!

Well, this is just a minor thing, but a bigger problem for me was the sudden appearance of a kidnapper (can’t say much about that without spoiling it). Let’s just say, that turn in the plot came out of the blue for me. Maybe I’m not enough of a perceptive reader and should have seen it coming. But I didn’t and to be honest I don’t think the story needed this kind of suspense. I reckoned it all a bit too unbelievable! Besides, it reminded me very much of what happened at the end of Colters’ Woman… In my opinion it smelled of sensationalism, just added to jerk some more tears. And truthfully, the story didn’t need that plot turn to be a tearjerker. Like I said, Emmy’s grief was heart-wrenching enough. That part was imo written beautifully.

Another thing I liked was how the brothers were insecure about how to make this polyamorous relationship work, unlike the heroes of Colters’ Woman, who were all resolute about sharing one woman for the rest of their lives. Nope, not Taggert and Greer! Initially they turned Emmy down and even now they’d come to terms with it, they don’t really know how to act. That made them loveable for me. Of course things in the bedroom go smoothly from the first moment, but that’s how things (should?) go in romances! Right?

To conclude, reading Songbird wasn’t a waste of time, it has it’s good moments but it’s not one of my favorite ménage romances.