Book Review – Escorted by Claire Kent

Escorted
This brought me right back to my delightful little “escort” marathon that I had last year. Er…. I mean. READING. Reading escort BOOKS marathon. About escorts. *smirk* Hehe. And do you know why I always seem to love these? Taboo. Oh yes.. a little of that, and well, you know. It’s sort of a “forbidden love” situation, on it’s own, right?

“I can’t believe you’re really doing this. You get to have all the fun.”

Shifting in her seat restlessly, Lori tried for tartness as she asked, “You call this fun?”

“Well, you’re going to be paying him a lot of money. It sure as hell better be fun for you.”

After all, these guys get PAID big money to be “yours” for an event. An evening. A night. Kind of puts ’em on this weird pedestal, ’cause y’all know the rules. You can look. You can flaunt. You can even touch. But you can’t keep. No matter how much he seems to like you (keyword).

And… you hear stories… well, in fact, it is brought up a few times in this book. Being that close, that often with a gorgeous dream man, sculpted and perfected just so. Dedicated attention, sweet affection… and other stuff. He’s also amazingly believable. Skillful in acting, playing the perfect part (to keep his customer satiated and her entourage fooled). But those lines get blurred and that crush can build into something much bigger.

He creates his persona (for sale) and keeps his true self, and his heart, out of it. And he’s good at that, too. Many fall for him. Him…? Not so much.

But what happens when he meets that client that he finds himself connecting with? Soon, his own lines are blurred. And therein lies another part of that forbidden love situation. His side of it. And then when we start seeing tiny little “peeps” of him… *sigh*

“I’m sure you know you’re absolutely gorgeous and the baldness just makes you look more fascinating, so I think you made the right decision.”

Ander’s expression relaxed and he turned back to her with a slight twitch of his lips. “I appreciate your affirmation, but where were you when I was seventeen years old and all the kids thought I was a freak?”

Awwww!! And he gets even… deeper. Loved him.

This book explores many facets of this kind of unconventional love story. I loved how it really took it’s time. Nothing was rushed, and their pacing was, to me, perfect. Realistic. Awkward. Embarrassing. Jealousy-inducing. Swoon-worthy. It hooked me from the start, ’cause my fellow readers were raving about it, and well, I have a good history with enjoying this genre.

Joanna: Paige recommended this one, but for some reason I can’t see anything past Dec. 31 on the wall here, so I’m reposting. This is a really good book. It blew me away – I started reading at 10 pm, which was a huge mistake because I couldn’t stop until I finished the whole damned thing. Holy cow…. It was free yesterday, doesn’t list as free today, but it’s sooooo good I’d pay twice the cover price!

Becky: LOVED this one!

Joanna: I slept through my alarm this morning, no thanks to this book! I loved it – Ander was just an incredible, unusual hero and I fell for him completely. I’ve never read a book with that much sex (all of it pretty vanilla, too!) that didn’t make me sort of bored. The relationship that grew between them was so intense, and the way they talked about sex was so real! This goes into my “Wow” category on my kindle, LOL.

Angelia: Joanna I feel your pain! stayed up reading this one last night also , coffee is my friend today , Although I thought the story was good, I will admit I was skimming the sex scenes towards the end of the book.

Claudia: You know I really liked this book!

Janet: In the middle of it…great book….

Maryse’s Book Blog: I’m totally reading this right now!!

Jeanie: Hee hee, I’m on chapter 4 now.

JAnne: This one was GREAT and super HOT!

Becky: I loved this one!! What a great story!

Lucy: loved this!

Brooke: Finished it yesterday, loved it

Sara: I thought it was really good! I was impressed!!!!

Maryse’s Book Blog: Hehe. Finger tapping on the shoulder scene was funny!

Lisa: I’ve just finished this book and I thought it was really good! And Maryse you are so right, the finger tapping scene was funny!

Kelsey: Was Miller I loved bald sexy Ander, great story, very educating *hehe* What’s funny about the shoulder tapping??? Works for me everytime! Teee heee

Michelle: I had to look up what the heck a dental dam is. This is a very education story.

Stacey: Heehee. I loved the shoulder tapping. It’s a great book! I absolutely adored it and can’t wait to read more by this author.

Chrissy: Got sucked in and just finished it. Loved it

Emma: It was an Ok read for me, just couldn’t get past channel and passage…

Maryse’s Book Blog: Loved it! SUPER STEAMY and sure…. some of the “steamy” made me giggle (or squinch my nose), but overall I LOVED it. Loved Ander, loved how dry he was at first (although at first, I didn’t), loved how slowly things evolved and loved “who” he truly was. It reminded me in a way of Charlotte Stein’s “Sheltered” … just in feel. And Damaged Goods, too (in story and feel).

And despite at first finding Ander dry, I was still so titllated. Maybe even more so, ’cause he wasn’t at all what I was expecting in a “gigolo”. He was… detached. Almost too professional. Gorgeous yes, but since she insisted on him not playing a “part”, well… he then played NO part. After all, he certainly couldn’t have played his true self. So he took on the role of sex-ed teacher. But like… not so sexy. Okay maybe a bit. Tee hee! But yep! No pretending, was her request.

“I can hold you if you want,” Ander offered. When she just stared blankly at the dark outline of his face, he added, “A lot of my clients like that afterwards.”

“Oh.” As she processed her feelings, she realized it would be nice to be held. But by someone who actually cared about her. “No. That’s all right. Thanks. I don’t want to pretend anything. I’m not trying to fool myself.”

No kissing, no cuddling, no fake affection. This isn’t what this is about. She’s paying him for a specific job, and that’s getting rid of that pesky virginity issue she’s still dealing with. And I *squinched* my nose a lot in the beginning. With him. He “seemed” everything I wanted to swoon over, but swoon, I could not. And she didn’t worry too much about it either. In fact, she decided to use him a few more times to make sure she had the hang of it. No pain, no gain and all that.

But you know how that goes… putting your trust in someone, over and over again, no matter how clinical, might eventually open up a whole can o’ worms. Seeing someone again and again, especially in that context, well, how long can both remain detached? Sometimes… your true personality just has to come out, even for just a moment. AND OMG those moments were AWESOME!! And then it gets fun! Actually the whole darn thing is fun. The awkward start, the surprises, the reveals, the emotions, the resistance… it’s all there. Like I said earlier in my super mini-review: “Nothing too angsty, but the situation on it’s own is angsty enough. Titillating!”

Oh. Did I mention steamy. I mean… super steamy.

“Wow,” she croaked. “Wow.”

He grunted.

“Wow. That was… wow.”

He grunted again.

Tee hee!! Oh sure he maybe “polished” and perfected… but he grunts with the best of ’em. 😉

So am I a book zombie? YOU BET!!! I started it last night and didn’t stop until 4am. And all I could think about was wishing I could read another one just like it, tonight. It was great from start to finish. Not perfect, but so good that I didn’t once want to take a break. Totally my thing!

4 stars. Maybe even 4.5 stars!

➔➔➔  Looking for more of my must-read recommendations? Browse my 5 star and 4.5 star and 4 star reviews. 😀

➔➔➔  Love this trope? Browse more  escort romance book features and reviews on my blog. 😀