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Sunday 14 May 2017

Mister Romance (Masters of Romance #1) by Leisa Rayven



Blurb:

Max Riley is the man of your dreams. Or at least he will be, for a price.

As his alter-ego Mister Romance, Max is a drop-dead gorgeous escort who makes romantic fantasies come to life. No sex, just swoon-worthy dates to die for, and the cream of New York's socialites can't get enough. Whether they want a dominating billionaire, bad boy with a heart of gold, hot geek, sexy biker, or best friend who loves them from afar, Max can make it all happen, but he's careful to keep his real identity a secret.

Enter investigative journalist Eden Tate. Having caught wind of the urban legend of Mister Romance from a lovestruck client, Eden is determined to publish a scathing expose on Max and his ability to swindle lonely society women out of their fortunes.

Desperate to protect his anonymity and his clients, Max challenges Eden to give him three dates. If she doesn't fall in love with him, she can run her story with his blessing. If she succumbs to his charms, the story dies.

Cynical Eden has no doubt she can resist his fake romance personas, but when the real Max admits he’s falling for her, she has to decide if the professional liar is telling the truth, or if the passionate man with the mysterious past is just one more character designed to con her out of her career-making story.

Don’t miss this sizzling new standalone from the internationally best selling author of Bad Romeo, Broken Juliet, and Wicked Heart.


Find on Goodreads

Purchase Links:

Amazon US: http://amzn.to/2pjAaMS
Amazon PB: http://amzn.to/2q4Ypvx
Amazon UK: http://amzn.to/2qqzVjn
Amazon CA: http://amzn.to/2pvVwCd
Amazon AU: http://amzn.to/2q5g8D3




Kristine's Review:
Reviewed: May 2017.

So here's the thing, I'm a sucker for certain tropes, childhood best friends, brothers best friend, enemies to lovers, and male escorts... it's with an almost giddy sense of anticipation that I find myself diving into these stories, add to that, the author has easily become an automatic 1click for me and you may be able to guess reaction to the idea alone of Mister Romance, I mean Leisa Rayven is the woman who created Ethan Holt and Cassie Taylor... and for those who have been following GPI for a while now, you'll no doubt remember my reaction the Starcrossed series, in truth, I still have that same reaction, it's part awed by the story and part far too emotionally invested in fictional characters to be classified as sane.

Now that you know my trope loves, let me add that the idea of opposite's attracting is another one of the things that makes me giddy, so combining Eden Tate, perhaps the worlds most cynical and anti love young woman, with Max, Mr Romance himself, who's goal is to create the most romantic of situations for his clients and you're almost guaranteed to make me just about beg for more.

Eden, is young, smart and sassy, she's knows all about failed relationships, and partners that split when things get hard. She's seen first hand the devastation a broken relationship can have on a person, let alone on a family. Despite those around her seemingly charmed by the notions of forever loves and happily ever afters, Eden is determined not to end up distraught after believing in something that isn't real, instead she's focusing on fixing her stalling career and finally busting out of the click bait nonsense articles her boss is forcing her to write. Eden is determined to become the savvy investigative journalist she's always dreamt of, when she stumbles on Mister Romance - a $5000 a date escort who is servicing the social elite and making romantic dreams come true, she might just have found the key to her professional success.


"Is that why I'm hesitating? Because on some level, I think this man, who's sitting there pretending to be another man, sees through the person I'm pretending to be."


Max AKA Mr Romance has created a lucrative career out of wining and dining rich women and fulfilling their romantic fantasies. He's not trading sexual acts, and all parties involved are consenting adults, so he's hardly doing anything wrong...right?? When Eden infiltrates his inner sanctum and threatens to expose not only his business but his wealthy clients, his only option is to issue a challenge he knows Eden won't be able to refuse.


"I'm trying to ignore how goddamn attracted I am to you."


I've been finding myself more and more drawn to the not quite slow burn books of late, where I once craved lots of sex and fast gratification in my books, I now find myself gravitating to that deliciously sexy chemistry that you only find in stories where the build is just as important if not more than the climax. I want that edge of my seat feeling, you know the one...where you're desperate to read more, to live and breathe the story, where you're so enamoured by the characters that you want to be them, know them, everything about the story draws you in and demands you pay attention, you're hungry for that first touch, first kiss, first everything... gahhhhh...it's that heady feeling of need and desire and love and lust that tickles your senses that I crave, and within the first chapter I was feeling those initial stirrings pulsing through my blood, in a matter of pages I was so utterly invested that I was buzzing and on edge ready for everything Rayven was bound to throw at me. The more I read, the more intense my reaction, before I knew it I was desperate, the authors ability to convey emotion and elicit a response from the reader overwhelming.


"Their partners give them sex, but what they truly crave is for someone to see them. Value them. Love them. That's what Maxwell does."


The beauty of this story lies in not only Rayven's exquisite prose, but her snappy dialogue and sharp characterisation. Eden and Max leapt from the page, I craved their interactions as much they did, feeling rather than simply reading their conversations. Everything about Mister Romance flowed effortlessly from the page, creating a story that felt more film than book, making it utterly addictive leaving me entirely unable to put it down.




About Leisa Rayven:


Writing has always been a passion for Leisa, and even though she originally intended to be an actress, it wasn't long into her time at drama school that she began writing plays.

Those plays were bad. Very bad. Well, her friends thought they were good, but that's because they were always cast in them and any opportunity to be on stage was met with an obnoxious amount of enthusiasm.

Since then, she's honed her craft, and several of her plays have been produced and toured throughout Australia.

These days, playwriting has given way to fiction writing, and she is now the proud mother of numerous book babies, including BAD ROMEO, BROKEN JULIET, and WICKED HEART. (Macmillan New York)

Leisa lives in Australia with her husband, two little boys, three judgmental cats, and a kangaroo named Howard. (*NB: Howard may or may not be her imaginary marsupial friend. Everyone should have one.*)

Contact with Leisa on Facebook


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