Review: B rating....
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 11 11, 2012
My Review:I could not walk away from this book and that is saying something on a 120,000 word book. The story and characters were really amazing...definitely a character driven novel, but I will admit that the voice in the novel drove me nuts. It's written in 3rd person present tense and I just didn't like that. It was distracting to the point that it would literally pull me out of the story at times. Although that isn't necessarily a bad thing. This is a gritty, harsh story and it's probably a good thing to come out of it a little bit just to give yourself a break emotionally.This book is about Liam and Jacen. They are roommates and best friends who work for an escort service called The Company. When you work for the Company, you have a ten year contract and there is no getting out of it. Liam has been working there for most of his contract, but Jacen is new...he's only done a year. These guys are close. Because they both work for the Company, they are well-aware of what their job entails and the risks it involves. They take care of each other when things go too far and they get "damaged". They check in with each other after jobs and help prop each other on jobs that they hate. Liam is gay and his specialty is personas...he can make himself into anyone's fantasy. Jacen, on the other hand is a huge buff guy and straight, but will do the gay thing if paid enough. He's a big guy, so usually if someone wants him, they want him as a top so he can just pretend.Things start to go awry for these two when Liam has a special request where he turns into Leah. Seeing Liam as Leah is a shocker and a real turn-on for Jacen. A few days later, there is a special request from one of Jacen's straight female clients. She wants to see him have sex with another guy. The Company sends Liam to fill the role. The problem is...when Liam works, he NEVER works as himself. He always dons a persona...that's how he gets through it. Working with Jacen, this doesn't work, because Jacen knows the real him. It throws their complete balance totally off-kilter and soon they both realize that they can't work for the Company any longer. It's time for them to run and go off-grid. They also get married as part of their cover.Both of these guys have really horrific pasts. They didn't get into prostitution because their lives have been easy and they definitely have the scars from their childhoods and their years spent hooking. They have learned how to protect themselves emotionally so they can simply survive. BUT they truly love each other and are committed to making that work. It's just painful to watch as they learn how to develop a real relationship, how to heal mentally and sexually, and as they are dealing with the daily threat of the Company. Things come completely unraveled for them a time or two....it's very realistic in this aspect. This is definitely not a book that's all rainbows and flowers. But at the same time that it's horrific and heart-breaking, there are moments for these two that are just beautiful. They have an amazing love...simply in that they can overcome all that they do.I really enjoyed the book, but be warned...this is not for the faint of heart. There are some very violent scenes which may push some triggers for some people. Also, if you are a writing stickler, you are not going to be able to read this one. For the most part, I was able to overlook the writing issues, but even for me, they did become distracting at times...and I'm truly not that picky about those types of things on books that I enjoy.