prostitute

The Accidental Call Girl by Portia Da Costa

Posted on by Dirty Girl Anne

The Accidental Call Girl (Accidental #1)

Grade: B
Hotness Level: Inferno
Kink Level: Moderate Kink
Genre: Contemporary
Series: Accidental #1
Reviewed by Anne
239 pages
 
When Lizzie steps out of a friend’s wedding reception and into a hotel bar, she realizes the handsome older man at the bar thinks she’s a “high class call girl.”  It’s an exciting prospect to consider and she decides to play along.  It’s even more exciting when she realizes it will give her a chance to try out some BDSM play.
 
John is so fascinated by the strangely innocent prostitute he picked up in the bar that he makes her offer – be with him every night during his business trip and he’ll pay her handsomely for her exclusive services.  Neither of them expects to fall for the other.
 
This was a solid, well written book that was also really hot!  I enjoyed it and was totally drawn in, wondering what would happen next.  Though the story is told from both points of view, we know Lizzie’s secrets from the beginning but know nothing of John’s other than that he has secrets.  The main conflict in the story is what will happen when they are open with each other?
 
I was fascinated at how this played out.  It made me think about what it means to be a prostitute.  Lizzie doesn’t think she is one, because she doesn’t intend to keep John’s money and because she’d willingly do what he wants without it.  She’s quite swept away by him, even though she’s trying not to fall in love.  Even though not every secret is spelled out in great detail, I felt like The Accidental Call Girl had a very satisfying HFN ending with confidence that an HEA would follow.  
 
I was surprised when writing up this review to realize that this book is the first in a same couple trilogy.  I generally shy away from those, but I have to say this book stands on it’s own very well.  It has that wonderful fine balance of leaving you interested to know what happens next, while leaving you full of hope for the couple.  I very much appreciate the NON-CLIFFHANGER ending!
 
I’ve read short stories by Portia Da Costa before and enjoyed them.  How delightful to find out she’s an author who can write well in short and long form!!  
 
So, I’ve read stories where the male character is a prostitute, but this is my first with the female in that role.  I think it was highly romanticized (a la Pretty Woman) but it was good.  How about you?  Have you found a romance with a prostitute as a main character that you enjoyed?  Or does that not work for you?

Throw Back Thursday- Naked In Death by J.D. Robb

Posted on by Dirty Girl Anne

Naked in Death (In Death, #1)
Grade-B
Hotness Level-Blaze
Kink Level-No Kink
Series-In Death #1
Genre-Romantic Suspense/Mystery
Reviewed by Kay
294 pages

Eve Dallas is police officer in the year 2058 and also a childhood sexual abuse survivor. She has a couple of good friends and rarely dates. Her work is her life pretty much. She is fresh off of a case that has scarred her emotionally when she inherits a mess of a case. It involves the death of a Senator’s granddaughter, who was a licensed companion. In this future you can be a prostitute as long as you’re licensed to do so. What makes the case more interesting is that the victim was shot with a gun from our current time period. Guns are outlawed in the future. Only serious collectors have them, which leads her to Roarke as a suspect.

Roarke is a very wealthy man with a collection of 20th century guns and he is friends with family of the deceased. But the death of the prostitute is only the first victim and the beginning of this mystery. As Eve gets sexually involved with Roarke, she endangers not only her career but her life as they work together to find this killer that has scared the community.

This was an audio read for me and the first In Death book for me. I enjoyed it and am headed to the library for the second one in audio form. Anyone who likes romantic suspense and a good whodunnit, this is a good start to what I hope is an exciting series. My only complaint as a romance reader is that it could’ve been hotter. Thank you to Anne and my friend Wendy for suggesting this series to me.

Breaking by Claire Kent

Posted on by Dirty Girl Anne

Breaking (Escorted, #1.5)

Grade: B
Hotness Level: Inferno
Kink Level: No Kink
Genre: Contemporary, same couple series
Series: Escorted #1.5
Reviewed by Anne
61 pages
 
This 61 page story picks up a with Ander and Lori a few months from the end of Escorted. (See my review of Escorted here.) Ander has been working on his doctorate and they’ve been apart off and on.  He unexpectedly comes home from a trip a week early because he needs to be with Lori.  (This story, in contrast to Escorted, is told entirely from Ander’s POV.)  He may have been needing to see Lori, but he can’t bring himself to share his problems with her.  Instead he just keeps seducing her.
 
Amazingly, I think this book had too much sex in it for me!  However, that was a plot point of the story, so it’s not exactly gratuitous.  It’s exactly what Ander was up to – he’s distracting Lori with sex.  He uses it as a shield.  It’s an interesting and kind of believable idea. Of course, that’s not going to last forever, and that conversation was where the story really shone for me.
 
I’d recommend this story to anyone who enjoyed Escorted, but I think this story would be more enjoyable after reading Escorted.


So, what do you think of this trend of authors writing novella length sequels/epilogues for established couples.  Do you like it?