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3.33 AVERAGE
3.33 AVERAGE
After reading Apollo’s Curse, I had high expectations for this story and it just did not meet my expectations. The characters were interesting. The story clearly had direction, points A, B, C, etc. Unfortunately, the journey to those points fell apart then just ended.
When I purchased the book through Amazon, I understood that there was an additional story attached, but with the listing of the ebook at 502 pages and the kindle version at 454 pages I settled in for a long read. The kindle book started with the summary that described the plot, not unusual, I usually just skip through those but suddenly there was a break and a scene and I couldn’t figure out if I was already on the first chapter (the breaks along the bottom didn’t seem to correspond to chapters which was odd). Apparently not, as I paged ahead for quite a while and finally found the first chapter. That was not a good first impression and the last impression of being at 49% and suddenly hitting the epilogue did not leave a good lasting impression either. This digital book definitely needed some checking because the setup with the summary and scene excerpt along with the additional full-length book at the end was very disconcerting to this reader. I was expecting a lot more story here.
The character of Colin was fascinating to me. Colin kept busy making a name for himself as a voiceover actor after giving up on auditioning for physical acting roles due to extreme stage fright though his friends still encouraged him to conquer his fears. Colin takes the money from a recent successful job and hires “Hamilton” a high price escort to explore his lifestyle and as a bonus finds a way to conquer his fears.
“Hamilton” (really?) is really Henry, a screenwriter who makes his money doing various other occupations including high price escort and “Dillinger” a GFP porn gig. I kept thinking that Henry was a method actor with all his “personas” which were somehow all a part of him and that idea just failed for me. I guess maybe I was supposed to connect that Colin conquers his fears by not being himself but Henry takes on characters that are all a part of him? It seemed like the main concept of the story was in conflict with itself and just did not work for me. It turned me off Henry, who I think could have been a very interesting character given his background and reasons for doing these jobs. If only they had left the “method acting” out of his money-making occupations, I might have liked this story a little more but it became too distracting for me.
When I purchased the book through Amazon, I understood that there was an additional story attached, but with the listing of the ebook at 502 pages and the kindle version at 454 pages I settled in for a long read. The kindle book started with the summary that described the plot, not unusual, I usually just skip through those but suddenly there was a break and a scene and I couldn’t figure out if I was already on the first chapter (the breaks along the bottom didn’t seem to correspond to chapters which was odd). Apparently not, as I paged ahead for quite a while and finally found the first chapter. That was not a good first impression and the last impression of being at 49% and suddenly hitting the epilogue did not leave a good lasting impression either. This digital book definitely needed some checking because the setup with the summary and scene excerpt along with the additional full-length book at the end was very disconcerting to this reader. I was expecting a lot more story here.
The character of Colin was fascinating to me. Colin kept busy making a name for himself as a voiceover actor after giving up on auditioning for physical acting roles due to extreme stage fright though his friends still encouraged him to conquer his fears. Colin takes the money from a recent successful job and hires “Hamilton” a high price escort to explore his lifestyle and as a bonus finds a way to conquer his fears.
“Hamilton” (really?) is really Henry, a screenwriter who makes his money doing various other occupations including high price escort and “Dillinger” a GFP porn gig. I kept thinking that Henry was a method actor with all his “personas” which were somehow all a part of him and that idea just failed for me. I guess maybe I was supposed to connect that Colin conquers his fears by not being himself but Henry takes on characters that are all a part of him? It seemed like the main concept of the story was in conflict with itself and just did not work for me. It turned me off Henry, who I think could have been a very interesting character given his background and reasons for doing these jobs. If only they had left the “method acting” out of his money-making occupations, I might have liked this story a little more but it became too distracting for me.
4.5 wonderful stars!!
Conning Colin , is one of those books readers are going to either love or hate. The story is out of the box and can easily confuse a reader especially if the reader has a habit of skimming a story. Most people may have gravitated to this book because the blurb was intriguing or because they liked the authors. I’m part of the latter. I love Brad Vance’s stories ( especially his Viking series [bc:Colum's Viking Captivity|17835266|Colum's Viking Captivity (Colum's Viking Captivity, #1)|Brad Vance|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1366558891s/17835266.jpg|24955443]), and when I saw he had a new release pending, I scooped it up blindly. I knew nothing of the plot nor was I familiar with the co-author. The only thing that mattered to me was that Vance wrote it, therefore, I’m going to read it.
I loved this story. There were glimmers of Vance’s past characters in both MC’s and I fell in love with the modern twist to his “days of yore” characters. Ok...I’m so excited, I’m getting way ahead of myself so let me back up a bit. Conning Colin tells the story of Colin O’Neill, a talented actor who does voice over work because he suffers from stage fright. Colin has also just recently divorced his wife and best friend after realizing that he is actually gay. Colin is in essentially in limbo. He has a wonderful friendship with his ex-wife but his career is not a consistent one and he’s also way behind on exploring his sexuality. Colin finally catches a lucky break and lands a job with steady income. Now that he’s in a better financial position Colin decides to take a leap of faith and explore his sexuality… with an escort who’s profile has intrigued him for months.
Hamilton, is NOT your run of the mill escort. Hamilton tailors his personality to fulfill the desires of his clients. He’s handsome, refined and possesses a magnetic personality that draws you to him the minute he enters any room. Harrison may dress to the nines and morph effortlessly into the kind of man his clients dream about but his reality is a stark difference to the upscale image he projects. Harrison lives in a cramped apartment, hustling several gigs, trying to make ends meet. He earns good money, however, the majority of his earnings is spent on someone very important to him. Hamilton is currently putting himself through school and has dreams to one day become a screen writer. Drowning in debt, Colin ( and his steady 2k payment), couldn’t have landed in Hamilton’s lap at a better time.
The first meeting between Colin and Hamilton is a sweet one. I cringed a couple times for Colin while he revealed his past dates and sexual experiences to Hamilton. Hamilton for his part put Colin at ease immediately and as these two got to know each other over the coming weeks I fell hard for both of them. Both men essentially assumed masks for various reasons but despite those masks, their true selves kept emerging and forged a true romantic connection that neither saw coming. This story takes a lot of twists and turns but they all make sense. Some parts are predictable but it's so well written and organic to the characters that it didn’t matter.
Elsa Winters is a 'new to me’ author and I must say, her and Brad’s writing style compliment and mesh rather well. I am looking forward to checking out her stories! If you’re a fan of hers but never read Vance, I highly recommend you check his books out as well, especially if you enjoyed this story (or want to learn more about Colum ;) )
This was a fantastic great read and I look forward to future collaborations by these two.
Happy Reading!
*ARC provided for review at my discretion*
