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A review by thebritishbibliophile
My Escort by Kelly Gendron
4.0
'A truly gritty, emotional read that will have you holding your breath while also hoping for the best!'
Thank you to Kelly Gendron for sending me this ebook ARC as part of her ARC team for me to read and leave an honest review
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I'm back with another Kelly Gendron read, moving on both in terms of subject matter and trope from my previous read of hers, Willing Me Him . Willing Me Him was a Friends to Lovers, Best Friend’s Sister, Secrets and Lies, Fake Boyfriend, Steamy HEA Standalone read. This time, we're in for a read of a different kind. Or are we?
The title (and series name) give way to one assumption before we've even turned the page but as the series title dictates, this is a story with a different kind of escort service.
'The Daxon Brothers all have day jobs. At night, they’re escorts. But a different kind of escort.'
In this novel, we are specifically seeing things through the eyes of one of the Daxon brothers, Brett, and how both he and his head and heart are thrown into Cassie's life. The two are brought together through a harrowing circumstance--at least for Cassie--, and Brett gets to fill the boots of the knight in a suit of armour upon a white steed to save her. From dramatic openings, several pathways open up for how and when these two would inevitably meet again.
Though circumstances which are echoed out into the real world, grows a strong female lead who manages to bounce back from said circumstances not all victims--both male and female--would normally be able to come back from. Whereas it would have been nice to see this progression and strength grow, rather than it being explained about in brief, props have to be given to Kelly for including this in any form within her novel. Cassie's character could've been turned into a simpering wallflower, shy and emotionally distraught, but we get to see both sides of her coin with her strength and those fleeting moments of insecurity and doubt.
My Escort is a story overall about overcoming obstacles of many kinds. Most of them in this case, emotional/mental, accompanied by the physical when the scene called for it. Brett overall as a character thanks to his and his brother's side job as 'Escorts' allowed for them, and him, to be already familiar and in the know with how people would react post-trauma, which enabled him to be resilient and less likely to bolt when in times the victim--in this case, Cassie--would experience moments which left her re-experiencing painful moments or memories. This doesn't mean that he doesn't have moments of lapse in judgement despite his foot already being in the door, there were moments within this read that tested both Cassie and Brett as individuals and as a couple, giving us moments of drama, angst, tension and all we love about novels such as these.
The only places that My Escort personally falls a little bit flat/short of the mark for me, is steam. There are moments of course where Brett and Cassie succumb to their desires--it is a romance novel, after all--, but the scenes could use a bit of added fuel for the fire. The intimacy was there and it got going, but that's as far as it got. This might just be Kelly's own personal preference for writing those kinds of scenes and in which case, I understand. However, as a reader we just crave that little bit more with those kinds of scenes. Definitely not a negative, but could definitely be put under consideration for more spice when the next book comes out in this series or otherwise.
In comparison to my previous read, I definitely liked this book better as themes along the cancer line, as Making Me Him toed on, don't overall give me an enjoyable reading experience. My Escort's series, 'A Different Kind of Escort Service' has great potential to become a must-read series, and I eagerly look forward to the next book!
4 stars!
Thank you to Kelly Gendron for sending me this ebook ARC as part of her ARC team for me to read and leave an honest review
-----------------------
I'm back with another Kelly Gendron read, moving on both in terms of subject matter and trope from my previous read of hers, Willing Me Him . Willing Me Him was a Friends to Lovers, Best Friend’s Sister, Secrets and Lies, Fake Boyfriend, Steamy HEA Standalone read. This time, we're in for a read of a different kind. Or are we?
The title (and series name) give way to one assumption before we've even turned the page but as the series title dictates, this is a story with a different kind of escort service.
'The Daxon Brothers all have day jobs. At night, they’re escorts. But a different kind of escort.'
In this novel, we are specifically seeing things through the eyes of one of the Daxon brothers, Brett, and how both he and his head and heart are thrown into Cassie's life. The two are brought together through a harrowing circumstance--at least for Cassie--, and Brett gets to fill the boots of the knight in a suit of armour upon a white steed to save her. From dramatic openings, several pathways open up for how and when these two would inevitably meet again.
Though circumstances which are echoed out into the real world, grows a strong female lead who manages to bounce back from said circumstances not all victims--both male and female--would normally be able to come back from. Whereas it would have been nice to see this progression and strength grow, rather than it being explained about in brief, props have to be given to Kelly for including this in any form within her novel. Cassie's character could've been turned into a simpering wallflower, shy and emotionally distraught, but we get to see both sides of her coin with her strength and those fleeting moments of insecurity and doubt.
My Escort is a story overall about overcoming obstacles of many kinds. Most of them in this case, emotional/mental, accompanied by the physical when the scene called for it. Brett overall as a character thanks to his and his brother's side job as 'Escorts' allowed for them, and him, to be already familiar and in the know with how people would react post-trauma, which enabled him to be resilient and less likely to bolt when in times the victim--in this case, Cassie--would experience moments which left her re-experiencing painful moments or memories. This doesn't mean that he doesn't have moments of lapse in judgement despite his foot already being in the door, there were moments within this read that tested both Cassie and Brett as individuals and as a couple, giving us moments of drama, angst, tension and all we love about novels such as these.
The only places that My Escort personally falls a little bit flat/short of the mark for me, is steam. There are moments of course where Brett and Cassie succumb to their desires--it is a romance novel, after all--, but the scenes could use a bit of added fuel for the fire. The intimacy was there and it got going, but that's as far as it got. This might just be Kelly's own personal preference for writing those kinds of scenes and in which case, I understand. However, as a reader we just crave that little bit more with those kinds of scenes. Definitely not a negative, but could definitely be put under consideration for more spice when the next book comes out in this series or otherwise.
In comparison to my previous read, I definitely liked this book better as themes along the cancer line, as Making Me Him toed on, don't overall give me an enjoyable reading experience. My Escort's series, 'A Different Kind of Escort Service' has great potential to become a must-read series, and I eagerly look forward to the next book!
4 stars!