13 June 2014

At Your Beck & Call Tour Stop!


At Your Back and Call Cover
Hallen Jansen has it all. At 28, he has a flashy car, a great apartment, and a job he’s good at and that he loves – as an escort – working at your beck and call.

His life is easy, with no emotions or attachments slowing him down – choosing to keep moving, always running from the past. But when a new client awakens unfamiliar feelings, all bets are off. Can he convince a recently divorced woman twenty years older to trust men again – to trust him? Can Hallen trust himself not to screw things up?

Surrounded by people who choose to judge them, will they make their relationship a reality, or is it heartbreak for both?

Not all services are professional.
Am I the only one who loves a good older woman/male escort romance?  Yeah, I didn’t think so.
Hallen is an escort, but all around a pretty interesting guy. He makes it pretty clear from the prologue what he does for a living, and he’s good at it.  We learn a little about his history, his family, how he got to be where he is today.  It’s a journey we take with him, from porn star to escort to man in love.  It’s an unexpected and poignant tale.
I really didn’t know what to expect when I picked this up, but honestly for me it was a lot deeper than I thought it would be.  Hallen is an artist, and his voice in the book is original and deep.  I didn’t expect that.  I thought it would be a sordid tale of sex and love, like so many others I’ve read with similar basic plots, but really it was a true romance through the eyes of an artist.  I was blown away.
Hallen has lead a very complicated life and you begin to understand him and his motivations as the book delves into his past and present.  He’s sexy, that’s for sure, and in many ways I think he was lucky to be recruited by Eloise when he was.  She serves not only as his “pimp” but also as his mother figure where he was lacking.  It’s a weird relationship, I thought, but only helped me to feel more deeply for his character and understand his motivations.
I really, REALLY like that he falls in love not only with a client, but a client who is older than him.  As a woman quickly approaching 40, I really appreciate when the object of affection is a “mature” woman.  I thought Laura was a great character too.  She had her own faults…she wasn’t perfect.  Thought she and Hallen seemed to be perfect for each other in their imperfections.
This isn’t one of those books that you finish in one read.  I really think it’s meant to be savored, looked forward to.  It’s a 400+ page book, so I know I had to take my time with it.  As I said, though, it was a real masterpiece.  I am intrigued by this author’s ability to pull so many emotions from this reader out of one tale.  It was happy, sexy, sad…it was a really good book.  I’m going to give it a rare 5 star review!
She joined me at the window, a large glass of Cognac in each hand. I accepted one and clinked it against hers.

“Santé!”

“Skål!”

She smiled and took a sip, her eyes thirsty and impatient.

“What are you thinking?” she asked, quietly.

“That it’s a long way down.”

She laughed, tension seeping around the edges of the sound. “I hope you’re not thinking of jumping to get away from me.”

I turned to look at her, deliberately running my eyes up and down her body. “No, I’m not thinking that.”

Her lips parted in a small gasp.

I took the glass out of her hand and placed it on the table with mine.

Belinda. Her name was Belinda.

“What do you like, Belinda?”

“Um, I…”

“You can tell me,” I said, as if we were sharing a secret. “Do you want me to touch you slowly?” I drifted my fingers down her arm, stroking her skin. “Or do you want me to take you hard?” I gripped her wrist in one hand and tipped her chin up with the other, so she was forced to look at me.

I saw her moisten her lips and swallow.

“Hard,” she whispered.

Yeah, that’s what I’d guessed. You learned to read people—women—in this job.

She licked her lips again and tottered forward, her balance becoming uneven with an alchemy of alcohol and lust.

“Do you want me to take you at the window, baby? Press your beautiful breasts against the cold glass while I fuck you. Anyone looking up would know what a bad, bad girl you are. Anyone could see.”

She choked on a laugh and I could tell she was considering it. My guess was she’d go for the bed. Older women usually did.
I started writing contemporary romance two years ago. Before that, I didn’t think I could write a sex scene. Turns out I can!
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My lucky number is 13 because I was born on the 13th and live near a haunted castle by the ocean. My number one past-time is watching hot surfers get changed into (and out of) their wetsuits.

My husband doesn’t read my books. My mother does.

Writing is my love, my hobby, my total addiction. All my characters are important to me and whisper their stories, even when I’ve finished writing their books. That’s why you’ll often find bonus chapters/out-takes from various books, because those voices just won’t be quiet.
 

2 comments:

  1. That was an amazing review! Thank you so much! I'm really happy that you felt so many emotions reading it, and that you saw their love develop. Love LOVE your review :) THANK YOU! jx

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