Review: Deal Maker by Lily Morton
SYNOPSIS:
Sometimes your mouth makes deals that your heart can’t honour.
Jude is a highly successful model, but a very reluctant one. His life is full of casual hook-ups with pretty men in glamorous locations, but it’s still empty. However, circumstances decreed a long time ago that this was his path, so he’s resolutely stayed on it and accepted his fate with good grace. He made a deal with himself and his hook-ups. Get in, get out and no ties with anyone.
However, an accident at home one night leads to him making a new deal and accepting the offer of help from an unlikely source. It leads to an unexpected summer of falling in love with a larger than life man and his child.
But by the end of the summer his reasons for not staying are still valid. Will he turn away? Can he?
Asa is a talented actor who has spent time away from the scene to look after his son. But now he’s back, and the last thing he needs are complications from the gorgeous man who is staying with him. Scarred from too many betrayals, he has no intention of forming a lasting tie with anyone. However, he can’t resist the beautiful man with secrets, and to his horror he develops feelings.
But a deal’s a deal and they said it was just for the summer. What can Asa do with a man who has forever in his eyes and goodbye on his lips?
REVIEW:
I didn’t know I would like an older man romance, but here we are. This is the second book in the Mixed Messages Series, and honestly it had everything book one was lacking. The story had sizzling chemistry, endless laugh-out-loud moments, palpable tension, a little bit of a drama, a happily ever after, and the world’s cutest five-year old boy.
This story is all about Jude and the heavy burden he is carrying around, aka helping his parents financially. He is so much more than just an underwear model, but unfortunately Asa judges him by his cover. Jude plays into Asa’s hand and acts like the vapid, self-absorbed air head he believes him to be. And with that hilarity ensues, I spent a good portion of the the first half of the story laughing as Jude pulls prank after prank on Asa. But the best part is when they own up to their feelings. Are there bumps along the way? Absolutely, but these two don’t take long to reconcile their issues and the best part about these two is their transparent communication.
Asa’s home is a continuous stream of chaos and people. I loved how there was never a dull moment. The real scene stealer and star of the story is Asa’s son, Billy. He is absolutely captivating, witty, charming, adorable and has both Jude and Asa wrapped around his little fingers. He was so endearing, and this is from someone who usually shies away from books with children in them. I just couldn’t help the smile that broke out on my face every time Billy made an appearance.
I think I only have 2 issues with this story. My first is that several times over the course of the book, there were words that seemed to come out of no where. As in it looked like someone searched synonyms and just pasted the first big word in there. It kind of broke up the fluidity of the story when these words would appear. My second complaint is Asa was initially dating a woman named Lucy and that just sorta disappears over the course of the story with no closure or explanation to how that played out. It just abruptly disappeared an it wasn’t mentioned again at all, which as a reader, I found very odd.
LINKS:
