Book Review

Escort by Skye Warren

Escort by Skye Warren is about a male prostitute who falls in love with his client.

Man, do I hate when that happens. I mean, you’re just there for a night of good fun and then suddenly this sexy dude is in love with you and can’t stop thinking about your freckles, and it’s such a hassle, honestly.

Anyway, this is a quick read (or was for me) told entirely in the hero’s  first person POV, featuring a lot of sex ,and not a lot of time spent resolving conflict. It does contain graphic references to a rape, so trigger warning for that. It’s a fun read, and it’s super hot, but it’s also a little weak when it comes to the plot.

Hugo Bellmont is a high-end sex worker. He fled from a childhood filled with poverty and trauma in Tangiers to make a successful career for himself in the United States. When the book opens, Hugo is on his way to meet a client at the penthouse of an expensive hotel.

When Hugo enters the penthouse he realizes his client, Beatrix, isn’t staying there as a guest but rather lives there. He also finds out that Bea wants him to take her virginity, which is a thing he hasn’t done before and he’s confused as to why she’s hired him for that.

He’s also got crazy insta-lust for Bea, especially for her freckles. This is book is a cozy little fantasy about great food and great sex with a handsome man while ensconced in a luxurious tower/ penthouse. In some ways it’s a little bit of a Rapunzel story, minus the hair. Part of that fantasy is a hero who has seen everything/ can have anything being so dazzled by the relatively “ordinary” heroine that he falls almost instantly in love. Usually with this trope, he’s a rock star, movie star, secret prince, but in this case male escort works, too. Bea isn’t an amazingly beautiful woman, but Hugo can’t stop thinking about her freckles, damnit. He’s been with a lot of women, but it’s Bea who drives him wild.

Bea and Hugo spend several Saturdays together and then start seeing each other outside of “work.” Hugo learns that Bea never leaves the hotel, rarely even leaving her apartment. Her parents were murdered and that trauma has left her feeling profoundly unsafe. The only place she is comfortable is the penthouse, and if tries to leave she has debilitating panic attacks.

So how does Bea manage to afford such a place? Of course she has a wealthy, older male benefactor who was also her guardian after her parents died. Of course he now has designs on Bea.

Also we find out that Hugo came to the United States and has been saving all his escort money (which is apparently a lot) to get revenge on the man who raped his mother years ago in Tangiers. His mother was a housekeeper at a high end hotel and one night a guest

TW for rape
followed her home, locked little Hugo in a closet, and raped her. She never went to the police, but Hugo never forgot the man either.

So guess who that guy is?

Show Spoiler
Of course it’s Bea’s benefactor–the guy who is literally in control of keeping her in the only place she actually feels safe and can function.

So that’s a lot of conflict, and if this book had one big flaw, it’s that it wraps up way too quickly. We are dealing with two violent childhood traumas, one of which lead to agoraphobia and severe anxiety, and that’s a ton to work through. Like a lifetime of therapy. It’s also a lot of trauma for me to absorb as a reader, and I don’t feel like I was given enough time to process it.

If you can handle minimal conflict resolution and a little bit of Yoda-speak, Escort is a sex-heavy (and those sex scenes are very, very hot) romantic fantasy with a hero who is quickly and overwhelmingly in love with the heroine. It’s a sexy fairy tale, but it did stretch my credulity.

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Escort by Skye Warren

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  1. DiscoDollyDeb says:

    I have this on my tbr. The sample I read seemed much “lighter” than Warren’s Endgame series (THE PAWN, THE KNIGHT, THE CASTLE), which I liked but which was VERY dark, or PRISONER and HOSTAGE, which Warren co-wrote with Annika Martin and which were EXTREMELY dark—to the point that I wouldn’t actually classify them as romances (although marketed that way), more psychological suspense. Perhaps it’s time for something a bit frothier from Warren.

  2. JoS says:

    The escort taking her virginity and agoraphobia reminds me of Cara McKenna’s Curio.

  3. Sue says:

    ELYSE. I am buying this book right the f now. Thank you for bringing it to my attention. Apparently, male sex worker who falls in love with his client is my trope catnip and I will auto-buy like all of them! (Why is this trope I love, I don’t know but I’m not going to inspect this trope too deeply right now, ha)

  4. MClaudia says:

    @Sue I need to introduce you to Escorted by Claire Kent. Similar plot minus the agoraphobia. Heroine is a romance author, too!!

  5. I thoroughly enjoyed this one. And speaking of Annika Martin–I will read anything of hers.

  6. Sue says:

    @MClaudia, ALREADY OWN IT and the SEQUEL (Breaking, I think it’s called). Hahahaha, it’s …. a strange trope to love. Got any more?, because I would love to hear them 🙂

  7. DiscoDollyDeb says:

    I sense a new Rec League topic!

  8. Danica says:

    @Sue, I’m kinda in love with this trope too…and nope, not going to look too deeply into why. May I suggest Perfect Ten by Nikki Worrel?

    Not sure how well they fit the trope, but there’s The Escort by Ramona Gray and Doctor’s Delight by Angela Verdenius; in both of these the heroine hires an escort to revoke her v-card but surprise(!) – the “escort” isn’t actually an escort at all.

  9. Kareni says:

    @Sue, have you already read Fallen from Grace by Laura Leone?

  10. DiscoDollyDeb says:

    Melanie Harlow’s IF YOU WERE MINE features a heroine who gets a date for a wedding from a service called Hotties for Hire. There’s not supposed to be sex, but, of course, in this case there is.

  11. Sue says:

    Oh my god I love you guys. Thank you. I’ve got a couple recs too:
    – I think I’m halfway through Boy Toy Chronicles but New Adult isn’t really my thing so I stopped.
    – And obviously, the movie manifestation of all this, The Wedding Date, with Debra Messing and Dermot Mulroney.
    Glad to see I’m not the only one.

  12. MaryK says:

    @DiscoDollyDeb says: “which Warren co-wrote with Annika Martin and which were EXTREMELY dark—to the point that I wouldn’t actually classify them as romances (although marketed that way)”

    This is good to know because I really liked Most Eligible Bastard so have been thinking of trying the Warren/Martin ones.

  13. DiscoDollyDeb says:

    @MaryK: I’d recommend the books Annika Martin publishes under the name Carolyn Crane. Romances with suspense elements.

  14. Rebecca says:

    Male escorts are my catnip, adding this to my list along with Escort by Claire Kent and Curio by Cara McKenna, and the book behind the movie (The Wedding Date), Asking For Trouble by Elizabeth Young.

  15. Brigit says:

    @Sue: I’ll second the rec for Fallen from Grace, and will also recommend Lauren Gallagher’s Damaged Goods.

  16. Vicki says:

    For a historical version, I recommend Her Ladyships Companion by Evangeline Collins. I really enjoyed it except for one scene where the heroine throws a rather childish tantrum.

  17. Jeannette says:

    Another historical is Suddenly You by Lisa Kleypas. An author hires an escort for her 30th birthday present to herself. Aside from the whole escort part, there are fascinating looks at how a ‘modern’ Victorian bookshop/publisher was run.

  18. Anonymous says:

    Do any of the recommendations here involve heroines who aren’t virgins or near-virgins? I always want to like this trope, but all the versions I’ve seen are with virgins/near-virgins, and a lot of the time I get sort of obliquely slut-shamey vibes from those.

  19. LB says:

    OK, of the books recommended above I have read and liked Escorted (the best), Damaged Goods, and Curio was meh but fine, but I have to add that I did NOT like Fallen from Grace. The heroine is blatantly homophobic and a real jerk to her lesbian sister. She did not redeem herself nearly enough to make herself likeable to me.

  20. Such a sweet and sexy book!! Escort was not what I expected going into to it. I didn’t expect it to be so sweet and endearing. Bea and Hugo started out with him being a male escort and her looking for someone to get rid of a pesky problem she had. Hugo was such a considerate and attentive man considering the life he had growing up, being a street thug at a young age and living with a single mom busting her butt to make ends meet. Love me some Hugo!! Now Bea is the true definition of a shy virgin, losing her parents at a young age.

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