Reviewed by Tammy
TITLE: The Escort 
AUTHOR: Jeff Erno
PUBLISHER: Sea to Sky Books
LENGTH: 265 pages
RELEASE DATE: January 30, 2017
BLURB:
At twenty-five, Travis Sheppard knows all about taking care of himself. He’s been on his own since the age of seventeen, and he learned long ago how to use his assets and natural-born talent to get what he needs…and wants. Travis is a hustler, a male escort, and he caters to men of means who like to shower him with gifts and cash in exchange for his affection—sometimes for his mere presence.
When Travis accepts an overnight gig with a new client, he’s surprised by the fact the customer has pre-paid. When Travis arrives at the gentleman’s surprisingly modest home, he learns that his client is an accomplished, best-selling author. Darren, otherwise known as DJ Torrent, makes Travis a proposal. He wants Travis to accompany him to a gay literature conference. The catch is that for their five days together, Travis is to be more to Darren than just his escort. Darren wants Travis to pose as his husband.
REVIEW:
When you first start reading The Escort you are thinking, this is going to be another romance story about a lonely guy who has to buy the affections of an escort! But!!, when you get into the story you quickly realise this is a NOT your typical love/sex for hire romance story.
Darren “DJ Torrent” is an award-winning author who is so critically shy he hasn’t been out of his house in almost four years. This year he has been invited to attend the Gay Romance Retreat – GRR in Kansas City and for the first time he has decided to attend. The only problem is Darren can’t even entertain the thought of leaving the house to go grocery shopping on his own let alone travel to Kansas City on his own. Darren decides to hire an escort to pose as his husband.
When Travis arrives at Darren’s house he shocked it’s a “normal” modest house not the stylish suburban home or the penthouse apartments he was used to. Once he meets his client Darren he can’t understand why he has to hire an escort instead of just going out and meeting someone. Then he starts talking to Darren and hears about how his husband left him and Darren’s shyness takes over his life and how he hasn’t left his house in almost four years because of it. The situation gets weirder when Travis finds out that Darren doesn’t want to have sex he just wants to talk. Then Darren drops the bombshell, he wants Travis to spend the week in Kansas posing as his husband! Travis quickly learns that Darren is a lot worse than he thought as he has several panic attacks on their way to Kansas and Travis has to hold him just to calm him down so they could continue their travels.
For those of us who have never been to a retreat Jeff takes you there, it is exactly what I imagined it would be like (and I can’t wait to go to my first one this year!), right down to the jealousy of wannabe authors and the way they try to bring the established authors down. I have no hesitation in recommending you grab a copy of The Escort to find out for yourself not only what happens between Darren and Travis at GRR before, during and after but why exactly did Darren hire an escort? The story gets very intense and yes, you will need tissues, you will also need a comfortable lounge and a cup of coffee!
RATING: 
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