REVIEWED by Jen B.
TITLE: Maelstrom
AUTHOR: Kass Barrow
PUBLISHER: JMS Books
LENGTH: 219 Pages
RELEASE DATE: May 13, 2017
BLURB: When Kylor Knightley, a multi-millionaire nightclub owner, is out talent-spotting at an open mic event in London’s Limehouse district, the last thing the stiff-lipped Brit expects is to fall head-over-heels for a devastatingly handsome singer ten years his junior.
Born in New York, twenty-two-year-old Eden McFadden now calls London home and has ambitions of making it big in the capital’s music scene. In the meantime, the feisty free spirit is secretly rocking it as a stripper at a gay club in Soho. But when fate brings him and Kylor together in Limehouse, it starts a chain of events that tears both of their worlds apart.
It’s going to take some serious attitude adjustment for the smart-mouthed stripper and the arrogant British gent to find common ground, but the attraction is too strong to ignore. Sometimes you have to trust in fate and see where it takes you.
REVIEW: This is the story of Eden, a young guy trying to make it in music by attending open-mic nights while paying his bills as a male exotic dancer/stripper. He is discovered one night by Kylor, a smart-dressed club owner out scouting talent for his own club. When Eden fails to leave contact info, Kylor must track him down which leads him to Eden’s other profession, one which Kylor pretty much sneers his nose at. He makes his offer to give Eden the chance of a lifetime, and he takes him up on it.
Unfortunately, even though these two feel some major sparks, Kylor is adament (with himself anyway) that nothing can come of it as long as Eden is an employee. Not wanting Eden to miss the opportunity, he pushes him to take the job offered. Eden, on the other hand, is oblivious to this and has high hopes of having both.
Once it becomes clear Kylor is not interested, Eden gives it all up and moves on. But, Kylor doesn’t give up trying to lure Eden back (for the sake of the club) with promises that they will work things out. This is accomplished by some manipulations on both of their parts, but they eventually come to an agreement. There is also the struggle of Eden actually enjoying his work as a stripper/dancer and wanting to continue with something that Kylor finds so distasteful. Again, they make it work, and Kylor comes around in the end, but it just added to the things I never really liked about Kylor.
I had trouble connecting with these two as a couple. I never really felt the spark they did and always sort of saw Kylor as trying to fix Eden or make things better for someone less fortunate. Which, is great in one way, but felt wrong in another. These guys never really get to know one another until towards the end of the book, and there was a major amount of miscommunication or lack thereof which became tiresome. Kylor is supposed to be the older, more mature businessman, yet he felt like a lovesick teenager, while Eden was the one who, aside from doing the runner, kept acting more like an adult.
So, while I enjoyed some aspects of this story – I really liked Eden and seeing him succeed, there wasn’t anything that blew me away. I would recommend this for fans of May/December and those with class differences where the better off character changes the life of the other, less fortunate character.
RATING: 
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