Reviewed by Jess

TITLE: A Fiercer Heat

SERIES: Assured Elites #1

AUTHOR: Parker Avrile

PUBLISHER: Paris April Press

LENGTH: 242 pages

RELEASE DATE:  January 10, 2018

BLURB:

A new matchmaking service has landed in the Big Apple, and no hot gay celebrity will go unpaired…

Rising singer Drew wants to launch his debut album. Former child star Traven wants to prove himself in adult roles. They need publicity– tonight. And it just so happens that “actor dates singer” is the oldest publicity stunt in the book. If they pretend to be boyfriends, the tabloid press is guaranteed to report breathlessly on their every move.

It’s a brilliant plan except for one thing. Assured Elites fake boyfriends have a way of becoming the real deal…

REVIEW:

Since I enjoy fake dating stories, I was especially intrigued by this series. A whole professional company dedicated to expertly matching up rich celebrities? Sign me up! While I adored the glimpse into some of the not-so-glamorous parts of being young and already washed up, I was less interested in the thriller drama introduced later in the story. It felt like I was reading to different stories running concurrently in an uneven book.

I’ll start with the good. I was totally invested in poor Drew and Traven’s backgrounds as popular child stars who never made it big as adults for various reasons. They are both only 23, but when they had big careers as a boy bander and a children’s TV personality, that’s practically old age. I love the glimpses of what it takes to stay relevant—the endorsement deals, the shady agreements with tabloids and paparazzi, the aggravating managers who only want to make a buck. Though I might not have a ton of sympathy for real celebs who would do anything to stay on top, I totally understood these two guys who only want to follow their dreams but can’t do that if they have no money or recognition. Also, putting these two together is perfect, because they both judge each other for their “business” decisions while having to face the fact that they’re climbing the same ladder after all.

Though the celeb insight and “dating for the paps” are great story elements, the shakiest part of this book is the meshing of the fake dating trope with the thriller plot. I won’t give too much away, but Traven, a former child star, lost a lot of his early earnings to a deadbeat dad who made some shady business deals, and now some of his old cohorts are out for blood. We’re only just getting used to the story of Drew and Traven figuring each other out and coming together as both friends and “fake” boyfriends, so the introduction of an action/adventure/heist plot was really clunky and just didn’t work for me. I got that money is a big theme in the book, and the past coming back to haunt the boys is important, but tying it to Traven’s backstory was a clumsy way to introduce intrigue into the romantic plot. I also didn’t buy a lot of the police and law enforcement aspects—I get that authors take liberties, but it didn’t read as very authentic.

The sex scenes definitely bring the steam, and they also introduced a little kinkiness that I wasn’t expecting from two shy guys who aren’t super experienced in the bedroom. The love scenes are spaced out well and don’t interfere with the pacing of the story, which is nice. Some of the actual erotica style isn’t quite to my taste (some purple prose and flowery language is present), but all in all, the romance was believable and built up slowly and organically.

I’m definitely interested in continuing this series because I want to know more about the actual Assured Elites “matchmakers” from the series title. They (a mysterious couple) are present at the beginning and end of the story, but their quiet machinations remain cloaked in shadow, even when they are pulling the strings. I hope the following books in the series will give us a better glimpse of what these guys are up to!

RATING: 

BUY LINK: 

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