Reviewed by Kat

TITLE: Love Me Louder

AUTHOR: Christina Lee

PUBLISHER: Self Published

LENGTH: 259 pages

RELEASE DATE: June 27, 2018

BLURB:

Noah Dixon is damaged goods. After an accident leaves him physically scarred and emotionally vulnerable, dating isn’t in the cards, so he throws himself head-first into his retail job. When he’s obligated to attend his best friend’s engagement party on Fire Island, it dawns on him he’s about to spend yet another weekend feeling totally invisible and alone among a swarm of gorgeous men.

That’s when the idea of an escort comes in.

After Will Crossen was forced to put his theater major on hold in favor of two jobs to tackle his ailing mother’s hospital bills, he tells himself becoming an escort isn’t that big of a deal. It’s just another form of acting, right? He doesn’t expect his newest customer to be the cheery, overconfident sales associate he avoids like the plague at his day job. Talk about awkward.

But what happens on Fire Island stays on Fire Island…especially when a smoldering attraction sparks into flames. Will doesn’t feel so alone anymore, and for the first time, Noah realizes someone is seeing him behind all the scars. But between their jobs, Will’s massive familial responsibilities, and Noah’s vulnerabilities, they don’t stand a chance unless they find a way to let love speak louder than their demons.

REVIEW:

I have been wanting to read one of this author’s books for awhile and now I am like…why the heck did I wait so long???

Noah Dixon had a really rough childhood, more specifically his teen years and then beyond. He had a horrific childhood accident that left him both physically and mentally scarred. However, his scars from past lovers have left him so scarred mentally that he is just unwilling to try anymore. When his lifelong and best friend Tony needs him by his side, as he proposes to his boyfriend and soulmate Matt, Noah knows he has no choice but to attend and suffer through another weekend at Fire Island with all the beautiful men on display. When Noah accidentally discovers that his coworker Will Crossen is an escort for a service on the side it puts the idea in his head that he can hire a companion to help him through the weekend. When his companion Max turns out to be his coworker Will things begin to get complicated. Once on the trip it takes everything Will/Max can do to get Noah to relax and enjoy himself. When he discovers Noah’s reason for keeping himself hidden he doesn’t understand the problem. Sure Noah has scars but he is beautiful and would be a catch for any man. That and not all scars are physical as Will can personally attest to. Will had no plans to become an escort but his mom’s mounting medical bills and constant care means he has to make big money quickly. Can a shy and scarred man and a gorgeous escort have a chance at love with so many obstacles in their path?

I fell for both these men. First sweet Noah. I get the insecurities of being physically different and being cast away because of them. Our oldest son had open heart surgery as an infant and, as he got older, his “zipper” became a source of embarrassment for him. He refused to ever be seen without a shirt, especially if his peers were around. No matter how much we would try and coax him out of swimming without his shirt his fears and insecurities at being “differently couldn’t be detoured. Once he matured and grew chest hair that finally subsided a bit. But the underlying fact that he was scarred never faded. Noah was very disfigured by his extreme accident. He was so lucky that he even lived. And his parents, essentially his mother, becoming helicopter parents after such a tragic and scary ordeal is understandable. They just wanted to protect him from the unknown since they weren’t able to when he was younger. Will has had to be the caretaker and protector of his mom for so long that he was a natural fit for Noah. He could see beyond the scars to the real person. I believe that Tony and Matt did also but Noah could never allow himself to see or believe that. What I loved was how Noah took to Will’s mom and saw past her diagnosis. He could get her just like Will understood where Noah’s parents were coming from. It was so wonderful to see both families benefit from their son’s choice in a mate. These two men both complimented the other so perfectly.

I have to admit, I’m not usually a reader who likes her men in women’s lingerie. However, Will in fishnet stockings and Noah’s reaction to him in them was damn hot. If his fixation on those stocking could take him out of being so reluctant to be seen and experience the touch of Will then that was a necessity that I could grab on to. Most people have some kind of kink and sometimes it is necessary to get past the pressures of life. That is what I believe was happening here and I found I loved it.

I quickly found that I couldn’t set this book down. I kept worrying if Noah would ever get past his insecurities so he would let the true and caring Will in. I also had concerns that Will didn’t feel worthy of Noah so I just kept turning the pages as quickly as I could read. That tells me that this author did her job because she kept me engrossed and captivated until the end. I loved this book and can’t recommend it enough. Now I need Tate Sullivan/Frieda Love’s story! Thankfully it is just one-click away!

RATING: 

BUY LINK:

Amazon