Reviewed by Sadonna
TITLE: Marco
SERIES: Gentlemen of Emerald City
AUTHOR: L.A. Witt
NARRATOR: Michael Ferraiuolo
PUBLISHER: Self-published
LENGTH: 9 hours and 20 minutes
RELEASE DATE: August 25, 2022
BLURB:
Julian
An invite to a lavish destination wedding? Sign me up. Except half of the couple is BFFs with my ex. My ex, who’s going to be there with his new arm candy. UGH.
Maybe he’ll realize what he gave up once he sees me with a hot new boyfriend of my own.
He just doesn’t need to know I hired that hot new boyfriend.
Marco
Getting paid to spend two weeks in Maui and on a cruise? Twist my arm. Shame the dude who hired me is a train wreck with an ego. If he doesn’t knock it off, I might start charging him extra just to put up with him.
Except maybe he’s not so bad. In fact, if I distract him enough from his ex, he’s actually kind of fun. And hot. But there he goes again, ranting about his ex.
Bet if I clapped a hand over his mouth, he’d shut up.
Bet he’d like that.
Gentlemen of the Emerald City
Marco is book four of Gentlemen of the Emerald City, a sexy series centered around the high-class, high-dollar Gentlemen of Seattle’s most exclusive escort service. Each book is full of snark, sass, and sweetness, and like any Emerald City client, you’re guaranteed a happy ending.
REVIEW:
Note: This is the fourth book in this series and as such has some spoilers for the previous books; however, it can absolutely be read as a standalone.
Julian is invited to a destination wedding as best man for his bestie. He’s excited about the trip to Hawaii and the return cruise in first class – that is until he finds out that the other best man is his ex. They did NOT part on good terms. He’s especially not happy to learn that his ex is bringing his new boyfriend as his plus one. Julian needs to find a plus one – but he figures in 6 months that’s doable. Until it’s month before the wedding and he hasn’t found anyone and he learns that the ex is now engaged. UGH!!! 🙁 So Julian is now desperate.
Julian has heard about Gentlmen of Emerald City escort service through friends and he decided that he will spend what it takes to show up at this wedding with a boyfriend that will make the ex, Tony, jealous. He settles on Marco and things are going pretty well on the trip until he has to actually spend time in Tony’s presence along with the Andre, the new man. Not that Andre is a problem. But Tony is not his favorite person by a long shot.
Marco doesn’t love these long engagements. He’s on the fence about Julian at first. He just keeps thinking about the paycheck however 🙂 After he meets the ex, he tries to be more supportive of Julian. There’s also a little surprise when they all meet at the wedding in Hawaii 😉 As they trip wears on, Marco gets more enamored of Julian and the hammering he has taken from this ex. He’s not over the ex because he was routinely denigrated by him and he’s still letting those voices get to him. Marco is a great sounding board and he encourages Julian to stop letting Tony take up room in his head 🙂
It takes a while, but things heat up between Marco and Julian. But then things get pretty hot and heavy finally after Julian and Marco start communicating more honestly. But what will happen when they get back home? Has the bond between them strengthened enough to keep things going?
This story is a slow build, unlike the rest of the books in this series as they Marco and Julian don’t jump right into bed. In fact, it take some time for them to connect physically. Julian spends a lot of time in his head second guessing his notifications. With the dual POVs, we get to see all of the sturm und drang behind Julian’s reluctance. Marco is keeping a secret that is delightful 🙂 I really enjoyed the little twist in this story that L.A Witt added. I was definitely rooting for the winners and losers in this story 😀
As usual Michael Ferraiuolo does a fantastic job narrating this book. Tony is a snob and it’s obvious from his intonation and attitude. Julian is a sweetheart who has been hurt and can’t seem to move on and we believe that. Marco is a rock – he’s got a level head and he just wishes that he could help Julian get over Tony. The two grooms are delightful as well. When we finally get to the sexy times, it’s well worth it 😉 All the voices were distinct and I loved the sassy, sarcastic and snippy scenes as much as the tender and quite scenes. Well done again. This team of narrator and writer are such a good match! Recommended 😀
RATING: 
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