Priceless by Cat Grant

Priceless by Cat Grant
Riptide Publishing

Short Novella: 81pgs

Rating: 3.5/5

Blurb:
When love’s for sale, who really pays?

Connor Morrison is a 3D optics pioneer, the star of the UC Berkeley physics department, and a socially-inept workaholic. And with his dear friend and business partner, Steve Campbell, handling their investors, he’s content to remain in the shadows. That is, until he meets the gorgeous and starry-eyed physics student Wes Martin.

Wes is brilliant but broke. Ever since his scholarship fell victim to the financial crisis, he's had no choice but to sell his body to stay in school. Already half in love with Connor, Wes initially resists Steve's offer to be Connor's thirty-fifth birthday present. But in the end, Wes is too broke—and too smitten—to say no.

Connor has no idea Steve bought Wes’s attentions, and he quickly falls under the young man’s spell. Yet after one night together, Wes disappears. He can't bear to hook with a man he could so easily grow to love, but he also can’t bear to tell him the truth. Besides, if he sleeps with Connor again, there'd be no way to hide the bruises one of his regular johns loves to inflict. Only one thing to do: let Connor go. Walking away is painful, but not nearly as much as building a relationship on lies.

Review:
I am having a seriously hard time with this story, I feel like it should have been perfect but I am missing the details that would have made it excellent. Conner is smart; he’s on his way o do great things, and causing a sensation in science. Socially Conner is lacking so his friend brings in the invertors and he dazzles with his smarts. His life is his work, and he has no time for romance or even a one-night stand. When he meets Wes at a party thrown by his social butterfly friend Steve, he is instantly attracted to the young student but turns away from his advances. Well Wes is about to step back into his life when he becomes Connor’s aid at a conference, and they end finally sleeping together and it sweet and sparks are flying.

What Connor doesn’t know is that Wes was a paid body, and he gets paid to sleep with men in order to pay for his tuition *I feel like I read this one before =_= * Let’s just say Wes walks away from Connor because he is getting attached, and is starting to have feelings for the man. When Wes takes on a new client, his john becomes every rent boy’s nightmare. He’s abusive, and a just plain sadistic bastard and Wes gets caught in his sticky trap and can’t get out.

I think this is where the story sort of lost me. I just can’t wrap my mind around Wes’s stupidity naiveté, I felt like he should have been able to get out of that situation, and that his life was worth less than being found out to be a prostitute ‘all I’m saying is that you can come back from a reputation spoil, but you can’t come back from death’. I'm also confused about this website, I’m guessing it’s just for advertisement purposes and not an escort site, which just makes it all types of dangerous, and just one above being a streetwalker. It’s Connor who comes to his rescue and takes him away from the clutches of the abuser. That left me thinking ‘Wes you should have taken that job at McDonalds’ because dude you could have done that yourself!

Even with all the things I didn’t like, the story really kept me interested a feat a few books haven’t been able to do these past few days. I really enjoy Cat’s writing; it flows so well. I liked Connor because he is my perfect nerd with the glasses and all. Wes I’m feeling a little lost about you, I just could not believe in you as a character and so I am left feeling *Meh*. Overall, it was a sweet read, with the right amount of entertainment, and a great way to past the time.

3 1/2 Pants Off