Review: Mister Romance by Leisa Rayven

Mister Romance by Leisa Rayven
Published by Self Published on 4/30/17
Genres: Contemporary Romance
Pages: 386
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Max Riley is the man of your dreams. Or at least he will be, for a price.
As his alter-ego Mister Romance, Max is a drop-dead gorgeous escort who makes romantic fantasies come to life. No sex, just swoon-worthy dates to die for, and the cream of New York's socialites can't get enough. Whether they want a dominating billionaire, bad boy with a heart of gold, hot geek, sexy biker, or best friend who loves them from afar, Max can make it all happen, but he's careful to keep his real identity a secret.
Enter investigative journalist Eden Tate. Having caught wind of the urban legend of Mister Romance from a lovestruck client, Eden is determined to publish a scathing expose on Max and his ability to swindle lonely society women out of their fortunes.
Desperate to protect his anonymity and his clients, Max challenges Eden to give him three dates. If she doesn't fall in love with him, she can run her story with his blessing. If she succumbs to his charms, the story dies.
Cynical Eden has no doubt she can resist his fake romance personas, but when the real Max admits he’s falling for her, she has to decide if the professional liar is telling the truth, or if the passionate man with the mysterious past is just one more character designed to con her out of her career-making story.

Leisa Rayven’s writing is one of the most glorious treasures I’ve been fortunate enough to experience. Her way with words is on another level, truly. If there’s a way to bottle this, I’d bathe myself in it daily. Yes, she delivers a story I think everyone can get lost in and every reader will fall in love with, but the way Rayven writes EVERY book is what keeps me coming back. I’m addicted.

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Jessica’s Review

5 “This was Everything” Stars.

This storyline is over the top INSANE in many ways. The elusive Mister Romance is a New York city escort catering to an elite clientele. Word on the street is that Mister Romance provides an exclusive service of blissfully romantic scenarios, granting his clients the attention and emotional satisfaction they’re lacking in their lives. Eden Tate is a floundering journalist looking to catapult her career by worming her way onto Mister Romance’s client list to expose his secrets. Equal parts intriguing and infuriating, this story had me gripped, obsessed with unearthing the truth of this magnetic character right along with Eden. His behavior is bizarre. His ability to slip in and out of character makes it virtually impossible to figure out who he really is, or whether he’s playing a part just to toy with Eden, or if he’s covertly revealing parts of himself to her and to us.

Essentially, this is an unexpected love story between a professional in the art of romance who’s too busy fulfilling fantasies to concern himself with a relationship of his own, and a cynic who’s too anti-romance to consider a relationship at all. Between their sizzling sexual tension and the fierce honesty they only seem to share with each other, the dynamic between MR and Eden unexpectedly morphs, taking them from adversaries to something much more indistinguishable. The professional lines between Mister Romance and the journalist researching his practices becomes blurry, their attraction warring with her selfish need to unearth the truth, allowing a messy, complicated storyline to evolve.

As crazy as this might sound from the outside looking in, I assure you that Mister Romance is a story everyone will LOVE. I COULDN’T PUT THIS BOOK DOWN. Max is this mysterious guy who is SO swoony, SO charming, SO sweet, SO unbelievably ‘normal’ in all the ways that matter yet he has this secret life where he basically gets paid to lie and act and role play. I was so utterly confused by what was real and what was merely a demonstration of how he operates. I desperately wanted to figure him out, to see him romance Eden Tate with truth instead of fantasy. I wanted to know the real man behind the curtain, and his unveiling is an addictive, intoxicating journey I loved taking.

I’m a reader that prefers believability, always. I like a story that doesn’t go in a direction where I stop connecting with it. As over the top as the concept of a fantasy fulfilling escort is to me, Leisa Rayven masterfully crafts this premise in a way that kept it relatable, kept it believable, kept it grounded, and in doing so, kept me riveted. This book is truly an exception to my rule. It’s a romance that just swept me away. Even as OTT as it sometimes was, I was lost in this story as much as a reader can be.

Mister Romance is packed with smart humor, sharp banter, steamy sensuality, lush romance, and a refreshingly original premise unlike anything else I’ve ever read. All of that layered together in Rayven’s superb writing style makes for an unputdownable, unforgettable love story that simply swept me away. This is truly a story that you can’t even fathom unless you just take the leap and allow yourself to be carried aloft by it. I loved this book completely and I can’t recommend it enough.

About the Author

Writing has always been a passion for Leisa, and even though she originally intended to be an actress, it wasn’t long into her time at drama school that she began writing plays. Those plays were bad. Very bad. Well, her friends thought they were good, but that’s because they were always cast in them and any opportunity to be on stage was met with an obnoxious amount of enthusiasm. Since then, she’s honed her craft, and several of her plays have been produced and toured throughout Australia.

These days, playwriting has given way to fiction writing, and Leisa’s debut novel, BAD ROMEO, was published through Macmillan New York in December 2014. The sequel, BROKEN JULIET was released in April 2015, and the final book in Leisa’s Starcrossed series, WICKED HEART, will hit bookstores and kindles on May 3rd, 2016.

The Starcrossed series has gained hordes of passionate fans all over the world, and the books have now been translated into eight foreign languages. Bad Romeo and Broken Juliet have also featured on international best seller lists in Brazil and Germany.

Leisa Rayven lives in Australia with her husband, two little boys, three cats, and a kangaroo named Howard. (Howard may or may not be her imaginary marsupial friend. Everyone should have one.)