Love for Hire

by Anna Marie May

Hustler and art aficionado Jayden Collins doesn’t expect much out of life, so when rich playboy Matt Archer not only saves his life but offers to pay him to pretend to be his boyfriend, it seems too good to be true. The guarded, cautious Jayden takes him up on the offer, but he never expects to fall in love with his snobbish, inconsiderate client. Jayden doesn’t have much time to think about it, though, because his life is in danger—apparently someone is trying to kill him. Or so he thinks until he discovers Matt’s secret. Furious to learn of his employer’s deceit, Jayden leaves Matt, breaking his own heart in the process. But Matt is used to getting what he wants... and he’s not going to let go so easily.

Genres: M M Romance, Contemporary, Romance

140 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 18, 2011

About the author

It all started at the tender age of 12 for Anna Marie May when she decided that she didn't like how her then favourite book ended. She re-wrote it for her own pleasure and has been writing ever since.
She lives in beautiful Ireland where stormy seas and unpredictable weather help her get into the right mood to create her stories.

If she isn't writing she is travelling, working or studying – and hoping that one day somewhere she will find the perfect cat.

Link to LJ

Link to FACEBOOK

Link to Anna's BLOG

Reviews

[Catherine · Rating 1 out of 5]

I don't know if I'd consider this book so much a complete "story" as it was a series of plot holes big enough to drive a MAC truck through. Pick any other review of this book at random and you'll see what I mean.

Also, with the number of typos and missing words in Love for Hire, I was certain this book had to be self-published. Then I noticed that it was a Dreamspinners product. Seriously, you guys, have you no pride?! Don't you care at ALL?! *gives DSP editors major side-eye*

Bottom line: I would NEVER recommend this book to my friends; I love them too much to waste their precious time with an inferior book.

[Simsala · Rating 2 out of 5]

First part of the book was a clumsy re-telling of Pretty Woman.A somehow cute story at the beginning but too many words were used to tell next to nothing,or better said - lots of pointless information.
The second part -


A minefield of plotholes,illogicality,cliches and too many unerotic,added-on sex-scenes.

But the worst thing is - this could have been fixed with an editor who actually does his/her job!

[Vio · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars
Another story that had so much potential and failed. It started off well unfortunately things went down hill.

Jayden is stabbed and nearly killed and is saved miraculously by Matt. He wakes up with stitches in his side and in Matt's home, Jayden agrees to become Matt's pretend boyfriend, because Matt saved his life. Feeling obligated to help him out. When Matt happens to mention that the guy who tried to kill him was his uncle and he's been "taken care of". That alone would have raised all sorts of alarm bells, danger, danger. I would be running for the hills as fast as I could. I found it a stretch and hard to believe that Jayden accepted all of this without asking questions. Why did Matt need a boyfriend, why did Matt's uncle try and kill Jayden? But no he just goes along with the charade, never mind that Matt is a complete stranger and obviously some sort of agent, I think? (That's never explained either). Ah but the icing on the cake was the kidnapping, yes Jayden gets kidnapped, sorry the whole scenario from then on was a total mess. WTH happened, its a mystery. I had lots of questions and got no answers.

[Morgana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Let's start from the beginning. Why did I buy this book? Firstly, the cover caught my eye, and that's a good start, right? Secondly, the blurb was promising - again, no complaints here. And finally, the first chapter posted at the publisher's site was really good. So why the hell did I give this book only 3 stars? Well, 2.5 stars, to be exact. Frankly, I almost gave it 2, but then I found myself thinking - the first half wasn’t that bad. And as I've already said, to some extent I enjoyed it. I know you're itching to ask: so what the hell did go wrong? You want the truth? I have no idea. *sighs*

The book had so much potential! And really great things could have been done with it… but the thing is… they weren’t. Somewhere along the way something just… died, I guess. That spark that keeps you going and makes you interested… it just disappeared… to never come back. And I’m really sorry to say this but somewhere in the middle the book lost its appeal to me. But since I have always thought of myself as a persistent person, I kept going… and well… the truth is, even despite what I’ve already written here, I'm STILL not entirely sure how I feel about this one. With the first half being so good I had serious trouble rating this book.

As for the contents itself, I felt almost like I was watching “Pretty Woman”, not all the time, mind you, but still, there were those moments where I almost saw Richard Gere with a male version of Julia Roberts. And that was very disturbing an image. When Matt and Jayden were going to the theatre, I almost expected to see them going there by plane (or flying a helicopter, or whatever it was in the film) *snorts*. They went by car. Matt’s sports car. Thank God for small mercies!)

But what irked me most was the ending. Well, not the ending itself, though that too was not what I expected, but the fact that so many issues were left unresolved! So many questions unanswered! What this is, the middle of the book?! It certainly felt like that! To say I'm disappointed would be an understatement.

All in all, good first half, the second one… not so much.
If you want to read it, that’s your choice. As for me, I’m certainly not going to do so again.

I wonder whether the author is writing a sequel to this book. There should be one. Would I buy it? Frankly, I don’t know *sighs*. I’m still confused. But I’m also curious about the characters, and would want to see the issues neglected in this book finally resolved. So… maybe… But what I know for sure is the fact that I wouldn’t buy it straight away. I would wait for a discount… ;) After all, from time to time they always offer some :D

[Meggie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hmm, this story was so empty of true felt emotions it was totally boring plot. This story wasn't written in pulling way and that made it blank. I didn't feel any real connection between Jayden and Matt. Blah.. I feel empty after reading this story. And then that ending, omg, really Cliche. Jayen went away and started to sort his life out and then Matt comes along and Jayden goes with him? Really? Just so easily and fast...? It felt unrealistic!

[MsMiz (Tina) · Rating 2 out of 5]

At first, I thought - oh this is like a Pretty Woman story, but with boys! Then it took a weird turn and I constantly felt like some one had stolen chapters away from me. Somewhat like being on the phone with bad connection and only getting every 5th word. I am still scratching my head at how it just ended.

[Mandi · Rating 2 out of 5]

I usually like this author's work, but there were too many plot holes for me to fully enjoy this one. So many things were just glossed over and never explained (the uncle stabbing Jayden in the beginning, Scott the real boyfriend, Matt's 'job'? just to name a few)

[Sara · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm giving it 2 stars just because I've read worse...but not by much. I could get over the "Pretty Woman" similarity, the fragmented dialogue that's always interrupted by Jayden's inner monologues to such an extent, that you forget what they were talking about in the first place. What I couldn't get over was the jumbo-sized holes in the plot. So Matt admits his uncle tried to kill Jayden, and Jayden accepts to stay with him and play pretend? And after that first part, there's no other refference to this, as if that didn't even happened.

Once they got over the 2nd plot of the book (quite rushed and just as sketchy- like, how did Matt know his boyfriend was in trouble, or how to find Jayden once he's been kidnapped?), all I could think of was "What happened to Matt's uncle?", to such an extent, I couldn't even focus on the rest of the book. If this was done to create a mysterious atmosphere and convince us to read the sequel, it didn't do a good job of it. It only managed to annoy me. A simple "we're doing illegal things, my uncle tried to kill you, i set you up as bait for kidnappers, but i love you so trust me" isn't enough to make me read a 2nd book.

Too bad, because it had potential.

[Kelly · Rating 2 out of 5]

hmmm....what to say...
well i was enjoying this book until about midway through where everything started to get rushed and nothing much was explained,even at the end i had more questions than answers.
if it hadnt felt so rushed i might have given a higher rating

[Lada · Rating 1 out of 5]

WTF was this story?? Everything was so vague, including the plot.

[Maxie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I know there are some conflicting reviews for this...I don't disagree with: the ending is indeed left open and maybe the pace is a bit too quick starting from the middle of the book but while all of this is true, I still quite enjoyed the book.

Maybe knowing that this book is part of a series and that this is why there are 'plot holes' helped. Editing could've gone better but this isn't the author's fault even though it is annoying. And surely on the offical listing there should be a note that this is part of a series? Just to give the right expectations to the buyer?

The note is on the author's website..I've just seen it. LOL.

Anyway, I found Jayden endearing. Kind of silly at times, maybe not the smartest tool in the shed but I personally didn't care. Matt might be a bit crude at times but hey, rich and spoiled, right?

Anyway, I enjoyed it.

[ReviewerLarissa · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book had potential, but it was very sloppy written with a penchant to overshare on some parts. It looks like this is a new author who needs some practise. This story was a nice idea but the reader lacks some vital information on both characters. We know next to nothing about Matt and Jay changes his mind from one minute to the next. He stays with Matt without asking any questions and the reader is not given any info or insight into what is going on with Matt.

While it could have been the intention of the story to have Matt remain mysterious, the execution made him seem like a flat and underdevelopped character.

That combined with the lack of plot and background on anything except Jay, makes this story unconvincing.

[Symphaty · Rating 2 out of 5]

i think this one could be a good story but i thought story was unfinished it was like there should be a second book but series didnt continue after the first book. And here i couldnt see anything talking about a second book but i still have hope Book was cut short to finish it, it was a very fast ending that i couldnt believe it could be true wham bam thank you mam... who was Matt what was their family job!!! why he was moving like special ops or someting or was he a shapeshifter why was he growling during sex it was an absolutely unfinished story unfortunatelly.... :( story had loopholes all over.

[Lillyg · Rating 1 out of 5]

No, just no.

The plot was promising, and then, nothing. The characters were barely depicted, there was no emotion. Matt was quite despicable and controlling. The first half was only half bad but the second part was ridiculous and unbelievable. Let's not even talk about how the MC excused Matt and moved in in 2 seconds flat. And the author tries to make Matt mysterious at the end, but fail quite greatly. And it left everyone hanging with what Matt does and it feels like the author just tried to get out of a situation where she actually had no plausible answer so she didn't answer the MC's question about Matt.

[Lucy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the book. I know this is part of a longer series so because of this, the ending is open ended, leaving lots of things open.

Maybe at the end of the book, maybe entered by the publisher, there should be a note saying that this book is only the first part of a series, because otherwise, I guess some readers might get confused and think the ending is rushed.

The ending is not rushed because it isn't an ending yet. LOL...

Anyway, I enjoyed the book, I liked Jayden and I am curious to see how how the rest of it will unfold.

[yoksan]

Jayden, he's one noisy fellow. He kept telling us needless information. It kinda drag on and on and it got boring real fast.

The guy had a bad past, and his current life wasn't anything to write home about. I tried to sympathize with him, really did, but it's not working. He's telling the story in such a way that I couldn't really get into the story. It's like he's talking about weather.

Matt, this one was just just plain weird. At the beginning, he seemed to be a nice or gentle fellow, then he got kind of bitchy for no reasons. It's just like he's bipolar. I dunno.

[blub · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was hooked at the start of the book and it raised a lot of question I thought would be addressed later on in the book. It was nice that there was an air of mystery surrounding the characters throughout the book but it wasn't so great when the author didn't address it. I was really looking forward to finding out what Matt was really up to but now I'm stuck with different scenarios of why he was acting so shady and had the skills that he had. Frankly I hoping this is a start of a series and not just a standalone.

[Kiki · Rating 1 out of 5]

What was the point of bringing up the "big mystery" at the end, other than to frustrate the reader? I was liking this (in a mild way) to begin with, but it started to fall apart after the kidnapping, and then completely fell apart at the end. Which felt more like simply cutting off in the middle of the story.

[Leaundra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Okay when I was reading I was like wtf does he do who is he?, is he a shifter, spy, in the mob?. This book didn't give you anything you found everything out with Jayden and we didn't really find out a lot out. I'm relived that this is going to be a serious so I'm rating it based on that. It did have me on the edge of my seat wondering what was going to happen. I'm still wondering, lol

[Asselle · Rating 1 out of 5]

In my opinion less than 1 even, 0.5 at most. One guy puts the other one's life in danger without telling him, then it's love and they're together again the minute he comes calling again? Seriously? And after all of that, asks for no explanations when he says he's involved in something illegal? Not my cup of tea, that's for certain...

[Tristan · Rating 2 out of 5]

2/5

If I have to describe this book in one word it would be rush.
The plot is inconsistent, and when the climax fell the author attempt to pierce the pieces together was pathetic. Even at the very end their relationship was unstable. It felt so unfinished that I almost thought there is going to be a sequel to clean up this mess of an ending. XD

[Amber · Rating 2 out of 5]

Oh! For a good editor :'(. The first bit of the story was...pretty straightforward relative to the rest of the story. But, oh god, the rest of the story. So many half thought out ideas! So little editorial steering! Was there potential in this story? Yes. Was it realized? Not hardly.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this, I just think it needed to be longer and a bit more detailed towards the end.

[Noughty]

(maybe, wait for sequel)

[FloJ · Rating 2 out of 5]

As others have said, this started out
with potential, then lost it.

[Anna · Rating 1 out of 5]

I had high hopes for this story but it was a bit of a letdown. I found the plot to be quite disjointed with very little cohesion.

[C.L. · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[maha · Rating 2 out of 5]

20160710

[Olivia · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was...okay. It could have been developed more and the pace was a bit too fast.