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Sex, Lies and Secret Lives
When her identical twin sister disappears, Justine Durant slips into the sex-fueled, high-stakes life she never knew her sister lived. . . .
The text message came at 3:00—“just in time”—the fail-safe code Justine and her twin, Jillian Durant, devised to survive their traumatic childhood. Now Jillian’s missing and Justine immediately leaves her research job, frantic to discover what happened to her globe-trotting model sister. Inside Jillian’s apartment, Justine uncovers a computer file that reveals that her sister is really Jillian Dare, escort to the richest, most powerful, and most insatiable men on the international corporate scene. And it’s clear that Jillian loved—no, lived for—everything about the the fortune she made nightly, the luxurious gifts, the touch of a man anywhere, anytime, with no limits.
Searching for clues to her sister’s disappearance, Justine masquerades as Jillian, plunging into a world of paid carnal extravagance and unleashing a side of herself she never knew existed. It’s a thrillingly daring gamble to take, and the stakes are raised when Justine becomes locked in a sexual power struggle with a man who could be her ally or her most ruthless enemy; a man who can bring her to endless ecstasy or drive her to madness. And Justine must play this dangerous game to perfection and win . . . if she and Jillian are to survive.
The text message came at 3:00—“just in time”—the fail-safe code Justine and her twin, Jillian Durant, devised to survive their traumatic childhood. Now Jillian’s missing and Justine immediately leaves her research job, frantic to discover what happened to her globe-trotting model sister. Inside Jillian’s apartment, Justine uncovers a computer file that reveals that her sister is really Jillian Dare, escort to the richest, most powerful, and most insatiable men on the international corporate scene. And it’s clear that Jillian loved—no, lived for—everything about the the fortune she made nightly, the luxurious gifts, the touch of a man anywhere, anytime, with no limits.
Searching for clues to her sister’s disappearance, Justine masquerades as Jillian, plunging into a world of paid carnal extravagance and unleashing a side of herself she never knew existed. It’s a thrillingly daring gamble to take, and the stakes are raised when Justine becomes locked in a sexual power struggle with a man who could be her ally or her most ruthless enemy; a man who can bring her to endless ecstasy or drive her to madness. And Justine must play this dangerous game to perfection and win . . . if she and Jillian are to survive.
- GenresErotica
304 pages, Paperback
First published December 9, 2008
4 people are currently reading
56 people want to read
About the author
Thea Devine
58 books69 followersThea Devine is the author of eighteen historical romances and four novellas, including her contributions to the Brava anthologies Captivated, Fascinated, and, most recently, All Through the Night. Devine lives with her husband of 35 years in Ridgefield, Connecticut.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
October 14, 2013
Couldn't even finish it .
Yes, it was that bad
Yes, it was that bad
September 10, 2010
Read this for sex, not the story. It’s lots of sex between a cold, condescending guy and a spineless, illogical female.
STORY BRIEF:
Jillian is a call girl to wealthy businessmen. She is on a trip with Ellicott, CEO of a company. Ellicott meets with Baynard, CEO of another company and they share her for sex. A few days later, Baynard dies in a car crash, and Ellicott’s private plane crashes. Ellicott survives the crash, his pilot dies, but no one knows if Jillian survived. Just before the plane crash, Jillian sends a text message to Justine with their private SOS code. Justine is her identical twin sister. The code was leftover from their childhood - meaning help me. Justine thinks Jillian is a body parts model. Justine goes to Jillian’s apartment and finds a letter that explains Jillian’s true profession and client details. While at Jillian’s apartment, Zach arrives and thinks Justine is Jillian. Zach is Jillian’s pimp and gives Justine her next client appointments. Justine then pretends to be Jillian and has sex with Jillian’s clients over the next several days. One of the clients is Doug. She and Doug have nonstop sex for two days. They are addicted to each other. Doug has some kind of connection to Baynard and wants to find Jillian.
REVIEWER’S OPINION:
Some readers will like this because it’s full of sex. It’s call girl sex with no emotion or relationships. Sex scenes include group sex and rear door activity. When Justine first meets Doug, he is cold, silent, and condescending. He grabs her arm and says you’re coming with me. He takes her to his hotel room and begins having sex with her. There is no talking or relationship development - just both of them being addicted to each other. At the end of these two days, he throws money at her and leaves. Later he sees her, grabs her and again they have nonstop sex. She hates him, but the minute he touches her she melts. Whenever she tries to leave him or fight him, all he has to do is touch her, and she melts. If you don’t mind this type of relationship and want to read lots of sex scenes you might like this. Personally, I wanted some decent story. There was no character development. It’s mostly from Justine’s perspective. I never got to see or hear anything from Doug’s POV, so he was an unsatisfying mystery. The plot and events were dreamlike – wavering around the place – no logic. An example follows.
Justine is sleeping with Doug. She wakes up and realizes she might know where Jillian is. She tells herself she must get away from Doug’s seductive magnetism, and after this night, if she left him, there was no going back. She must quell her urgency because he’d know something was up and that her promises had been steeped in lies, and that she’d always choose her twin over him. As she slips out of bed, Doug says “You know something, don’t you.” “I thought of something,” she admitted. Then she is thinking there is no hiding anything from him. And she tells him her idea (what she had planned to keep secret).
What kind of writing is this? We go through all this pondering about how she must keep her secret and get away from Doug. And in the next minute he asks, and she tells him.
There were several occurrences like this. Here’s another example, Justine wants to ask Doug something. He says “what do you want to know?” Then she says nothing and doesn’t ask. I’m shaking my head. What?
Various events were not explained concerning Zach, Principessa, and Ellicott. I had problems with the logic of Jillian’s actions, but I don’t want to go into that so I won’t give away any spoilers.
A bad guy did something, and he got what was coming to him in the end. But that part of the story was not explained. Was evidence given to the authorities? Did he return what he stole? Who planned the revenge, why, and how? It was an empty ending for the plot, but that brings me back to the purpose of the book: sex, not story.
Two minor problems. I cannot believe a corporate CEO would spend so much time with Justine and trying to solve a murder and the disappearance of her sister. Most CEOs would hire investigators to do that. They have too many corporate obligations and limited time. Second, the publisher’s fault, the woman on the cover is blond. Justine and Jillian have long black hair.
DATA:
Story length: 291 pages. Swearing language: strong, including religious swear words. Sexual language: strong/erotic. Number of sex scenes: more than 30. Estimated number of sex scene pages: more than 48. Setting: current day mostly New York City, with some London, Paris, and Los Angeles. Copyright: 2010. Genre: erotic contemporary romance.
STORY BRIEF:
Jillian is a call girl to wealthy businessmen. She is on a trip with Ellicott, CEO of a company. Ellicott meets with Baynard, CEO of another company and they share her for sex. A few days later, Baynard dies in a car crash, and Ellicott’s private plane crashes. Ellicott survives the crash, his pilot dies, but no one knows if Jillian survived. Just before the plane crash, Jillian sends a text message to Justine with their private SOS code. Justine is her identical twin sister. The code was leftover from their childhood - meaning help me. Justine thinks Jillian is a body parts model. Justine goes to Jillian’s apartment and finds a letter that explains Jillian’s true profession and client details. While at Jillian’s apartment, Zach arrives and thinks Justine is Jillian. Zach is Jillian’s pimp and gives Justine her next client appointments. Justine then pretends to be Jillian and has sex with Jillian’s clients over the next several days. One of the clients is Doug. She and Doug have nonstop sex for two days. They are addicted to each other. Doug has some kind of connection to Baynard and wants to find Jillian.
REVIEWER’S OPINION:
Some readers will like this because it’s full of sex. It’s call girl sex with no emotion or relationships. Sex scenes include group sex and rear door activity. When Justine first meets Doug, he is cold, silent, and condescending. He grabs her arm and says you’re coming with me. He takes her to his hotel room and begins having sex with her. There is no talking or relationship development - just both of them being addicted to each other. At the end of these two days, he throws money at her and leaves. Later he sees her, grabs her and again they have nonstop sex. She hates him, but the minute he touches her she melts. Whenever she tries to leave him or fight him, all he has to do is touch her, and she melts. If you don’t mind this type of relationship and want to read lots of sex scenes you might like this. Personally, I wanted some decent story. There was no character development. It’s mostly from Justine’s perspective. I never got to see or hear anything from Doug’s POV, so he was an unsatisfying mystery. The plot and events were dreamlike – wavering around the place – no logic. An example follows.
Justine is sleeping with Doug. She wakes up and realizes she might know where Jillian is. She tells herself she must get away from Doug’s seductive magnetism, and after this night, if she left him, there was no going back. She must quell her urgency because he’d know something was up and that her promises had been steeped in lies, and that she’d always choose her twin over him. As she slips out of bed, Doug says “You know something, don’t you.” “I thought of something,” she admitted. Then she is thinking there is no hiding anything from him. And she tells him her idea (what she had planned to keep secret).
What kind of writing is this? We go through all this pondering about how she must keep her secret and get away from Doug. And in the next minute he asks, and she tells him.
There were several occurrences like this. Here’s another example, Justine wants to ask Doug something. He says “what do you want to know?” Then she says nothing and doesn’t ask. I’m shaking my head. What?
Various events were not explained concerning Zach, Principessa, and Ellicott. I had problems with the logic of Jillian’s actions, but I don’t want to go into that so I won’t give away any spoilers.
A bad guy did something, and he got what was coming to him in the end. But that part of the story was not explained. Was evidence given to the authorities? Did he return what he stole? Who planned the revenge, why, and how? It was an empty ending for the plot, but that brings me back to the purpose of the book: sex, not story.
Two minor problems. I cannot believe a corporate CEO would spend so much time with Justine and trying to solve a murder and the disappearance of her sister. Most CEOs would hire investigators to do that. They have too many corporate obligations and limited time. Second, the publisher’s fault, the woman on the cover is blond. Justine and Jillian have long black hair.
DATA:
Story length: 291 pages. Swearing language: strong, including religious swear words. Sexual language: strong/erotic. Number of sex scenes: more than 30. Estimated number of sex scene pages: more than 48. Setting: current day mostly New York City, with some London, Paris, and Los Angeles. Copyright: 2010. Genre: erotic contemporary romance.
June 15, 2010
Sex, Lies and Secret Lives by Thea Devine
Erotic Contemporary Romance- April 27th, 2010
4 Stars
Sex, Lies and Secret Lives is a contemporary erotic romance thriller that is unlike any that I have ever read before! I was surprised that the plot of the story was so well fabricated and different from most romances that involve twin sisters swapping places with one another. (The swapping roles twin thing has been done before, but never quite like this or as enjoyable!)
The story is about Justine Durant, a scientist who gets an emergency text message from her twin sister reaching out for help. She soon discovers that her sister is a contemporary courtesan for high flying business men. Unfortunately, Justine is trapped in her sister's apartment and gets mistaken for Jillian. This is when she begins role playing as Jillian and takes it upon herself to take on some of Jillian's clients. Justine is surprised when she starts enjoying the job herself and falling for one of her sister's clients. Luckily, it seems that Doug Rawls isn't as ruthless as he looks. When he is looking at Justine he realizes something is different but doesn't know for sure that she is pretending to be her sister Jillian. But he does sense that Justine is in danger. Will his influence be enough to save Jillian before it is too late? Will Justine and Doug ever be able to trust one another after all the lies they have told undercover? Was the sex part of the undercover roles they were playing or was it something more?
I liked how exciting the ending of the book was. The suspense and intrigue kept me on edge. I especially enjoyed Doug Rawls's character. He made the story ‘worth it’ to me because he was so mysterious. It wasn't until 200 pages into the story that I felt like I understood him, but I always felt that he was a good guy underneath the stern descriptions.
Thea Devine has written a very fast-paced, sexy contemporary that will be sure to thrill her fans and those who love a little 'spice' in their romance.
Reviewed by Sophia from the Bookaholics Romance Book Club
Erotic Contemporary Romance- April 27th, 2010
4 Stars
Sex, Lies and Secret Lives is a contemporary erotic romance thriller that is unlike any that I have ever read before! I was surprised that the plot of the story was so well fabricated and different from most romances that involve twin sisters swapping places with one another. (The swapping roles twin thing has been done before, but never quite like this or as enjoyable!)
The story is about Justine Durant, a scientist who gets an emergency text message from her twin sister reaching out for help. She soon discovers that her sister is a contemporary courtesan for high flying business men. Unfortunately, Justine is trapped in her sister's apartment and gets mistaken for Jillian. This is when she begins role playing as Jillian and takes it upon herself to take on some of Jillian's clients. Justine is surprised when she starts enjoying the job herself and falling for one of her sister's clients. Luckily, it seems that Doug Rawls isn't as ruthless as he looks. When he is looking at Justine he realizes something is different but doesn't know for sure that she is pretending to be her sister Jillian. But he does sense that Justine is in danger. Will his influence be enough to save Jillian before it is too late? Will Justine and Doug ever be able to trust one another after all the lies they have told undercover? Was the sex part of the undercover roles they were playing or was it something more?
I liked how exciting the ending of the book was. The suspense and intrigue kept me on edge. I especially enjoyed Doug Rawls's character. He made the story ‘worth it’ to me because he was so mysterious. It wasn't until 200 pages into the story that I felt like I understood him, but I always felt that he was a good guy underneath the stern descriptions.
Thea Devine has written a very fast-paced, sexy contemporary that will be sure to thrill her fans and those who love a little 'spice' in their romance.
Reviewed by Sophia from the Bookaholics Romance Book Club
August 3, 2014
First things first--I won the book in an author contest and though I'm an avid romance reader I'm pretty new to the erotica genre. That being said, I liked this book, but didn't love it. I liked the storyline and I liked Justine and Rawles. I thought Devine did a good job of showing Justine's development, growth, and struggles. What I didn't buy was how easily she seemed to step into her sister's lifestyle as a high-priced 'companion.' While I could suspend belief enough to go with Justine's willingness to become Jillian so she could find/save her, I felt like she played the role too easily. There should have been more awkwardness with her first customers, but once she decided to go along with it, she seemed to already know what to do, which was very out of character. Later in the book, Rawles makes mention of 'educating' her but it came a little too late in the story. But, putting that aside, Devine did show, I felt, how Justine struggled with her attraction to Rawles, her moral convictions (such as they were), and her need to save her sister (in more ways than one). I like that she was finally able to recognize what she and Rawles had was more than just sex and separate that from what she did with the other men in quest to save her sister.
March 18, 2011
I read this because Super Wendy the Librarian hearts this author. And, the premise was really intriguing. You've got the heroine Justine "forced" to take her missing twin Jillian's place to figure out Jillian's mysterious disappearance and distress signal. But, Jillian has been leading this double life as a high-priced escort/prostitute. Justine ends up catering to Jill's clients, deeply disturbed by the aspects she enjoys and her emerging sensual nature. Justine eventually finds herself servicing the hero as Jillian, only to discover that he may be involved in the mystery of Jillian's disappearance.
While the premise was promising, there was waaaay too much sex and way too little of character and relationship development. It was never clear how the hero eventually got to "I'm finally free to love you" at the end. And we know nothing about the hero, why he has to hire an escort and why he is such a domineering ass. Justine thinks "it's more than just about fucking" at the end, but her inner conflict is still pretty unresolved.
The bottom line: the premise gets an "it's ok" rating, but I'm not convinced of the HEA.
While the premise was promising, there was waaaay too much sex and way too little of character and relationship development. It was never clear how the hero eventually got to "I'm finally free to love you" at the end. And we know nothing about the hero, why he has to hire an escort and why he is such a domineering ass. Justine thinks "it's more than just about fucking" at the end, but her inner conflict is still pretty unresolved.
The bottom line: the premise gets an "it's ok" rating, but I'm not convinced of the HEA.
October 20, 2012
I was a little conflicted as the story was actually fun, with twists and turns in the plot. Twin sisters with vastly different lifestyles become embroiled in a murder and business intrigue. Jillian is a courtesan and Justine is a scientist. When Jill disappears after a SOS text to Justine, many secrets are revealed about her "job". The main thing that kept this from 4 stars was Justine's silly leap into Jill's role as a sexual provider to high powered executives, without missing a beat. So hard to swallow. But the mystery was good.
July 4, 2010
Way too much sex. The book had a really interesting premise and plot(which is why I'm giving it a three), but it was an after thought to all the random, meaningless sex. The author should've taken more time to flesh out the characters and the storyline instead she laid the groundwork at the beginning and the resolution at the end was an afterthought.
May 27, 2015
Lots of sex. Limited plot. Twins, one good (Justine - lab researcher) and the other wild (Jillian - high priced companion/courtesan/hooker).
Justine finds out that Jillian is a not a parts (body) model when she disappears after a trip to Europe w/client Ellicott. She takes over and meets Doug Rawls during one of her assignments.
Justine finds out that Jillian is a not a parts (body) model when she disappears after a trip to Europe w/client Ellicott. She takes over and meets Doug Rawls during one of her assignments.
May 28, 2012
The storyline is not very exciting. This is basically a story about the interludes of a high-class escort to a rich and influential clientele. Not a romantic tale, but rather a venue to write about marathon sex, which could tap into a reader's fantasy life. I skimmed through a lot of the story, finally only looking for the sexy bits. 2.5 stars.
August 17, 2010
I was attracted to the author's name, so I decided to try a little romance. I only finished about half of the novel, the story line wasn't keeping my interest. But the erotica aspect was fun!
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July 11, 2018Very entertaining story
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews