Review: Price of a Kiss by Linda Kage

Price of a Kiss (Forbidden Men, #1) by Linda Kage

Book Description: 

*new adult romance*
**explicit scenes and language**

I don’t care what my cousin says; I am not the queen of impossible relationships. I mean, just because my last boyfriend tried to kill me and left a bit of a scar on my neck, then forced me to move across the country and legally change my name to Reese Randall to escape him, does not mean—

Oh, who am I kidding? For a freshman in college, I have to have the worst dating track record ever.

It’s no wonder love is the last thing on my mind when Mason Lowe enters my life. But the chemistry between us is like bam! Our connection defies logic. And he’s just so freaking hot. Being around him makes me feel more alive than I’ve ever felt before. I even like bickering with him. He could be my soul mate...except for one teeny tiny glitch.

He's a gigolo.

Boy, do I know how to pick them.

I'm honest to God completely shocked that I really liked this book- For one, light and fluffy reads aren't my usual cuppa. Linda Kage definitely made it work for me in this book though, so needless to say I'm impressed.

I'm not going to bother wasting time in this review hashing out the story-line in full detail... The synopsis gives everything you need to know away, so there's that. I will say though, that it's so refreshing to read a book that doesn't involve the whole dreaded insta-love theme.  

It seems like authors these days throw that shit out there like it's some kind of mandatory obligation they feel is a must in their line of profession. It just takes away from the entire relationship development in my opinion, and had that been involved in this story there's no way my rating would have been what it was. The hero Mason Lowe actually tried his best to stay away from the heroine as much as possible for quite a length of time in the story, which only helped to heighten my emotional feelings when it came to his relationship with the heroine Reese. It made everything seem that much more believable, and in turn it definitely helped make me really appreciate everything these two had to go through to finally achieve their happily-ever-after.

I will admit, there were parts of the story that I felt were a bit cheesy. It's something that's typically expected in light and fluffy reads though, so I went into the book expecting it. ...But believe it or not, it all came together and really worked for me in this story. The book is told in the heroine Reese's point of view, which I really appreciated. I think it helped readers to get a true feel for the type of person she was and only made her character that much more likable. Not to mention, her witty and sarcastic personality truly stole my heart. She spoke and acted like a true girl which only helped me to relate to her all the more.

"From fifty yards, he'd taken my breath away. From ten feet, I'd been ready too have his babies." -Reese

This book and the characters involved seriously just made me happy. I laughed myself through a good chunk of this story while sporting a big goofy smile on my face. With that being said though, it also had its fair share of emotional depth to it as well. Not only do we get to know Reese and her personal background as to how she became the woman that she was, but we also got to see a side to the hero Mason that not everybody from the outside sees. He literally sacrificed everything for his family, despite all the pain it caused him to give so much of himself and his life up.

Reese was the first person to see him for who he really was, despite the profession he's made for himself. It only made me love and respect her character all the more. Despite the awful trauma she had been through in her past, she never once let it take control of her life and she never judged Mason like the rest of the world seemed to do, and she definitely scored some major brownie points with me because of it.

Like I said, these two didn't fall head-over-heels in love the second they met... They became friends first, although it was apparent that their feelings for one another ran deeper than they ever expected. It was just so fun to see a relationship progress slowly for once, because it helped readers to really feel and appreciate the flirty banter and chemistry involved.

Over-all, this book as an impossibly sweet romance that will have you rooting for both the hero and heroine from start to finish. The writing was extremely well written, witty and without a doubt enjoyable without being too over the top or predictable. It was my first book by the author Linda Kage and it's definitely safe to say that it won't be my last.