Link: Amazon, Goodreads. Price: £11.49
A 21-year-old virgin and ashamed of it, Elizabeth is a pre-med student obsessed with the idea that she is too awkward, too weird and too difficult to find to ever find love. Thus, she hits on the idea of paying to learn the skills she needs. Using a dating website, of sorts, she finds her perfect man and propositions him in the library: $5000 dollars for four weeks, starting with kissing and cuddling, working all the way up to full sex in the final week. Peyton initially refuses, but then he loses his job and sees no other way to stay in college.
The initial premise of this book is difficult. I had the fortune when writing my doctorate to have several researchers into prostitution and sex work in my PhD room. I’ve had the opportunity to read widely on the subject, talk to experts, and talk to sex workers themselves. The psychological, emotional, and social consequences of sex work are huge. Having read the blurb I couldn’t see any way this book wasn’t going to be a dumpster fire.
Kingston saves this through excellent writing. Her characters are three-dimensional, believable, and carrying real hurts that make their need for each other distract from the dangers of the story premise. The all-important scene where Elizabeth propositions Peyton is very well done, acknowledging the odd nature of her request and exploring the consequences without tipping out of romance and into psychological horror.
After that I really couldn’t put it down. This book is rather hot, but the sex scenes are some of the best I’ve read: explicit without reading liking a biology textbook; filled with a believable passion stemming from the character’s growing love for one another. The story twists and turns as they try to get to know each other without ever really being sure where they stand. The two of them are made stronger by each other. And over it all is the ticking clock of the payment and the transactional period. Because the central characters are so kind and believable, and the writing is so good, it’s possible to accept that Elizabeth and Peyton could overcome how their relationship starts, together.
And that’s a wonderful subject for a book. Dumpster fire averted. I look forward to reading more by Kingston.
