Eighty-One Nights: Beautiful Illusions Duet Book 1

Georgia Cates

Apr 2019 · Beautiful Illusions Duet Book 1 · Georgia Cates Books, LLC

About this ebook

Beautiful, penniless American girl meets handsome, wealthy Scotsman.

Sounds like the beginning of a fairy-tale romance?

It’s not.

 

This story begins with a contract.

And an exchange of money.

A lot of money.

 

An angel perches nervously on one shoulder.

A devil lounges smugly on my other.

And even that dark little bastard is leery of what I’m doing.

 

Maxwell Hutcheson wants the girlfriend experience.

All of it.

And I’m going to give it to him.

 

I’m not supposed to enjoy being his whore.

I’m also not supposed to fall in love with him.

But I do. Both.

 

When our contract expires, I will walk away.

Because I have to.

But he’ll always have a piece of me.

 

I’ll mask my sorrow with a smile.

I’ll hide my love with indifference

… all while it’s killing me softly.

 

A fairy-tale romance.

It isn’t mine to have.

And this man I’ve come to love so dearly isn’t my happily ever after.

–––––

About Eighty-One Nights––

Heat level: 5/5

Cheating: No

 

Tropes and Themes:

·      Alpha

·      Arranged Relationship

·      Hero with an Accent (Scottish)

·      Billionaire

·      Single Dad

·      Widower

·      Age Gap (10 years)

·      Damaged Hero

·      Damaged Heroine

 

 

*** While the characters from Eighty-One Nights are entirely new, their storyline is a combination of fresh material and carefully selected themes, scenes, and settings from The Beauty Series, The Sin Trilogy, Dear Agony, and Indulge. This is intentional. I chose some of my favorite elements from previous releases and interjected them into Hutch and Lou’s story. Let’s call it a “story fusion” between our old favorites and new material. ***

Ratings and reviews

Other than ending on a cliffhanger, this is a great sexy read. It reminds me of the plot from Pretty Woman, but w/ a Scottish twist. Cait/Lou the younger, American, down on her luck woman meets Max/Hutch the older, wealthy, Scottish businessman. They have an agreement for companionship for 81 days. Their feelings deepen for each other, but outside forces are threatening their future.

EIGHTY-ONE NIGHTS is the first instalment in Georgie Cates’ contemporary, adult BEAUTIFUL ILLUSIONS erotic, romance duet focusing on thirty-three year old, Scottish businessman and widower Maxwell Hutcheson, and twenty-two year old, American student Caitriona ‘Lou’ Louden. Told from dual first person points of view (Lou and Max) EIGHTY-ONE NIGHTS follows the fake boyfriend/girlfriend arrangement between thirty-three year old, Scottish businessman Maxwell Hutcheson, and twenty-two year old, American student Caitriona ‘Lou’ Louden. Maxwell Hutcheson is looking for a companion but when his best friend Brady suggests the services of Inomorata, Maxwell never expected to fall in love. Enter American Caitriona Louden aka Lou, a young woman struggling to make ends meet, including the fees for her university tuition. What ensues is the building relationship and romance between Lou and Max, and the fall-out as Lou and Max’s time together comes to an end, an ending destroyed by betrayal and vengeance. Caitriona Louden struggles with her ethics when her roommate Rachel suggests becoming an Inomorata woman, a for-hire girlfriend for rich men looking for temporary arrangements, and beautiful eye-candy. Meeting Maxwell Hutcheson finds our heroine slowly falling in love with a man whose former in-laws are unwilling to accept our heroine in his life. Targeted by more than one person willing to destroy her life, Cat is forced to walk away from the man with whom she is falling in love. The relationship between Lou and Max is an arranged affair with an expiry date of eighty-one days. Never expecting to fall in love Lou is faced with heart break and betrayal before their time is up. The $ex scenes are intimate, erotic and passionate, without the use of over the top, sexually graphic language and text. There is a large ensemble cast of colorful and secondary characters including Caitriona’s best friend and roommate Rachel; Max’s sister Sara, her husband Adam, as well as Max’s brother Ian Hutcheson. We are introduced to Inomorata’s chatelaine Coram her son Chambers, as well as Max’s former sister in law Blair. If you are a fan of, or have read the author’s original BEAUTY series focusing on Jack Prescott and Laurelyn Prescott, you will notice the numerous similarities and recognizable premise to the current plot development of EIGHTY-ONE NIGHTS. There is also a slight cross-over with the author’s BEAUTY series and the mention of the band Southern Ophelia. The author has been transparent with the parallel correlations calling it a fusion of her ‘old favorites and new material’. I welcomed the familiarity as I loved the BEAUTY series but I was also hoping for some deeper twists to the original plot line. EIGHTY-ONE NIGHTS is a familiar story of friendship, romance, heart break and love. There are moments of happiness and pain; revelations and acceptance; betrayal, vengeance, grief and loss. The premise is engaging, entertaining and captivating: the romance is seductive, provocative, and impassioned; the characters are energetic, bold and strong. EIGHTY-ONE NIGHTS end on a cliff-hanger, you have been warned.

I'm really not a fan of cliffhangers, so that's why it's only 4 stars. I plan to start Book 2 right away. I liked the character development. The conversations seemed stilted at times. I have enjoyed other Georgia Cates books and liked this one as well.

About the author

Georgia resides in rural Mississippi with her wonderful husband, Jeff, and their two beautiful daughters. She spent fourteen years as a labor and delivery nurse before she decided to pursue her dream of becoming an author and hasn’t looked back yet.

When she’s not writing, she’s thinking about writing. When she’s being domestic, she’s listening to her music and visualizing scenes for her current work in progress. Every story coming from her always has a song to inspire it.