GENTLEMAN NINE by Penelope Ward-Review Tour

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ABOUT THE BOOK: February 19, 2018

Growing up, the three of us were friends.
He was the nerd.
I was the playboy.
She was the beauty.

Deep down, I only ever wanted her. I kept it inside because Rory and I made a pact that our friend, Amber, was off-limits.

He lied.

I went off to college, and he got the girl.
Amber never knew how I felt.
They were together for years—before he broke her heart.

Through it all and across the miles, she and I casually stayed in touch.
When my job sent me to Boston for a three-month contract position, Amber let me stay in her spare room.

Still reeling from her breakup, she’d sworn off men.
One night, I opened her computer to find the shock of my life. She’d hesitantly contacted a male escort company. Afraid to date and get her heart broken again, she was looking for sex with no strings.

Every emotion imaginable ran through me: protectiveness, jealousy—curiosity.
Amber had chosen Gentleman Number Nine and sent him a message.
She opened up to him, confessing, among other things, her physical attraction to her friend—me. But she considered me off-limits—and she thought I was a manwhore. (Ironic, considering the circumstances.)

Eventually, she set up a date to meet Gentleman Nine at a hotel.
When she showed up several nights later to meet him, she was stunned to see me standing there—with an offer I hoped she wouldn’t refuse

•••••

REVIEW: GENTLEMAN NINE by Penelope Ward is a stand alone, contemporary, adult, erotic, romance story line focusing on three friends: Channing Lord, Amber Walton, and Rory Calhoun.

Told from dual first person perspectives (Amber and Channing) with a chapter from Rory GENTLEMAN NINE follows the friends to lovers relationship between twenty five year old part time grade school teacher Amber Walton, and twenty seven year old Channing Lord. Three months earlier Amber’s life imploded when her boyfriend of nine years, Rory Calhoun, walked away saying he needed to explore other options. Three months will pass as Amber struggles to make sense of her life when their mutual friend Channing Lord calls looking for a place to stay while in town for a contracted business arrangement, and Amber’s B&B is available for rent. What ensues is the building romance between Amber and Channing, and the potential fall-out when Rory comes looking for a second chance.

Nine years earlier, Channing and Rory made a pact not to pursue a relationship with Amber, their friend (Channing’s younger sister Lainey’s best friend) and the woman they both equally loved but Channing went off to university, only to return to discover his best friends had fallen in love leaving our hero the awkward third party in their one-time close-knit friendship. Fast forward to present day Channing discovers that the girl he secretly loves is about to hire an escort to ‘sate’ her sexual needs. Not one to stand back and lose the woman he loves a second time, our hero offers Amber a ‘friends with benefits’ relationship that will turn into something more.

The relationship between Amber and Channing is one of friends to lovers, a second chance of sorts between two people who have loved one another most of their lives but circumstance and betrayal found Amber falling in love with someone else. Their friends with benefits agreement and rules are eventually thrown caution to the wind as love becomes the overarching theme that will be threatened by Rory’s attempts to win back the woman he still loves. The $ex scenes are intimate, passionate and seductive but, once again, I take offense to a certain four-letter word that holds no place in a romance story line.

We are introduced to Amber’s best friend Annabelle, and Milo, a young autistic man who loves to smell all newcomer’s hair, as well as Channing’s ex-girlfriend Emily, his ailing mother Christine, Rory’s neighbour Boris, and Boris’s daughter Stephanie.

GENTLEMAN NINE is an emotional and sometimes heart breaking story line that treads dangerously close to love-triangle territory, if not, crossing over for several chapters, which, not being a fan of the three sided romance-ever- amped up my anxiety exponentially. The premise is creative and moving; the characters are determined and passionate; the romance is provocative and intense.

Copy supplied for review

Reviewed by Sandy

Penelope Ward is a New York Times, USA Today and Wall Street Journal Bestselling author. She grew up in Boston with five older brothers and spent most of her twenties as a television news anchor, before switching to a more family-friendly career. She is the proud mother of a beautiful 11-year-old girl with autism and a 9-year-old boy. Penelope and her family reside in Rhode Island.

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