LIP ACTION (Kiss Talent Agency #1) by Virna DePaul-a review
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ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date April 23, 2017
Marissa
Appearance is everything to my upper-crust mother, but when she insists I take back my pedigreed-but-cheating ex? I’d rather stab myself with a salad fork. So I blurt out I’m dating someone new. Someone like…that smoking-hot, vaguely familiar guy across the restaurant, who could be the next James Bond.
Turns out he’s the star of my favorite, cheesy, sci-fi soap opera. (Don’t judge me.) One minute I’m fantasizing about Borg and his green-hued abs. The next, Simon Dale is making me an offer my sex-starved body can’t refuse.
Simon
I’m up for a breakout movie role that’ll launch me off the B-list, but I don’t need a script to read the scene between Marissa and her mum. Even though I’m a London gutter rat who never rubbed elbows with a Royal, I easily slip into the role of Marissa’s doting boyfriend. Why? I need a favor in return— a steady girlfriend, just long enough to convince the producers I’ve changed my wild ways.
Trouble is, I’m going all Method on this relationship—and close to losing the one thing that could break me. My heart.
••••••••••
REVIEW: LIP ACTION is the first installment in Virna DePaul’s contemporary, adult KISS TALENT AGENCY erotic, romance series. This is British b-list actor Simon Richards-Dale, and heiress / marketing specialist Marissa Woodcrest’s story line.
Told from dual first person points of view (Marissa and Simon) LIP ACTION focuses on the fake boyfriend/girlfriend relationship between British b-list actor Simon Dale, and marketing specialist Marissa Woodcrest. Simon’s reputation in Hollywood as a manwhore keeps our hero on the b-list of celebrities and in the news. Hoping to land a lucrative role in an upcoming Hollywood blockbuster movie, our hero is in desperate need of a committed girlfriend to impress the people behind the scenes. Enter heiress, and marketing specialist Marissa Woodcrest, whose own personal life has fallen onto hard times with the discovery that her fiancé had been having an affair with his office secretary. Pressure from her mother to rekindle with her former flame, finds our heroine secretly agreeing to become Simon’s girlfriend to keep her mother off of her back. What ensues is the building relationship between Simon and Marissa, and the fall out when the truth is revealed.
Marissa Woodcrest is the daughter and heiress of well- to –do businessman Raul Woodcrest but Marissa’s earlier years were fraught with questionable behavior and run-ins with the law. Hoping to keep up appearances, Marissa’s recent engagement was everything her mother had ever wanted but not so our story line heroine. Simon Dale (Richards) grew up the son of a drunk, and a drug addict but needed an image change when the studios came calling. His reputation as a manwhore did not appeal to the bigwigs in charge, and a steady girlfriend is just what was needed and Marissa was ripe for the picking. The $ex scenes are intimate and intense. Simon likes to talk dirty in the bedroom, against the wall, on the beach……
There are a large number of secondary and supporting characters including Marissa’s ex Charles, and Simon’s ex Janelle, Marissa’s parents Raul and June, as well as her brother Kenny and sister Larissa; Simon’s sister Dana, his friend and agent Declan Kiss; and Hollywood producers Arnold and Edward Spires.
The world building follows the lies and secrets that begin to spiral out of control. As Simon desperately battles for his upcoming role, Marissa comes to the realization that she has fallen in love with a man who isn’t looking for a permanent relationship.
LIP ACTION is sexy and spicy read with a little bit of humor, heartbreak, and a happily ever after. The premise is entertaining; the characters are colorful; the romance is seductive. The story line needs another round of editing due to some spelling and grammar issues, as well as a mix up in names e.g. Woodcrest vs Woodward-hopefully the errors were corrected before the final release.
Copy supplied by Netgalley
Reviewed by Sandy
