Eighty-One Nights: Beautiful Illusions Duet Book 1

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.

Marvellous new duet!!! Caitriona Louden is a beautiful young American student living in Edinburgh, she’s lived there with her father and step-mother since her mom died when she was sixteen. Cait, has a less than loving with her dad, the man who walked away when she was born. She was left with her alcoholic mother and forced to raise herself. She doesn’t trust or give love easily. Maxwell Hutcheson is older, devastatingly handsome and a recent widower and desperate for companionship. He and his wife had been having issues before she died and now he’s trapped in a limbo of denial and grief that he shows to friends and family, but the truth is, he wants a fresh start. Cait is a stepping stone to that end, or she’s supposed to be. Cait is struggling to pay her college fees as her father refuses to give her any more help. She needs money and her friend Rachel shows her a way she can earn enough to cover it all by doing a little extra work over the summer break. Inamorata, is where Cait and Max meet. It’s the first time for both of them. Lou, as Cait calls herself, isn’t sure of what to expect of the clientele, but she pleasantly surprised when Max asks her to be his… for three months. Lou hadn’t planned to go all they way, like some of the girls. She told Max right off the bat she wasn’t offering her body to him. He was happy to just see where things went. If they were attracted to one another and they wanted to have sex, then they would, as long as that’s what Lou wanted. From her first date with Max, or Hutch as she decided to call him, Lou knew he was a man who’d respect her wishes, despite what she did for a living. The more time the spent together, the closer them become. Cait isn’t worried though. They have a contract and her heart isn’t on the line. She can walk away at the end. Hutch knows his feelings are becoming real and he wants Loun to be his for real too. So, what will happen at the end of Eighty-One Days. You have to read it and find out, bear in mind, though, that this is a duet so the ending isn’t really, the end. Can’t wait for the next part to see where this is going. I can highly recommend this one to fans old and new, alike.

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.