Rating: 2.75 stars
Buy Links:  Amazon | All Romance
Length: Novel

Matt Killian is a private detective with a less than glamorous career and a cat that covers his apartment in pee, regardless of what he does to stop it. So when the father of Dane Marks, a gay porn director, comes to Matt distraught because Dane’s missing, Matt jumps in with both feet. In his search of Dane’s home, he gathers enough clues to understand that Marks is on the ledge. He’s most likely preparing to go out with a bang — a last hurrah with drugs and sex before he takes his own life.

Matt flies to Miami for a gay porn convention, where he is accidentally mistaken for a go-go dancer and quickly becomes part of the scene. He begins a fast friendship and more with Dane and follows him on an endless series of madcap adventures. They end up in the hospital since Dane’s body is already riddled with the drugs that he pumped into it to get a start on his suicide. Honestly, I felt like I was on my own drug trip. I could tell you the plot of this book, but I’m not sure you’d believe it. About a third of the way through the book, Dane has his stomach pumped and is, presumably, no longer high. It would make more sense if he was. He and Matt move from one crazy event to the other without much thought, reason, or consequence.

A good portion of Love For Sale takes place within the world of a porn convention. It has a promising premise. Unfortunately, it is a less than flattering portrayal of the business. I understand that the porn industry is not a world of bunnies and rainbows, but this is an extremely skewed, negative portrayal of the business that doesn’t appear to have much foundation or research. All the performers are pumping themselves with drugs, sleeping around, and generally portraying an attitude of bitchiness and irresponsibility.

Once Matt and Dane decide to abandon the craziness of the convention in order to spend time with each other, things do not slow down. When they’re not having sex, which I will take issue with in just a minute, they are running from one place to another, bonding in incomprehensible ways. Dane, a man who was hours before on death’s door because he was ready to end it all, is able to remain sober and cheerful simply due to his connection with Matt. Don’t forget that Matt is currently on the job and is, perhaps, the most unprofessional P.I. in the business.

Add to this budding relationship storyline some major parental issues, a last-minute client with a long-lost daughter, and a temperamental, territorial cat and you have a disjointed, difficult to follow plot with little redeeming value. I may have been able to forgive the ridiculous plot had the sex made up for it. It didn’t even come close. There’s a fair amount of sex here, but like most things in this book, the author suffers from a case of the tell not show syndrome, which means that we got a very explicit description of the sex, but the emotion and chemistry was sadly missing. I was a little sad about it. I thought the MCs were kind of adorable together, and I would’ve liked to have seen the genuine connection between the two of them. Instead, we have scene after scene of endless sexual activity, with nary a moment to recover, and in positions that were physically impossible. It should’ve been hot, but it was far from it.

I was not a fan of this book. The author tried to pack way too much into a 133 page story at a breakneck pace that left me with whiplash. The characters were acting without conscience and never had to suffer repercussions for their actions, and it all wraps up nicely with a big HEA bow. It was bizarre, confusing and, quite frankly, unpleasant. I hope the author learns from her mistakes and gives us the kind of book we know she can write.