Rented Heart

September 19, 2016
When businessman Liam Mallaney hires sex worker Zac Payne for a night of no-strings-attached passion, both men unexpectedly fall deeply in love in this tender contemporary erotic romance. Liam is lonely in Norfolk, England, a year after the death of his husband. Zac is running away from London and his junkie past—but he can’t run far, because his best friend and roommate, Jamie, still does drugs. As Liam and Zac meet periodically for sex, more sex, and even more sex, they start developing real feelings for each other. Liam longs for Zac’s company and Zac appreciates that Liam treats him “like I matter,” but both seem afraid to express their true feelings. Their relationship is, of course, complicated by a misunderstanding involving a syringe, and there’s a climactic emotional scene in a hospital, but Leigh (What Remains) credibly makes the lovers’ troubles more sexy than sudsy. This slim novel could have used a few more scenes of Liam and Zac bonding, as when they take a trip to Sheffield. Instead there is a thin subplot involving Liam’s father, who has Alzheimer’s. Nevertheless, this is one of Leigh’s better romances, and readers will want Zac and Liam to end up together.

September 1, 2016
No romance writer does tortured, battered characters that tear at your heartstrings better than Leigh (Misfits, 2015). Zac Payne's been on his own since he was 16. He managed to get clean with the help of his flatmate, occasional lover, and friend Jamie, but he's still working as a prostitute. Liam Mallaney is trying to pick up the pieces of his life and splintered heart after his husband, Cory, died in an accident. What begins as a business arrangement between these two soon sprawls into much more. As much as Liam craves Zac's sexy body, he craves his company more. Zac finds himself caring more about spending time with Liam, in or out of the bedroom and with or without being paid. When Jamie's and Zac's pasts catch up to them and threaten everything worthwhile in Zac's life, it is up to Liam to help put it all back together again. Liam's tenderness and care of Zac is touching but not overdone, while their chemistry is hot from their very first encounter. Deeply moving and sexy.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)