Just when you start to really enjoy the story and the character and the actions of the book, bam! you're finished. I enjoyed the book, but it was way too short. ( )

"The Escort Next Door" by Clara James is the first book in the eponymous series and is an enjoyable story on one level and a highly problematic one on another. The heroine of the piece is Julia, who has the perfect husband, the perfect kids and the perfect life – until she discovers that her husband has been having a series of affairs. Broken-hearted she ends the marriage and in desperate need of cash to look after her family she takes the radical decision to become an escort. Luckily for her, her first client is young, rich, caring, handsome, great in bed and unbelievably kind. Taken as outright fantasy this is an entertaining read, well-written with a decent amount of character development and some carefully developed erotic situations. Clara James builds the story nicely and makes you care for Julia's plight and her fears and anxieties about her new life and in particular the new profession she's about to embark on. It is the reality of that new life where the story is problematic, however – her decision to become an escort feels rushed and ill thought through, but even worse is her first, unrealistic client encounter in the escorting game. If you are able to focus on the "Pretty Woman" style fantasy of an escort's client being super-romantic and ultra-caring then it's fine; but I found it difficult to not to focus on the reality of prostitution which is usually dingy, desperate, violent and abusive. While I appreciate that this is the first instalment in a longer series and that it's unfair to be overly judgemental at this stage, I do hope that Clara James gives some cognisance to the realities of escorting in subsequent instalments. Given some of the other excellent story elements and other qualities in "The Escort Next Door" I did enjoy the story and I look forward to seeing how she handles that particular element and to seeing how Julia's life continues to evolve. ( )