Review: I, Porn Star by Zara Cox (I #1)

Note: This ARC was provided by RockStar Lit PR in exchange for an honest review.

Maybe my cracks aren't so bad.

Maybe the chasm isn't as deep as I thought.

Maybe she'll take the leap with me.

Maybe with her, I'll survive the fall.

Maybe she'll even save me.

Maybe. Maybe.

Maybe...it's too late.

I always try to go into a book without any expectations, but when the term "porn star" is somewhere in the title, my mind starts concocting scenarios. Lo and behold, whatever I came up paled in comparison to the story of billionaire Quinn Blackwood and hard on her luck Elyse Gilbert in I, Porn Star, the first novel in author Zara Cox's I series. This was a story that had equal amounts of intrigue and erotic romance and I loved every single bit of it. The book isn't exactly a quick read but there was no putting my tablet down once I got sucked into Quinn's web of deceit mired in vengeance and sex. As Q, he had a plan--one that he's spent a decade perfecting--and Lucky should have been nothing more than the perfect pawn in his final act. It's Elyse's perfection that has Quinn wanting to keep her, but he's too far gone to save her or himself.

Quinn is a twenty-eight-year-old billionaire who spends a great deal of time plotting how to keep making money, how to spread that money around to worthwhile charities, and how to get justice for the only woman he's ever loved: his deceased mother. Elyse is a twenty-two-year-old young woman on the run, and it is the lure of a million dollars that has her auditioning to be part of a series of explicit films under her ironic nickname of "Lucky" with a mysterious man she names "Q". But then she comes in contact with Quinn, and they're drawn to one another in a tempting, undeniable way. Lucky has an agreement with Q, and Elyse wants to spend time with Quinn. Soon enough, she's falling for both men, but when she finds out the truth, it could devastate Elyse and may lead the precarious foundation her feelings are on to crumble.

There's so much more that goes on in the story than you may suspect at the onset. Quinn and Elyse are very complex main characters and watching what happens between them is just as fascinating as watching what happens between Q and Lucky, even though I know they're one and the same couple. Learning about what motivates Quinn is heartbreaking and Elyse's reasons behind her need to be Lucky and agree to be with Q are far more complicated than I would have expected. These are two very damaged individuals, and I couldn't help but empathize with what they were going through. Yes, Quinn's thirst for vengeance was unquenchable, to the point that he sometimes came off as detached and depraved. It's Elyse that begins to bring his humanity back to life. I, Porn Star is one of my favorite reads for 2016 and it gets five-plus stars. ♥

Date Read: 16 March 2016

Learn more about Zara Cox.

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