Title: Charlie, Rentboy
Series: Working Boys, #1
Author: J.P. Barnaby
Genre: Erotic Romance
Length: Novella (81 pages)
Publisher: Wilde City Press (September 4th, 2013)
Heat Level: Explicit
Heart Rating: ♥♥♥♥3.5 Hearts
Reviewer: Thommie
Blurb: Got two hundred and fifty dollars for an hour of fun? Then say hello to Charlie, a hot little rentboy working his way through an engineering degree on his back. He’s got shaggy blond hair that’s great to hang on to while you fuck him from behind, and sweet innocent blue eyes that look very enticing when he gazes up at you with your cock in his mouth. That is, until he’s hired by innocent rich boy John Middleton, head of Middleton Communication. John is so far in the closet he could find Narnia. But when John and Charlie get together for an explosive weekend of sex, everything goes to hell.
Product Link: http://www.wildecity.com/books/gay-erotica/charlie-rentboy-working-boys-book-one/#.UkumsYanqU5
Review: So, how about a story that contains steamy hot scenes, a pretty-woman-like romance, and a story that surprises you with its twists and turns? Sounds good? Yeah, thought so.
So basic stuff: this is a rentboy story – just in case you missed that from the title – and a few things are given, highly erotic characters and sexual scenes. I loved all of it from the introduction as the story begins and continues with Charlie’s voice, the tone, and personality that leaks through it, the dirty/slutty talking/thinking to the actual scenes that had me hot and bothered in no time.
These kind of characters are highly appealing anyway (to me at least), but Charlie, oh my dear, dear Charlie. He’s a whole different level of appeal. He’s not so much cocky as he’s self-assured and content in his ways. He loves sex; he knows it and shows it without a segment of self-consciousness, he has a sense of humor underlying everything he does or says, and he’s as much sensitive as he is erotic. Put him together with John and they make an explosive pair, for John is quite the character himself. As a matter of fact, John surprised the heck out of me as the story went on; he had too many secrets in that closet of his.
And that brings me back to the romance plot of this book. It resembles in many ways “Pretty Woman” because the characters, while not meaning to, fell in… not love exactly, but in a situation where the possibility of more was glaringly there. The rentboy let his guard down, the client overlooked many things, and the one way path that was crystal clear in the beginning of the story suddenly split in half leaving the choice of what is to come to the characters and their willpower. By the end, the story was a “dare you to go that way?” kind.
Now, some parts of this story had me questioning a bit too much. Why did John chose to do what he did when he could achieve the same result with simply coming clean..?
Why chance ridicule when he could go the simple forward way and make the decisions he eventually made with a head held high and without the drama..?
Was it something, I missed or was this plot not thoroughly considered?
The questions were somewhat quite heavy on my mind by the end of the read that they managed to effect my total abandon and enjoyment of this book. However, in its entirety I cannot help but admit that this was a very satisfying read and I had a hot time reading it. If rentboys are your thing, this book is strongly recommended.