Rating: 4.5 stars
Buy Links: Amazon | All Romance
Length: Short Story
Vinny D’Forino is a seasoned Dom, but he hasn’t had a regular sub since his partner Kyle left over a year ago, or even anything beyond hookups. Then he gets a call from his friend Carter who asks him to help train a sub to do a porn shoot. It turns out one of Carter’s dancers has gotten in over his head by signing up to shoot with Sounding Board, a hard core fetish site that is no way appropriate for a newbie sub. Vinny can’t say no to helping the kid, and when he sees the picture of the gorgeous Angel, he is even more interested.
When Angel comes over for his first session, he is everything Vinny wants: gorgeous, sweet, and perfectly submissive. Vinny needs to use all of his self-control to keep things low key like he planned, as he is dying to really get into things with the beautiful Angel. But as they continue to work together, it appears Angel wants more than Vinny can give. He can train the man, but he can’t keep him. Not after Kyle. At the same time, Vinny can’t help but think of Angel as his, wanting the man far more than he should. This experience was just supposed to be about training, but both Angel and Vinny may end up wanting more.
Vinny, Porn Star is the third book in J.P. Barnaby’s Working Boys series and it’s definitely my favorite. It is sexy and dirty and totally pushed my buttons with the whole innocence versus experience dynamic. During the first scene between them we are in Vinny’s head and we can see just how badly he wants Angel, how he is trying to keep his distance even as he realizes how much Angel is exactly the kind of guy he loves. Barnaby really captures the intensity of the scene and the connection between them here and it is fabulous.
I wasn’t expecting the shift in POV to Angel after that first encounter, and at first, I wasn’t sure I liked it. I worried it sort of broke the fantasy to see Angel’s perspective, versus only seeing how Vinny reacts to him. But actually this ends up working perfectly, as we get to know more about Angel in his real life, as well as to see where he is coming from in terms of what he wants from Vinny. They have another hot scene, and I really appreciated how we see both Vinny and Angel working through it all. It doesn’t go perfectly, and both men need to figure some things about along the way, which made it feel much more real (and definitely still hot).
The only thing that detracted from the story for me is the kind of rushed ending. This is a short book, right on the line between short story and novella, and so I get that everything can’t fully be fleshed out. But we get a set up where Vinny isn’t looking for a relationship, he wants a sub that enjoys pain, and he is still not all sorted out because of Kyle. So lots of roadblocks getting in the way of taking Angel on as a sub. Then suddenly all these issues are kind of brushed aside to give these guys a happy ending and we never really see how that transition happens. I needed at least a little more explanation of what changes for Vinny and why.
So overall I really enjoyed this one. Barnaby manages to pack a lot into a short number of pages. It is sexy and kinky and both guys are really likable and super hot together. Definitely my favorite of the series and a lot of fun.
