Gay For PayRating: 4 stars
Buy Link:
Amazon | All Romance | Amazon UK
Length: Novel


Chris was graduating high school and thought he had it all with a football scholarship and the girl of his dreams to share it with. One night he makes a terrible decision and his life is forever changed. With his family refusing to speak to him and a town that turned its back on him, Chris moves to New York with his one true friend. Five years later, Chris cannot forgive himself and his inability to find work leaves him depressed. A flyer he sees in a club attracts his attention as it offers payment in exchange for having sex on camera with another man. Chris has never been attracted to men, but a paycheck is just what he needs. Chris fits right in with the owner of All Cocks and becomes their newest porn star.

Chris is introduced to the entire family that makes up the company and that includes Linc. Linc is open and comfortable with being a bisexual porn star and is immediately attracted to Chris. But Chris is straight and haunted by his past and Linc has trust issues. Chris and Linc still become close friends and Chris cannot explain his jealousy when he sees Linc with other men. An attraction grows that both men have to come to terms with, but there are miles of past hurt for both men to overcome.

While detailing aspects of the porn industry, Gay For Pay offers an insider look at more of an upscale side of online porn, where performers are invited into the owners’ home and offered to make them comfortable and part of the family. Chris is written as an empathetic character that has been paying for his mistake for years. Feeling like a continual burden to his best friend as he continues to live on his couch, Chris takes the plunge into porn.

The transition here for Chris is fairly easy, although we do get some insight into certain performance issues. The company is described well as there are three owners in a triad relationship and a large cast of secondary characters. The author does a good job showing how the cast members are treated as family along with some behind the scenes footage. The scenes also range from Chris in solo performances to scenes with other cast members and finally with Linc both on and off camera. And once Chris and Linc are together, they have some real chemistry going on.

While the characters and the premise of the story held my attention, I did have a few issues with the way the story was structured overall. The story was primarily told from Chris’ POV, but there were times that the POV shifted to another character rather unexpectedly. We are told on several occasions how Chris and Linc, along with a few others, spend so much time together and have become the best of friends. We do not get to see any of that. It then became difficult when love declarations came as we did not get to see them develop their friendship. The secondary characters are plentiful and some of the side interactions read as forced in order to give these characters more page time for a possible sequel and major story lines for these characters are opened up at the end of the book. The three partners in the business are a central part that much of the story was built around, but their foundation was absent.

Overall, I enjoyed Chris and Linc’s story. Smith was able to capture the side of porn where performers are treated with respect in a family atmosphere. There is character growth seen for Chris, Linc, and many of the guys in a variety of ways. And with the roster of secondary characters, there are many stories waiting to be told.

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