Reviewed by Vicki

TITLE: Acting Out

AUTHOR: Scotty Cade

PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press

LENGTH: 200 pages

BLURB:

After one very long tour of duty in Afghanistan and an honorable discharge from the USMC, Elijah Preston comes home to nothing. He barely scrapes up enough money for a cheap motel in Quantico, Virginia, with no money-making opportunities in sight. A chance encounter in a local Walmart finally gives Eli hope for employment. Elijah is ready to sign on with Royce Mackey’s proposition… until he hears what’s required. Royce operates a gay military porn site and wants Eli as his next star, never mind that Eli isn’t gay. Desperate and broke, Eli grudgingly accepts Royce’s offer and soon finds himself immersed in a strange new world.

Hamish Turner’s been there before. Taking Eli under his wing, he teaches him everything he can about Royce’s operation. The two quickly become friends, easing the way for their first scene together. Awkward at first, they both ease into it and find there is more of a connection between them than either expected. Curious to see where their mutual attraction takes them, they begin a relationship off-screen. But life gets complicated when a crazed fan of Hamish’s starts sending threatening letters demanding the scenes between the two men stop. Or else…

REVIEW:

I’m having a hard time starting this review… I was quite excited to see the description for this book a few months ago and got my request in for it quick! I love stories featuring military men and porn models so combining the two seemed right up my alley. I wish I could say I loved it, but I didn’t. It’s not really Scotty’s fault either. It’s hard not to compare books to other books, and there are some really good, realistic books out there featuring porn stars. I am trying not to hold this one up against a popular series of books, but it’s not easy. This book doesn’t have the realism I needed somehow.

Eli Preston is right out of the Marine Corps and is struggling to adjust to life as a civilian. He’s been screwed over by his parents and is stuck in Virginia, living in a dumpy motel desperately looking for a job. He’s doing everything right, watching the want ads locally for anything, while searching nationally for a job in his career. Interestingly I know right where he is, I have a family member in the Marine Corps stationed at Quantico. I’ve been to the town of Dumfries Virginia, and I’ve been to the grocery store Eli mentions. That was kinda cool! So Eli is desperate, about out of money, doing a bit of shopping in Walmart when he is approached by an older man who chats him up. Turns out the man, Royce, owns a gay for pay website featuring military men. He offers Eli a way to earn some quick cash and a place to stay. Eli does some soul searching and eventually calls Royce.

Hamish Turner has been working with Royce for a couple of years, also a former Marine, earning money to support his younger brother. He is a pretty open and honest person, accepting that sex is sex, and not worrying about labels. If forced to choose, he’d say he is bisexual. He’s seems like a pretty good guy, just living his life. He sees Eli, the new guy, come in with Royce and offers a fair amount of help to get him started in his new career…

This story is from Eli’s perspective, so we get to know him best. Hamish was a little hard for me to get in to, although I liked him. The first half of this book is Eli and his issues, then getting started as a porn model, his first few experiences, and learning how to have anal sex. It was all very clinical, a bit hot I guess, but unemotional feeling. The connection between the two main characters is slow to develop and not very romantic. Eli is too worked up about labels, freaking out over not being gay, pulling Hamish close, then pushing him away. I really didn’t care if they got together or not. I’m not sure I even liked Eli. I’d like to say something really positive about this book, I can say that I appreciated the effort Scotty put in to the research of the porn models, and the realism of the gay for pay world. I get that it’s an odd thing for these men to do, a way to make money, and they can distance themselves from the emotional side of sex. I think what I had a hard time with was the realism of this story. Now I’m not a gay man, I’m not 27, and I’m not in the porn business, but it is possible that they can go from scene to scene, having sex three times a day, for a full week? Including anal sex? That’s seems a bit much to me. Also the amount of money they earn. Damn. I WISH I was doing gay for pay!

I liked parts of the plot, or at least I liked the concept of the plot, straight Marine, desperate and lost, does gay for pay porn, realizes he’s not as straight as he thinks, and finds love. That part was fine. The stalker storyline was interesting at first, then when it comes clear who is doing it, I was all “What? Who? Why? Huh….” It didn’t work for me. Overall I just didn’t see the emotional connection as clearly as I would have liked. I think Hamish was in to it, but Eli bothered me. I’d start to see some “romance”, they went out to dinner, they spent some time together, then Eli would freak out and I’d lose the feelings. So I guess it was an ok book, but not great. I can see the author put effort in to getting his Marine details right (accept for Royce calling him a soldier! Don’t DO that!), and his gay for pay porn details right, I wish I liked it better….

RATING: 

BUY LINKS:

Dreamspinner

Amazon

Amazon.uk

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