Reviewed by Donna
TITLE: Dirty Dining
AUTHOR: EM Lynley
PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press
LENGTH: 230 Pages
BLURB:
Jeremy Linden’s a PhD student researching an HIV vaccine. He’s always short of money, and when biotech startup PharmaTek reduces funding for his fellowship, he’s tempted to take a job at a men’s dining club as a serving boy. The uniforms are skimpy, and he’s expected to remove an item of clothing after each course. He can handle that, but he soon discovers there’s more on the menu here than fine cuisine. How far will he go to pay his tuition, and will money get in the way when he realizes he’s interested in more from one of his gentlemen?
Brice Martin is an attorney for a Silicon Valley venture capital firm. When he’s asked to take a client to the infamous Dinner Club, he finds himself unexpectedly turned on by the atmosphere and especially by his server, Remy. He senses there’s more to the sexy young man than meets the eye. The paradox fascinates him, and he can’t get enough of Remy.
Their relationship quickly extends beyond the club and sex. But the trust and affection they’ve worked to achieve may crumble when Jeremy discovers Brice’s VC firm is the one that pulled the plug on PharmaTek—and Jeremy’s research grant.
REVIEW:
So I did that thing, you know when you open a new book and stupidly think – I’m just going to flick through a few pages and see what the writing’s like. And for some self-deluding reason, you always believe that this is the time that you’re actually going to stick to that. So this was not that time for me, but you never know, maybe one day it will actually happen. Instead, as you probably deduced, I parked my butt on the couch and read the damn book from cover to cover.
But I challenge anyone to NOT get hooked on this book.
I was a little uncertain about reading this story. I’m not a huge fan of rentboys, porn stars or any other sex-for-money type books. But I liked the sound of the blurb so I slid out of my comfort zone and decided to give this a read. And HOLY SHIT! I’m more than a little glad that I did.
The blurb gives you the gist of the story. Jeremy is desperate for money and takes a job at a mens dinner club, where every course he serves to the guests requires him to lose an article of clothing. On his first night of work he’s paired up to serve “Mr Green” and the genuine attraction he feels for the man makes him think that the job may not be as bad as he first thought.
Brice didn’t want to go to the dinner club, it really wasn’t his sort of scene, but feeling pressured by a co-worker, Brice agreed to go. Dubbed Mr Green for the night, Brice finds himself with his lap full of a shy server who calls himself Remy and despite his initial misgivings about the club, he finds himself returning again. And again.
The only problem with this story, and I’m not really sure if it’s a problem or not, is that the scenes in the club were so crazy, over the top, decadently, voyeuristically HOT that I pretty much wasn’t interested in the rest of the story. I assure you that there was nothing at all wrong with any part of the story that occurred beyond the club walls, but I kind of fixated on those scenes. I’m going to make a huge call here and say that the dinner club is the most sexually extravagant setting that I’ve ever read. Ok, I can’t honestly say I can remember every book that I’ve ever read but I would say it even wins over any stories I’ve read featuring BDSM clubs. Swear to god my mouth actually dropped open when Remy is jerked off at the table, his cum is caught in a champagne flute and then mixed with a bit of bubbly for the men to share. OMG and WTF!? There are naked servers making out with naked servers, lineups to compare balls and blowjobs over the salad plates. And while there was not any anal sex allowed at the tables after dinner the guests could put in requests for an upstairs “nightcap” with their choice of server. Phew! I’m getting all hot again just thinking about it!
I liked that Jeremy didn’t come across as ashamed of what he was doing. He naturally was resistant to the idea at first but once he realised that he enjoyed it he didn’t waste time agonising over the morality of it. I also liked that both men spoke about what they were comfortable with after they started a relationship. A big part of this story is the exhibitionism at the club and Jeremy’s job there, which I assumed was going to end up a major issue between Jeremy and Brice. But they spoke about their concerns. Yes! Spoke! And the one big jealousy inspired scene actually played out as a grand romantic gesture instead.
Although I’ve seen no mention of it, I’m hoping the author may end up considering a series based around the club. Kit, Law and the other “uninhibited” servers there could really make for some more interesting stories. And if any author could truly pull off sex while swinging from the chandelier, well, after reading this I’m thinking that EM Lynley may just be the one to manage it.
RATING: 
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