Reviewed by Carissa

TITLE:  Hunger 

SERIES:  Chicken Ranch

AUTHOR:  Amanda Young

PUBLISHER:  Loose Id Publishing

LENGTH:  110 pages

BLURB:  

Disowned and cast out of his home, eighteen year old Declan Mayo turns to the only thing he can think of to help him get back on his feet. Working at the Chicken Ranch, a rural brothel that caters to women and gay men, seems like the perfect solution. He isn’t about to let a lack of sexual experience stop him from taking what he sees as a way off the streets.

Falling in love with one of his clients wasn’t in the game plan, but Declan can’t seem to help himself. Killian Hamilton is sweet and kind, with a stutter Declan can’t help but find adorable. Surely, if anyone could overlook Declan’s choice of employment, it would be a kindhearted man like Killian.

But Declan didn’t figure on Killian’s connection to one of the brothel’s regular clients, and now his love life’s about to blow up in his face.

Publisher’s Note: This book contains explicit sexual content, graphic language, and situations that some readers may find objectionable: male/male sexual practices.

REVIEW:  

Ok, peoples. I just want to preface this review by saying that a) we ran out of coffee yesterday in my house b) it feels like I have dwarven miners banging around in my head and c) I came home from an emotional PFLAG meeting to see that my cat had thrown-up on my bed. I am, to put it mildly, not best pleased with the world. So if I sound a bit more grouchy than I should, that is probably the reason.

This is not a bad book. In fact, I was expecting a lot worse. I don’t normally go out of my way to read books about prostitution, so when it came around to pick a book this month I had no idea where to go. And then when I finally found a book that sounded interesting, we found out that we couldn’t get our hands on it (for reasons), so I had to go back and re-choose. I actually was going to pick up the second book in this series, because it sounded interesting, but I do hate reading things out of order, so I figured I might as well start at the beginning.

So, in the beginning…

Declan, being 18 with no home, no money, no prospects of any kind, gets a tip from a prostitute that he might find work–that if not completely honest, at least it pays–at a Chicken Ranch (brothel) just outside town. Declan doesn’t know if selling his ass is the best solution, but it sure as hell seems like the only one available to him right then.

When Killian goes to the Chicken Ranch, he only wants an hour or two of no strings sex. And he finds that quite admirably with Declan. It isn’t until he bumps into the man a couple months later that he starts to think that there might be something more between them. But Declan is a prostitute, and Killian was once his john…that does not exactly spell out success for either of them.

For about 3/4 of this book I was really digging it. It was a quick read (which I really needed this week) and the whole ‘I do dudes for money’ thing didn’t really factor into their relationship (which, yeah, was actually weird and I never got it, but oh well) so there was surprisingly little angst.

Then after they have have sex…ugh!  Let’s just say Killian does an incredibly stupid thing, refuses to realize how incredibly stupid it is, and then is put out that Declan doesn’t come running back to him after a half-hearted attempt at an apology.

And I knew (I mean I would have put serious money on it) that the scene in the diner was going to happen. Because it always fuckin does. It was so obvious and served no real purpose, and, to be honest, just pissed me off (probably an irrational amount).

So, for the first 3/4 of the story, 4 stars, last quarter…about 3. I feel pretty good at a 3.5 for the whole thing. Decent story, decent characters, and I did like the sex. Even the unappetizing first blowjob job interview at the beginning.

RATING:

BUY LINKS:

Loose Id

Amazon 

ARe