Reviewed by Jen
TITLE: Beer Money
SERIES: Black Box
AUTHOR: Remy Tate
PUBLISHER: Self Published
LENGTH: 244 pages
RELEASE DATE: January 27, 2025
BLURB:
Obsessive love. Dark. Twisted. Pathological?
JARED: I never meant for it to go this far. It was supposed to be just “beer money” – some quick cash from online performances while I chased my real dreams on Broadway. But then NightHawk404 started watching, and suddenly I found myself craving his attention more than any spotlight. Now he sees everything – literally everything – and I’m starting to forget where the performance ends and the real me begins.
ANDREW: I monitor his vital signs. Track his movements. Analyze every gesture, every smile, every breath. It’s for his protection, of course. But when another watcher emerges from the dark web – one who’s been collecting Jared far longer than I have – I’ll have to step away from my screens and risk everything to save the one person who can draw me out into the real world.
When a struggling actor’s online side gig catches the eye of two obsessive tech billionaires, performance and reality blur into a dangerous game of surveillance, seduction, and control. But in a world where every intimate moment can be archived and analyzed, the greatest threat might be letting someone see who you really are.
If you love grumpy heroes, high stakes hockey, struggling single parents and smoldering kisses, grab your copy of The Last Guy on Earth.
REVIEW:
This was a really exciting story from this debut author. The premise seems simple – aspiring actor, Jared, is struggling to survive in the big city so he starts doing the equivalent of an OnlyFans to make some extra money. Andrew is one of his regular viewers who starts crossing lines and things escalate from there. But, all isn’t quite what it seems.
Jared works really hard to disguise who he is on the cam shows so that it doesn’t bleed over and affect his ability to find work on Broadway. But, Andrew is a master level tech genius, who has been in a self-imposed life of solitude after a public breakdown that sent him spiraling. He spends his life coding and controlling every aspect of his life with numbers and percentage possibilities. Finding Jared has given him a new focus. He sees through a lot of Jared’s shields to find the genuine guy underneath it all which has a definite affect on Jared as well.
Unfortunately, Andrew isn’t the only one who has found Jared. It seems his original business partner who had betrayed him in the past is bent on a sort of revenge. I won’t get into any further details, but suffice to say, Andrew and Jared are exactly what each other needs to overcome their fears and phobias. Both take chances, both forced and chosen, that help them grow individually, as well as together.
This ended up being quite the suspenseful read and it kept my interest throughout. I enjoyed watching Jared help Andrew deconstruct his carefully built secure world while gaining the confidence he needed to overcome his own issues. I’m a little confused if this is the start of an actual series or not, but either way, I’ll be adding this author to my keep a look out for the next one list.
RATING: 
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