reviews_and_ramblings | The Virgin Billionaire by Ryan Field

In this series on modern gay romances revisiting old Hollywood comedy, Ryan Field retells, I think, at least two movies: Breakfast at Tiffany’s, clear reference the little dog, in the movie it was a cat, whose owner refuses to give a name, and How to Marry a Millionaire, where a very young Marilyn Monroe, with Lauren Bacall and Betty Grable, lived in a Manhattan upscale apartment they couldn’t afford, hoping to catch a Millionaire husband, while falling in love for low-profile blue collar workers.

Jase is a 40 years Billionaire with a middle-life crisis: after year of playing straight and making millions, he woke up one morning realising he hasn’t reached anything in life he really wanted. Plus he suspects people around him want him more for his money than nothing else. With the help of a New York interior designer, he moved in a Uptown Manhattan apartment; of course not having a real job, and receiving the visit of an handsome gay man who leaves him money to leave, Jase is soon mistaken for a high-paid rent boy by his young and cute neighbour, Luis.

Luis is gay as well, and he is also an escort: he doesn’t have sex with men for money, but he plays the role of the escort for very old men, more or less above 70 years old, so that he has not to worry to be sexually molested.

Of course, as soon as Jase and Luis meet, they start a buddy friends relationship, with no strings attached, only sex: it’s good for both of them, Jase is not sure he can trust Luis once he will find out he is a Billionaire in incognito, and Luis wants to find Mr Right, and Mr Right has to be a man with enough money to take care of him; strange enough, if the man is really in love with Luis, he is not Mr Right, since it will mean that he is not a steady shelter for Luis, feelings tend to make things complicated.

Sincerely both Jase than Luis are a bit vain, like the perfect blond dumb women of those ’50 Hollywood comedies; they care a bit too much about appearance and they are basically selfish, but they are not stupid, and in the end, they are not bad men. Like everyone else they have an heart, only they prefer t have it covered with D&D and Prada clothes. For sure Luis’s desire of beautiful things is a way to react to the rejection of his own family; Luis is not able to see himself as someone worthy if he is not “masquerade” with beautiful clothes and expensive accessories. On the opposite, Jase tried to deprive himself of all those things to see if people really wanted him only for his own persona. But even if he decided to renounce to over-the-top wealth, he didn’t renounce to expensive clothes and in the end, to the life of a kept man, without having to worry of timetable or money rent.

As often in Ryan Field’s novels, there is sex, but this time, according to Luis’s character, it’s more a “teasing” sex than the real thing: Luis like to be a teaser, to entice his friends with glimpses of what they could have without really putting out. When he does it with Jase, he does that since Jase is not one of the possible “buyer”, he is not a candidate for Mr Right, he is more a friend who can understand Luis’s choice of life.

Both for the reference to an old movie comedy I like very much, than for the character of Luis, that in his imperfectness is so perfect, I couldn’t avoid to like this novel; and then it has the wonderful happily ever after I like so much, with the hero sweeping away his man towards a perfect life together (doesn’t matter if, the two men are not perfect hero on their own, together they are a perfect couple).

On a closing note, if you happen to recognize a certain blog in the description of Luis’ favourite place where to spend time on the net, well, I’m guilty as charged.

http://www.ravenousromance.com/m/m/the-virgin-billionaire.php

Amazon Kindle: The Virgin Billionaire

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