A Flophouse Story
One bootstrap act of integrity cost Henry Worrall everything—military career, family, and the secret boyfriend who kept Henry trapped for eleven years. Desperate, Henry shows up on his brother’s doorstep and is offered a place to live and a job as a handyman in a flophouse for young porn stars.
Lance Luna’s past gave him reasons for being in porn, but as he continues his residency at a local hospital, they now feel more like excuses. He’s got the money to move out of the flophouse and live his own life—but who needs privacy when you’re taking care of a bunch of young men who think working penises make them adults?
Lance worries Henry won’t fit in, but Henry’s got a soft spot for lost young men and a way of helping them. Just as Lance and Henry find a rhythm as den mothers, a murder and the ghosts of Henry’s abusive past intrude. Lance knows Henry’s not capable of murder, but is he capable of caring for Lance’s heart?
Amazon
First off, this is a spin off of another series. I did not read the other series, I don’t think you have to, but I might have understood some of the dynamics more. Mostly between Henry and his brother’s boyfriend. But, no big deal really.
Henry, brother of Dex/Davy (real name/porn name) is dishonorably discharged from the Army, returns home to get his ass beat by his father and then ends up on his older brother’s doorstep. The older brother who was already black listed from the family for being gay. Well, guess we can add Henry to that list.
Dex has the brilliant (?) idea to set him up in the flop house a bunch of porn boys (models) share. So we meet these barely legal models who are a collective mess as well as Lance, who is a model AND a medical resident. It’s a lot.
Let me tell you these guys have issues. ALL of them have issues. Which is kind of sad that all or most of the models seem to have been shunned by their families for being gay. And now they all have these bigger issues. So add in Henry with giant issues of his own!
If the story focused on the guys and their problems as well as Henry and Lance with their budding relationship, I would have liked it more. But we get Henry accused of murder- which was a really lame plot device to lead Henry to a career- and the resolution of that was so in the back ground. Huh? HE WAS ACCUSED OF MURDER! Sigh
Right up there with Lance being a medical resident, who notoriously work a zillion hours a week but seems to have time to hang out. And the scene I assume was supposed to be funny, but it ended up being awful.
Too much, yet not enough. I get that she is trying to set up the ground work for a new series but it was just kind of a mess. Too many little plots without enough focus on the big plot. Which, besides getting Lance and Henry together, what was the big plot? And none of the little plots were resolved very well.
I generally really like Amy Lane’s work, but this was a miss for me.
2.5 Pieces of Candy
