Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5:

“Because who we are when we’re not together doesn’t define who we are when we are together. We don’t have ideas and expectations. We are just ourselves. At least I have been.”

Life as a PhD student is anything but a piece of cake for Jeremy Linden. Research is time consuming, and let’s face it, life in California is expensive. He can’t help but be curious when he’s approached with an offer to serve at a special dinner club. The catch? With each course, you lose an article of clothing… and maybe get something more, depending on the menu that night.

He’s not expecting to meet anyone like Brice Martin, or Mr. Green as he comes to know him. He’s shy and respectful, unlike some of the other gentlemen at the club who use their boys freely and like objects. What starts out as an innocent exchange becomes much more when they move their relationship beyond the club’s walls and into the real world… a world that has a lot of surprises and twists, such as Brice’s company funding PharmaTek, the group that oversees Jeremy’s important research.

His brain might be responding to oxytocin, but his body and heart told Jeremy he was falling in love. It felt wonderful, like flying. Jeremy had never experienced anything quite like this headiness before. But the higher Brice took him, the harder he would crash.

I’d never read anything by Lynley before, but when I read the summary, I just knew I had to take a chance and try it. It sounds erotic and delicious and, boy is it.

There were so many layers to the interaction between Brice and Jeremy. I appreciated how their relationship wasn’t an automatic thing. Their first time together was curious and promising, and grew from there (with bumps, of course). I’ve been reading a lot of stories lately where the love is pretty instant, and it’s not been working in my favor, but this wasn’t that at all.

There were also a great line of side characters who really had some strong and memorable personalities, such as Kit, a fellow worker at the club who is as flamboyant as he is sexual.

And speaking of which, the sex – it was incredibly, ridiculously steamy. The chemistry (pun semi-intended) was off the wall with Brice and Jeremy.

This isn’t a terribly hard read, and it was easy enough to devour in one day, and I can really say that I thoroughly enjoyed it, and certainly wouldn’t mind more stories surrounding the Dining Club. I have a feeling I’d devour them just as fast.

My only quibble with the whole thing? I wanted more. Greedy, yes, but this left me wanting another page, another chapter even, in the best way possible. Satisfied, but still wanting another bite.

The cover art by Paul Richmond is certainly sexy, and I do appreciate the simplicity of it. Where it goes wrong for me is in the choice of text. The font for Dirty is fine, but the bulky, ugly choice for Dining made me a bit unhappy. A nice cover, but it needed a bit more thought put into the font/typography.

Sales Links:   Dreamspinner Press   All Romance (ARe)   Amazon    Buy It here

Book Details:

ebook, 230 pages
Expected publication: January 19th 2015 by Dreamspinner Press
original titleDirty Dining
ISBN139781632166265
edition languageEnglish
settingSan Francisco, CA
Berkeley, California (United States)