New Book Alert: The Artist and His Billionaire by CJ Turner; Sweet and Sexy M/M Romance

 

New Book Alert: The Artist and His Billionaire by CJ Turner; Sweet and Sexy M/M Romance

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: The covers of many Romance novels often promise us a sexy time. They feature shirtless men with muscles and great pecs and beautiful women with long gowns that barely cover their breasts. Sometimes, the couple are in modem clothes but their smoldering exprssions reveal that they would rather have them off. Whether the models are alone or draped in each other's arms, the images practically steam with lust and passion. 

Male-Male romances are no different only instead of a man and a woman, the covers feature one or two hunky shirtless muscular men, often from the neck down. That's the way they are, sex sells and all that. The sexy covers are part of the window dressing and wish fulfilment that Romances provide. However, they often conceal that the cover is only part of the story. If done right, a Romance novel can transcend the sexy promise of wish fulfilment and give us an engaging character driven story of a couple who are perfect for each other, but have obstacles that prevent them from seeing that. 

CJ Turner's book, The Artist and His Billionaire, is the right kind of romance between two completely different men. It is both sweet and sexy featuring these two characters who are a perfect match.

Lennox Sewell is an artist working for Ms. Pearson, a florist, to pay the bills. One day, a handsome man in a clearly fancy business suit walks into the shop with a beautiful woman wearing a big shiny diamond engagement ring. The man, Theo Collins, plunks down a huge sum for a large bouquet for an upcoming wedding. Despite Lennox's initial assumptions, Theo is not the groom. He is the best friend of the bride to be, Livvy (the woman with the ring). Instead Theo is gay and very available, as is Lennox.

Theo and Lennox have the usual class differences that define these type of romances: Theo is from an uppeclass family. Lennox from a working class one. Theo is a businessman while Lennox longs to leave the flower shop to become a recognized artist. However, their similarities emerge when they recognize an altruistic need to help others. Theo wants to use recycled plastic to create cost alternatives for building materials. Lennox not only draws suggestions for potential kitchen cabinets, but he also suggests that cargo containers can be used to create recycled external outer shells for affordable housing. The two recognize the interests of providing affordable housing and the need they fill for each other: Theo with the money and big ideas, Lennox with the experience of living paycheck to paycheck and the artistic eye. They are drawn to each other because of their attraction, but also by their intelligence and commitment to higher purposes. 

Moments like these are what makes them a good couple.

There are many stumbling blocks that get in the way of them being together like a clingy ex of Theo's, Theo's snobbish friends and colleagues, and Lennox's pride and suspicions that Theo is only "slumming" when he goes out with a lower class man like him. Of course they get in the way of their union and of course each one is challenged. There are some moments of fringy dialogue ("I'm an artist." "No, you're a magician because you cast a spell over me.") But these are minor flaws in this charming book.

When Lennox and Theo have sex, and they do, it is a winning chapter. This is because they have certainly earned the right to be together. We have seen them together and separate. They had angst and worried whether their love is the real thing or a one night stand. They have been hurt by previous lovers and are concerned whether their differences are too much. (Lennox is particularly concerned about this.) Their union becomes an inevitable but welcome release.

The Artist and His Billionaire is an effective romance. When it is sweet, it is very sweet. When it is sexy, well, it is very sexy indeed.