Whipped Cream, Andrew Grey

- Review by Cindi

4 out of 5 stars

Former model Brent Phillips is now a photographer having been forced behind the camera after a violent gay bashing incident almost two years prior.  He makes a decent living doing portraits and various other kinds of photography but his dream is to be an artistic photographer. If all goes well, he may be given his chance very soon.  Brent has been asked to submit his photography for an exhibition that he will be sharing with popular photographer, Xavier.  

What he hadn't realized was that in addition to being a talented artist, Xavier Collins was also the biggest asshole on the face of the earth.

Three weeks until the exhibit and Brent is still missing that one thing to make his work stand out.  With no inspiration he turns to his two best friends, Gene and Dan. After a visit to an old record store (vinyl of course) inspiration strikes. Seeing the old cover of Herb Alpert's Whipped Cream & Other Delights album gives Brent an idea. Why not do something similar for his exhibit, only use a man instead of a woman? 

"Haven't you seen that before?  Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass, Whipped Cream. The music is good, but that is the sexiest album cover of all time," Brent said and stopped dead, staring at the image. "That's it.  That's what I want to do."

Now all he has to do is find the perfect model for the photos.  Gene and Dan once again come to his rescue and with a little help from his friends Brent meets Tristan Greer, someone they know from the gym.  Tristan is perfect.  After a little convincing the other man agrees and they set up a meeting at Brent's studio to take some practice shots.  One thing leads to another and those practice shots end up with the two men rolling around on the rug together. 

If fellatio were an Olympic sport, Tristan would have won the gold medal and set a world record in a matter of seconds.

Brent, however, feels that it's just a roll in the hay for the gorgeous Tristan. Brent is scarred from his attack and feels that a man like Tristan would never want someone who is physically damaged. Little does he know but Tristan only cares about what's on the inside, not the out.  

"I do not do what we did together with every guy I meet.  I'm not some slut.  I was with you because I wanted to be with you.  Because I felt a connection with you."

The closer it gets to the exhibit the closer the two men get.  There is a great cast of secondary characters.  Correen is Brent's assistant and she really runs the show.  There are Gene and Dan who are the best friends a man could ask for.  Gene literally saved Brent's life during the bashing and he and his partner have remained closed to him since.  There's Xavier, the arrogant jerk who will be sharing space during the art show.  Xavier is the perfect bastard and my only wish is that the author would have dedicated a little bit more time to him.  Off page there is Tristan's sister who has recently delivered a new baby.  I understood the sister to an extent but I also found her to be much too needy when she felt that Tristan should drop everything because new motherhood was freaking her out a bit.  However, I do believe that she was written well even if much time was not given to her or her husband.

Brent's inspiration.

The exhibition goes off without a hitch even with Xavier trying to hone in on Brent's man. Tristan and Brent are perfect together and watching Brent realize that was a pleasure to read. The ending is sweet.  

Overall I found this to be another really good story by Andrew Grey.  I do wish it would have been a little longer and I wish that a few more words would have been added to the end but neither of these things took away from the story as a whole. 

 A very entertaining read.

This book was provided by Dreamspinner Press in exchange for a fair and honest review.