The Photographer’s Assistant

When I browsed some titles on Netgalley, I came across this book and said, why not? This is Andrew Grey. And I took a chance to read this one, and I liked it.

Actually, this is not my everyday preferences in reading. I mean, Christian was an asshole all the time, but I can't blame him for having a rule that he cannot involved with his employee.
Even as beautiful as David. But I hated that he took the easy way instead.
Speaking of being stupid horny guy. Ugh!

I was half expected that David will ended with Reggie or Javier (both are sweet and cared for David), but as they say, love is blind, people. The only one David can see is Christian.
Good thing is, before David accepted him, Christian had to put up with Javier with his 'don't mess with my best friend' attitude, and proved to David how much he wanted David.
David accepted it too easy imo, but for a short story, this one is kinda enjoyable. And they tend to have a HEA. I hope so. Fingers crossed.

For such a short story it was surprisingly complete. David was charming, shy, and feels unimportant and overlooked by Christian and his philandering. Christian is self-absorbed and falling into complacency despite taking increasingly amazing photos. Together they have more than a few issues to work through if they're ever going to see eye-to-eye.

There were inconsistencies in Christian's reasoning for hiring David as well as his overall treatment of his assistant. He was temperamental and moody, fine for an artist, but then an about-face is supposed to be believed will last with a thousand warnings of "I might screw this up." And David is supposed to pick up the slack emotionally as well as almost everywhere else.

David has a past to overcome and a few photos won't fix it. With the ending of the story there's not enough there to believe that Christian will help or hinder his own personal growth. David is, himself, a photographer but we learn almost nothing about his subject matter or what projects he wants to work toward. To us, he's just an assistant. I would have loved for more.

Despite those frustrations, both characters have depth and feeling. There's plenty of eroticism and steam, not just between the two MC's, which is another of my issues, but again, that's for later. There's also a steady flow throughout the entire story so reading doesn't feel stilted or like it drags. Overall, a good story with more of an HFN than an HEA.

This is a great MM story. As the title suggest, it is about a photographer and his assistant. The writing allows you to feel as if you are in the studio with the photographer while he is taking photos. The characters are well developed and the story moves at a great pace. It was hard to put down. A great story.

Christian is a famous photographer of erotic art. David is an aspiring photographer paying the bills as Christian's assistant.

Watching Christian work lights a fire for David, but getting to know him in a more personal way engages his heart.

Christian has a solid rule. Never mess around with an employee. No matter how intriguing that employee may be. He's never done relationships before either. He doesn't know the first thing about them.

It's up to David to set him straight. David is kind and giving, but he's not a pushover. He knows what he wants and knows what he deserves.

I haven't read an Andrew Grey book in a long time. Partially because there are just so many books out there to read. Partially because I think I stopped enjoying Grey's writing for a while. I'm not entirely sure why I was drawn to try this one, but I was... so I did... and I enjoyed it!

The Photographer's Assistant is a quick read that's pretty steamy, a little bit angsty, and a lot of fun. The chemistry between Christian and David is really shown well. I was able to connect with each character easily. The plot, while a simple thing, was really well written and I found myself really rooting for these guys. By the time I got to the end I wondered where the time went because I don't think I came up for air, not once. If I have any complaint, it's just that I wanted more, so that's not really me complaining.

ARC received via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

The Photographer's Assistant is short and steamy. It's not much for character or story development, but for what it is, it's not bad.

David is Christian's photography assistant, which means he has to watch as Christian screws his way through all the models he photographs. You see, Christian is a gay erotic photographer, which means he takes pictures of hot guys in the ecstatic throws of passion. And to get those models to the height of ecstasy, Christian usually has sex with them, then leaves and goes back to his apartment attached to his studio, leaving David to clean up his mess and shoo the models out the door.

I wasn't impressed with how Christian treated not just his models, but David, too. For a man who professed to care about David, he sure didn't treat him that well! And David, being in love with him, put up with it. Clear up until he didn't, until Christian tried to do the same thing to him that he did with his models - shoo him out the door after he screwed him. Thank God David was strong enough to stand up for himself and stop anything further from happening after that, or I'd have lost all respect for his character.

So, if you want something short and sexy, The Photographer's Assistant is just the story for you. If you want a fully realized story with character and story development, you might want to look elsewhere.

Christian is a famous erotic photographer who will do anything to get the picture, even have sex with his models. David is an aspiring photographer working as Christian’s assistant. He also happens to be in love with him.

Characters…

The Photographer’s Assistant is a fairly short read and therefore struggles with having depth in the characters. However, with the short amount of time I had, I was able to emotionally connected to these characters.

Christian seems really withdrawn at first. I think you would have to be in order to have sex with any number of people just to get a good picture while being able to separate himself afterward. His one rule for himself was that he would have have a relationship, sexual or otherwise, with the people he worked with. I wonder how that turned out? By the end Christian seems to develop emotions, or at the very least he is able to express the emotions he already has. So much so, that they start interfering with his work.

David was precious. All he wants is for Christian to notice him as someone other than an assistant. He would literally do anything for Christian. I really liked how when he felt that Christian just used him for sex he didn’t just roll up into a corner and cry. He set limits for himself and Christian and decided he wasn’t going to let it get in the way of who he wanted to be and what he wanted to do with his life. David’s relationship with his roommate and best friend Javier is the best. I loved it when Javier confronted Christian and gave him a reality check. It was great.

Plot…

There wasn’t really much plot in this book. It only had three real locations. The studio/Christian’s apartment, David’s apartment, and the park. The story consisted of Christian working, David going to the park to take pictures, David talking with Javier in their apartment, and of course David and Christian’s ‘relationship’ in his apartment. However, with so few locations and being so short the author does a really good job of creating a story that pulled me in.

Ending…

The only thing I can say about the ending was that it was predictable. That doesn’t mean it wasn’t enjoyable, however. I loved this book and I will pick up more by this author in the future.

The Photographer's Assistant was a fairly quick read for me. The intital relationship is already established. David is a very liable character. You see him grow in self-confidence throughout the book. His roommate Javier really needs his own story- he was a wonderful secondary character that really furthered the plot. Chrisian is sexy, however I didn't connect to his character as much. He started out shallow and I fell the book was not long enough to establish his vulnerability. I loved David's confidence and where that led him. It was definitely worth the read.

Much like anticipated with such a short story, there is not a lot of time for character depth and development. This made me unable to completely connect with the characters. We jump into the story after the MCs have fallen in love (but haven't realized it yet). It is low on angst, even though I did feel for David and felt his insecurities and heartache which brought a tiny tear to my eye. I liked the premise of the story, and I feel there could have been more pages to the story; I would have liked to hear more about Christian's job and David's opinions about it as a newly hired employee. I found Christian's unorthodox methods interesting to read about, and it was unlike other stories I've read before.
The steam level is medium aiming for high, but it was the perfect amount for the story length so there was also room for romance.

If youre looking for a deep, emotional love story you should probably turn elsewhere. If you want short and steaming however, youve come to the right place. It's basically all sex, occasionally broken up by the characters feeling things, but don't worry, more sex is never far away. Still, overall not a disappointment.

This was a great read! I really enjoyed the tension and the growing relationship between both characters!

I won't lie. I was expecting a bit more from this story. It reads a bit too much like fan fiction that I read as a teen for my tastes.
That's not necessarily a bad thing, but I have outgrown that sort of writing-style and some others may have as well. That said, i don't think that means the story is poorly written per se. I just think the author focused more on sex than on fully developing the plot and characters.

If you're looking for a good pwp (porn-without-plot) though, then this is the right book for you.

Reviews shared on V's Reads, Goodreads and Amazon: https://vsreads.com/2017/11/06/sexy-shorts-from-andrew-grey/

David Weatherby is a young gay man living with his best friend in New York. He’s an aspiring landscape photographer and he has worked for renown erotic photog Christian Coulliet. Everyone knows that Christian regularly has sex with his models, during his “shoots.” Ordinarily, David’s been captivated and aroused in his job, but lately he’s been confused and conflicted. Because, in his tenure, David has done more than maintain Christian’s schedule, give aftercare to the models, and sort the images–he’s also been a caregiver to Christian. He’s made his meals, and cleaned his living quarters, and helped him sober up after his increasingly frequent benders.

David’s come to care for Christian, and finds Christian’s interactions with the models to be unhealthy. He wants to love Christian, but he knows he can’t, not really. Because David wants a man who will love him, not every beautiful man in the studio at that moment in time. Plus, David thinks the pictures Christian takes are genius; and putting monogamy limits on Christian might diminish him as an artist. Thing is, Christian finds David attractive as well. He’s bright and lively, and he’s compassionate and talented. That said, Christian is also afraid he’ll hurt David–not so afraid that he doesn’t take some SERIOUS liberties, and act a complete fool. David’s a good guy, and he’s making friends and contacts that encourage him to be true to himself. In this, David actually aids Christian to get his life together–a little tough love goes a long way and these guys seem to find a comfort level in their lives together. I didn’t like Christian much, but in the end he did make good with David, who is a total doll. I was glad that David got the support and love he needed, when he needed it.

Expect lots of sexytimes, not exclusively between David and Christian. The book is an erotic novella, originally published as part of an anthology, though I read it as a standalone.

I received an advance reader copy in exchange for a fair review. Good short story about David who is the assistant to erotic photographer Christian. David hopelessly falls in love with Christian who does not acknowledge him other than an employee. Unknown to David, Christian has feelings for the young man that he does not want to admit to. There is s HEA and the book is well written.

I absolutely adored this book, which was both a bit of a delightful surprise and the first step in laying a foundation of affection for everything that comes after this!