The Virgin Billionaire

Virgin Billionaire #1

by Ryan Field

Luis Fortune spends his nights escorting affluent older gentleman to parties, nightclubs and restaurants. And though he's not officially a rent boy because there's never any physical contact, he is paid well. He charms them with his looks and his carefree attitude. He makes them smile by laughing at their jokes and listening to their dull stories. But Luis is only doing this temporarily, until the right older man asks him to settle down. He's looking for something he can depend on, and until he finds it he won't even give the stray dog that followed him home a name.

While Luis is searching for money and security, he takes comfort in reading a blog written by a woman in France he's never met, Elena's Romantic Treasures and Tidbits. She adores gay men and romance, and she posts artistic photos, wonderful stories, and endearing posts about gay men that bring Luis a sense of comfort and security on his darkest, scariest days.

Jase Nicholas is a forty year old high-profile billionaire who can pass for thirty. He's spent the first half of his life running from the fact that he's gay. And now he wants to find out what he's been missing all those years. So he tells his family and friends he's going on a pilgrimage for a couple of months, and then he drops out of sight so he can come to terms with his sexuality and finally lose his gay virginity. But instead of going on a pilgrimage, he rents a small apartment on Manhattan's Upper West Side. He changes his appearance and plunges into a world of young gay men. And when one of the young men he meets is Luis Fortune, his life is never the same again...

Genres: M M Romance, Contemporary, Romance, Erotica, Gay, M M Contemporary, Friends To Lovers

177 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 16, 2010

About the author

Ryan @ryanfield Hybrid author of over 100 published modern romance novels and stories, including AN OFFICER AND HIS GENTLEMAN, FANGSTERS, and THE RAINBOW DETECTIVE AGENCY. He is a Lambda Award-winner with a short story and he's always more than thankful for reader reviews. In fact, he cherishes reviews from real readers, and that means good or bad reviews.

Reviews

[willaful · Rating 1 out of 5]

A porny m/m ripoff of "Breakfast at Tiffany's" -- the scenes are described exactly as they happen in the movie, except with added dick-grabbing. They aren't even good descriptions.

[Fangtasia · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is M/M fan fiction of Breakfast at Tiffany's, at best. Holly Golightly is a man, but that's about the only change from the original. I can understand taking a classic as a basis for a contemporary book's plot and characters, but not almost verbatim, please! Thankfully, this was free of charge. It would have bothered me to pay for it.

Chapter Sixteen and on to the end was a complete disappointment. Not worth the time. Shame, the potential was there, it could have been very good.

[Betryal · Rating 4 out of 5]

**** Actually 4.5 ****

Fantastic humorous story which gave me many more than enough laughs while reading it and reminded me in some aspects of a certain someone I know, but there were visible spelling errors the stood out clearly and were very distinguishable which was how in all good conscience I couldn't warrant this story a perfect 5 although I would have loved to. Don't shoot the messenger I'm just being honest in my assessment of this book.

Highly recommended if you haven't read it yet.

[Catriona]

I haven't got much to say other than that this was probably one of the most uninspired, flat stories I've ever read... All the way up to the end it felt like the author was more reciting something out of a crappy romance movie rather than making a conscious effort to write a story for others to read. I doubt I'll read the sequels.

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Virgin Billionaire is the first in a series of 10 stories, to date. I will encapsulate them into one review for a synopsis of the series. Although each story will stand on its own, I would recommend that you encounter them in sequence, which is: The Virgin Billionaire, Wedding, Secret Baby, Revenge, Evil Twin, Sexellent Adventure, Dream House, Hot Amish Escapade, Reversal of Fortune, Little Angel.

Ryan Field will first introduce you to Luis Fortune and Jase Nicholas and then he will make you love them. You are going to laugh at how Luis can unwittingly get himself entangled in one adventure after another yet you will also find yourself empathizing with his logic and reasoning. Ryan will weave the life of Jase & Luis before you and engulf you in their growing love and respect for each other. You will see how life can be real and surreal side by side, how love can build and survive all, and how friendship can define a man.

You may find a smidgeon of redundancy from time to time but this is only the author bringing forth details of previous stories to help each one stand on its own. These will be short lived and will not disturb the entertainment unfolding on the pages.

In short, Ryan Field will have you running the whole gambit of human emotions. He will keep you entertained and you will find yourself wanting to be a friend of Luis and Jase and wishing each story would never end.

[Zolhanchs · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mucho drama para esta pequeña historia pero el final me parece algo relaciona con la película antigua que vi, leí algunos comentarios que era un parecido de tiffany's breakfast, creo que si pero bueno no me aburrió leerlo.

[Tj · Rating 3 out of 5]

The beginning of this book was full of humor and great interaction between the characters. Toward the end of the book I had a great dislike for Luis. I couldn't believe what a jerk he was and then he acted like he had no idea! The ending really didn't work for me it made Jase look like a chump and Luis still hadn't redeemed himself and looked like a gold digger. The writing was good and the characters were well written. The plot points with Luis and the ending were a personal thing with the story so a 3.

[J. Dorner · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is the love story of Luis and Jase. (Jase being the Virgin Billionaire, and owner of a company called Virgin, so it's a double entendre.) I really liked Luis. He picks a favorite word and then works it into conversations. His train of thoughts felt like Holden Caulfield of Catcher in the Rye, which intrigued me. He's exactly the sort of gay guy that one expects in NYC. (Before you lecture me, watch Sex and the City. "Cliché for a reason.") The best part of Luis is his heart; he does things to have money to send to his uncle who is HIV positive, even though the uncle sends the money back.

Luis is obsessed with a blog. There's a section where he tells Jase about commenting on the blog, and it really hit me. It's just brilliant. I'm not sure why I haven't heard others say something along these lines, but it feels like it ought to be a popular quote. "Elena wasn't getting paid to write these excellent blog posts. She was doing it because she loved it, and Luis liked to compliment her as much as he could so she'd keep her blog going forever."

What I disliked, or just found difficult "suspension of disbelief" wise, was the world these two men live in. It's not just that there's an unbelievable amount of acceptance everywhere, but the uncanny amount of men (of any/every sexual preference) that are attracted and flirty/ accept flirts. The book seeps into Fantasy there, in my opinion. Luis says that no one cares if you're gay nowadays, and Jase asks what planet he lives on, "The Planet of Celestial Hope and Goodness?" Granted, NYC has a considerable amount of open-mindedness (or general lack of giving a f...), but the book felt like it skirted over the line just a bit. Maybe that was intentional, making the setting a dreamy character for the reader to lust over.

I felt on-the-fence about Jase's character. On one hand, it felt accurate. On the other hand, his thoughts about being glad that Luis takes on a feminine role... it just struck me wrong. More the way he thought it than that he thought it, if that makes sense.

The editor only missed six typos (knew/new, hip/up), so I feel I can say the author's writing is good.

[Fiona Goodman · Rating 1 out of 5]

I actually hated it for the very reason many others loved it. Maybe it is because I am such a fan of 'Breakfast at Tiffany' the movie and the book (which is actually quite different) that it almost seems like blasphemy to rip it off this way! (Sorry if that's a little harsh, I guess I'm in a feisty mood!

For me it just wasn't original at all. There have been many takes on classics that I have enjoyed, simply because they were different enough to add a fresh spin. This book took the movie 'Breakfast at Tiffany' and literally copied it scene for scene except for making the couple two males and changing professions as well as a few small details.

The only reason I would check out the other books in the series is to see what other classic movies/books were ripped off. I guess if I feel a book is well written enough I can forgive almost anything. For me, this wasn't that book.

I hoped I haven't offended anyone who loves the book. I have several GR friends who do! Oh well, that's what debate is for!

[Leaundra · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I started reading I was like awww Luis seems like a sweetie, but as the book went on I was wtf is wrong with him, LOL He drove me crazy sometime and made me want to throw my computer across the room. I kept forgetting he was so young and had such a rough time when he was younger so of course that was probably why his views were so crazy sometimes, hehe. He couldn't see what was in front of him....Jase, who was finding himself at the ripe old age of 40. He definitely made Jase work for it. Another great read from Ryan Field!!

[Nate]

Reading this book was like reading the Skript for a feature length porno that was written in a parallel demention where everyone's behavior is just a little bit off. It's wasn't exactly a bad book and I kind of enjoyed it but it was definitely a bit trashy. Lots of very unlikely situations and conversations only lizard people have. But yeah if you don't look for realism and just want to read a raunchy, gay erotic novel than I guess it's pretty OK. There are definitely better ones out there but sometimes you just want a book you can forget about immediately after you finished it.

[Alexander van der Hilst-Frijn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Shame this is the best book in the series.
I don't get why so many men 'pressed his hand to his chest'? Never have I extualy seen a man do this. Women yes. Effeminated men, yes.
The story is okay till they get arrested. Then the hole story becomes illogical and unnatural.

[Soy PattoO! · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love it 😍😍😍💖💖💖

[Michael A.]

Blatant plagiarism of Breakfast at Tiffany’s.

[Elisa Rolle]

In this series on modern gay romances revisiting old Hollywood comedy, Ryan Field retells, I think, at least two movies: Breakfast at Tiffany’s, clear reference the little dog, in the movie it was a cat, whose owner refuses to give a name, and How to Marry a Millionaire, where a very young Marilyn Monroe, with Lauren Bacall and Betty Grable, lived in a Manhattan upscale apartment they couldn’t afford, hoping to catch a Millionaire husband, while falling in love for low-profile blue collar workers.

Jase is a 40 years Billionaire with a middle-life crisis: after year of playing straight and making millions, he woke up one morning realising he hasn’t reached anything in life he really wanted. Plus he suspects people around him want him more for his money than nothing else. With the help of a New York interior designer, he moved in a Uptown Manhattan apartment; of course not having a real job, and receiving the visit of an handsome gay man who leaves him money to leave, Jase is soon mistaken for a high-paid rent boy by his young and cute neighbour, Luis.

Luis is gay as well, and he is also an escort: he doesn’t have sex with men for money, but he plays the role of the escort for very old men, more or less above 70 years old, so that he has not to worry to be sexually molested.

Of course, as soon as Jase and Luis meet, they start a buddy friends relationship, with no strings attached, only sex: it’s good for both of them, Jase is not sure he can trust Luis once he will find out he is a Billionaire in incognito, and Luis wants to find Mr Right, and Mr Right has to be a man with enough money to take care of him; strange enough, if the man is really in love with Luis, he is not Mr Right, since it will mean that he is not a steady shelter for Luis, feelings tend to make things complicated.

Sincerely both Jase than Luis are a bit vain, like the perfect blond dumb women of those ’50 Hollywood comedies; they care a bit too much about appearance and they are basically selfish, but they are not stupid, and in the end, they are not bad men. Like everyone else they have an heart, only they prefer t have it covered with D&D and Prada clothes. For sure Luis’s desire of beautiful things is a way to react to the rejection of his own family; Luis is not able to see himself as someone worthy if he is not “masquerade” with beautiful clothes and expensive accessories. On the opposite, Jase tried to deprive himself of all those things to see if people really wanted him only for his own persona. But even if he decided to renounce to over-the-top wealth, he didn’t renounce to expensive clothes and in the end, to the life of a kept man, without having to worry of timetable or money rent.

As often in Ryan Field’s novels, there is sex, but this time, according to Luis’s character, it’s more a “teasing” sex than the real thing: Luis like to be a teaser, to entice his friends with glimpses of what they could have without really putting out. When he does it with Jase, he does that since Jase is not one of the possible “buyer”, he is not a candidate for Mr Right, he is more a friend who can understand Luis’s choice of life.

Both for the reference to an old movie comedy I like very much, than for the character of Luis, that in his imperfectness is so perfect, I couldn’t avoid to like this novel; and then it has the wonderful happily ever after I like so much, with the hero sweeping away his man towards a perfect life together (doesn’t matter if, the two men are not perfect hero on their own, together they are a perfect couple).

On a closing note, if you happen to recognize a certain blog in the description of Luis’ favourite place where to spend time on the net, well, I’m guilty as charged.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003VYBQIM/?...

[Dee · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a rating on the entire series. Overall, I really liked the books.Sometimes they were too heavy on the erotica side and not enough plotline. The series spans a 10 year period from the day Luis and Jase met to the end in book 10. The flaws in the story are in the way some characters aged and other characters didn't. For example Isabelle is Jase's grandmother who turns 90 in book 2 ( Luis is 22) in book 9 Luis is 30. Isabelle is still a spry 90 year.In the 2nd book there was a line about Isabelle's aging process, it was when they flew into Alaska in Jase's plane the first time. Here is the quote:
""Though his mother still looked the same, it always shocked him to see his grandmother after any length of time had passed. Until she'd reached eighty-five years old, she'd rarely changed much from year to year. But after eighty-five, it seemed as though each year that passed was more like two or three years' worth of aging. """ So by the time book 9 comes she is 97 years old and I guess she looks 120. But she drives a Porsche, she is taking their son the disneyworld for 2 WEEKS ( NO SANE person would do that at 25)and still flies back and forth between NY and Alaska regularly. Attention to details like this drives me crazy.
Also in book 2 the wedding book, There is a character who is a "famous well known female politician from Wasilla Alaska" ON the outside she a republican conservative but she has a secret side.She is an open minded free spirit who talks to nature wearing antlers and encourages Luis to freely love his future husband, blessing their union. REALLY??? We ALL know who this is supposed to be and she has done everything in her power to ban gay rights. I found the whitewashing of a real, hard core, tea bag, religious fanatic, to be LBGT friendly for the purpose of a book was irresponsible.
Other than that I liked the books but you have to overlook many flaws to enjoy the entire series.
P.S. The best book in this series is the "reversal of fortune" book. I would give that book 6 stars if I could ! Loved it !!!

[Zaa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Don't know which ones is more irritated me; the two main characters or the plot. I have difficulty to capture the chemistry between Jese and Luis. Because I can not feel any romantic feelings especially love between both of them. Furthermore, this is the 1st time I hated with heroes in the book and either of them really got my nerves! Luis, with his selfishness who loved give term 'as a friend only' to Jese or Jese, with his 'stupidity' too easy to consider his feelings for Luis as love. If jese think Luis have love feeling for him, note this, its a big mistake! It doesn't matter if jese try to be honest if telling Luis he was billionaire in the first place, because for Luis love is the lastest in his mind and chase for money is his main goal. For someone who came out of closet like Jese, what he feels for Luis, I just want to say I feel sorry for him.

[Don Bradshaw · Rating 3 out of 5]

This first book in Virgin Billionaire series was a light, easy read. There was nothing heavy or dramatic that needed close attention to follow. Luis Fortune was a gay male escort looking for a rich sugar daddy to take care of him. His character was likable if a little misdirected in his priorities IMO. Jase Nicholas is a well known but closeted billionaire who takes a vacation from his life to explore his gay side. Jase and Luis become neighbors then friends. Jase doesn't reveal who he really is to Luis even after the two men have some great sex. I felt sorry for Jase having such success financially yet living in the closet. The HEA ending was there and you know it from the beginning. It was just a fun, easy read for anyone looking for something light.

[Katy Beth Mckee · Rating 3 out of 5]

On one hand this seems like a fun story about a man who "runs away" to discover himself. In the process he meets another man who has changed himself to get away. They have feelings for one another but Luis doesn't seem to want to admit them. Then just when it seems that everything is coming together for them the truth of who Jace is gets revealed. Luis completely rejects him based on deceit. I just found Luis just a bit too whinny at times and considering his own past and even his current reality I felt his reactions were just a bit too much drama.

[Erin · Rating 1 out of 5]

At first I thought, "Hmm...that reminds me of Breakfast at Tiffany's, only with gay men..." Then, entire scenes reminded me of scenes from Breakfast at Tiffany's. He has a dog he calls Dog. He has a landlord who yells at him for waking him up. He kicked Dog out of the car into the rain.
I'm the first one to give somebody a chance if they take somebody else's idea and make it their own. That wasn't what this was, and the more I read, the more it pissed me off. The author didn't make it his own at all. What a rip off. Literally.

[Allie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read this book not realizing it was another of the book Ryan Field's based on other books/movies. This book is based on Breakfast at Tiffany's but the leads are 2 gay men. As in the movie there is a no name pet (this time it's a Japanese Crested dog). I have read some of Ryan's other books (not based on other's work) and I have liked them. Not sure I like the basis of these 'remakes'. The story was fine and I liked the character of Jase. Didn't like Luis much, though.

[Claudia Luis · Rating 1 out of 5]

OMG! I was so looking forward to read this series after reading some of the raving reviews in here but...
when I started reading the caracters seamed a little silly but likable but as I kept going the story started sounding more and more stupid by the minute and the characters stopped being silly but likable to turn all around annoying. after much struggle I couldn't make it past page 98... what a let down

[Kathryn · Rating 2 out of 5]

I picked this up during a sale at All Romance. The premise intrigued me - the references to Breakfast at Tiffany's notwithstanding. However, I have to say I was disappointed with the story. There are a number of instances of telling rather than showing, I'm sorry to say I didn't find one of the main characters likable or well-developed. Perhaps in subsequent books there is improvement - I may try one more book in the series to find out.

[Cindi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a bad story but I had a hard time getting Jase and Luis. Neither character really stood out and I really didn't feel the chemistry between them. I see this is part of a series that continues their story. It's doubtful I will read the others. One, I'm not big on series that focus on the same couple throughout, and, two, I am not sure I really cared enough about the story or the characters to continue reading to see what happens next.

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this book was hilarious! I've seen the reviews where people said it was a bad version of Breakfast at Tiffany's but since I've never seen the movie, so I couldn't make the comparison. I enjoyed the writing style and it was pretty funny and a mostly light-hearted read. I enjoyed how the two characters interacted with each other and in general I enjoyed Luis' aloof personality.

The book was good and I can't wait to read the next one.

[Skye Blue ☆*~ﾟლ(´ڡ`ლ)~*☆ · Rating 3 out of 5]

I debated between 2 and 3 stars.
The beginning things were going well, by the end, I seriously disliked Luis. Okay, maybe Luis loved him, maybe he was just fond of him...but I don't feel like he would have chosen Jase, if it wasn't for the fact he was a billionaire.

Luis might have felt like he was better than a rent boy, but really...at least rent boys are more honest.
So, yeah....I don't like Luis.

[Tana · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not big on the m/m variety of books. to me they tend to be over dramatic, this book wasn't any different. There was a lot of negativity in this book toward one self and I'm just not into those kinds of books. I'm sorry this wasn't my cup of tea doesn't mean it wasn't a good book it was ok better than most book I've read. so three stars was all I could give I need more from the characters.
I hope if you decide to read this book you like it better than I did.

[Miriki · Rating 3 out of 5]

It started out as 3 stars, moved up on 4 in the middle, ans then went down to 2. Jase is a nice guy, although I almost wished they didn't have a happy ending. Luis is irritating and lame, I'd feel more sympathy for him if he'd looked back at himself a little and not blaming the other for his miseries. *rolled eyes*

[Marianne Boutet · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a light, fluffy little story that I enjoyed very much. It wasn't perfect, but there were chuckles, giggles, some "awww" moments, and some very sincere falling in love scenes. I'm glad there are sequels - just the thing for late at night with a cup of hot chocolate, cookies, and a comfy robe while reading.