Bobby Green

Johnnies, Book 5

De: Amy Lane

Narrado por: Gomez Pugh

Vern Roberts couldn’t wait to turn 18 and get the hell out of Dogpatch, California. But city living is expensive, and he’s damned desperate when Dex, from Johnnies, spots him bussing tables.

As “Bobby”, he’s a natural at gay porn. Soon, he’s surrounded by hot guys and sex for the taking, but it’s not just his girlfriend back in Dogpatch - or her blackmailing brother - that keeps him from taking it, it’s the sweet guy who held the lights for his first solo scene and who showed him decency, kindness, and a smile.

Reg Williams likes to think he’s too stupid to realize what a shitty hand life dealt him, but Bobby knows better. What Reg lacks in family, opportunity, education, and money, he makes up for in heart. One fumbling step at a time, they connect, not just in their hearts, but in their bodies, where sex that’s not on camera, casual, or meaningless, becomes the most important thing in the world.

But Reg is hampered by an inescapable family burden, and he and Bobby will never fly unless he can find a way to manage it. Can he break the painful link to his unrealized childhood and grow into the love Bobby wants to give?

©2018 Amy Lane (P)2018 Dreamspinner Press

Great ending for the series

I loved this final book: the plot, the characters and the heartbreaking story of severe mental illness. This book could be read as a stand alone, but knowing the past characters makes it more enjoyable.

I did have a pet peeve. As a former special education teacher, I had a hard time forgetting about the misinterpretation of an 83 IQ. IQ has nothing to do with educational achievement. Also, 83 IQ is below average but not anywhere near a cognitive impairment level.

Love the angst and passion

Chase in Shadow and Dex in Blue are two of my favorite audiobooks. Not only do I love their characters and the stories, but Amy’s writing and the angst they endure.

I haven’t read Ethan’s or Johnny’s story yet, and although events from their stories are alluded to (as they happen concurrently) I felt I could still follow Bobby Green and could piece together what was happening with these other characters.

This series shows Amy writing gritty, edgy storylines, with plenty of depth and detail as always. We are shown how these characters suffer before they attain their HEA.

In Bobby Green, we have depth of characters and storyline. And it’s another intense and emotional one. One of tragedy in several ways.  

Bobby manages to escape from a dead-end life in a small town where he is being blackmailed into giving bjs by a ‘straight’ friend. His goal is to earn enough money to support his put-upon mother. He enters porn as a way of providing a better home and life for them both.

Reg, although ten years older and a porn veteran, has his own difficulties and has taken on the responsibility of caring for his sister, who is not only a paranoid schizophrenic but also intensely homophobic. Looking after her is exhausting and impacts on his life and relationships in so many ways. 

Both men are lovely characters, helpful and supportive of others. I liked how they gradually move from ‘work colleagues’ to friends and eventually to lovers. It’s a long road for them with many traumas along the way. Gah! I love the trials Amy puts her boys through. We are also treated to some beautiful moments that show how much they have come to care for each other.

Gomez Pugh has admirably taken over from the previous narrator. Not an easy task coming in at book #5. It worked for me because it’s been awhile since I’ve listened to #1 and #2, so I had no fixed idea of how Dex and the other characters should sound. I always enjoy his performances and he made the fourteen hours of listening highly entertaining.

The Johnnies Family Highlighted

This was such a lovely book. it really highlighted how Johnnies, an unlikely source, really created a family when some of these guys really needed one. and to highlight mental illness, its struggles, and the different sorts of relationships formed was amazing.

I loved the Johnny series

I would love to have Ms Lane help me write my story
[e-mail] plz contact me an please help me with my book.
Jim Arrowsmith

The grass isn't always greener

Five books in and the author still manages to bring something new to the story. I was so drawn to both these guys right away, to their struggles and their differences that wrapped them together in a messy, tattered and knotted bow from that first scene. Bobby might have been young, but he was far from naive. Reg, ten years his senior, was forced to grow up far too soon being the only person to care for his schizophrenic older sister. And though he's a little slow and (in my opinion) autistic and never diagnosed, he manages to tread water at the very least. Drawn to each other from the start, Bobby dismisses his feelings while Reg honest to god doesn't even realize why he gets so nervous around the new guy with the great body and stunning green eyes. One day at a time they go from co-workers to friends then lovers, but a relationship? Out of the question. That would me they'd have to tell someone else and neither are ready for that.... yet.

I loved the push and pull in this story, the way Bobby slowly circled Reg, knowing he was like a scared rabbit that wanted to be chased, to be loved, but would run like hell the second Bobby released his grip. The way Lane described Reg's thoughts and feelings when Bobby made love to him, like the only thing that ever made him feel whole, feel truly safe was Bobby. It was almost like Bobby touched his soul from the inside. It was a thing of beauty.

I tell you what though, the chapter where the guys from Johnnies go to Dogpatch to help Bobby get his mom packed made me laugh so hard. But then there needed to be some lightheartedness in the story as it's very intense and emotional. Pugh did a really great job coming in on book 5 and still managing to stay true to the original characters while bringing Bobby and Reg to life and giving each and every person their own unique tone in the story.

Definitely a must for fans of the Author or series.