Male Model [Hardcover]

Dave Benbow (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1, 2004

Designing window displays for the glamorous Cameron Fuller USA store on Rodeo Drive is Blake Jackson's passion. After all, designer Cameron Fuller is an icon of chic style. With his Vogue-thin wife, Suzette, he's one-half of "America's Couple," an image that drives his considerable fortune. But rumors have swirled around the handsome, elegant designer for years--whispers that his wife is a vicious, drunken shrew who holds Cameron's assets in her tight fist... that their relationship is like one of the store's many displays: luxurious, beautiful, and completely for show. . .and that Cameron's real passion is for the men he takes discreetly to his bed, one after the other. Blake has often wondered fantasized about the gorgeous, elegant Cameron, but he's completely unprepared to meet him in the flesh--or to have him offer to help with a last-minute window change during a surprise visit to the store late one night. Soon, they're engaged in a whirlwind secret affair...and it's about to get hotter. Desperately looking for a fresh face to launch his new cologne, Pacific Coast Highway, Cameron knows he's found it in Blake and it's an offer Blake can't refuse, and within weeks, he's gone from shop-boy to poster god. But not everyone is happy about Blake's sudden rise to fame, and the intense, growing love between the designer and his model...someone who knows their secrets...someone determined to make them pay dearly. And as the days tick down until the celebrity-packed party that will launch Blake's star, it's clear that the only way the two lovers can hold on to what they have is to let go of everything else...

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Benbow's breezy beach read features dazzlingly beautiful boys, steamy sex and a haphazard plot of love and revenge. High-fashion conglomerate Cameron Fuller USA is practically printing money—but its eponymous (and closeted) founder is saddled with a vicious wife and a nasty father-in-law who'd love to see him ruined. When Blake Jackson, a window dresser for Cameron's Rodeo Drive store, has a late night visit from the man himself, a whirlwind romance begins. During one of their many graphically detailed dalliances, Cameron ("honest-to-God violet eyes") convinces Blake ("unbelievably sexy") to be the spokesmodel for his new fragrance, and Blake becomes an overnight sensation. While Blake's star rises, his boss, Rafael, grows embittered, and Cameron's wife, Suzette, uncovers the truth about her husband's new friend. Further melodramatic complications follow (take a deep breath): Suzette's twin brother, Stanton, was Cameron's first love, but after Stanton's tragic death, Cameron and Suzette married for convenience and were bankrolled by her father, Silas, who always hated Cameron and blamed Stanton's death on him, but had no idea that they'd been lovers—until now. The star-studded cologne launch party exposes other long-buried and preposterous secrets, which lead to an outrageous end. Despite central-casting characters, this frothy fairy tale (with an edge) is a step up from Daytime Drama, Benbow's rather corny debut.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

A-list celebs rub shoulders at that Rodeo Drive "Disneyland for the clothes conscious consumer," the Cameron Fuller Store, as top designer Fuller launches his new fragrance, Pacific Coast Highway. Despite an eleventh-hour decision to debut the scent there rather than in SoHo in New York, everything goes smoothly, and that includes new model Blake, 15 years younger than Fuller and hot in hiking gear, hot in a tux. And then Cameron's wife of 20 years and arguably the prettier half of "America's Couple" dies in the middle of the bash. Some timing. But did drunken, hostile Suzette Fuller fall from the window, or was she pushed? The subsequent plot reveals the handsome, violet-eyed, closeted Cameron's passionate involvement with ex-window-dresser Blake and his hostile father-in-law Silas Cabbott's behind-the-scenes maneuvering to sink Pacific Coast Highway. Overshadowing all in this charming, fast-paced page-turner is the death long ago of Cabbott's beloved son, Stanton. Perfect for hot-weather beach reading. Whitney Scott
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Kensington Books; First Edition edition (July 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0758206291
• ISBN-13: 978-0758206299
• Product Dimensions: 34 x 14 x 12 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #805,112 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A GREAT MODEL FOR ALL SUMMER READS, June 21, 2004

By 

Jak Klinikowski "justjak13" (El Paso, TX United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Male Model (Hardcover)

Cameron "Cam" Fuller, strikingly handsome, high profile designer and C.E.O. for Cameron Fuller USA, a fashion dynasty on a par with Ralph Lauren, and Blake Jackson, an equally gorgeous hunk, and member of the artistic design team at Cam's Beverly Hills mega-store are the heroes of Dave Benbow's delicious new novel, MALE MODEL. Cam literally sees Blake in a window (of the mega-store) and has to have him. They meet, and the attraction is mutual and immediate. Unfortunately, there are two, not-so-little, problems to overcome; Suzette, a high maintainance shrew who just happens to be Cam's wife of twenty five years, and her devious, blue-blood father, Silas Cabbott, to whom Cam is financially indebted.

Blake and Cam attempt to keep their relationship discreet. They are, after all, established, successful, career oriented men, not a couple of twenty-something bar twinks, but when Cam chooses Blake to be the spokes-model for `PACIFIC COAST HIGHWAY,' his company's new men's fragrance, it doesn't take long for their secret to be discovered, and all hell breaks loose.

As he did with his previous effort DAYTIME DRAMA, Benbow, serves up an incredibly tasty dish of a novel full of clever twists, exotic locals, and passionate romance. This is the realm of super-wealth and haute couture, where the beautiful people, and those who prey upon them, flock. Here, an opportunistic underling backstabbing his way to job security seems the norm, and blackmail is just another business option. Trust-worthy friends are few and far between and everyone has a hidden agenda, some more deadly than others. How can true love possibly survive in this glamorous but cutthroat environment?

John Q (Queer) Public enjoys reading about this fast-lane, designer-living world, especially when the author knows what he's talking about. Benbow's expertise in high-end, fashion retail serves him extremely well in this novel. He delivers professionally developed, charismatic characters involved in a well thought out, beautifully detailed plot. The result is pure enjoyment from cover to cover.

I read fiction to be entertained, and that's the bottom line. This tale of Cameron's and Blake's budding relationship, and the treachery that surrounds it, certainly satisfied that bottom line. MALE MODEL made me want to grin like the Cheshire cat when all went well for the heroes, and scream like a banshee when the dastardly villains screwed with their lives. This novel, made me want to laugh, it made me want to cry, but most of all it made me want to run squeeze my partner, and tell him how much I love him, and it's been way too long since a novel has had that effect on me. I wish every book I read left me feeling this way...so does my partner!

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars As hot as the cover, January 30, 2005

By 

Chad Sosna "Doo-Lang Love" (Chicago) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Male Model (Hardcover)

Face it, some guys will buy this book for the hot cover. But what's going on under the sheets--uh, I mean, between the covers of the book--is a fun, juicy romp. It's the story of Blake Jackson, who becomes a male model at the behest of Cameron Fuller, a Ralph Lauren-type. Cameron has more on his mind than advancing Blake's career. He wants to jump into his pants. Their torrid love affair is complicated by the fact that Cameron is in the closet and is married to money. His father-in-law's money, in fact, helped get him where he is.

As things progress, they get more complicated, and the reader wonders what decisions Blake will make. Life as a male model is not all easy-breezy and easy money, as you'll find here. Blake has something to help him get by, though: the sex scenes crackle with white-hot electricity. This entertaining, fast-moving story will keep you enthralled...and wanting more.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Dear Santa: I want a new Dave Benbow Book for Christmas!, November 25, 2004

By 

Jack Stronger "Jack Stronger" (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Male Model (Hardcover)

When is Dave Benbow's next novel coming out? I just finished MALE MODEL and I am going through a major withdrawal. Benbow's DAYTIME DRAMA was great, and MALE MODEL was even better!

Intelligently written, filled with romance, intrigue, and loads of sex, MALE MODEL makes the perfect travel companion. When spending so much time visiting with family this week, I was thankful I had my gay escape.

Hey Dave, be Santa Claus and write another book ASAP to get me through the Christmas and New Year holidays?