Note: The author kindly offered a free copy of this book in exchange for a review.
Ricky is rather desperate for a break. He’s been struggling since breaking up with his former Daddy who found it too much work. He jumps at the chance to be a service sub on a kinky cruise, even though that’s never been his thing. It doesn’t take long for Ricky to realize he is in over his head. Gabe has buried his Daddy side for a few years, since losing his closeted boy when their relationship was discovered by the young man’s rich parents. He finally relents to his best friend’s insistence on attending one of his kinky cruises. What Gabe doesn’t know is that the premium cabin his friend has arranged comes with a dedicated service sub. That’s not something Gabe has ever been into, and he has no idea what to do with the seemingly skittish “sub” assigned to him, Ricky.
This story is a bit of a comedy of errors. The two main characters find themselves in a situation where they each assume the other has very different expectations of them. Most of the story is about Ricky and Gabe getting to know each other enough to trust the other with their true feeling about what they want.
Ricky isn’t your typical submissive or “boy” found in D/s stories. He is described as muscular and of average height or taller. He’s definitely not the diminutive twink usually found in these books. His major fault seems to be over-thinking everything in his desire to make his Daddy happy. Once we get to know him, Ricky is a very sympathetic character that definitely deserves his happily ever after.
The narration switches back and forth between Ricky and Gabe, so we get to know the Daddy as well. Gabe seems to have an excellent sense of how to handle people, which is probably what makes him a successful restauranteur and served him well as a Daddy. The details of what happened to make him try to give up the lifestyle are a bit sketchy, but there’s enough said to get a general idea. The “vacation” setting of the story on a cruise avoids the usual pitfalls of D/s stories that seem to have Doms with an unrealistic amount of time and money to spend with their subs or boys.
“Daddy's Cabin Boy” is available from Amazon (commissionable link).
