If you follow me online, you know I play many, many dating sims, visual novels, and interactive fictions. I mean, I create interactive fiction, so it’s part of my job, but I mostly play for pleasure. One visual novel I play is Cinamon Games’ Maybe: Interactive Stories on my phone. The app hosts beautiful art and some truly memorable queer stories. While some of the stories are original work, others are adapted from novels. Action is one such adapted novel, and the adaptation is close enough that I feel comfortable to review it on StoryGraph.

Pete Griflow leads a secret life. No, his mom knows he’s gay. So do his coffeehouse coworkers and peers at university. What they’d never suspect is homebody, awkward Pete is also Jaden Prime. Jaden is a flirty power bottom for Murmur Inc., one of the queer porn industry’s top producers of erotic films. And, unfortunately, his career has hit a plateau. When his favorite director offers him a starring role in a hot summer flick, Pete grabs at the chance to fill his bank account. What he doesn’t take into account is his costar, Kyle Darko. Sparks fly on and off set with this confident star, who is out and proud with his sexuality and career. Pete must navigate the line between fantasy and reality—and choose between shoring up his defenses or living as his authentic self.

Everyone needs to read a sex work-positive romance, and by God, I finally found one. Action has got to be one of the most wholesome romances I’ve read in a while. Both Darko and Griflow are explored on a deep level and undergo organic growth. It was a breath of fresh air that the characters were already out as gay. The story instead focused telling family about sex work and choosing sex work as a career. Throughout the novel, the characters never once treated the porn industry as not real work, or unworthy of worker protections. It’s a business like any other. Another treat was the reversal of “gay-for-pay” to “straight-for-pay,” which made me giggle. Other reviews mention Action had some rough edges, but the adaptation seems to have smoothed those out. The visual novel’s art is lovely, so if you enjoyed the novel and have space on your phone, I do recommend playing.

Overall, Action is a sweet, character-intensive romance novel with the steaminess of an erotica. If you want to treat yourself, download Maybe or pick up the book!