Scan barcode
A review by thenaptimewriter
Hard Sell by Hudson Lin
3.0
Thanks to the publisher for the complimentary finished copy and the publisher & Netgalley for the complimentary ARC. All opinions provided are my own.
3.5 ⭐️
Sibling’s best friend is one of those tropes that really gets to me in a good way so Hudson Lin’s Hard Sell’s synopsis had me eager to dive in.
Danny Ip is a private equity investor who visits a tech start up so he can make his offer. When he arrives he realizes that Tobin Lok, one of his closest childhood friends & also the brother of his best friend, & *also* the man he hooked up w/ 7 years ago & hasn’t talked to since, is working w/ the company as a consultant instead of a potential buyer.
Danny knows that nothing can happen between himself & Tobin. Nothing. Can. Happen. *pause for smooching.
Simply put, there are some things that work & don’t work for me about this read.
The chemistry between Danny & Tobin is intense & the ways they’re also tender & nurturing are lovely. There’s a real sense for me that they’re special to each other & that their bond is both enhanced by their long history together but that they both respect each other now (thanks to Alexandria Bellefleur’s Hang the Moon for helping me see that part of this trope in a new way).
But some aspects of the way the sibling’s best friend trope are done here don’t totally work for me. It’s a little strange how Danny refers to Tobin in his head at the beginning of the book. Maybe “kid” or trying to think of Tobin as a sibling are distancing mechanisms but also Danny hooked up with him 7 years ago so I think that ship has sailed...
In addition—& this is something I’ve benefited from in reading other people’s commentary on the trope—Tobin’s brother’s extreme agitation at their relationship doesn’t feel fully nuanced to me. I needed more from that storyline if that’s the direction this trope is going in.
& in general, some of the humor just doesn’t work for me.
The backstories are engaging, I rooted for both leads, & I definitely wanted their HEA. Moreover, I’m really looking forward to checking out another read from Lin; I just have some quibbles with this one.
Release date: 5/25.
CW:
Tobin is outed by the tech start-up owner. Tobin hooks up w/ someone else when they’re on a break—I know that can be a dealbreaker for some.
3.5 ⭐️
Sibling’s best friend is one of those tropes that really gets to me in a good way so Hudson Lin’s Hard Sell’s synopsis had me eager to dive in.
Danny Ip is a private equity investor who visits a tech start up so he can make his offer. When he arrives he realizes that Tobin Lok, one of his closest childhood friends & also the brother of his best friend, & *also* the man he hooked up w/ 7 years ago & hasn’t talked to since, is working w/ the company as a consultant instead of a potential buyer.
Danny knows that nothing can happen between himself & Tobin. Nothing. Can. Happen. *pause for smooching.
Simply put, there are some things that work & don’t work for me about this read.
The chemistry between Danny & Tobin is intense & the ways they’re also tender & nurturing are lovely. There’s a real sense for me that they’re special to each other & that their bond is both enhanced by their long history together but that they both respect each other now (thanks to Alexandria Bellefleur’s Hang the Moon for helping me see that part of this trope in a new way).
But some aspects of the way the sibling’s best friend trope are done here don’t totally work for me. It’s a little strange how Danny refers to Tobin in his head at the beginning of the book. Maybe “kid” or trying to think of Tobin as a sibling are distancing mechanisms but also Danny hooked up with him 7 years ago so I think that ship has sailed...
In addition—& this is something I’ve benefited from in reading other people’s commentary on the trope—Tobin’s brother’s extreme agitation at their relationship doesn’t feel fully nuanced to me. I needed more from that storyline if that’s the direction this trope is going in.
& in general, some of the humor just doesn’t work for me.
The backstories are engaging, I rooted for both leads, & I definitely wanted their HEA. Moreover, I’m really looking forward to checking out another read from Lin; I just have some quibbles with this one.
Release date: 5/25.
CW:
Tobin is outed by the tech start-up owner. Tobin hooks up w/ someone else when they’re on a break—I know that can be a dealbreaker for some.