Review: Interesting and Different
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 06 24, 2014
3.5 stars. Sebastian is a billionaire, and I have to say I hate billionaire books. I just can’t relate. But the billionaire aspect played a very small role in the story and I liked it better than I otherwise might have because of it.Sebastian makes his money designing mobile apps. He’s on the verge of releasing a gay dating app and to promote the app has agreed to appear on a gay reality show along the lines of “The Bachelor”. It requires him to be cut off from the real world during taping so he turns the app over to Liam, his personal assistant, to push the app over the finish line.Liam has worked for Sebastian for years and is honored and distressed by the additional work because one wrong move could doom the app. Not only that, Liam has had a serious crush on his boss for a long time so the idea of a dating reality show doesn’t make him feel warm and cuddly inside. But Liam works through it becoming Sebastian’s only contact with the outside world for a short time every day to discuss the app.Liam is realistically written, running around at work trying to keep the app release on time and helping Sebastian keep his sanity. He keeps his crush a secret, not disclosing it to anyone, which would be inappropriate considering his and Sebastian’s work relationship. I also appreciated the realism of the show and the crew.I had niggles though. Adding to the group of men one of Sebastian’s employees was in bad taste and had lawsuit written all over it. I also couldn’t believe both Sebastian and Liam believed wholeheartedly that Sebastian would really find true over on a reality show. It was a marketing ploy, nothing else.I’ve thought a few times after reading this that it may have worked better from Liam’s POV only. We get into Sebastian’s head but it doesn’t add all that much to the story. Sebastian is focused mainly on the show and we learn precious little about him or what he thinks. But his thoughts about the other men are entertaining and I remained curious about who the final two would be. Nonetheless, Sebastian’s about face when he realizes he feels something for Liam came out of the blue and while the resolution of that was cute, the resulting sexual encounter felt out of place under the circumstances.Overall though I enjoyed the book though. Liam and Sebastian and the supporting characters were likable and the story interesting and different.