Review: Lovely, Fun Story
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 04 7, 2012
Rating: 4.25 starsJack Lawson is hot, successful, on his way to being a billionaire.  His problem?  He can't forget that he grew up poor. Jack has spent his life becoming an uber successful businessman, CEO of a multinational company and acquiring all the trappings affluence brings.  Still he is not completely happy, something is missing.Jack meets up with Noah Mercier, an old high school acquaintance, when Noah's company makes a presentation for his firm.  Jack invites Noah out for further discussions about the ad campaign and discovers that Noah's sister is none other than Haley Meredith, a well known movie star.  So while Jack is drawn to Noah both emotionally and physically, he thinks acquiring a movie star will finally demonstrate to all that he has arrived.  As Jack is bisexual, he believes transferring his affections from one sibling to the other should be simple and easy to accomplish. Now if he can only convince his heart....What a wonderful story!  When you first meet Jack Lawson it is obvious he loves his success, revels in every aspect of it, and is gorgeous to boot.  And knows it. And uses it to his advantage in both his business and personal life.  In fact there seems to be no separation of the two for him.  His apparent shallowness is off-putting until Jack becomes reacquainted with Noah Mercier, and then the basis for his driven personality becomes apparent.  And Jack becomes both vulnerable and likable.The character of Noah Mercier is immediately appealing so it is easy to see how Jack finds himself becoming drawn to him because the reader has gotten there first.  In fact, I find that Noah is more fully fleshed out than Jack himself as far as background goes.  Noah Mercier arrives with sister, family, hobbies, and vegetarian proclivities in tow.  It takes us longer to find out that Jack's father was unable to support them and that being poor is a self image that Jack is still trying to erase with a vengeance.  I would love to have learned more about Jack's background that has given him such a mission that he almost misses out on what is truly important in life.  Still, the main characters here are multilayered, likable, and easy to root for.Kate Sherwood has not held back on the secondary characters either.  Both Haley Meredith and Claire, his assistant, are terrific creations on their own, Claire especially.  I wish the author had given Claire a last name as someone of her station and personality deserve.  I could picture and hear her so clearly did Claire's voice speak to me.  Haley's persona shown through even though we only had a glimpse or two of her.My only other quibble here is that I would have loved to have had more of interaction between Jack and Noah.  From the scenes between them, I certainly could understand the attraction Jack felt towards Noah, but additional dialog would have cemented it for me. In all, I loved this story.Kate Sherwood was a new author for me but after reading this short story, I will be searching out more books from her.Cover:  I thought the cover was just fine, but to me it really didn't speak for the story.  Plus the dark haired model with glasses did not embody Noah for me. Does not have that "nerdy" image I associate with him.