Review: Nice story but basically conflict free
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 04 17, 2013
REVIEW WAS ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED AT REVIEWS BY JESSEWAVENOTE: I purchased the book on my own.I enjoyed the story of Jack and Wyatt, but at times it ran surprisingly low on conflict. The story takes place during almost twenty years of Jack's life and the epilogue jumps almost twenty five years more ahead. It is an epic story of a young man of amazing strength finding his place in Hollywood and staying strong to who he was no matter what life was throwing at him. I thought it was written and researched very well, and I felt like I was right there, reliving the Golden years of Hollywood. I was cheering for Jack's successes and my heart ached for his heart breaks.At some point in the story (somewhere starting in the 25-30 percentage) the story becomes the story of Jack and Wyatt. Soon enough after they start to figure out what they may mean to each other they have their first conflict in the story based on their perceived views of what it means to be in the relationship. It was resolved pretty fast. I thought it was nicely done and I expected to see tension between them being built just as nicely during the course of the story. Sadly I was wrong.After 40-45% of the story *any* tension between the guys disappeared completely. They love each other, support each other and it was nice to read, especially since according to the author's note the men are loosely based on real people. It was heartwarming to know that there were people who survived pressure and refused to pretend who they are even if they meant that they could not stay in business.I really do not mind and often enjoy a lot "we against the world" kind of story. Having said that, I kept hoping for something to be the reason for the tension to return, but alas. It was actually kind of funny because bad things do happen around Jack and Wyatt , so there were multiple possibilities for at least external tension to reappear.  At the same time what I felt instead was that none of those events had a lasting influence on their relationship and /or on their lives.I mean, even the event which the blurb references -  the studio issuing Jack an ultimatum - I thought it would hit him and Wyatt much harder and the repercussions would be much worse, but instead I thought that they rebounded pretty fast and became even more successful. I am not going to tell you how that happened. My point is that I did not see any real conflict - external or internal - happening in the second half of the book. Jack and Wyatt lose friends, loved ones, but they never waver in their support for each other. It did my heart good to read the book like this on one hand, on the other I am not sure if it made for a very exciting fictional story.As you can see the story is also characterized as BDSM. I felt that Jack and Wyatt enjoyed it almost as a matter of fact; of course it made sense to me that they do not call what they do BDSM and I did not think that they played in anything hardcore. Having said that, I wish the author showed why they want and need it with a little bit more depth.Recommended.