Customer Reviews

When Adam Met Jack

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This author is creating a universe with her characters, and the mix and match is way too much fun. In When Adam Met Jack, we meet Adam Lewis, the dashing agent from For Love and Money, who needs the help of a criminal attorney. Enter Jack Larsen. Jack is the big beefy blond hunk from A Question of Sex, and Capital Games, who has forever loved Mark Richfield. But, when Mark falls for the ex-LAPD cop, Steve Miller in Capital Games, Jack is crushed. Adam and Jack begin a relationship which is constantly overshadowed with Mark's presence. But somehow Adam, even through all his legal mess, gives Jack just what he needs. Great fun, hot sex, and drama as well. All around good read.

My only regret is not reading Capital Gains first...I would have already knew something about the characters. So if you are looking for a good quick book to read, this is one.

Warning: This review might contain what some people consider SPOILERS.

Rating: 6/10

PROS:
- Two characters who are out and not afraid to admit it. No "I like him but am not sure whether he's interested in guys" or "we can't be together because I'm afraid to admit I like you" (not that I mind reading about those issues, but it's nice to encounter out and proud guys on occasion).
- Some refreshingly frank conversations, particularly as concern sex and the characters' feelings about each other and other people.
- The female characters who work with Jack are sweet and supportive.
- Steve's brief rundown on gun safety with Adam is well done. I must admit, I doubted that a California girl would manage to discuss firearms at all accurately, but Hauser proved me wrong. (However, Jack gets Adam a permit to carry the gun in a few weeks, tops. THAT made me raise an eyebrow a bit.)

CONS:
- The whole Adam-Jack-Mark-Steve dynamic is confusing and annoying. First, Mark is whiny and pushy throughout much of the book and Jack is simply a jerk in return the majority of the time. (What I find most interesting about this is that when I read Capital Games, I found JACK whiny and annoying; I think Hauser struggles with writing sympathetic secondary characters, regardless of whether she's fleshed them out at all previously.) Second, Mark's explanation of why he never pursued Jack didn't fly very well with me. And third, Jack's attitude toward Adam seems unfair: at one point, while Jack is still sort of pining away for Mark, "Jack want[s] to move away. Maybe leave the country," and then two pages later, he asks Mark whether he "want[s] to be Mrs. Larsen" (Jack's last name).
- Compounding the complex relationship issues with the four guys is that Adam (poor Adam) falls so fast and so hard for Jack. He calls him "baby" about two days after they first meet.

Overall comments: I didn't find the two leads in this book as annoying as I did the two leads in Capital Games. But the relationships are intertwined, complex, and a little sad. So if you're looking for light-hearted romantic comedy, you might pass over this one and Capital Games and go for one of Hauser's Men in Motion books instead.

CONNECTIONS TO OTHER HAUSER WORKS:
* Capital Games (the events described in that book are a major defining factor in Jack's personality in this one, so I suggest you read Capital Games first)
* For Love and Money (the story of Jason and Ewan, one of Adam's former clients who makes a minor appearance in this book; events in For Love and Money happen first, but it's not necessary to read that before When Adam Met Jack)
* Love You, Loveday (the characters watch and discuss several of Angel Loveday's films, and Angel appears briefly in person)
* Miller's Tale and Secrets and Misdemeanors (two female characters from those books are attorneys at the law firm where Jack works)

This is almost a "welcome back friends" book. It gathers characters from a bit of older books, as primary characters or little cameo appearances.

Adam, Ewan's Hollywood agent from "For Love and Money, the same man who made a move on Jason, Ewan's lover, is now in big trouble: his business partner is on trial for sexual harassment and he's clearly guilty, since it's the same thing he made on Ewan, and the reason why the guy chose to leave Hollywood and return back in England. Before the troubles carry away also him, Adam asks help to a good lawyer, Jack.

Jack is Mark's friend and rejected wanna-be lover from "Capital Games". He is still mourning on the fact that Mark moved with Steve, and he seems unable to free him from the intrusive figure. But when Jack sees Adam, he realizes that maybe he can't forget Mark, but he can move on: Adam is not as beautiful as Mark, but he is a good man and a funny lover.

Both Adam than Jack were positive characters in the previous books and they deserve an own book. "When Adam met Jack" is a collective book, one of that books usually the authors write after a long series to collect all the dearer characters and gift their reader with a rest and relax reading, enjoying the familiar faces and spying on the life of their favorite characters. And so here we have a good insight in Mark and Steve from "Capital Games", and cameo appearance of Ewan from "For Love and Money", Jennifer Bernstein from "Secrets and Misdemeanors", Angel Loveday from "Love you, Loveday" (hope to haven't forget someone).

Jack is a big boy with a self-consciousness issue. He was in love with Mark from so long that he has idealized the man and probably he is persuaded that, if Mark chose someone other, is because he is not enough worthy. The relationship with Adam is a strenght tonic, since the man he so deeply impressed and in awe of Jack, that he is a boost for his ego. Adam is a quite and nice character. Probably not so sparkly and impressing as Mark or Jack, but with an aurea of his own. He is a very good man.

"When Adam met Jack" is a book which slows smoothly and fast, you arrive at the end without realize that you have read almost 200 pages in a blurry to now how it ends.