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elemomi's review
emotional
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.25
This book was a massive disappointment. There are some elements that didn’t work for me, which is fine, but there were some references, actions by characters, and views that are actively harmful that I wish I had known about beforehand.
First, there was a one-off comment by Tobin that audiobooks don’t count as reading. I believe this was an internal comment, so other characters couldn’t correct him (more on that later), but this view is incredibly ablest and condescending. And, quite frankly, it’s incorrect.
Second, Tobin jokes at one point to his roommate and her girlfriend that maybe Danny was intopedophilia or incest because of their long history and age difference. His roommate’s girlfriend immediately calls out the harmfulness of that joke, but in the wider context of the ongoing right-wing rhetoric around queer people (this book was published in 2021), a comment like this is really tone deaf and perpetuates harm. This also isn’t the only time Tobin or Danny makes a reference like that, although it is the only time it’s called out.
Finally, although the book has a content warning early on that it mentions sex trafficking, that fails to take into account the very cavalier way it is handled by Danny and Ray, including failing to report it to authorities until it was beneficial for their company. Using sex trafficking as a (minor to the plot, not in horribleness) plot point is arguably a poor choice, but having your characters actively ignore it until it benefits them is categorically shitty. I don’t care if that’s true to the finance world - do better.
First, there was a one-off comment by Tobin that audiobooks don’t count as reading. I believe this was an internal comment, so other characters couldn’t correct him (more on that later), but this view is incredibly ablest and condescending. And, quite frankly, it’s incorrect.
Second, Tobin jokes at one point to his roommate and her girlfriend that maybe Danny was into
Finally, although the book has a content warning early on that it mentions sex trafficking, that fails to take into account the very cavalier way it is handled by Danny and Ray, including failing to report it to authorities until it was beneficial for their company. Using sex trafficking as a (minor to the plot, not in horribleness) plot point is arguably a poor choice, but having your characters actively ignore it until it benefits them is categorically shitty. I don’t care if that’s true to the finance world - do better.
Content Warnings
Minor: Ableism, Incest, Pedophilia, and Trafficking
boomwormbrittany's review
emotional
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
Trigger Warning: Pedophilia and pedophilia used for black mail, homophobia, death of a parent, accident involving car and cyclist
Hard Sell follows Danny Ip who has worked hard to become the top of his firm. When he goes to try to acquire a company, he runs into his childhood best friend's younger brother, Tobin, who he had a one night stand with years ago.
I wanted to like this book so much and the fact that it fell so flat for me was such a disappointment. I do want to start this off with saying that I am not a part of the LGBTQ+ community and am an Ally so I cannot speak to the representation in this book.
This book was trying to do too much with so little. First off, the characters were ones I did not like what so ever. I found them both to be very annoying both with their choices and they way they handled their relationship. They're both grown men who are acting like teenagers. In particular, Tobin drove me insane. He was always going on about wanting to be independent which is fine but the amount of times he said he wanted to be independent was driving me crazy. I also couldn't get a feel for either of their characters. They felt very one dimensional to me and not like there was much there beyond Tobin being Danny's best friend's brother. I did like that they were two Asian men who were in a relationship as I liked that diversity aspect of it.
I also just didn't believe their relationship. Every time they spoke about each other it was about wanting to have sex with each other and the amount of times it was about each other qualities was really limited. It seemed they liked each other for sex but the love wasn't as strongly built out in this.
I didn't like how Tobin spoke about his lesbian best friend and her girlfriend which is a sentiment I've seen other reviewers give. It felt like he put them in the very stereotypical box of what lesbians are and just assumed things about them because of their sexuality which was just so strange. I found it uncomfortable how he spoke about them as if them being lesbian's was all the aspects of themselves instead of them being complex human beings who happen to be lesbian.
There was also a line about audiobooks not being real reading that rubbed me wrong as it felt very ablest to say but that was a one off thing.
The plot was just okay. It didn't really play much into the story except to bring out truths about a homophobic character and to bring Tobin and Danny together. I'm not saying I wanted to be inundated with work things but it didn't feel like as big of an aspect of the story as it should have been. I think this was meant to be more focused on Danny and Tobin which it did but still fell a bit flat in the fact that they didn't seem to grow much.
Let's talk about the elephant in this review. The pedophilia. That came so far out of left field and then was treat so poorly. I hated the fact that they used the fact that a character (not either of our main characters) was pretty much grooming minors to get leverage on this buyout. It made me feel ill to see them use that instead of going straight to the police with it. The buyout be damned, there was real children and young people at risk because of this guy and instead they use it for leverage? That's what really dropped my rating because I could not, in good conscious, rate it higher with that in it.
Overall, I wanted to like this book so much but I was so let down. I am going to pass this along to someone else because I don't want it on my shelves. There are plenty of good male/male romance books out there and this just wasn't one of them for me. I feel horrible giving a bad review but these are my feelings. If you feel you want to read this book, please do not let me discourage you.
Hard Sell follows Danny Ip who has worked hard to become the top of his firm. When he goes to try to acquire a company, he runs into his childhood best friend's younger brother, Tobin, who he had a one night stand with years ago.
I wanted to like this book so much and the fact that it fell so flat for me was such a disappointment. I do want to start this off with saying that I am not a part of the LGBTQ+ community and am an Ally so I cannot speak to the representation in this book.
This book was trying to do too much with so little. First off, the characters were ones I did not like what so ever. I found them both to be very annoying both with their choices and they way they handled their relationship. They're both grown men who are acting like teenagers. In particular, Tobin drove me insane. He was always going on about wanting to be independent which is fine but the amount of times he said he wanted to be independent was driving me crazy. I also couldn't get a feel for either of their characters. They felt very one dimensional to me and not like there was much there beyond Tobin being Danny's best friend's brother. I did like that they were two Asian men who were in a relationship as I liked that diversity aspect of it.
I also just didn't believe their relationship. Every time they spoke about each other it was about wanting to have sex with each other and the amount of times it was about each other qualities was really limited. It seemed they liked each other for sex but the love wasn't as strongly built out in this.
I didn't like how Tobin spoke about his lesbian best friend and her girlfriend which is a sentiment I've seen other reviewers give. It felt like he put them in the very stereotypical box of what lesbians are and just assumed things about them because of their sexuality which was just so strange. I found it uncomfortable how he spoke about them as if them being lesbian's was all the aspects of themselves instead of them being complex human beings who happen to be lesbian.
There was also a line about audiobooks not being real reading that rubbed me wrong as it felt very ablest to say but that was a one off thing.
The plot was just okay. It didn't really play much into the story except to bring out truths about a homophobic character and to bring Tobin and Danny together. I'm not saying I wanted to be inundated with work things but it didn't feel like as big of an aspect of the story as it should have been. I think this was meant to be more focused on Danny and Tobin which it did but still fell a bit flat in the fact that they didn't seem to grow much.
Let's talk about the elephant in this review. The pedophilia. That came so far out of left field and then was treat so poorly. I hated the fact that they used the fact that a character (not either of our main characters) was pretty much grooming minors to get leverage on this buyout. It made me feel ill to see them use that instead of going straight to the police with it. The buyout be damned, there was real children and young people at risk because of this guy and instead they use it for leverage? That's what really dropped my rating because I could not, in good conscious, rate it higher with that in it.
Overall, I wanted to like this book so much but I was so let down. I am going to pass this along to someone else because I don't want it on my shelves. There are plenty of good male/male romance books out there and this just wasn't one of them for me. I feel horrible giving a bad review but these are my feelings. If you feel you want to read this book, please do not let me discourage you.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Car accident
Moderate: Homophobia and Pedophilia
Minor: Ableism