This is the second book I read by G.A. Hauser and it's a confirmation of her ability to enthrall me. I really try to finish it in one night but it's impossible, fortunately you have a lot to read and I have to put down the book at 2.00 a.m. but as soon as I can I finish it.
This is the story of Scott, 25 years old unsuccessful model and actor: it's the typical American male, muscular and tanned, with a boy next door face. He is an average guy in a world where you have plenty of average guys who try to find their way to the stardom. But Scott have something more: he has an old sister, who happens to be the owner of one of the most important agency model of New York. And so Scott, one time or two, gets a job and meanwhile he lives behind his sister's shoulders. The next job will be an ad commercial for a gum: he has to kiss a male. No problem, he is an actor... but it's not so simple cause Ian, the other model, is a beautiful androgynous guy who draws Scott like a magnet. And the interest seems mutual.
But when Scott and Ian finally let the passion drive them, they discover that neither of the two has ever kiss a man. They wrongly believe the other gay, and now they have this passion between them and... they want to share it. And so begins a clandestine relationship but nor Scott or Ian are the usual perfect characters of novels. Scott is insecure and has a deeply feeling of failure; and he is also jealously of the instant success of Ian, the new guy in the city. Ian, 21 years old, is for the first time far away from home and from his parents. He is like a child who misses his mother. He is a simple guy and he is open with his feeling, but he is like a teenager with his first crush: everyone around him can demolish his certainty.
And then there is Claire, Scott's sister. She has a main role in the novel, she is the instigator of all what happen to Scott and Ian, but she is not like a fairy godmother... She is a bitchy woman who amuses herself playing the role of God in the other life, and like the Greek Gods, when humans don't play according to her rules, she became a fiery beast.
And so here again the magic of Hauser, who manages to write a perfect story with imperfect characters. Some of the novelty from the first novel (For Love and Money) is again played in this second book, the English young guy who has to live among the stranger American people, and the fascination of this people for the naiveté of him, but all right, if a trick works a time, can works also a second, doesn't it? So all right, Hauser has hit a certain button, who can blame her? Not certain me, that after reading this story have spent 25 dollars ship costs to buy the prequel of For Love and Money, only available as print book!
