Going Public

February 7, 2022
Lin’s plotty second Jade Harbour Capital romance (after Hard Sell) skillfully mixes business with pleasure. Elvin Goh, personal assistant to private equity company Jade Harbour’s operating partner, Ray Chao, can anticipate Ray’s needs before Ray even knows what they are. Elvin, who is demisexual—he needs an emotional connection to feel sexual desire—harbors a crush on Ray, but his working-class background makes him an outsider to his boss’s luxurious lifestyle and only adds to their power imbalance. When the men take a business trip to pay an unannounced visit to investigate a paper mill Jade Harbour may take public, they end up sharing a room—and a bed—and the line between personal and professional blurs. The business intrigue gets as much play as the simmering romantic tension, and a surprise audit at the paper mill reveals drug trafficking and connections to the Greek mob. Now Ray’s firm ethical beliefs may put both Jade Harbor and his relationship with Elvin at risk. The characters are well developed, with Elvin’s close-knit family contrasting Ray’s estrangement from his own, and the story takes some fascinating twists. Readers will find it easy to care about these endearing lovers.

February 15, 2022
Lin's latest entry in her heartwarming and steamy Jade Harbour Capital series (following Hard Sell, 2021) charts a slow-burning office romance between two opposites. Elvin Goh, personal assistant to Raymond Chao, operating partner at Toronto-based Jade Harbour, takes his job very seriously, even shooing away Ray's latest sexual conquests the morning-after to keep his boss on schedule. Demisexual Elvin, who needs an emotional attachment to feel attraction, supposes that his crush on pansexual Ray is nothing more than the result of their codependent working relationship. Then, on a last-minute business trip to inspect a shady company, they're forced to share a room and must confront their mutual desire and the uneven power dynamics at play. Born to wealth and privilege unimaginable to Elvin, Ray can afford to buy his way out of trouble until an unethical business decision crosses a line and puts their relationship in danger. This fast-paced gay romance featuring serious conversations about class differences, boundaries, and consent coupled with criminal intrigue and jet-setting adventures will appeal to readers looking for diverse LGBTQIA characters and settings.

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