Going Public

Jade Harbour Capital, Book 2

De: Hudson Lin

Narrado por: Tyler Tetsuda

A boss. His employee.

And a scandal that’s about to change everything….

As an operating partner at Jade Harbour, Raymond Chao prides himself in fixing even the most disastrous of portfolio companies—no matter the cost. While his colleagues might not always like his methods, they love his results. But his latest business partner isn’t cooperating, and what’s worse, Raymond's underhanded tactics have landed him in hot water with the law.

Elvin Goh has been Raymond's assistant for years, and he's been in love with the charming, ruthless playboy for just as long. There's very little that Elvin won't do or hasn't done—for Raymond. Impossible crush aside, it's his job. But this time, even Elvin can't see a way out.

When long nights in the office lead to whispered confessions and a newfound intimacy, it seems like a dream come true—for both of them. But with the prospect of failure on the horizon, can this dream team beat the odds and come out the victors in the office and in their hearts?

©2022 Hudson Lin (P)2022 Recorded Books

Tetsuda adds French accent, author has ax to grind

This is an updated review.

If you read, and enjoyed Hard Sell, then you might like the fact that many of the same tortured topics make it to this book too. Going Public follows Ray Chao, the other hotshot from Hard Sell and his executive assistant Elvin Goh. While a few elements of the story are different, we see much of the same dynamic here, but on overdrive.

Tetsuda delivers another solid performance, having to add a variety of French accents along with everything he did in the first book. I find his style quite pleasant and glad he returned for the this title as well. His narration is the only consistent positive I can say about this book.

Besides a couple of contradictory plot moves, the real problem is we have to deal with Elvin. Elvin Goh is the always been poor version of Tobin Lok in book one. Elvin, who comes from a large family, with a father on disability and an overworked mother and lots of siblings that he feels responsible for, wears suffering nobility on his sleeves as if he was Marie France, leading the peasants to storm the Bastille. He, like Tobin before him, finds the time to question the ethics of his love interest, Ray and project all of his issues around growing up poor onto Ray. While in the first book, Tobin was difficult about letting Danny treat for dinner, Elvin is all over the place, accepting wildly extravagant gifts then losing his mind over who he thinks Ray really is, shutting him out.

Elvin is always worried, always judging, and quick to drop a mask and hold Ray at arms length.

Then we have poor sap Ray, who has come to the realization that he loves Elvin and is willing to be put through this emotional torture over and over again. What is really sad is that Ray was given this great back story of how he was practically cast out of his family for not agreeing to follow in his fathers footsteps. He is lonely and seeking grounding. That would have been a great story. But I believe that Lin has created Elvin in her image, a noble warrior against entitlement and excess - her bio spells out that she likes to write about outsiders who fight to carve out their place in society. That is a noble cause, but maybe romance novels aren't the place for it, Going Public certainly suffers for being stretched to fit this ideal.

The synopsis refers to Ray's underhanded tactics and getting in trouble with the law. If you read Hard Sell, you know that Ray uses a network of connections to find out what they need to know to get the sale done. In this book the reader is faced with a most ridiculous premise. We are again deep into Jade Harbor and its owner Joanna’s ruthless pressure.

This time Ray is facing trouble on two fronts. Even knowing that Ray is semi estranged from his family, the first plot line is Ray's pushy coworker Ming, along with owner Joanna are pressing Ray to get his family to become Jade Capitol investors. Everything about Ming and this request is a source of stress for Ray. The second plot revolves around a paper plant Jade acquired and wants to spin off through a stock offering. We never get the impression that Ray had anything to do with Jade Harbor buying the paper mill, but it sure becomes his problem. Ray, Elvin and Ming get caught up in underground intrigue and suddenly Lin is trying to write a John Grisham novel. Sadly, she is also still trying to write a romance and treatise on social justice. I think she fails on all fronts.

Trying to avoid anything spoilerish. Much like what Danny faced in book one, Joanna is brutal on Ray to make everything work. She is so hard on everyone all the time. Ray goes off to the paper mill, mayhem ensues. Ray and Ming discuss a questionable plan that sends Elvin into a fit. When a really smarmy lawyer that Joanna has hired carefully words her opinion of what to do, it is essentially Ray and Ming's original plan. Joanna remains harsh and tells Ray to do what he has to do. So he does. As asked. And everything becomes his fault and the only held accountable. As the synopsis has told you where all this is headed, what becomes unbearable is Elvin's quest to let Ray know that Ray is entitled and that Elvin can never be a part of his world until Ray understands humility - but Elvin will still let Ray do extravagant things for his family, a nice double standard.

Ultimately I see this book at victim shaming. Elvin becomes this noble representation of simple people and Ray spends a lot of time groveling when he really isn't at fault. Sadly, this isn't the end of the book, there is more and it gets worse. I had to set it aside for a bit I found it so ridiculous.

The real frustration for me is that Lin wrote some really compelling moments of thriller that she completely abandoned to give Elvin the martyr's spotlight. There were great side moments with Ray and a cousin as well as his grandmother that suggested there could have been a sort of homecoming. So much potential, and what the reader gets is a highly disjointed series unfinished storylines and a lot of self righteous grand standing by Elvin. I would never recommend, unless it was to offer an example of a really disappointing book.