Erin F

Reading this book was like hearing a friend tell me his or her life story. Jamie Brickhouse's voice shines through in every word in this book. By reading it, I feel like I know him. Brickhouse's life as a gay man living in New York and struggling with alcoholism and addiction could not be any more different than mine, but through reading this book I feel like I have shared in all his highs and lows. Believe me, the highs were very high and the lows were so low they were heartbreaking. It was like a peek into someone else's private life

I enjoyed this book more than I thought I would. I normally don't read this type of story. I could not put it down and I read it in 2 days.

The crime aspect of this novel is compelling, but my favorite part was the characters and the relationships between them. The romance between Paul and Christine is not the typical love story, but I enjoyed seeing these two people, each with their own issues, fall I love.

Zhang's story was also compelling. Actually, he had 2 stories, his part in the present story as Paul's friend and a police detective and his past secrets that come out in his investigation.

Not knowing anything about China, I enjoyed reading about day to day life in China including business and police work. Corruption, politics and secrets seem to be everywhere.

I was surprised how much I enjoyed this book. The concept of the book was great. You always hear about these house giveaways, but what happens afterwards? The characters were great. I liked their interactions. It was great to see those group of strangers become a family. I thought there would be more time devoted to figuring out which Janine won the house. I was glad that was not the case. That made it a different story than I had expected and I suppose more realistic.