Ina Reads’s Reviews > My Mate Jack > Status Update

I realize these guys didn’t have the ease of texting and connecting to WiFi or using data everywhere. But it was also 2003-2004 when this happened, not like 1920. The fact that these two kept ghosting on each other (mostly Jack to Will) made me grind my teeth. So the angst kind of outweighed the sweet for me, though it was nice to have a GL book that wasn’t built around a one night stand / hook up plot

I think one of the things I found most frustrating about this is the lack of communication between the guys — they have months where their emails go unanswered from the other. Considering that this book is set from 1999-2004, maybe that’s more believable than that happening in current time. But the fact is I’m of the smartphone generation and lack of communication is my BIGGEST PET PEEVE.

Hmm. Flat 3 stars, probably. There are a lot of things going on here that generally don’t work for me: time jumps, pining/unrequited love, lack of communication / miscommunication, primary love interests sleeping with/ dating other characters, long distance, etc. And all those things bugged me here too. They kept the angst painfully high until the 75% mark. But when the romance worked, it was so sweet.

Jack shrugged, because he did know it, he just needed to hear it from time to time. “I feel the same, if it’s any consolation.”
“You’ll never be my consolation prize, Jack. You’re everything I’ve ever wanted.” Will punctuated the sweetest thing he’d ever said with a biting kiss, and then he pulled away with a grin. “I

Will sighed and tangled his fingers in Jack’s hair. “I think I rambled on about being friends for life… blood brothers and all that shit. I think I even told you I loved you.”
“Yeah?” Jack retrieved Will’s hand and twined their fingers together. “And do you? Love me?”
Will looked down. “Course I do, you daft wanker. How could you not know that?”

The parts with Jack and Will together are lovely, but they’re so far and few between — with everything else in the middle being angst and hooking up with other characters — that I’m not even sure if I’m enjoying this

I could do without the casual slut shaming of girls. “Sloppy seconds” — really???