Bidding for the Bachelor

Bidding for the Bachelor (2021) Jackie Lau (Fong Brothers #2)

Cedric Fong was a success with his first book, but hasn’t been able to get further than chapter 5 on anything he’s started since.

Brian Poon is a party boy whose father cut him the previous year after learning he dated men as well as women. He still has plenty of money, but he doesn’t have anything to do with himself, and it’s starting to bother him.

When Cedric is strong armed by his family into participating in a bachelor auction, Brian ends up winning the bid for a date with him–despite Brian’s earlier crush on Cedric’s brother, Vince.

My favorite part of this story was Cedric’s grandmother.

“If you don’t want to do this, Cedric,” Dad says, “it’s fine. I won’t force you.”

“But I will bribe you!” Po Po holds up her hand. “If you do the auction, I will give you two hundred dumplings.”

“If you’re ever in any trouble,” she says, “you call us and we’ll pick you up, no questions asked, okay?”

I laugh. “No questions asked? Really?”

“She’s lying,” Po Po says. “I will ask questions.”

I’ll be honest, I wouldn’t normally have picked this story up–I generally don’t much care for stories with super-rich characters, although Cedric isn’t rich, he has a rich family, and Brian is rich despite being cut off by his parents.

But there was this:

“it isn’t a demisexual Asian dude solving crimes with his roommate.” He just described himself with a word I’ve never heard him use before, but he doesn’t seem to be aware of what he’s said.

I’ll almost always give a story with a demi character a chance.

And I liked Cedric’s struggle with his writing.

I like cozy mysteries, so I read a couple of chapters, but even though I’m enjoying it, my mind keeps straying.

Mostly I read literary fiction, and I never enjoy lit fic as much as this, but I keep saying that’s what I like to read and write. This book feels like a guilty pleasure.

“Sometimes I feel like if I want to write about Asian people in Canada, it should be a sad immigrant saga.”

I even found myself sympathetic to Brian’s struggles with what to do with his life, and his feelings of his own personal value.

What didn’t work for me (of course) was the boinking, which I skimmed. And I didn’t much like Vince OR his BS protectiveness of Cedric. Especially as Brian didn’t seem to have left a trail of broken hearts and bad feelings behind him, but rather seemed to get along with everyone.

All-in-all I found it ok, but it wasn’t anything I’m likely to reread.

Characters: Cedric Fong, Brian Poon, Po Po, Julian, Vince, Marissa, Sam Leung, Alvin, Carrie Lo, Spencer, Winnie, Ted, Michael, Ginny & Eli, Kris Kim, Holden Khoo

Rating: 7/10

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