PrivateTim

I dunno, this author is pretty detail oriented, you might even say anal , and the scene didn't seem that long. We'd also have to believe that Will is noted for his patience. But be that as it may, I still don't think that gives him a right to enter his father's bedroom except in the most dire of emergencies (the house is on fire). Going to to tell JP he couldn't get an answer from Brad was exactly what he should have done, but again I am willing to accept that as plot device to drive a storyline. The point I did want to make and emphasize is the complete hypocrisy of Will. If his father entered his locked room the same way on the same explanation, Will would go ballistic. Will also continues to think it is okay for him to tell others who they may and may not sleep with, but no one is entitled to even hint at anything about his choices or they risk his wrath. And I am still not seeing ANY parallels with Jake and Sam. I mean, if you want to really put a fine point on it, when we first met Jake he was on a date with Claire, so shouldn't that have made Jake off limits to Brad? Even though Claire knew it when she invited Jake over, Brad didn't. And while Brad was schmoozing up Jake he was getting his prostate banged by Lark too. So Brad was the same hypocrite that Will is now. There are no paragons of virtue in this story. Everyone has had their sordid little moments which is why the moral relativism falls flat with me and why when they try to come up with some moral code, it doesn't seem to last past inconvenience.

I will repost my review and revise and extend my remarks: I am one very confused person. Here is why people rag on Will and what makes Will an arrogant little prick. No one can tell Will anything. No one can make judgments about Will's love life. No one can invade Will's privacy. But apparently it is okay for Will to define for everyone else who they can and can not have sex with, it is okay for Will to invade and betray people's privacy and it is okay for Will to bully people to do what he wants. The fact that Will thinks it is the right thing to do (send Brad to his shrink) makes it even worse. it is the exact thing he blew up and ran away over, others deciding what was good for him. It is a cute dramatic device to have him knock on the door, not get an answer and go for the skeleton key, but in reality could Brad and Wade have been so clueless as to not hear someone pounding on the door? And if Will wasn't pounding, what makes him think he has the right to enter someone's room before making the effort to do other things, like call on the phone or cell phone? Mark points out that they would have likely ignored the phone, but maybe not, a phone call first on the house phone and then on his cell might have broken the mood and convinced Brad that someone inside the house need him on something urgent. I think Will went too quickly from "no answer" to "I am breaking into your room". I am further confused why Brad and Wade having sex is a big deal? Weren't Brad and Wade having sex when Matt and Wade were a couple? Hey I thought it was creepy having sex with your partner's son's partner, open relationship or not, but Wade and Matt didn't have a lot of parameters and Matt certainly had no room to complain about the two or three guys Wade chose vs the dozen(s) he did. Was there ever a point when Matt made Brad off limits to Wade? If not, why is it a big deal now that they are broken up? I mean, he may have been hurt because Wade was into Brad for more than just a fuck, but that was part of Matt's problem in not wanting to be exclusive. I actually see it very differently from Sam & Jake. Someone in their review didn't see a big deal with Will talking to Ben. Remember how Will got up in Stef's face over telling Brad about the sex room? That was no great secret either, but Will flew off the handle at people about it. Will had zero right in talking to Ben about his father especially given his attitude about people getting in his business. Will needs to learn boundaries and as of right now he has no clue. Lastly, and for the record, Will is not an adult. He is an emancipated minor which is not the same as being a legal adult. He gets certain rights and privileges, but having sex is not one of them. In the State of California it is illegal for two minors to have sex with each other. I can not say that there are a lot of prosecutions for it, but there have been ones.

I am one very confused person. Here is why people rag on Will and what makes Will an arrogant little prick. No one can tell Will anything. No one can make judgments about Will's love life. No one can invade Will's privacy. But apparently it is okay for Will to define for everyone else who they can and can not have sex with, it is okay for Will to invade and betray people's privacy and it is okay for Will to bully people to do what he wants. The fact that Will thinks it is the right thing to do (send Brad to his shrink) makes it even worse. it is the exact thing he blew up and ran away over, others deciding what was good for him. It is a cute dramatic device to have him knock on the door, not get an answer and go for the skeleton key, but in reality could Brad and Wade have been so clueless as to not hear someone pounding on the door? And if Will wasn't pounding, what makes him think he has the right to enter someone's room before making the effort to do other things, like call on the phone or cell phone? I am further confused why Brad and Wade having sex is a big deal? Weren't Brad and Wade having sex when Matt and Wade were a couple? Hey I thought it was creepy having sex with your partner's son's partner, open relationship or not, but Wade and Matt didn't have a lot of parameters and Matt certainly had no room to complain about the two or three guys Wade chose vs the dozen(s) he did. Lastly, and for the record, Will is not an adult. He is an emancipated minor which is not the same as being a legal adult. He gets certain rights and privileges, but having sex is not one of them. In the State of California it is illegal for two minors to have sex with each other. I can not say that there are a lot of prosecutions for it, but there have been ones.

Who the fuck posts a new chapter of Flux in the middle of the day? Do you know how hard it is rescheduling depositions? I find it hilarious that Will behaved like all the adults he likes to criticize and blow off. Boston - Chicago is a piece of cake. Two of my LA based client/friends date guys in the UK. One of them is on his third UK actor BF. I think he actually enjoys the separation.

Pretty simple really. He has done the things people (Wade included) expected him to do; he got away from Tony, made up with Will, got serious about school, is done with hockey and Wade continues to have great sex with him and tells him he will always love him..... but they can't be together as partners. I think Matt asking, 'what else do I need to do', is both reasonable and understandable. It is Wade who has and has always had a communications problem dating back to when we first met him. If Wade had voiced his unhappiness with things much sooner, there was a chance to work things out before they got to the state they are. Matt has gotten to where Wade asked him to be, but now that is no longer good enough. He is moving the bar without saying what the new standard is because he is afraid that Matt will meet the new standard just like he met the old one because he is committed.

No, I think that misses the point. As has been articulated by Matt & Wade these last few chapters, Matt knows EXACTLY where he screwed up and he gave us insight as to why. He has changed his behavior and started to make amends, but Wade has been unrelenting. If it is Wade's own insecurity or fear that he and Matt will be like Robbie and Brad, then Wade is being unfair if he doesn't articulate that and if he doesn't step back and evaluate the Matt he has known and dated for four years. Based on the totality of his and Matt's relationship he should be willing to let Matt start at square one, not deny him a spot at the starting line altogether.

In my review I articulated what we are all feeling, but no one else had the guts to say. Mark Arbour is a bastard! In the last book he tears everyone up by breaking up Matt and Wade and everyone hated Matt. Now Wade is being a little bitch and we love Matt and wanna give him a hug! Dang manipulative, gut twisting bastard Arbour! Now before anyone gets on Mr. Arbour about "inconsistency" in characters or realism, I think this book so far has been incredibly real and the characters true to their own nature. Wade and Matt are both very loving, caring and responsible (yes I said responsible). Matt may not have been as responsible as people would have liked in his relationships, but he was still responsible with his school work because he still got pretty good grades at Stanford, he was responsible with his duties to the hockey teams and was probably responsible in other areas that were not covered in the story. Did he party too much? Maybe. Did he sleep around too much? I think so, but whose fault is that? It is partly his because he made those decisions, but is also Wade's because Wade enabled the behavior. In no way would I ever be in an open relationship because I have never, ever seen one work. They guys I know who are in them, one partner is really in to it and the other goes along because he is afraid of "losing" his man. Hey numb nuts, if he wants to sleep around you don't have him anyway. We are seeing Matt starting to mature. I think his retarded maturity is partly Wade's fault for enabling Matt. This idea of a "leopard can't change his spots" is a completely bogus notion. I can't tell you have many party hearty frat boys I knew who were womanizers in college and now are stable family men with important jobs in finance, law, government and industry. Some guys never did grow up or stop drinking to excess, but that is the exception, not the norm. So in all seriousness, this has been just fine writing so far and a very promising story. I have no idea where it is head or what real life drama will be woven into the story.... it is too early for a vacation in Phuket, but I am going back to read The Year in Review for 2002 so I can speculate on stories.

You really are a bastard, you do know that don't you?? One story you make every hate Matt and then the next, everyone love him. Rat bastard!

Interesting..... a number of people thought Sean might be a great partner for Wade, so I wonder if Ben was just a device to take Sean out of play? It is a shame that Brad went through all the effort for a great first date, including getting a room at the Fairmont, only to lose his date before the date really began. Although I think it was pretty obvious that Ben was never going to be the long term solution for Brad. While I don't think Brad needs someone his same social station, I do think he needs an intellectual equal, maybe not Chris Martinez, but someone more like that than a tradesman. Its okay to screw the stable boy, you just don't marry them.

This is massively hilarious. Hollywood liberals, who never met a "soak the rich" tax they didn't love, flee CA to avoid the work regulations, high taxes and rake in special tax break available only to them, even exporting jobs to Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Cracks me up. Build it with tax incentives

Something like a Jetta was popular, but I can see Stef buying her a MB CLK 550. Everybody in CA is concerned about the environment. The state has far more strict laws than the nation. Just because Mark doesn't write about it doesn't mean none of the characters care, especially the businessmen who know how to get the tax credits for solar initiatives, for investing in green energy and Silicon Valley was a hot bed of innovation for all that. Greenpeace is a joke in CA. Will & Brad would be involved in the Surfrider Foundation, Heal The Bay and the big environmental group in CA is the Sierra Club.

Interesting to see the set-ups for this story..... story lines in ChiTown & BeanTown, should be fun.... still wanting to see where this Zach with a girlfriend plot line goes. I do have to admit confusion about some reviewers thinking Will is being some kind of magnanimous character...... when you go from completely immature and irrational back to normal, that is like giving credit to the arsonist for putting out the fire he started. With Ben being a woodworker...... I figure him for a Stanfurd grad.

Lovely chapter. I think there will be a lot more to Ben than meets the eye.... or at least meets people's preconceived ideas about contractors. Matt seems to have come out of his funk and is focusing on what is important. Will it be enough in the long run? Who knows. More interesting to me is what problems Zach's "girlfriend" could cause.

I see Marie more wholesome looking like Olivia Holt.

If he would just let a damn cannon ball take out Granger he could focus.

Ugh..... I just don't get why people want Wade and Brad in a relationship. Sex is one thing, a lot of older guys want younger guys and vice versa, each for their own reasons, but partnering someone in such a different stage of life would be too weird. Wade is barely older than Darius and is Brad's dead partner's son's ex-fiance (back in Telenovela turf). It is nice to see Matt and Will starting to resolve issues and it hasn't been quick, its been six months of missed Escorial dinners when Matt has as much right to be there as anyone. I do wonder why he isn't moving in with Frank & Isidore in Lafayette though? Seems it would make more sense than Escorial once school is out. We also haven't heard where Matt is going to grad school yet. Any bets on BU or Northeastern?

Here is Ben Carter. (Theo James - Downton Abbey)

Here is Chris Martinez

Sorry the name just isn't grabbing me. I can't get the flux capacitor out of my mind.

All I can say is I am glad Wade is going to Harvard so we don't have the fucking community organizer as a teacher I like the idea of Matt and Brad as narrators and it makes a lot of sense when you think about. They are both, each in their own way, struggling to find themselves. You'd think that is something you do once and then move on, but getting lost is pretty easy, it is the way back that is hard and both of those can be pretty good stories to tell. Looking forward to this

Wow, you really are an evil bitch.... you make everyone hate Matt in the last book and make him a narrator in this one. What can one do, but quote Maro Channing?

In so many ways this must have been the hardest CAP book to write. I think so many people enjoy CAP because of how real life entwines itself in the story, but things like the Vietnam War, the sinking of the USS Thresher, airplane crashes and skating competitions are either history to us or foreign territory. But September 11, 2001 is different. It is a day and events that touched everyone who reads these stories and we all probably have different reactions, but I suspect most were deep and visceral and the echoes of that day still reverberate around the world. For many people is it The Day That Changed Everything. Mark and his support team did an amazing job, through meticulous research, keeping the story true to actual events of that day and maybe bringing back a bit of the pain to those who lost someone or maybe created that feeling of loss for those who didn't. I also think it is important to never forget the pain of the day and days that followed so we don't forget those that have sacrificed since and are still sacrificing as we speak.

Well that can't be the complete chapter, did a page fall on the floor or something? I mean Will didn't have sex with anyone....... Thank you Mark from the bottom of my heart. Not just for this perfect ending to a very emotional book, but for the entire saga. It is a monumental work of fiction and your output is simply astounding. Congratulations on another triumph and thank your team for their efforts as well.

More's the pity for Delaware. Only in a podunk state, that would be the 23rd largest COUNTY in area in CA and the #11 county in population, could a callow 29 year old be elected to the U.S. Senate. As to Ethan and Will and even JJ, this is the second time that you've mentioned Harvard Westlake in the last couple of days. Will goes to The Menlo School now and I am not sure JJ is still at H-W (unless you are dropping a major bomb that Will is returning to H-W for the next story). Also, as GLH points out, by 2001 AIDS was being managed pretty well. AIDS related deaths in the U.S. (and the developed world) fell off a cliff starting in 1995 with the first drug cocktails and have stayed low and edged downward even as new infections have edged upwards.

One word on how messed up Delaware is, Joebiden