Sophia's Reviews > Yours All Along

I pretty much have this series on 'must grab' by now and this novella was no exception. It was a second chance 'in the nick of time right before the altar' type of affair told in present and flashbacks that had me vested for that reason alone from the get-go.

The placing of the story in the series confused me until I got to the author's note at the end explaining the connection. Thank goodness, she did explain because I was racking my brains trying to figure out with whom these guys were connected to in the earlier books. And, it turns out that this is a prequel to the next story in the series, Call On Me. One of the heroes is the brother to the heroine of the next book. Curiosity satisfied! And because of that, I would say that this one can be read out of order or as a standalone just fine.

The story begins with Hunter on the verge of getting married. He's a champion baseball pitcher. He comes from a wealthy and powerful political family. His fiancee was a former beauty queen and meets with his family's approval. He's got it all going for him and he seems to be living the dream. And yet his life feels empty and he feels trapped as his wedding draws near.

His fiancee likes to test him and play games to make sure he's still toeing the line and her latest test involves sending him to have a reunion of sorts with his former best friend from college and get him to be Hunter's best man. Little does she knows or anyone for that matter, but Devon was so much more than Hunter's best friend.

Devon can't believe who walks into his restaurant one Monday night. Hunter broke his heart and cut him off years ago, he's getting married and living the family-pleasing life he wanted, and yet now he sits there looking as lost as ever. Devon doesn't know what to make of this, but anger and hurt war inside him.

Hunter and Devon share flashbacks to those happy times when they were college roommates and best friends, the awkward and confusing time as Hunter learned that he was bi and the heartbreaking moments of the end of their brief time. And then there's the present with its complications and knowledge that the old spark is still there.

This one was short and moved along quickly. It spends as much time in the past as the present. I enjoyed getting what came before and really felt for both these guys. Their situation wasn't easy.

I thought the handling of their early relationship was done well. Devon has been open and out about being gay all along and he is very experienced and confident sexually. Devon refused to do relationships and Hunter knew that just as Devon knew that Hunter wasn't ready for more than experimenting at this point. Hunter was experienced with girls, but being attracted with a guy made him practically a virgin. He was overwhelmed by the ramifications with family expectation, no independent income, star athlete, etc and they were both fearful of losing their friendship if things went up in smoke.

One point, I want to make is that even though Hunter was engaged at the beginning. There was no cheating in this story. Truthfully, the way that gal toyed with him and played her testing his loyalty and fidelity games made me surprised that he stuck with her as long as he did.

I really hated for the story to finish. In fact, it ended abruptly leaving questions that I hope get answered in the next book.

This was an emotional, sensual Coming of Age and Second Chance all rolled into one. I would recommend it to those who enjoy M/M Contemporary Romance and New Adult.

My thanks to Penguin Group for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.