A follow-up to the
new adult romance Him, Us follows up five months later with Ryan “Wes” Wesley and Jamie Canning. Living together in Toronto as Wes skates through a stellar NHL rookie season (doomed to failure and disappointment as the Leafs haven’t won the Stanley Cup since the year I was born) and Jamie is establishing his career as a coach. They don’t get to spend enough time together and when they do, the are constrained by the need to mask their relationship. Wes just wants to get through his first season without becoming known as the first out gay man in professional hockey. The burden of Wes’s travel, hiding their relationship, and lack of time together is wearing on the couple.
Many adults try to figure out how to manage new careers and a serious relationship, but Wes and Jamie’s efforts are further complicated by the arrival of the world’s largest plot moppet in the form of Wes’s teammate, Blake. He moves in upstairs and takes to dropping by at inopportune times to interrupt sex and ratchet up “we can’t tell anyone I’m gay and you’re bisexual and we can’t even be ourselves in our own home” tension before proving he has a heart of gold when everything hits the fan.
The guys are still likable and sympathetic, if not especially well fleshed out characters, and their intimate scenes are still hot, but Us, while it does provide some realistic feeling situations, wasn’t really anything surprising. It’s an enjoyable, but not particularly memorable, trip down a familiar road with some nice guys doing the best they can. Honestly, the most notable thing about the story is the unbelievable suggestion that Toronto Maple Leafs ticket holders would give up their seats, even if only for one game:
Those tickets are worth their weight in gold!
Note: I have re-read this book a couple of times since posting my review and I feel that I didn’t give it enough credit. It’s a good one and I recommend it if that wasn’t clear. Read its predecessor first.
I highly recommend Sarina Bowen’s new adult romance The Ivy Years Series and suggest you buy the box set, including the classic novella Blonde Date, but skip The Fifteenth Minute entirely. She is an author to watch.
Elle Kennedy’s new adult romance Off Campus series consists of The Deal (great, recommended), The Mistake (good) and The Score (no).
Links to my other reviews can be found on my complete reading list of books sorted by author or Author Commentary & The Tallies Shameful.
I still need to read Him! I’ve been waiting for it to go on sale on Amazon but I seem to keep missing it. I refuse to pay $5 for an ebook because I am a stubborn a-hole.
I have yet to read the Elle Kennedy books that I have on my TBR list (cause I’m trying to be varied in my reading this year), but based on Sarina Bowen’s stellar work on the Ivy Years books, and all the good stuff I keep hearing about these books, Him and Us are most certainly books that I will be prioritizing.
Oh plot moppets how I can’t stand you. Ellepkay says I can borrow these when I need them, but there are so many other romances in the queue first!
You beat me to it! I’m only about 2/3 through my review and I realized that none of it was actually a *review* of this book. More a meditation on romance novels and then some fangirling over Him. My favorite things about Us were the ways that it didn’t disappoint or go cliche. I was SO worried they were going to bring the bisexual thing in and make it a point of contention. Not a second of that – hooray!
They do a great job of avoiding the cliche, most things have a little unexpected twist that I appreciate. I liked it, I just didn’t love it.
I would definitely read a meditation on romance novels with the book in question used as evidence as opposed to a traditional review. But that’s the opinion of a lady hopped up on decongestants (arggh severe sore throat!)
I would also read such a thing. I say this as someone who has written some non-traditional reviews.
Me too, finding something interesting to focus on in the review is what keeps the writing part going for me.