This story ran a little high on my personal angst meter. That said, I still enjoyed the story. Very good character development and a plot that flowed well. I thought that Colt was a bit of a selfish prick who could have at least called Jace to break things off. Jace did a good job of pulling his life together and making a name for himself. The scenes in Hawaii were perfect and hot. Things got a little bogged down emotionally with both men feeling totally insecure but it all worked out. Ms Alexander is a new author to me and I look forward to book two. ( )

The fault is mine, I already had read two books by this author and in both cases I was in the minority to which they disliked. But, silly me, I insisted on wasting my money. Never again.

This book, for me, seemed stupid and absolutely superficial, sickly sweet and slushy until it unbearable, a endless succession of clichés in an absolutely unrealistic plot.

I was bothered by especially the flippancy with that these themes are talked about:
* Bareback sex.
* Alcoholism.
* Driving with earphones -or earbuds- on.

More exasperating details:
* The beginning seems a bad Cinderfella tale, with Colt coming across as almost a stalker.
* Forgiveness and love instantly renewed and without obstacles almost is hard to believe.
* An U.S. Marshal determine by himself taking responsibility for a case, traveling in a minute and having empire on local and federal law enforcement officers without report, without orders, nothing more than because "Dad asked it for"???
* Does The fib about the marriage that happily Dr. Knox slides at the hospital, stretch at the point of making that a chaplain officiates a ceremony under a false presumption and till the falsification of a document? Really??
* A man is an alcoholic for over a decade, and yet he achieves to remain at the top like an high level athlete? Not very plausible.
* Dialogues, declarations of love, ways of speaking - particularly of Colt -?: Irritatingly mushy.

At last there are other issues, which certainly are accounted for by a very personal vision of mine:
* I felt that the author did not dedicate time and consideration to the construction of the protagonists like masculine characters. Frankly seemed to me that almost all expresions obeyed more to one feminine psyche that to one masculine. And when in some spans they began to be felt as men, they were quickly emasculated.
* I think that I perceived a very, actually very subtle biased little stench. -v.g. When, relating to Mitch, "He never really thought love existed for people like him". Sorry, but... WTF????
* At some time it referes to Colt as "the world famous athlete". Dear Author, IFAF has 66 affiliated countries; Football DOES NOT APPEAR between the 10 sports more practiced in the world - rugby is the tenth, with 2 million people that practice it -. Only in order to comparison, FIFA has more of 200 affiliated countries (additionally, it has more affiliated countries that UN!) and soccer is the second sport more practiced in the world (behind swimming), with over 1000 million people that practice it ). I love sports, see them habitually, I'm even a baseball fan -that is a sport not spread out much in my country- and I can mention many international sportspersons and, particularly in what refers to USA jocks, I can mention without problems basketball players, tennis players, swimmers, sprinters etc. But I cannot mention any NFL player, they do not appear in the headlines of the newspapers in most of the countries, and some article once in a blue moon figures in the sports sections. So, "the world famous athlete" is an unfortunate, uninformed and disrespectful sentence.

Concluding, again I'm in minority in respect of the opinions about the books of this author, to whom, after this book, I have decided to give up.

If somebody gets annoyed with my opinion, I'm sorry for it; I have tried to be respectful and I have certainly been honest.


( )

Good characters, good start to this trilogy covering mystery attacks and the investigations. At the time of writing this review, I have finished reading the trilogy. I actually started with the third one, my personal favorite.

In this one, I loved Jace, Colt doesn't deserve him (but he knows it, so he gets a point for that). Their love timeline is harsh, to me, but overcoming it felt realistic. There are some habits the author has that I don't care for, but as I read this whole trilogy anyway, obviously they aren't that important. ( )

Bad writing, worse characterization. I dnf'ed the fuck out of there after five chapters, it was so terrible. Yikes. ( )

Star quarterback Colton Michaels takes a chance one night in the locker room during his senior year of college: he lets cheerleader Jace Montgomery know he finds him attractive. The two share an intense sexual moment before parting ways. Then Colt takes it a step further, inviting Jace to spend the break with him in Hawaii. But after a few bliss-filled days in paradise, Colt's world comes crashing down. The reality of his future as a professional football star and a continued relationship with Jace are in direct conflict. And those around Colt make it clear what will happen to him--and to Jace--if things continue. Colt is left only with his career and alcohol to get him through his loss.

Heartbroken by Colt's abandonment, Jace managed to make the best of things. He's built the largest and most successful cheerleading gym in the country. And while his success has brought him some fulfillment, there's something missing. So when Colt shows up in Hawaii when Jace is there on vacation, his heart leaps at the chance to have Colt back in his life after a ten-year absence. But he also knows he can't go through losing Colt all over again. Can Colt really reconcile a life with Jace and his career? Can Jace find a way to trust that Colt will stay this time? And what of those outside forces that interfered the first time they found each other? Will they let them ride off into the sunset?

Yeah, yeah. There seems to be no shortage of the "jock must stay in the closet to have a professional career" m/m romance stories these days. It's such a common trope that the sheer volume alone must tell us that there are more than a handful of men living this life at present. And it also makes one wonder when we will reach the day where we read one of these and go "really?" But the fact remains, it is still culturally a "thing."

What makes this one different is the very real outside forces that are stopping Colt from living his life the way he would like. It's not so much that he fears what his team or the fans will say. No, he has some incredible family pressures, threats of violence, and legitimate reasons to fear for Jace's safety. I can assure you that you will find Colt's father disgusting. But there are still those who have to live Colt's reality in this regard too.

In our lives, we have to make choices. And there are moments where we have to weigh following our hearts or following our heads. And sometimes we have to decide if we want to follow our heart in one direction or go the opposite--both showing that we care, just in different ways. To love takes courage, even when it's not in the face of physical violence. In caring for someone and embracing them fully, we risk giving up parts of ourselves we can't get back. We risk losing them and never being able to fill the hole that is left when they go. But we gain loving support in return. We gain the opportunity live our lives fully. We gain a truth that isn't found in any other act... ( )