M/M action on page, in detail, all positive.

Which makes it a lower angst romance so if you just want the better feels and hot men, dive into it. The relationship arc intensifies, but the social justice arc is mostly repeats. That importance to community is highlighted in the plot, in the LGBTQ center and more, so it’s there, but all the angst is surface level sloganeering.It’s not that the book is bad, it’s that it could be much better in the end zone and it kind of stalls out. Sure, who you love shouldn’t affect work contracts, but who you love *is* important to your community. The one note: the “why do people care at all?” isn’t handled wrongly, as such, it just isn’t given any nuance, beyond that sentiment, which I think is odd for this experienced author. Darren’s mom gives him a good talking to, but this book only glances slightly at racism to focus all the attention on sexuality. Instead of Darren being presented as expert in navigating racial bigotry, & Jeremy of sexual bigotry, white Jeremy is the one who most lectures about bigotry, which is a choice, and it’s rather one-note. The external conflict deals with pro athletes coming out, but mostly elides any intersectionality with racism.

The primary & secondary characters are good hearted people who are pleasant to spend time with, making it worth the credit.

We just have to keep our heads in the game and our eyes on the prize to make it to the end zone, before one last tackle takes us down for good.Ī slight spin on the current pro athlete M/M romance, being a follow on coming out. Except, it feels like as soon as we make it past one obstacle, there’s an even bigger one waiting for us. I didn’t think I was made for relationships I thought something inside me was broken, but I want it all with him. It’s the other stuff, the way he makes my pulse race and my heart swell, that’s throwing me for a loop. I’m not one to stress about being into a man for the first time. If it was just my newly discovered bisexuality, that’d be one thing. Whether it’s on our calls or when he flies to Atlanta, we talk about everything, lying awake together half the night. All I know is, months later, my days aren’t complete until we tell each other good night. I still can’t say how it happened, how a random decision to strike up a conversation with Jeremy turned into.whatever this is. When I head back to California, I expect our chats to end, but I couldn’t be more wrong. Darren is a full-steam-ahead kind of guy, and one talk leads to hanging out, swapping phone numbers, and pranking West and Anson while they’re on their honeymoon. Strangely, at West’s wedding, I find myself confiding in Darren, the straight, confirmed bachelor and star quarterback of the Atlanta Lightning. My divorce, which was amicable, followed. Seeing my best friend West happy with his fiancé opened my eyes to things I’ve been missing in my own marriage.

The End Zone by Riley Hart