Mirrigold: Mutterings & Musings

The Best Men by Sarina Bowen & Lauren Blakely

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

And that goes straight onto the Favourites Shelf!

You know sometimes you just want to read a book that entertains you without it being full of angsty drama or unnecessary complications just to drive up the “shock horror” point?

Well, this is that book. It’s just fun. From the ridiculous drunken text messages Mark leaves in the group chat for his sister’s wedding, to Asher’s irrepressible nature, it’s just joyous.

There is some tension, of course there is otherwise it’d be a one-note emotional experience, but they’re all valid and come up as part of the narrative in an organic fashion which makes sense based on all we’ve seen of the two men.

Mark appears like he’s a boring banker (although he’ll be quick to point out he’s a trader, a man who takes risks every day!) but he’s anything but. There’s a fire in him that’s been waiting for free reign after he’d ended up stuck in a marriage that occured because his college girlfriend got pregnant.

Asher comes across as all surface only, he’s a rich, successful former footballer (the right version with the round ball ⚽ 😉) and now has a career as a sought-after sports and leisure photographer. And even here things were “easy”.

Unlike the real world, Asher had no problem being a gay man playing in the Premier League.

I have to say, I’m not sure how much either author really knows about British or European Football as they seemed to mix up the two as being the same thing – Premier League = England’s top clubs – not playing in Europe unless it’s a cup competition so if Asher was playing at Barcelona at any time, he wasn’t playing for an English club outside of a tournament 😁

Still, it doesn’t detract from the overall story and it’s more of a thing thrown in in passing for his background. He’s not played for a while when the book begins.

So, as I said, he seems like he’s a bit of a flyaway but he’s hiding a lot of hurt. His last boyfriend basically left him the day he was going to ask him to move in and really damaged Asher’s sense of worth.

From their less-than ideal first meeting – which is available free in the prequel Super Hot Wingman – through to the start of their HEA, both men grow closer and gain strength from the other.

The book is as equally swoony and warm-hearted as it is scorching hot, with insane intimacy and chemistry that bounces off the page. The sex scenes in this one are on fire when Mark finally lets go and Asher gets to bathe in all his nerdy focus.

With a strong setting and some great secondary characters, this book delivers on all fronts.

#ARC kindly received from the authors via Candy KANE PR in return for an honest and unbiased review

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