Guest Post ~ The Blueprint by S.E. Harmon (Review+Excerpt)
Thank you to Bayou Book Junkie for hosting me today! I'm here to talk about my newest release, The Blueprint. I was asked to answer a question regarding my favorite character from my books, and I think I’d have to go with Kelly (although I reserve the right to change my mind 😊 ). The best way I can explain it is to tell you a little story.
There was this guy.
Don’t all stories that make you sigh start that way? To this day, I really can’t tell you what made him so special to me…maybe it was just a combination of all his traits put together. He was nice. Really sweet. Studious and serious. Not really all that funny, but he had a good sense of humor, and I secretly delighted in making him laugh. Just an overall good guy. And the dreamy hazel eyes? Yeah, those didn’t hurt at all.
It was strange phenomena—I hadn’t noticed him for the longest, and then all of a sudden, I couldn’t stop noticing. The way he smiled when he was about to say something clever. The way he was so dedicated to his studies (don’t judge me, I like hot nerds). I knew when he walked in a room without even looking—he would usually come over and sit next to me. Because we were friends. Just friends.
Now if life was a romance novel, I’d end this little story by telling you I wound up with that guy. That he’s my husband of many years and we have 2.5 kids and a couple dogs. That he’s sitting right next to me while I write this blog post, and he’s laughing about how we met.
That didn’t happen.
He’s married with kids and living his life, and I’m sure he never thinks about me at all. And I’ve moved on too. But every now and again, his favorite song from way back when comes on the radio. I’m right back in high school again and just for a moment…just one moment…any ending is possible. I love Kelly’s character because he got his happy ending. Because the person that he loved most in the world loved him right back. And there’s no better story than that.
Blurb
Kelly Cannon is generally satisfied with his life—he has a great job that he loves, friends, and a wonderful family. But his love life has reached a new level of pitiful. Why? Well, his heart decided to break all the rules. Don’t fall in love with a straight guy. And definitely don’t fall in love with your best friend.
NFL standout Britton “Blue” Montgomery has pressure coming at him from all sides. From his father, who’s only interested in Blue’s football career. From his coaches, who just want him to play without getting injured again. The fans. His agent. His mother, who popped back up on the radar after leaving his family years ago. Now his relationship with Kelly is on shaky ground, and that frightens Blue more than anything.
When Kelly admits he’s in love with Blue, bonds are tested, and Blue has to decide what’s really important. He doesn’t want to lose the number one person in his life, but the cost to keep Kelly close might be more than he’s willing to pay.
It’s a good thing his nickname is the Blueprint—it’s time to draft a new set of plans.
Buy Links
Excerpt
Just as I was pulling up the Uber app on my phone, a hand clapped on my shoulder. I turned to find Kelly, and he didn’t look pleased. His usually full mouth was flattened into a thin line. Right then and there, under the haze of the streetlights, I realized what my problem was.
I was attracted to him.
I thought he looked kind of sexy, especially in those clothes. The close-fitting black slacks and blue button-down shirt fit his lean swimmer’s form like they were hand tailored for him. It was such a different look from his usual “I’m a cool young hipster professor” vibe.
He wasn’t the type who spent an hour in the mirror before he left the house. He knew how to turn it on when he went out, but as soon as he got back home, he’d be in a holey tee and threadbare jeans. I liked that about him.
I liked a lot of things about him. That realization made my heart beat a little faster. I wasn’t upset that I was apparently crushing on a guy. I was freaked because I was crushing on Kelly.
“What gives?” he demanded. “Why’d you run out like that?”
I didn’t want to interrupt your date. “I need to get some rest. You don’t have to call it a night just because I do. We’re not attached at the… at the….” I frowned as I tried to finish what used to be a very simple metaphor.
“Hip,” he said dryly.
“Hip,” I repeated with a snap of my fingers. And for some reason, I said it again. “Hip.”
He squinted at me for a minute. When he spoke, his voice sounded less pissed off and more concerned. “Do you honestly think I’m going to let you drive like this?”
“I wasn’t going to drive. I was going to call an Ubert. Ubert.” Fucking drinks had made my tongue thick and unwieldy. I scrunched my brows and tried again slowly. “Uuuberr.”
“You sound like an alien who just discovered a new word.” He sighed. “As adorable as you are, I still need to make sure you’re okay. You don’t usually drink that much.”
No, I was most definitely not okay. When did it become okay to fantasize about kissing your best friend? Especially when that friend was a fucking dude? Was it okay to interrogate a friend on exactly how far he’d gone with someone in a bathroom? Was it okay to ask if he let Connor fuck him over that sink? I didn’t think they were in there long enough to get the deed done, but maybe they’d already done it in the stalls. Maybe he was just rubbing against Kelly’s ass and remembering how good it felt to be buried balls deep.
I knew I had to be more than a little buzzed then. Because surely I didn’t leave a bar—a bar where I had a sure thing going on with a hot girl—to worry about my best friend getting some. Surely I didn’t storm out of the building like a pissy bitch—without my keys or any real plan for getting home—when I found out he had hooked up with someone. Surely that was the very definition of drunken, crazed behavior.
“Are you ready to go?” I finally asked.
“Yeah. We come together, we leave together,” he said, and he slapped me on the shoulder.
Oh. Well, maybe I’d been stereotyping a bit. Guess that was a good policy for everyone, young or old, male or female. Whatever. I was going home with Kelly, and Connor wasn’t. That was all that seemed to matter to my inebriated brain.
He hit the unlock button and the alarm chirped, and I got in the passenger side and sank down in the seat. I leaned the bulk of my body against the door and closed my eyes. I needed to get my head on straight. I had practice in the morning, and even though it was probably going to make me hurl, that was still a very good thing. The practice, that is. Not the hurling. I’d be out on the field where I didn’t question whether I was as straight as I’d always thought, where my best friend didn’t look hot, and everything made sense.
Sounded like a plan.
4 Stars
Although my first and absolute favorite book in the M/M genre was a GFY, I’m not all that crazy about the sub-genre, especially one where the straight main character takes the entire length of the book to come to terms with their feelings, as was the case for Blue, in The Blueprint.
There were things I absolutely loved about this story: I loved that the story is told with humor, and it had me chuckling throughout at Kelly and Blue’s thoughts and antics. I thought, for the most part, the story was well-written and it kept me entertained and turning the pages. While I could have done without some of the on page M/F sex scenes/descriptions, the chemistry between Kelly and Blue was amazing and the sex between them was smoking hot and passionate.
What I didn’t care for, well, besides the M/F sex, was how long it took Blue to get his head out of his ass. I wish his epiphany at how he felt about Kelly had come earlier in the story, so I could have enjoyed more on page time with them as a couple. I also felt the ending was rushed and there were loose ends that needed to be tied up, so in that respect, the ending felt not quite finished.
The story had some interesting secondary characters, especially Kelly’s fellow professor, Connor and Blue’s teammate, Andrew, and I’m hoping that maybe the author will tell their stories in the future? *hint hint, nudge nudge*
Although there were things that I didn’t care for, and Kelly and Blue could both be frustrating at times, the story was fun, sexy and filled with laughter, love and sexiness. It was enjoyable and definitely recommendable!
*copy provided by Dreamspinner in exchange for an honest review*
Bio:
S.E. Harmon has had a lifelong love affair with writing. It’s been both wonderful and rocky (they’ve divorced several times), but they always manage to come back together. She’s a native Floridian with a Bachelor of Arts and a Masters in Fine Arts, and now splits her days between voraciously reading romance novels and squirreling away someplace to write them. Her current beta reader is a nosy American Eskimo who begrudgingly accepts payment in the form of dog biscuits.
Website: http://seharmon.weebly.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/seharmonbooks/
No comments:
Post a Comment