I wanted my first review to be for a book that I really loved, but everything I’ve really loved has already been reviewed here (makes sense, given they were all recommended by Mrs. Julien) so I decided my inaugural post would be for a book I liked well enough…
So, “Fired Up.” This is the first book in the Fever Falls series, a shared universe between authors Riley Hart and Devon McCormack. Riley Hart wrote “Fired Up”, and Devon McCormack wrote book #2, “#Burn” (currently reading, will review when I’ve finished).
Ashton Carmichael and Beau Campbell were high school friends and football team co-captains, though their friendship always had a tense edge to it neither could really explain. One kiss at their graduation party had Beau facing the fact that he was gay while Ashton ran away, to a college scholarship and then pro-football career. The story takes place 10 years after that kiss, where we find Beau working as a firefighter in their hometown of Fever Falls and Ashton coming back home after losing his pro-football career due to his bad behavior. Beau is an out gay man, Ashton is deeply in the closet (is there an out NFL player?), they’re as drawn to each other as ever, and you can probably see where this is going…
I enjoyed this book. Each main character narrates a chapter, which seems to be a common framing device in the m/m romances I’ve been reading. Like so many of them, this one struggles to clearly define each character’s voice, so I found myself having to scroll back to see which character was narrating since their voices were virtually indistinguishable. But Beau and Ashton were likeable characters and their story was engaging. Obviously Ashton not being out, and being so deep in the closet he’s practically in Narnia, is the major obstacle for the couple. The sex scenes were fairly tame but the writing was slightly better than I anticipated (not great, mind you, but some of the writing is so, so bad). The romance had time and space to develop (I really can’t stand those “It’s been a week and we’re super in love and making huge decisions like quitting jobs and moving cross country based on a week of wild sex” plots) and it made sense why they were together. Beau has a younger brother with Down syndrome who keeps a journal, and Riley Hart does a little “magical disabled person” stuff by having his deeply insightful journal entries about the two main characters intro each chapter, but that’s the most eye-rolly aspect to the book.
I liked “Fired Up” well enough to read the second book in the series, so I think that’s a recommendation!