Name: Away Game
ISBN: 9781950044139

Harlow Layne

The plan was to move away and never look back. Get away from him, out from under my father's disapproving stare, and start a new life in Willow Bay. It was supposed to be my fresh start, but instead my past followed me. The one thing I desired and couldn't have. Weston Jackson. I hated how he made me feel things that I couldn't give into without turning my world upside down. I wanted to make him pay. For the way my father now looked at me. For the way I saw myself. But most of all... for wanting him the way I did.

A Bully MM Romance

Away Game

Megan Lowe

** spoiler alert **
           I had such high hopes for this book. I love MM books, I love bully books, so this should’ve been right up my alley.
Unfortunately it fell way flat for me. So much of this book was left off the page.
We never see West being himself, being out and proud, which is claimed. 
We never see West and Fin and why Fin hates him.
We never see them interacting normally and with other people at college.
And most disappointingly, we never see them have a relationship. We never see the fun day to day bits of their relationship, the part where they fall in love with each other, where we fall in love with them. I wanted this, I craved it, I needed it.
I loved the twist with Coach, but felt the bit with the frat was a bit out of nowhere. I would’ve liked to have seen more build up, more evidence of why they did what they did, so it wasn’t out of nowhere.
I liked Oz, and Ridley, and Ford but didn’t see nearly enough of them. 
I also felt as if there was a lot left hanging, especially in regards to Fin’s football career.
I wanted to love this book, it had all my sweet spots, but unfortunately it fell flat for me, sorry.

Helena Cristina Nogueira Pereira

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

 I love sports books. I love romance books. I love MM books. And guess what, I also love books that have the trope enemies to lovers. This book has all of that, so obviously as soon as I came across it I had the urge to read it.

 This book tells the story between Finn and Wes.
 From the first time Finn saw Wes he felt an inexplicable attraction, and that made him dislike Wes automatically, that dislike for Wes became even greater once they clashed in a high school football game and Wes' team defeated Finn's. Wes, feels attacked by Finn too, but hates it because Finn is a jerk who only knows how to mistreat people.
 Once high school is over Finn is ready to leave behind the small town he has lived in all his life, the inconvinient attraction to his "enemy" and his parents, especially his father who always had the need to point out how useless Finn was, a situation made worse by the fact that Finn lost the game, since Finn's father is a football obsessive.
 Once in college, Finn discovers that not only is Wes at the same college as him, but they are on the same team, in the same house, and also on the same floor. The chances of pretending Wes never existed and ignoring the attraction between the two turns out to be all but impossible.
Will Finn and Wes act on the attraction they feel for each other?
Will Finn finally stop worrying about what others think of him and live the life he wants?


 As I mentioned at the beginning of this review, this book had all the points to make me love it, but I must admit that when I read the first two chapters it made me want to give up, because Finn was unbearable and really a big jerk. And I thought, this is going to be one of those books where Finn is going to be a closet bully who is going to make Wes' life a living hell, simply because he is attracted to him. And although at first that's exactly what it is, once they start college,and although in the early days they weren't very friendly, Finn didn't go out of his way to bully Wes either. And then something happens when they go to a party, and the way Finn handles the situation really surprised me and made me like him. On top of that he knows what a jerk he was and admits it eventually, which I really appreciated. And besides him, also the football team in general surprised me , because usually when there is a character on a sports team, especially football, who comes out as gay, the teammates tend to mistreat him for it. In this book, not only did that not happen, but Wes' teammates supported him the whole time. Thank you for that!
 As the reading progresses, the tension between Wes and Finn becomes unbearable and they begin to have flush moments, and Finn begins to show himself becoming more and more involved by Wes and becoming less of a jerk, we also realise how much the way his father mistreated him influenced his behaviors.
 I loved a conversation that happened between Finn and the coach (which I loved by the way) as it allowed Finn to start to feel more comfortable in his own skin and open up to those closest to him, aka Ollie, Finn's best friend, who was a character I really liked as well.
 Once Finn admits to himself how he feels about Wes and gets rid of the judgments mainly from his father,who is a monster, he becomes a sweetheart, and finally starts to be happy next to Wes.
 Wes' brother is also very cute.
 To conclude I have to say, I'm glad I kept reading because I ended up falling in love with the characters and their relationship. Besides, the two of them together are very hot.

I'm definitly interested in reading other books from this author!

Away Game A Bully MM Romance

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