​Cuteness overload! This novella was a pure joy to read, it really warmed my heart and made my day! I’m so happy that Jamie got his moment of glory and for the wonderful wrap-up of this series. Epic was nothing less than an epic conclusion of one of my all time favorite mm romances. If you haven’t read this series yet, I truly urge you to do so!

Him is easily one of my absolute favorite m/m romances, which I first read in 2020. I’ve always planned to continue the series, but I was so scared to be disappointed that something always kept me from buying Us. Not until I saw the new gorgeous editions of the series and just had to get them. And let me tell you, I needn’t have worried at all! Us is a perfect sequel that made me fall in love with Wes and Jamie all over again! It made their epic love story even more relatable and amazing, by adding depth and struggle, while making their love for each other even stronger. I absolutely loved this book!

Please note that this review contains spoilers for Him, so please don’t read it unless you’ve read Him first.

Him ended on a blissful note with Wes and Jamie getting their happy ending by being bold enough to admit their love to each other after years of friendship (and a few years of estrangement). In this sequel, we get to see how secrets and hiding affects the relationship, no matter how strong the love is. This book was much darker, with Wes and Jamie struggling with miscommunication, distrust and jealousy when seeing the other one pretending to be into women, and the toll it takes to always have to hide your true self. In addition, Jamie struggles with his work with his team underperforming and his colleagues being homophobic idiots, as well as depression when getting sick.

But even though Us deals with a lot of heavy topics, it’s truly an absolutely amazing and heartwarming love story! Wes never waved from his support for Jamie, and really showed how deep his love was. At times I got a bit frustrated with Jamie, and how he changed so much from the easygoing, positive and adorable west-coast surfer guy to a grumpy and quite selfish person at times. But it made it all so real and relatable, and added a whole new layer of depth to the relationship between Wes and James, and made me love Wes even more for standing by his man no matter what.

Just like in Him, the love and support from Jamie’s family was one of my favorite things in the book. That family is just the sweetest, funniest and most supportive family ever! I love their banter and snarky comments, but also how they always have each other backs.

I also really loved Blake, the nosy neighbor who in the end turns out to be nothing but a big, wonderful, goofy, protective friend.

All in all, this was such an honest, tender and beautiful story showing the importance of communication and the danger in keeping things secret. But most of all, it showed Wes’s and Jamie’s unwavering love and the courage it takes to put that love first. The steamy parts were perhaps a bit too explicit for me, but other than that, Us was the perfect sequel which added new layers to one of my all time favorite mm romances!

Rating:
4.5 stars rounding up to 5

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​Author info:
Sarina Bowen
Elle Kennedy

This is my second time reading this book and I loved it even more this time around! I still think that the steamy parts are a bit too explicit for me personally, but Wes’s and Jamie’s love story completely stole my heart with their relationship development, their sizzling chemistry, the perfect execution of the friends-to-lovers and second-chance-romance tropes and all the feels! I’m definitely change my rating to 4.5 stars rounding up to 5 after this reread!

“I have the same damn weakness I’ve always had… My weakness is him.”

Original review from October 15th, 2020:

Him is easily one of my absolute favorite m/m romances! I read this book in one sitting, it was completely unputdownable. This friends-to-lovers, second chance romance is so sweet, funny and steamy, with an absolutely sizzling chemistry.

Jamie and Wes are both college hockey players, who’ve been best friends since they were young teens; meeting up every summer at the hockey camp at Lake Placid. Wes has loved Jamie since he was 13, but he knows he can’t do anything about it with Jamie being straight.

“Jamie Canning was my first crush and my first love. But he was never mine to have.”

Then last night at summer camp, a bet derailed and everything changed between them, making them lose contact. Now, four years later, fate brings them together when their college hockey teams play for the championship. And even though Wes fears facing Jamie again, he can’t miss this chance to make amends.
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Even though the book is set in a hockey environment, don’t worry if you are not into sports, this is not a sports jock kind of book! There were some parts that were a bit too sexually explicit for me (I’m more into YA…), and the cover is a bit on the cheesy side, isn’t it? But apart from that, this is such a sweet romance story about a guy falling for his best friends, about taking chances and putting yourself out there with the risk of getting hurt, but potentially to find love. 

Rating:
4 stars changed to 4.5 stars rounding up to 5  after reread on October 22nd, 2022

Get your own copy:
Amazon
Book Depository

​Author info:
Sarina Bowen
Elle Kennedy