Us by Sarina Bowen and Elle Kennedy

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