Reviewed by Donna

TITLE: Coming Clean

SERIES: Campus Cravings #18

AUTHOR: Carol Lynne

PUBLISHER: Totally Bound

LENGTH: 30,208 Words

BLURB: Trapped by words spoken as a teenager, Chase Hughes longs for a love that touches not only his heart but also his body.

First loves are often the hardest to leave behind. For months, college student Chase Hughes has known he owes his high school sweetheart the truth about his feelings. He still loves Benny, but he has grown to realise he’s ready to move on. The problem is, he knows Benny will be crushed by the breakup, and hurting the sweetest man he’s ever known weighs on Chase’s soul.

While working as a server at Clean Slate, Chase meets the man of his fantasies. Mac Evans pushes all of Chase’s sexual buttons, and after having uninspiring sex with Benny for two years, Chase is ready to explore more than the tattoos on Mac’s muscular body.

Mac gave up everything to come clean with the people he loved, and expects nothing less from Chase before allowing things to progress between them. Chase is forced to choose between hurting the man of his past and giving up a sexy, tattooed man that may be his future.

REVIEW: Coming Clean is book number eighteen in Carol Lynne’s Campus Cravings series and luckily, having read the previous seventeen books, I’m completely up to date with who’s who and more importantly with these books, who’s doing who. I think with this series it’s very important to heed that old warning – books should be read in order. Not necessarily for the sake of the plot, when it comes to that I would say that each book stands alone but obviously by number eighteen we have met a hell of a lot of characters that tend to randomly pop in and out of each new book. I would think that readers who aren’t familiar with the series would quickly become confused and perhaps bored.

This particular book also features characters first introduced through the author’s Cattle Valley series, book number twenty, To Serve And Protect. So again, familiarity with that book may increase your enjoyment of this one.

Chase, former resident of Cattle Valley and current resident of BK House, the dorm every gay student should be lucky enough to live in, has begun working in the local gay club to make some extra money. Chase has a definite preference for older men but finds himself stuck in a relationship with his high school boyfriend because he doesn’t want to break the guy’s heart. Although Chase and Benny have agreed to an open relationship because they have to live apart as soon as Chase meets Mac he knows he wants more than what that agreement will allow.

Mac lived a lie for a very long time and as a result of that he lost his son. Before starting a relationship with Chase he needs him to man up and be honest with Benny. Trouble is, Chase has issues from childhood that make him terrified of confrontations and he’s worried about how Benny will react to the news.

I find myself a little surprised to be saying this but I didn’t really find this book sexy. It should have been. I love a good age difference. I love cute little guys with big muscly men and lord knows, Carol Lynne can write some lovely smut but I just didn’t feel it with this book.

For me this story was about the pain of letting go of first loves and discovering what you need to be happy as an adult. I assume that poor Benny will one day have his own story but it won’t be in the next book. Coming Clean paved the way for Campus Cravings #19 and I’m guessing it’s going to be a ménage. Which will be the first in this series (if I’m not mistaken) but is something that Carol Lynne writes often and well.

As for me, I may not have been overly excited by this book but let’s face it, there’s always going to be certain books in a series that I prefer over others. If I’m here reading number eighteen I think it’s pretty safe to say I’m addicted.

RATING:

BUY LINKS: Totally Bound