Reviewed by Cheryl
TITLE: Bully and Exit 
SERIES: The Midwest #1
AUTHOR: Brigham Vaughn
PUBLISHER: Two Peninsular Press
LENGTH: 174 pages
RELEASE DATE: June 15, 2015
BLURB:
Theater student Caleb Stockwell is ready to leave college behind. Too bad his past isn’t ready to let him go.
With less than a month to go until graduation, Caleb runs into Nathan Rhodes at a house party. Nathan is a star hockey player for Western Michigan University and finally ready to step out of the closet. He’s also the guy who broke Caleb’s heart in high school.
Nathan’s determined to make amends for what he did four years ago, but Caleb isn’t willing to risk getting his heart stomped on again. With only a few weeks left before they go their separate ways, it’ll take all of Nathan’s creativity and help from some interfering friends to convince Caleb to give him a second chance.
REVIEW:
When I started the book, I wasn’t sure whether I was going to like it or not. To be honest, it’s not my usual read, and I thought it was going to be a bit tame for me. True, it was gentler than my usual, but this is certainly no “fluffy bunny” romance, and there’s plenty of weight in there.
What won me over more than anything, was the wealth of detail that might seem inconsequential, but are vital for filling in the tapestry.
The story is told from two pov’s, Nathan’s and Caleb’s, and two perspectives, 2009 and 2013. At first I found this a little off-putting, but once I got into the story it actually worked.
The characters are stereotypes – the hockey player and the theatre guy – but they’re well rounded for all that and the trope isn’t belaboured. I enjoyed getting to know Nathan and Caleb as people, mostly from the little things they said and did. Both characters achieved a lot of growth, both over they years between 2009 and 2013, and over the course of the book. I liked that nothing came easily. It might appear at times that Caleb is being childish and stubborn at times, but to be honest I think he behaves entirely appropriately given what he’s been through. Maybe a perfect person would have given Nathan a chance to explain and apologize right at the start, but who’s perfect and frankly I’m sick of reading perfect people. In reality of course we’d be stubborn and childish to the dick who broke our heart years ago, and of course we’d fight our feelings and any desire to give them a chance.
I also thoroughly enjoyed meeting the background cast, from the best friends, Lowell and Brent, to Caleb’s mother – who I love – and the rest of the team from 2009 and 2013. They all came across as real people and not just characters invented to fill space.
The story isn’t the most inventive and certainly isn’t unique, but it is well told. The writing is mature and fluid, with hardly any flaws and I really don’t have much to complain about.
It’s a good-all-round coming out/coming of age story between a mainly closeted, macho hockey heartthrob and a no-so-geeky, bisexual theatre student which delivers everything it says on the box and more.
RATING: 
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