Reviewed by Becca
TITLE: Out in the Offense
SERIES: Out in College #3
AUTHOR: Lane Hayes
PUBLISHER: self-published
LENGTH: 187 pages
RELEASE DATE: January 10, 2019
BLURB:
Christian Rafferty is a talented quarterback with a big secret. He’s determined to make the most of his final season on the football field, and if possible, avoid any confrontations with his conservative parents about his future. It shouldn’t be difficult; he’s become adept at keeping his public and private lives separate. However, when a math class threatens to derail his plans to graduate on time, he realizes he may need outside help.
Rory Kirkland has a reputation for being a tough guy. He’s a former wrestler and recent college graduate who needs a real job. Until he finds one, tutoring is a decent temporary gig. Luckily, his brain is his biggest asset. Rory is a genius. He credits his sport for helping him deal with angst and rumors about his sexuality when he was younger, but he doesn’t care what others think anymore. He likes his new status as an out and proud bi man; and he recognizes something of himself in Christian. But Rory didn’t count on falling for him. When an unlikely friendship collides with intense attraction, both men begin to realize that coming out on offense just might be the surest path to love.
REVIEW:
This series has just been amazing. When I read book 2, I thought it was my favorite, but this may be a tie. I remember how Rory was in that book as well and I was really hoping he got his act together. While I agree that Evan is better for Mitch, especially after reading this story, I hated how things had ended for them. Yes, they’re better now and friends, and I’m happy to see Rory be free.
All American quarterback. Maybe not in a prominent college, but Christian led his team to being the winners each year. He was a great leader on the field and great at football, but he was about to be benched if he didn’t get his grades together. All were good except statistics. He sucked at math. One of his coaches put his foot and said tutor or else, so Christian had no choice. When his coach signed him up for a math tutor who was a math genius, he wasn’t expecting Rory. The guy was a walking wet dream and not at all what Christian was expecting. He expected a ‘geek’, but Rory was HUGE. Tall and built, tattooed and gorgeous. Which spelled trouble for him. Christian may be gay, but no one knew and he didn’t know how he was going to hide his attraction. As Rory helped him with his studies, he became more attracted, and realized he didn’t want to hide from Rory. Over the weeks, they grew closer, but trouble was brewing. Especially with his roommate and ex-boyfriend’s boyfriend. Also a roommate. When things came to a head, rumors were flying and Christian was seeing no way out. He was miserable with the way his whole life was going. And for him, maybe it was finally time to take a stand. With everything.
I was so so happy to see that Rory had made some major changes in his life. And to see him paired up with Christian was like karma, ya know? Here he was barely over a year ago in the same place pretty much. But what made it so amazing was how much he had changed. The blow up with Mitch caused him to see some very nasty things about himself and he made the effort to change himself. Some people look and don’t care, but Rory made an effort. He didn’t want to see that bad side of himself anymore and he wanted to be free. I felt like a proud parent lol.
For Christian, he wasn’t any big thing to stay closeted until this big man came into his life. He just wanted to graduate so he could get out from under his father’s thumb and finally be able to maybe, possibly be free. The more he was around Rory, though, the more he didn’t want to wait anymore. He knew Rory understood, but he didn’t want to hide Rory. Or himself. And when things came to a head in some situations, he made decisions that changed their lives. And it wasn’t easy. It usually never is. But it was amazing to see.
Rory and Christian are just beautiful people. They know struggles. They’ve come from different walks of life, but in a lot of ways they were similar. But they didn’t let things go them back. When life pushed, they may have faltered a bit, but then they fought and pushed back with all their might. And in the end, it made all the difference.
RATING: 
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