Reviewed by Sadonna
TITLE: Better Be Sure
SERIES: Harrison Campus
AUTHORS: Andy Gallo & Anyta Sunday
PUBLISHER: Self-Published
LENGTH: 84 pages
RELEASE DATE: June 1, 2020
BLURB:
Orphan Jackson Murphy just staked his legacy on a bet.
Holy shit, his impulsive ass is in trouble.
Bring a guy to the fraternity formal? Pfft. Easy. Won’t be him kicked out of the house.
So what if his luck with guys on campus has been shitty? Ed Knowles is Jack’s winning ticket.
Tall, handsome, hardworking—and he doesn’t go to Harrison.
With every stolen look, every secret kiss, every clandestine touch Ed becomes more than just an answer to a bet.
These cloak-and-dagger meetings that set Jack on fire? They mask one tiny, enormous obstacle: Ed’s not out. Can’t attend the dance.
What does Jack do now?
Hold on to his legacy… or his heart?
“Better Be Sure” is a sweet, slow burn M/M romance with a heart-pounding HEA. This New Adult, college, opposite sides of the tracks novel can be read as a standalone and in any order.
This is a previously published title, first released in 2019. The publisher has changed.
REVIEW:
Jackson and his “adopted brother” Marcus live in the same fraternity, same room in fact as their fathers at Harrison college. Jack is gay and he’s out. He’s got some enemies in the house – somehow tied to his BFF Brittany being mistreated by one of them. This guy has it out for Jackson and wants him out, so on a mistake of a bet Jack agrees to bring a date – a guy- to their formal. But he doesn’t have a boyfriend and he’s had a bad experience with the guy he previously dated who was a total douche.
By chance, Jack meets Ed Knowles, townie at a Barnes & Noble and they have coffee when Ed accidentally spills Jack’s. When Jack accidentally takes something that is Ed’s and they have to make an exchange, they go get some food. Jack isn’t sure if he’s reading the signals wrong, but finally Ed admits that he’s gay. But he’s not out. To anyone. Jack really likes him though, so he seems willing to put up with it for the time being. Ed’s worried about people at Harrison seeing him there though because someone might recognize him visiting a guy and he’s seen that go bad at his job just based on rumors. Ed needs his HVAC job so that he can help out his family since his dad is underemployed and they need the money. He’s going to community college as well – so his plate is really full and Jack doesn’t want to add to his worries and stress.
Jack has had a tough time – his parents were killed in an accident and he ended up with Marcus’s family as his legal guardians. He struggled with PTSD and anxiety post their deaths. He shares this with Ed – in fact Ed is there for him when he melts down. They grow closer and stronger but Jack doesn’t want to ask someone else to the dance because he and Ed are boyfriends and he doesn’t want to let Marcus down and leave the Frat, so there are all sorts of catch-22s here. There are some nasty guys at the frat who help to try to make the situation worse for Jack and Ed, but luckily there are some good guys too.
I have to say I struggled with this. I didn’t find myself very invested in the characters. The dialogue particularly in the first half of the novel felt stilted. I understood the motivations, but frankly a someone who was part of the Greek system (full disclosure – my grandfather, father and cousin were Pi Kappa Phis 🙂 and I was a legacy too at my sorority), I am well aware of the drama that can go on in a house. But you sign a contract – you can’t just leave, so that kind of threw me off a little bit from the get go. I did like the supporting characters – particularly the girls who were supportive but strong characters in their own right. I just found the story hard to get through, which isn’t a good sign. The story got stronger as it went on, and on that basis, I’d like to read the other books in this series.
RATING: 
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