Reviewed by Sadonna
TITLE: Secret Admirer
AUTHOR: D.J. Jamison
PUBLISHER: Self-published
LENGTH: 223 pages
RELEASE DATE: June 25, 2020
BLURB:
You deserve all the kisses you want …
Benji,
I want you to know how amazing you are. You won’t believe me, because I’m just your brother’s best friend, but it’s true. Each day my feelings for you grow, confusing but undeniable.
With a few anonymous love tokens, I finally have an outlet for all the things I can’t say. And with each gift and note, you smile. For me. Not your brother’s straight friend, but something new. Something more. Something that will change everything if we can both find the courage to believe.
All I have to do is confess who I really am:
Your Secret Admirer
REVIEW:
When Benji gets stood up at the beginning of his freshman year in college, his brother’s best friend Ace – who happens to be a senior at the same college and has kind of stepped in since Benji’s brother isn’t on campus any more – wants to make him feel better. Benji hasn’t had much luck with guys since he’s gotten to school and this was his first real attempt at a date. So he’s feeling pretty low. In an effort to make him feel better and boost his confidence, he leaves him secret gifts 🙂 But the gifts become something of a project for Benji. He’s determined to find out who his admirer is withthe help of his friend Tracy and Ace is not happy with his searching.
Ace is not exactly thrilled abut the direction of Benji’s search. He’s even less thrilled when Benji thinks he knows who it is and he goes for a guy that Ace knows is a player. He tries to protect Benji which pisses off both Benji and the target of his search. In order to preserve at least his friendship with Benji and maybe have a chance at something more, he’s got to come clean. But it’s scary because he’s never been with a guy and he’s always though of himself as straight. Benji of course has some feeings about this. Both are a bit worried about Benji’s brother Jeremy’s reaction as well. So there are definitely a lot of competing priorities 🙂 Ace’s family also presents a potential problem – but they are a problem generally 🙁 But if Ace and Benji can get past these obstacles, they might have a chance at something real.
This was so cute! Two favorite tropes in one – friends to lovers and brother’s best friend crush. I just loved Ace and Benji. Ace was adorable in his crush on Benji and his questioning of what he’d always though about himself. He didn’t have a lot of angst around it (which was pretty refreshing) except about what his best friend would have to say about him being with his younger brother. I loved how protective Ace was of Benji but not in a stifling or possessive way – just in a looking out for him way. Benji was a bit naive but it was portrayed very realistically. I felt like these characters all rang true and I loved their interactions with each other and with their friends, roommates and families. The reactions of Jeremy and the rest of the families/secondary characters read as authentic. I loved Benji and Jeremy’s family. This is just such a lovely feel good story! Highly recommended for fans of bi-discovery, secret crushes, friends to lovers and brother’s best friend tropes with low angst 🙂
RATING: 
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