Reviewed by Larissa
TITLE: Secret Admirer
AUTHOR: DJ Jamison
NARRATOR: Darcy Stark
PUBLISHER: Self-Published
RELEASE DATE: September 11, 2020
LENGTH: 6 hrs and 49 mins
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:
Secret Admirer is a college, bi-sexual awakening, best friend’s brother love story and it hits all the right notes. Benji and Ace are lovely (especially Ace *swoon*) and they have great chemistry and connection that you can feel coming off the page. There are steamy scenes that are just right in their level of detail, and the emotional treatment of Benji’s inexperience and Ace’s bisexuality is expertly handled. This is an authentic relationship with just a little angst, a whole lot of steam, and absolute plausibility that these two work as a couple.
Benji and Ace have known each other forever but in different roles: Ace as the best friend of Benji’s older brother Jeremy, and Benji as the younger kid brother, hopelessly crushing on Ace. Ace always had a soft spot for Benji, enjoyed being with him and felt protective of him. Well after not seeing each other for a few years, Ace is asked by Jeremy to watch out for Benji at college. Ace discovers this is not the same Benji he’s always had a fondness for; this is a grown-up, sexy Benji who ignites in Ace a burning need to protect Benji and to make him happy. Ace doesn’t understand why his feelings are so strong and different from how he felt about Benji before. Add to that his internal confusion about feeling these intense, more-than-friends feelings for a guy. Ace thinks he’s straight so his obliviousness about what is happening is really endearing, but to his credit, once he sees it, he claims it, and we finally get to see what an Ace/Benji couple looks like. (It’s fantastic.)
There’s a purity and “rightness” about Ace and Benji’s relationship that resonates. The author has created an aura of happiness and warmth with them. As you are reading, you’ll find yourself smiling because they are loveable and feel right together. The discord from the reaction of Jeremy to Benji and Ace’s relationship also was treated in a believable way. It wasn’t too extreme or over the top, but struck a chord of reality – that this is something that could happen in everyday life. The fraternity element added some external sources of conflict and humor to the story which I really enjoyed. Overall, the author does an excellent job of portraying events and describing the characters’ actions and reactions with just the right balance of information: she allows the reader to picture the scene, understand what is happening and how the characters feel about it, but stops short of telling the reader what to think and how to feel. The reader is given the freedom to interpret and feel, and that’s the hallmark of a great book.
I read this book a while ago and didn’t review at the time, which I should have because I loved it. I reread it now in connection with the audiobook narrated by the fabulous Darcy Stark. Listening to the audio and hearing the spot-on voicing of Benji and Ace made me remember why I loved the book the first time and marvel at how much better even a great book can get when paired with a talented narrator. It’s unbelievable how he embodies these characters with totally distinct voices and his vocalizing is not just words: it’s the words + the description of how they are said + the emotion behind it all rolled into one. The tone is perfect and the audio as a whole is pristine. I highly highly recommend you read this gem of a story and accompany it with the superbly narrated audiobook which brings it to life.
RATING: 
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