Reviewed by Kat

TITLE: Stay A Little Longer

SERIES: A Fate, Texas Novel

AUTHOR: Jess Bryant

PUBLISHER: Blue Lemon Press

LENGTH: 208 pages

RELEASE DATE: January 27, 2022

BLURB:

Country music superstar, Trent Thorne is on the run. What he’s kept
hidden from the world is no longer a secret. He trusted the wrong
person, a man he’d stupidly thought he was in love with, and instead of
a happily ever after all he’d gotten was outed. Unwilling to sit around
and watch his private life get plastered all over the news, Trent hits
the road and somehow ends up in his best friend Lemon’s small hometown
of Fate, Texas. He only intended to crash there for one night, but in Fate, one night can change everything.

Lance Nichols knows a thing or two about hiding. He’s so deep in the
closet he can’t even see daylight. The former womanizer finally admitted
the truth to himself a few years ago but he never thought he’d be able
to say the words aloud, not to his family, not to his friends, and
certainly not to his secret celebrity crush when the guy stumbles
awkwardly into his life.

But the words come easily with Trent. Everything comes easily with him. Talking, touching, and even opening up about all the things he’d never told a soul.

Fate brought these two together, but will it also tear them apart? One
newly outed man refuses to go back in the closet. The other can’t
imagine coming out of his.

The world is closing in on their little bubble, but before it does, can they figure out how to coexist and be part of each other’s lives? Can Lance stop hiding and take a chance on love? And what happens if Trent decides to stay a little longer… maybe even forever?

== NOTE ==

This is a special rerelease with new cover and bonus content at the end
(Safe: A Fate, Texas Novella, is now included inside this book)

REVIEW:

I am typically not a huge fan of instant love however these two men made it so easy to fall in love with them immediately too!

Trent Thorne has been living the good life as a Country Music Superstar. He has also been living a lie. He discovered when he was younger how badly it could go wrong if his secret was ever disclosed. His secret that he was gay. But when he trusted Heath, his friend/trainer/personal assistant, with his secret that included his feelings for him it all blew up in his face. Heath called him a liar and outed him to all of Nashville. Now Trent is on the run in a rental car under one of his alias’. On the run to who knows where when his bestie, Country Music Star Lemon Kelly, calls and makes him head to visit her in Fate, Texas so they can talk strategy and he can lay low for a bit. When he finally gets to Fate he’s dog tired and stumbles into the trailer Lemon has set up for him nearby. Color him shocked when, in the middle of his sleep, he is awoken by a gorgeous man falling into his bed!

Stay A Little Longer starts out as a mistaken trailer mix-up and quickly, make that extremely quickly, became lust then love. Like I said earlier, I’m not usually a fan of instant love and this was warp speed over 3 days but it truly worked for me. Fate, just like the town’s name, made sure these two lonely, love starved men, met their mate no matter what. Yes, the first meet up was raw and sex starved. But what resulted was real. They were meant to meet and they were meant to be able to trust and hope that those around them wouldn’t harm them mentally or physically for who they were and whom they loved. They took a huge leap of faith and it was definitely the right choice. When love is literally dropped in your lap (or this case, in your bed) one does not look a gift horse in the mouth! You grab hold of it and hold on for dear life.

I did find it questionable that you literally just met the guy and you threw caution to the wind and had sex without a condom? One guy is a country music superstar that could have any woman he wanted and the other the town womanizer that had blow through most of the women in the town trying to cover that he was secretly gay. I know Lance said he was clean and had papers in his “toy” drawer.  They both said that they were tested but you just met this guy and, no matter how deep the connection, you go bare your first time? That just beyond risky and stupid. They had both admitted to having been with other men before! Just dumb and thinking with your wrong head!!!

An extra treat with the re-release of this book is the complete novella “Safe” is included. It’s the story of Trent’s identical twin brother Trevor, the deeply closeted professional baseball player and his up-and-coming star teammate Rodrigo Cruz. It’s a sweet story of how fearful Trevor was of being caught being gay after Trent’s horrific coming out story to his homophobic parents when they were younger. I was pleased to see that even after a decade of being estranged Trent and Trevor found their way back to each other and were allowed to finally be their true selves.

Even with how fast Trent and Lance fell and some seriously questionable decisions, these boys managed to weasel themselves under my skin and into my heart as fast as they did each other’s. I truly enjoyed their story and now can’t wait to find more Fate, Texas stories.

RATING:

BUY LINK:

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