Reviewed by Larissa

 

TITLE: The Real Baxter

SERIES:  The Baxter Chronicles, Book 1

AUTHOR: Lane Hayes

PUBLISHER: Self-Published

LENGTH: 370 pages

RELEASE DATE:  March 4, 2022

BLURB: 

The silver-fox and the faux bodyguard…

Sebastian

Who’s the true hero behind the Hollywood heartthrob, crime-fighting, adventure-seeking international man of mystery? Me. I’m the real Baxter.

Well, I wear the suit and let the action play out onscreen. You want to know the secret of my success? Sell the story you want to tell. Even if you have to bend the truth a little.

Okay…a lot.

Trust me, no one will notice. Except Trent, who seems to notice everything. And for some reason, I like that. I like him. I’m just not sure what to do about it.

Trent

Look, I’m not exactly killing it. I’m a typical struggling actor-slash-waiter, hoping for a break. And boom…in walks Sebastian Rourke. He’s a cutthroat, wickedly charming silver fox, a Hollywood legend in the making. No joke. You’ve got to sell a piece of your soul to get in this man’s orbit. Or fake a British accent, then take a job playing bodyguard to fool the press. As one does.

I know I should take advantage of the very strange situation I find myself in, but I’m not sure I’m cut out for it. However, I’m willing to take a chance, ’cause I want the real Seb.

Even though it might cost me everything.

The Real Baxter is a MM age-gap, bisexual romance featuring the man who has everything and the actor who’s willing to show him what’s real.

REVIEW: 

“I wanted to give him everything I had.  My truth, my time, my heart.  The real me.”

Lane Hayes fooled me with The Real Baxter.  She made me think this would be another one of her well-crafted, highly enjoyable MM romances in the same vein as her Starting From series —  which this new The Baxter Chronicles series loosely spins off from.  But it isn’t.  It’s even better.

This is my favorite Lane Hayes book to date.  The Real Baxter is the real deal.  

If you’ve read Ms. Hayes’ excellent Starting From series, you may recall Seb, Gray’s ex and Charlie’s dad.  Both of those characters play prominent roles in The Real Baxter, but you don’t need to have read the Starting From series first.  I liked Seb a lot in that series, but never really got invested in him as he wasn’t the focal point.  He’s front and center here, though, and I did not expect to love him as much as I did.  

Seb’s an endearingly flawed man who’s wealthy in material things, power and influence, but bereft of emotional connections and love. He prides himself on being “the real Baxter” – the guy behind the uber-popular James Bond-esque movie character he created.  Seb tries to emulate his fictional Baxter, the courageous guy that embraces action and adventure, and knows how to get out of any type of messy situation:  

“I’d pose the age-old question to myself: What would Baxter do? Then I’d act accordingly.”

But the real Baxter and the real Seb are two different things.  No one sees that except Trent.  A down-on-his-luck actor/waiter who unwittingly finds himself playing the role of bodyguard and then boyfriend to Seb, even though Trent abhors the lies and hates being used.  All the things Seb thinks define him – his money, his fame, fancy clothes, expensive restaurants, palatial houses, imported sports cars – Trent sees through and wants no part of.  Trent just wants Seb.  And that scares the hell out of Seb.  In Hollywood, where lies and pretense are the primary currency, Seb doesn’t know how to truly engage with someone who just wants what’s real.  But he knows for Trent, he really wants to try.

Trent may be my favorite Lane Hayes character to date.  He’s gorgeous, funny, down-to-earth, big-hearted, loyal and honest.  Also completely swoon-worthy.  I think I had cartoon hearts coming out of my eyes.  Unfortunately, Trent’s open, generous nature leaves him vulnerable to being hurt.  He’s been hurt before and that hurt has caused him to close part of himself off.

Trust is the issue for both Seb and Trent.  Trent was fooled in the worst possible way in the past (OMG … I shed many tears when Ms. Hayes revealed the circumstances), so he’s afraid of opening himself up to love again, because what if he gets it wrong like he did before:

“You won’t get it wrong this time.  It’s not possible.  All you have to do is be you … and love me.”

Seb, for his part, doesn’t trust anyone except Gray, Charlie and Ollie (his younger son).  He locks things away, keeps secrets.  His abusive, homophobic father taught him to keep his true self under wraps.  And so he does.  In fact, he’s gotten so good at it that his business became a proxy for his fear:

“Baxter is always gonna come first. You’re still fighting for your life, chasing ghosts and kicking ass.
It’s a survival thing for you.”

Seb’s become an extremely successful, ridiculously wealthy man by doing whatever it takes to sell his brand.  He’s so good that he takes a spark of an idea, surreptitiously drops hints and clues that positively manipulate people, but don’t allow them to put all the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle together until the end for the great reveal.  That’s when the penny drops.  

Ms. Hayes is to The Real Baxter what The Real Baxter’s Seb is to his brand.  They are the crafty architects of stellar work, laying down clues and puzzle pieces that we readily pick up, not realizing their significance until voilà, they are tied together into a stunning end product.  But where Seb uses his craftiness to prevent scrutiny and prove his worth is a big f-you to his parents, Ms. Hayes uses her craft and skill to pull us into a well-written, expertly executed story.  

Ms. Hayes’ depicts two beautiful men who have had their hearts and trust broken, but find a way to heal and become whole with each other.  Seb and Trent are meant for each other, and Ms. Hayes’ deceptively simple, absolutely addictive story shows us how.  She has us falling in love with Seb and Trent – especially Trent, oh my heart – from page one.  Yet, even with all the context and background she gives, I couldn’t predict where Ms. Hayes went with their relationship.  I was so engrossed and bewitched by their characters, personalities, and smoking hot chemistry that I was happy to live in the moment with them.

I didn’t “get” the real story behind Seb and Trent’s relationship until Ms. Hayes pulled all the threads of their love story together towards the end.  I literally had one of those jaw-dropping “oh sh!t” moments when the last piece of her elaborately, exquisitely crafted narrative puzzle clicked into place.  Then I reached for the tissues while I rode out the heartbreak.  But never fear, Ms. Hayes delivers a fitting HEA with an extremely satisfying epilogue.  It may be an emotionally bumpy ride, but it is worth every second of it.  

The Real Baxter is one of the best books I’ve read so far this year.  I highly recommend you snatch this one up.  Real talk: you will not be able to put The Real Baxter down once you start reading, so if you start before bed, be prepared to need a lot of coffee in the morning. For real.

RATING:

BUY LINK: 

Amazon