Reviewed by Valerie

TITLE:  The Boyfriend Comeback

SERIES:  The Boyfriend Zone #1

AUTHOR:  Lauren Blakely

PUBLISHER:. Top Notch Boyfriend Books

LENGTH:  466 pages

RELEASE DATE:  September 13, 2022

BLURB:

Some men are just off-limits. Like, say, all the other football players in the league….

I have to stop replaying the one night I spent with my rival. Trouble is, that white-hot encounter with the other quarterback answered a lot of questions I’ve had about myself, but it also led me into this mess where he hates me.

I never showed up for our second date. Since, well, life happened, and the worst part is he’ll never know how much that night meant to me.

But when I’m traded to his cross-town rivals, that’s not the time to serve up my secrets to him either. My team’s PR department wants to double down on our rivalry. I need to focus on football, not on my interest in men. Except, the more time I spend doing media appearances and charity events with the sexy, generous, popular guy, the hungrier I am to finish what we started.

It’s a bad idea to knock on his door late one night. I could lose everything. He’s probably not even home.

But when the door swings open and I’m face to face with the man I want desperately, I have a choice to make.

REVIEW:

“His eyes are flames, and he stares at me like no one ever has. I’ve never felt this wanted. It’s unreal and addictive.”

Lauren Blakely is one of queens of MM sports romance and here we have another outstanding story in The Boyfriend Comeback, the first book in her new The Boyfriend Zone series. This is a riveting, forbidden love story of two quarterbacks on rival NFL teams in San Francisco. They must keep their hookups – and then falling in love – a secret from their teammates, team owners, coaches, and fans who wouldn’t approve of these two crossing enemy lines.

In case you haven’t already read the prequel, The Boyfriend Kickoff, Blakely has conveniently included the novella at the beginning of the book. It is absolutely necessary to read it first because this is where the leading men, Jason and Beck, meet one year prior to the beginning of the main book. Plus, the hot and heavy sexy scenes first appear in the prequel and you don’t want to miss those. Speaking of sexy, have you gotten an eyeful of the cover model yet? Holy cannoli, drool alert!

Jason, QB of the San Francisco Hawks, is the only openly gay QB in the NFL. He’s charming, kind, and confident; the public loves this gregarious football star. Beck is the young, new QB on LA’s Mercenaries. He’s bisexual, a fact he neither hides nor advertises, but since his last partner was a woman, most assume he’s het. He’s had a crush on Jason for years and when they meet before a charity game, real life Jason exceeds his expectations and Beck gets his flirt on. Jason is definitely interested but he’s concerned Beck is using him as an experiment. When Beck ghosts him on their second planned meeting, Jason believes his concerns are accurate.

When Beck is traded to the Renegade, the other Sam Francisco football team, they continue to fool around (and it’s nice and steamy!) but they both know it can never turn into anything more meaningful and important. They know they have to stop before someone discovers their secret, but they just can’t. It doesn’t help that they’re thrown together by their teams’ management to do weekly, post game analysis on a Monday Morning QB podcast. As gay athletes, they have a lot to contend with. Beck’s anxiety in front of the cameras and the stress of dealing with unfortunate life events takes a toll.

The chemistry between Jason and Beck is palpable. As always, Blakely does a wonderful job creating passion between her characters.

I enjoyed their friendships with Nathan and Carter and other teammates, as well as Jason’s relationships with his brother, Nolan, and his father. There are even cameos by TJ and Jude from the Hopelessly Bromantic Duet.

I’m so pleased that Blakely didn’t utilize the standard professional athlete trope of not being able to come out of the closet because it would hurt their career and/or they didn’t want to only be known as “the gay football player”. The focus of this story is on the secret relationship and how they juggle that while dealing with media and public scrutiny, and the pressure to lead their teams to victory.

This is another not-to-be-missed romance by Blakely. I look forward to the rest of the series. Highly recommended.

RATING: 

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