Reviewed by Kat

TITLE: Defender

SERIES: Kensley Panthers (Book 3)

AUTHOR: Nicole Dykes

PUBLISHER: Self Published

LENGTH: 210 pages

RELEASE DATE: April 17, 2023

BLURB:

Travis Wyatt

All I’ve ever wanted was to go to college and get out of Kensley.That small town is all I’ve ever known. I want to be free to be myself, not stifled by small minds in the football-loving town where I grew up.
And then I blew my one and only chance.
So now, I’m just stuck. Stuck in small-town life, with the same small-town people I’ve always known. Stuck where I don’t want to be. Constantly on the defense and hiding secrets about myself. To never be the real me.
I’m lost, and I’m angry. But those people I was desperate to get away from, they don’t stop. They insist on showing me that maybe it’s not about my location.
That maybe I can be free right where I am.

Oakley Easton

Travis is way too uptight. I don’t know why. He has everything a guy could want—a steady job and friends who would do anything for him. A great simple, small-town life. But I guess that’s not what he wants.
He’s always been different. Better. Smarter. Stronger.
Still, I find myself wanting to show him everything he’s dreamed of is within his grasp. That he doesn’t have to be so serious all the time. That he can be himself wherever he is, and I’ll back him up.
Because that’s what I’m good at—on and off the field. I’ll always be his defender.
If he’d only let me.

REVIEW:

I have grown to really love this series and am looking forward to more to come.

Travis Wyatt’s life isn’t going as he expected. He was a top student and thought he had that out-of-state scholarship in the bag. He would finally be able to live his life on his own terms. Not kowtowing to his parents designs for his life. Getting out of Kensley and going to college, living his life as an openly gay man, getting his degree and getting the perfect job where he can make loads of money and travel has been his dream. When that dream was shattered he went to work as a landscaper in a town a bit away but this wasn’t his dream. And meeting up with the boy he has met on-line that is living his dream makes him feel less! When Oakley Easton, his best friend Jameson’s boyfriend Garrison’s best friend, whom he works with every day, suggested that they both need some stress-free release without permanent expectations he’s floored. Did Oakley actually just come on to him? Very straight and sexually active with most of the girls from Kingsley Oakley Easton?

I really, really liked this story. I have been wanting to know Travis better every since Garrison caught Jameson with his tongue down Travis’s throat at the bonfire last year. I knew he played football with the guys and was good at it. And I knew he was the class brainiac. I also know that he was crushed when that scholarship didn’t go to him. All he had dreamed of went up in a flash and he was beyond devastated.

I really liked how both Oakley and Travis learned together what made them feel good. I know Travis was worried that he would be compared with all of Oakley’s previous conquests but that never happened. Each man took their time with the other. I get where, when feelings started to seep in, that they were nervous and reluctant to talk. Let’s face it…18-19 year old men don’t discuss emotions and feelings. They act on impulses and deal with their actions and consequences later. The author got that totally right! But I loved how Travis grew in his understanding of not only Oakley but how his own personal desires and plans evolved. It gutted me almost like I’m sure Oakley felt when he went to finally meet and talk to Ryan. Boy did that not go like I thought it would. Definitely a case of in person vs texting portrays two very different men. I could never see Ryan with Travis after they met. Even if he had never been with Oakley they were not a good fit.

I did love how Travis encouraged Oakley to branch out with his talents. They worked so well together and seeing Travis’s strengths help Oakley use his talent and achieve what he never dreamed he could have was so sweet.

As many of you know, I’m retired from education working with secondary students. So reading HS romance and connecting with the kids in the stories can sometimes wig me out a bit. However Nicole Dykes has never caused those feelings in me. Her characters, although still young, and this series started with them all still in High School, have always been fairly mature for their ages. Part of that, I believe, is growing up hiding who you are and who you desire to love on in small-town middle America. She definitely portrays that well through her characters. I think I enjoyed this particular book more because all the characters have graduated, moved out of town, have well paying jobs and don’t have to sneak around behind their friends and their parents backs. They are legal adults allowed to pursue whom ever they want.

I’m going out on a limb and say, in my humble personal opinion, that this is the best story in the series so far. Yes I really liked both Kingston and Camden’s (it was great to finally hear they tied the knot and I wish we could have gone to that with the guys) and Jameson and Garrison’s stories but this one just worked better for me. I don’t know if it was that they were older and had more freedom to explore their relationship or if it was because there wasn’t as much angst but it really worked for me. Now I can’t wait for Coach’s story!

RATING:

BUY LINK:

Amazon