Reviewed by Sadonna

 

TITLE:  The Linebacker

SERIES: The Portland Protectors-EHM Security

AUTHOR:  Rheland Richmond and Emerson Beckett

PUBLISHER:  Self-Published

LENGTH:  246 pages

RELEASE DATE:  March 12, 2024

BLURB:  

Is it wrong for me to want the world to know I’m in love with Patrick Griffin and have been since we were eight-years-old?

Patrick Griffin

I hurt him. I didn’t mean to.

Now he’s gone, and I deserve it.

As a linebacker in the NFL, I’ve never found the right time to come out of the closet. Not even when I promised Cole I would.

But now, with Cole’s band, Fallen Angel, in the spotlight along with my team, the pressure is mounting. Everyone thinks we’re just best friends, but the weight of my secret is tearing us apart.

And it just might be too late to save us when I can.

Cole Bradley

Is it wrong for me to want the world to know I’m in love with Patrick Griffin and have been since we were eight-years-old?

He is the love of my life, but it’s been years of waiting and excuses.

All our friends, even his teammates, have a public life. So why can’t we?

He promised it would be different in Portland.

But then he tells yet another reporter he’s single. I need a break. It’s perfect timing since our band is heading out on tour.

I don’t know if I can live without him. But I don’t think I can do forever in the closet.

It’s always been Patrick for me, but is it too much to ask for the world to know he’s mine too?

The Linebacker is a secret romance and childhood best friends-to-lovers MM Romance. It is book two in the Portland Protectors-EHM Security Series and the eleventh book in the Package Deal World.

To maximize reader enjoyment, it is highly recommended to read the other books in the Package Deal Series, as well as book one, The Rockstar. Series reading order can be found at the beginning of each book.

Content Warning: Referenced off the page homophobic violence toward an off the page character, and an automobile accident.

REVIEW:

Note:  This is the second book in this series and contains major spoilers for the previous book as well as the Package Deal series books.  I definitely recommend at least reading the first book in this series before this one.

Well this book is a bit angsty!

We met Patrick and Cole in the first book in this series (and in the Package Deal series books).  They are childhood best friends and lovers.   They have been their first everything to each other.  But Patrick is a football player and he has lived his life in the closet.  His move to Portland which is a queer friendly team/owner with a number of out players was supposed to be the key to them being able to be out and together.  But it’s been two years and Patrick keeps calling Cole his best friend in interviews.  Cole’s band Fallen Angle has hit the big time and they are getting ready to head off on tour after Patrick’s big game of the season.  Cole is tired of being in the closet though while all his friends get to be themselves with their husbands/boyfriends/fiances.  He needs a break.  So he tells Patrick he can’t go on tour with the guys.

Patrick is not happy to be away from Cole.  They haven’t been away from each other really since they became best friends at age 7.  It’s 25 years of always being in the same space.  Neither deals with it very well.  Patrick is losing weight, can’t concentrate or eat.  Cole is exhausted.  When Patrick shows up to a show a few weeks into the tour, he manages to blow up at Cole and walk out when they are alone and Cole asks what he wants.  When he gets back to Portland, his wise friends suggest that just maybe Patrick needs some help to get his head on straight and figure out what is holding him back from coming out and being with Cole like he wants – aside from the one asshat homophobe on the team that he has been dealing with.

Patrick decides yes, it’s time he deal with his issues.  He starts therapy and he wants to talk to Cole.  He tries, but the timing isn’t right and then well they are dealing with a much bigger problem.  Cole doesn’t want to push Patrick any more.  He wants them to be together no matter what.  It remains to be seen what that will look like.

I really liked this book.  There is a lot of drama and trauma and hurt/comfort vibes here.  There are unresolved issues with Patrick’s past that he hasn’t shared with anyone.  He’s smart enough to know that he either has to deal though or he risks losing Cole forever – and he comes close.  All the past couples play a part in supporting this guys.  The found family and Cole’s family are huge supports here.  Their love story is really very sweet (as well as spicy 😉 ).  I loved their HEA.  Honestly though I REALLY can’t wait for the next book which is really set up well in this one.  This crossover sports/bodyguard/rockstar series is really fun!  Recommended!

RATING: 

BUY LINK:

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