A year ago, Kelly Cannon couldn’t imagine he’d end up with his formerly straight best friend. It’s hard to believe he can finally kiss Blue any time he wants… as long as they’re in private. And there’s the rub. Despite Kelly’s promise to wait until Blue is ready to come out, he’s tired of sneaking around. The cracks in their relationship are starting to show, and there might not be enough spackle in the world to fix them.
Britton “Blue” Montgomery may not be the physics brainiac his boyfriend is, but he’s not stupid. He knows Kelly isn’t completely happy. But he’s not ready to be the poster boy for bisexuals and gays in the NFL. He just wants to keep his head down, play the game he loves, and go home to the man he adores. Is that too much to ask?
With the truth slowly coming to the surface, Blue must make a choice. If it means losing Kelly, there’s no decision to make…. He has to find enough courage to face the music and hope they’ll survive the fallout.
Man. Happily-ever-afters may not be just for Disney princesses, but they sure are a lot of work.
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| 4.66666667 average |
R *A Reader Obsessed* - 4 Hearts
Again, this shouldn't have worked but it did.
Most know I’ve become a tad avoidant of in-the-closet tropes because it just gives me too much anxiety, where instead of sitting back and enjoying some nice smexy fluff, I hide behind my hands as I turn page after page with trepidation, waiting for the proverbial bomb to go off. Yep.
I will say that Harmon brought to life Kelly and Blue’s legitimate fears, worries, issues, and hangups - all of which were very realistic, very understandable. Blue knows he can’t have his cake and eat it too, but that’s exactly what he’s doing and he can’t stop, he can’t help but be scared of the ramifications of him coming out. The focus would no longer be on the love of the game but on who he’s sleeping with, and Blue’s just not ready to change the world’s perception of him despite knowing this could ultimately drive Kelly away.
Kelly on the other hand, knows he has to be patient. Blue has to tell his truth on his own terms and for himself. Despite that, Kelly hesitates with fully making them secretly official (ie. moving in with Blue) because what if on the small chance, Blue wakes up and decides they’re not worth it? He’s just not ready to be that vulnerable.
These two
struggle, and circular arguments abound. Literally, the entire book is them going back and forth dealing with their relationship - hiding, not hiding, being jealous, insecure, frustrated… So yes, this sort of thing would typically almost 100% guarantee ruin my enjoyment and yes, at times I was not a happy camper.
However, what Harmon does is deliver on the dynamic between Blue and Kelly that’s fun, funny, entertaining, and sweet and swoony in between all their relationship issues. She makes you realize, by making
them realize that their love is worth it, that Blue and Kelly are meant to be, two puzzle pieces that only fit each other and life without one another is simply not worth living. Harmon doles this out in baby steps. Tiny little itty bitty baby steps. They get there eventually. I promise.
The journey was not all shits and giggles obviously, but the impact was a good one and the ending was simply wonderful. The smoking hot smex didn’t hurt either. Just saying.
Unf.
Sara - 5 Shades of Blue Hearts
Honestly, I don't even know what to say about this book. I knew going in that it was going to be an angst ride because I mean, let's face it The Blueprint was, but now that Blue has decided that he wants to be with Kelly and the fact that Blue offered to come out at the end of the first book but Kelly basically told him not to... I had a feeling that this book was going to have its ups and downs and I was right.
So yeah, ups and downs it had but you know what? All of the ups totally outweigh the downs by a fuck ton. I never thought I would say this but Britton “Blue” Montgomery is now on my list of Swoony McSwoonsters when it comes to how he feels about Kelly. Good lord but that boy has some amazing lies when it comes to Kelly regardless of whether he says them out loud or just thinks them. Blue is head over feet in love with his best friend and since he’s figured out
how to be with the man he loves, he needs to figure out
how to spend the rest of his life with the man he loves.
I loved the hell out of this book. The happy feelings I got from Blue and Kelly in The Blueprint came back immediately when I picked this up, the first, second and third time I read it. Yup, you read that right. I’ve read this three times now and I am scared to go back and look at my notes and highlights because I might read it again. I can’t get enough of these two.
Blue and Kelly are finally together, totally in love and totally frustrating the hell out of me when the book starts. I love them together but the whole hiding Blue’s bisexuality and Kelly didn’t sit well for me and it doesn’t sit well for our new couple either. It sucks that they want to be together but after Blue offered to come out for Kelly and Kelly telling him not to, the subject is hung in the closet right beside their relationship. The hiding is a huge part of the story and all the growth Blue and Kelly go through makes every bit of angst worth it.
What is great about this book is you not only get one hell of a swoonly romance, you get major character growth of both MCs and get new supporting characters who surprise you and some that remain assholes like it was built into their DNA. You get the addition of a dog named Waffles who is a scene stealer and some gorgeous moments between these two with a few epic romantic gestures and supportive loved ones. I teared up a few times reading this and again, so worth it.
Blue, I love you and I love that you love Kelly. Just everything you do in this book from listening to speeches, to giving your own outside bathroom stalls, offering to pay for trespassers new phones to flowers, balloons, new suits and just standing up to anyone and anything that gets in the way of your one true love, makes me love the bones off you. Oh and you play one killer game of football.
Kelly, I would be stupid not to love you and I get you, I do. You are finally getting the life you want with the boy you have always loved and it’s pretty easy to push those you love away without realizing you’re doing it. You are so damn strong and Blue needs someone strong to hold him up when he falls and he’s fallen so hard for you, he needs your support and you give it. Over and over again even when he hurts your feelings and you want to walk away. Your love for Blue and how you have changed his life for the better drives this romance and you deserve every bit of happiness.
Optimist ♰King's Wench♰ - 5 Hearts
Blue and Kelly have left their scribbling all over each other's walls. Now an established couple but still with things that need to be ironed out between them, namely Blue's still being (mostly) in the closet, for them to get to where
they both want to be. Never did I doubt their devotion. Both are committed to their relationship; they just have to work out the logistics.
From a sporting enthusiast's perspective, there were so many things that were, simply put, spot on. I'm not going to go into all of them because we'd be here for days, so I'll just say S.E. Harmon portrayed Blue in a way that resonated with me. Whether she's a sports fan or just a helluva researcher, I appreciated her depiction of him not just as Blue, other half of Kelly but as Britton Montgomery, Outlaws investment and corporation. Not just because it's true but because all of that extraneous stuff matters when it comes to the characterization and understanding of Blue. There's more at stake than his own personal interests if he comes out and Blue is not a selfish person.
I appreciated those details. They made sense to me.
As for the football in this installment, IT WAS GRRRRREEEAAATTTT!!! This is why I like sports romances. The team dynamics made me giggle and also roll my eyes at the douchey teammates, but that's team sports! Harmon struck a good balance between the footballing, romance and relationship development all of which combined to turn me into a grinning fool whilst reading this.
Before I start blathering on about how much I enjoyed the swoony-ness of their relationship, I want to mention how funny
A Deeper Blue is. Harmon put her game face on with their internal dialogue and the banter between #Belly. Yeah, I shipped. Their comfort level shone in the dialogue. They've been best friends since forever which gives them that shorthand you can only achieve with someone who knows you as well as you know them. The one upping each other over the junk food made me snortle repeatedly. Seriously, who hides Doritos in a fireplace? People who need a Frito Lay disorder clinic STAT, that's who.
Their individuality shone in their internal dialogues. I never once got confused as to whose head I was in and kudos to Harmon for that.
They are opposites in virtually every way but they balance each other out spectacularly. Their easy comraderie and chemistry made it obvious how perfect they are for each other which did, at times, make it hard to read when they had to scurry back into the closet. A closet that gets increasingly confining mainly because they can't keep their hands off each and their propensity to make the moony-eyes at each other, something that's pretty obvious to anyone paying attention.
Blue's family, who we get to know much more about, played a significant role in this narrative. Not much of it was good either. Poor Blue. Thankfully Kelly's family is adorable so hopefully they will even out the dysfunction of Blue's in the future. Or they could just deploy Waffles to stink eye the Montgomerys. That dog would definitely do it for a cookie or twelve. But only for, like, a minute then she'd need a nap.
The ending was so... them. Funny and heartfelt and swoony all rolled up into a perfect little taquito. I wish it didn't have to be a thing for Blue, that coming out were passé because no one cared. But it is. Unfortunately. Still, my squishy marshmallow love tank was topped up with this ending and this book and I'm going to focus on that rather than the negative.
The only thing I disliked about this book were the words 'the end'. I do fervently hope that this isn't really the end. I've kind of gotten attached. Maybe a novella? A short story? A haiku? Something?
If you enjoy comedic and heartwarming sports romances this series is something you'll likely enjoy.
ARCs were provided by the publisher in exchange for honest reviews.
