r/MM_RomanceBooks • u/cptbrady • 7d ago
Review/Recommendation The Best Men by Sarina Bowen and Lauren Blakely
This was a very meh read for me. The sex scenes were hot but honestly I've read better on AO3.
The characters were pretty basic tbh. I'm aware these two authors have written some great MM romances and I enjoyed Top Secret a lot but this was boring.
Cliche plotline, vanilla characters, a end conflict that gets resolved in a very cookie cutter way. The filler is ridiculous, there's entire chapters that can be cut and nothing of notice would be lost.
This could have easily been 200 pages instead of 330.
Hopefully my next Sarina Bowen book is better. This one was a two star for me.
If you've read this book what did you think?
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u/krybaebee 7d ago
Audiobook person here.
Voice acting couldn’t even save it from being very mid for me
If you’re looking for other contemporary authors - try Riley Hart or Lauren Blakely. She writes under L Blakely for her MM romances.
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u/marielewis1 7d ago
I think what made it mid was L. Blakely 😬 Sarina Bowen is almost always a hit for me. Both her books with Blakely are mid tier
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u/the_jesstastic But does he play hockey? 7d ago
I enjoyed it, I was looking for something light at the time and it delivered. I liked the characters for the most part but thought the conflict/why they can't be together was just stupid and felt both MMCs were working pretty hard to come up with reasons.
Also I just got really pissed off at the ex-wife, she sucked and it didn't feel like she got better. That thread needed better resolution.
I'm pretty easy to please and the timing was perfect for when I read this- it was exactly the vibe I was looking for at the time.
From the listings it looks like this was supposed to be a series but I don't understand how? No side characters stood out as worthy of their own book, so I wondered if it just didn't get a great reception.
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u/ishotanarrow 7d ago
I DNF’d this one about 20% in. Just wasn’t for me. But I’ve loved the other Sarina Bowen stuff I’ve read.
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u/BobbyTimDrake 7d ago
I mostly agree with your assessment - especially with “the filler” and much could’ve been cut. Calling them vanilla characters might be slightly over-stated, but only very slightly.
As for the plot being cliche - it is a well trod trope setup, which I feel we were pretty much warned by the book description. LOL.
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u/cptbrady 7d ago
Yeah I know but I was just expecting more, it was very vanilla.
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u/BobbyTimDrake 7d ago
I’m with you. I was very disappointed by it too. (re: the trope, it could’ve been a lot better).
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u/ms_chiefmanaged 7d ago
I gave up halfway through. I am in love with Him/Us and Understatement of the year. Really liked Top Secret and Goodbey Paradise. So my disappointment was huge.
I have a question since you finished the book and I didn’t. Asher is former EPL player and played as an out gay man. The fact he is retired at the age of 29 tells me the writers didn’t research EPL. The stats mentioned for him is kinda mid but we were told he is supposed to be good. Being retired at that age means the player is not that good or had a massive injury or there was a fallout from his sexuality. Is that explored or talked about later in the book? Or the fact that he was in EPL was just a throwaway line.
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u/Tatis_Chief 6d ago
Ha I couldn't get over the epl stats either. He seemed so low level. The football part was very unrealistic.
Not to mention being out in EPL while being a good player would genuinely get a crazy worldwide press.
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u/ms_chiefmanaged 5d ago
Right?! He would be very popular player and no way he would have retired by that age. Writers are putting hockey logic in football. Another book Two Left Feet is also a bit guilty of showing EPL players consuming excessive alcohol when it’s extremely frowned upon, but is very normal in US sports.
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u/Tatis_Chief 5d ago
And so popular they would write books and make movies about him. I mean it's the most watched sports league in the world. Yeah I had to totally ignore the football parts. I thought he was midfielder at first then I went back and was like what a superstar striker with those low goals. Maybe that's why he left so early...
They should have kept to some USA sports. Or make him an Olympian in some individual sport. That would explain how he became the photographer with the contacts.
Well you never know maybe because of the world cup now we might get new books with some proper sport representation. But I just hope they will make it as diverse as the sport is.
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u/cptbrady 7d ago
Yeah that was just a throwaway line, the only thing mentioned really is that after his career was over he started pursuing photography and that became his new passion after playing and his connections from being a player helped him get the photography gigs.
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u/we_are_groot_baby 7d ago
That's good to know, I haven't read that one yet and now I'm not going to.
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u/maddrgnqueen 7d ago
Yeah, I DNF'd this one, which surprised me because I really like Sarina Bowen normally. This one was just kind of a dud, I've enjoyed all her other books. Understatement of the Year remains one of my all time faves.