ARC Review: The Blueprint by S.E. Harmon

Blurb:

Kelly Cannon is satisfied with his life. He has friends, a wonderful family, and a great job. But his love life has reached a new level of pitiful. Why? Well, his heart decided to break all the rules. Don’t fall in love with a straight guy. And definitely don’t fall in love with your best friend.

NFL standout Britton “Blue” Montgomery has pressure coming at him from all sides. From his father, who’s only interested in Blue’s football career. From his coaches, who just want him to play without getting injured again. From the fans. From his agent. And from his mother, who has popped up on the radar after leaving his family years before. And now his relationship with Kelly is on shaky ground, and that frightens Blue more than anything.

When Kelly admits he’s in love with Blue, bonds are tested, and Blue has to decide what’s really important. He doesn’t want to lose the number-one person in his life, but the cost to keep Kelly close might be more than he’s willing to pay.

It’s a good thing his nickname is the Blueprint—it’s time to draft a new set of plans.

Dani's rating:

The Blueprint gets a THUMBS UP for:

- Best friends to lovers (I never get tired of this trope!)

- Sexual discovery 101 (Blue knows he's not the straight arrow he appears to be, and whom better to ask for a gay trial run than his best friend?)

- Banter and more banter (These two have known each other for eons, and it shows in their easy conversations filled with inside jokes and casual snark.)

- Opposites attract (Blue is a cocky, self-assured athlete; Kelly is ... not.)

- Fun twist on the OFY trope (Blue doesn't go all drama-llama; yeah, he's worried about what others will think if he embraces his gay side and waffles on whether he's bi or not like every other hour, but he doesn't get all weird and angsty. If anything, he's too laidback and takes Kelly for granted.)





So it's all fun and games until someone gets hurt; THUMBS down because:

- Blue is kind of an arse when Kelly admits the that "experiment" is more to him that just sex. Blue thinks only about what HE wants. His epiphany is triggered by jealousy and a talking to from one of his friends, which, FINE, we all get places on our own terms. But I wanted Blue to delve deeper.

- The steam was just so-so. For a gay virgin and a whole lot of UST, the steamy scenes were really tame; they weren't fade-to-black exactly, but they were truncated and perfunctory. I needed way more sexy for the OFY angle to feel real.

- The ending kind of sucked, and surprisingly it wasn't Blue's fault. It was Kelly's. I don't even get where Kelly was coming from in trying to, what . . . PROTECT Blue? Blue didn't need protecting. He's a grownass man with his own damn mind, and he strung Kelly along like, enough already; let the man do his thing before he flip-flops yet again. I didn't really trust Blue to stand by his decision, so the ending didn't feel like much of a HEA.

The ending made me really cranky, and cranky is not the new black.

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An ARC of this book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Download links are provided as a courtesy and do not constitute an endorsement of or affiliation with the book, author, publisher, or website listed.