“You had my heart as a boy, and whether you realized it or not, you’ve kept it all these years.”Androgynous fashion model Quinn Bouchard knew this day was coming. Hours before one of the most important photo shoots of his career, his wife asks for a divorce—a divorce they had agreed upon before exchanging vows—causing upheaval in his otherwise happy queerplatonic relationship. As if the day … the day wasn’t hard enough, Quinn learns Xander Engstrom, his childhood best friend now a movie star, is part of the photo shoot, and their reunion awakens something Quinn hasn’t felt in years, leaving him sure of only one thing: he needs Xander back in his life.
Movie star Xander Engstrom has regrets, and the epic fight spread across the tabloids between him and his ex-boyfriend—an addict that won’t leave him alone—is the biggest. To control the damage, Xander agrees to an interview and photo shoot with a well-respected publication where he meets Quinn, the first boy he had a crush on. Xander’s pathetic, romantic heart falls all over again for his long-lost friend. The only problem is the type of relationship he’s thinking of isn’t possible with the stunning model.
Living on opposite coasts and worlds apart, they navigate through months of coordinating schedules, the whims of a finicky film company, and nights in hotel rooms to spend time with each other until secrets force them to choose between a future together or letting their pasts tear them apart.
This friends-to-lovers, slow-burn romance contains implied sexual abuse, one photogenic gargoyle, and discussions about cannibalism.
Can be read as a stand-alone book as Quinn’s story starts before Julien’s in Living on a Dare (Book One) and ends a year later.
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Book one of this series, Living on a Dare, was my first introduction to this author’s work, and I honestly enjoyed the story. But, the characters portrayed in this book have earned a fan for life. The development of these intense and uniquely beautiful and fierce individuals made me fall more in love with them with every page.
I have to admit, I was extremely intrigued by Quinn in the first book, and was really excited to get to the heart of his character. This book can be read as a standalone due to the fact that it is told in a time frame before, during, and after book one, but I am still glad I read them in order. Quinn is very self aware of his sexual identity and needs, and as such, he has been comfortable in a queerplatonic triad relationship raising their son for several years. However, with circumstances evolving, so must the life he has come to depend upon. On what could have been one of the worst days of his life and career, he is unexpectedly reunited with his boyhood best friend; and he sure needs a friend now.
Xander was an A-list movie star making his way past the stereotypical action roles into parts he really dreamed of playing. That was, until his manipulative boyfriend and he had a huge public blow-up, while high. Now, Xander must rebuild his reputation as he fights for both already earned and still to come contracts. He does an interview and is set up for a photo shoot to help build himself back up in the public eye. That’s when he reconnects with a gorgeous man; one he hopes for more than friendship with, but will be happy to have a confidant in his time of upheaval.
This is a story of friendship that is much more intimate than friendship, but still platonic. This is a story of patience and understanding, knowing what you need from a partner, and despite the fear of rejection, being able to ask for your limits to be respected. It’s a story of trust and understanding, and a love that is allowed the time and room to grow into the perfect combination of sensuality and respect. The characters face a lot of tense situations and scandals, but the love between them is what inevitably keeps what they have built from going down in flames.
Overall, the storyline is captivating and unique. The writing flows smoothly and even though the characters are larger than life, there is a lot of reality thrown into the everyday lives and feelings. Now, I’m not saying there are no book flubs in the mix, as I call them, because there are. But the book is just so character driven that I read right past the couple of issues and enjoyed the experience. A very happily ever after for all involved.
Happy reading!
* I received an ARC of this book and I am leaving my honest review. *
This book explored the friendship of two men after they reconnected on a joint photo shoot. They were childhood friends, all grown up, now. After the photo shoot, both knew they wanted to pick up their friendship again, despite both also secretly wanting more. Unfortunately, more wasn’t in the cards at the moment. Would it ever be?
This book touches on sensitive topics, and may not be for everyone. I didn’t see any content warnings, so I just wanted to point it out. It discusses an abusive relationship, rape, among other topics not quite as triggering. Events occur off-page and are both past tense.
I like how this story included some situations that aren’t heteronormative. It was refreshing. As someone on the ace spectrum, I could appreciate some of Quinn’s feelings toward sex. A label, on the ace spectrum, is not given though. It was still relatable.
The book was well written, and I enjoyed the characters. It is book two, in the series, but can be read as a stand-alone.
***Copy provided to Bayou Book Junkie for my reading pleasure. A review wasn’t a requirement. ***
Quinn and Xander
What a story! Widely written, slow burn and enormously entertaining.
Quinn, a beautiful androgynous fashion model has a photo session with movie star Xander. They pick up there lost friendships from thirteen years ago where they met at a dance school. Xander was already a great dancer and helped Quinn who had other qualities than dance.
Friends they can be, nothing more. Quinn has a complicated life with three people, there is his platonic marriage with his best friend, their child and his wife’s partner. All three are in the business of fashion, catwalks and photography.
Xander and Quinn have mobile contact, their ways split every time, with jobs all around the world. But friends they are.
Yearning for each other’s voices and pics they spend a lot of time contacting each other through their mobiles. Xander locks his feelings for Quinn away, to be the best friend. Slowly, very slowly they both can’t think of a life without the other.
“I want to kiss you so bad.”
Oh boy, what a story, this is just a fraction of the whole story. It is marvelously written and developed. Excellently characters and storyline. The very best friends to lovers and it was all awesome. A slow-burn story is not my favorite, but I loved it in this story. The heavy awareness of each other was palpable. I was impatient.
My heart was completely involved with this story.
We get to know these two heartwarming guys better, besides the main course there are a few secondary stories which I can’t name secondary because they are of great importance, first the gargoyle, their jobs, food! family, lost family, partners and ex-partners. For me, the highlights were the precious and sometimes delicate moments where we can see them grow closer. They have the best interesting conversations, listening to each other with honesty, maturity, and dedication. They are uplifting and humorous and o so lovable.
This is a widely written story and all extremely fascinating! Feelings all over.
I enjoyed it immensely!
I enjoyed reading this.
Dancing with a Star is the second book in the A Shore Thing series but it can easily be read as a standalone. Book one actually runs a bit parallel in time to this one but I read it nearly a year ago so I didn’t remember the details and had no trouble whatsoever following Dancing with a Star.
Quinn Bouchard is a fashion model and highly sought after for his androgynous looks. He’s been in a queer-platonic (I had to look that up, but it’s pretty much what you would think from the term) relationship that is coming to an end. He’s feeling a bit lost and lonely. He reconnects with his childhood friend at a photoshoot. As they rekindle their friendship feelings awaken in Quinn that he hasn’t felt in years.
Xander Engstrom is a famous movie star. When he and Quinn meet at a photoshoot, he doesn’t immediately recognize him. He has an ex-boyfriend causing him trouble and just wants to forget all of that and enjoy the reignited attraction he feels for Quinn, his first boyhood crush.
This book packed a lot into 262 pages (page count provided by Goodreads). There are several things going on with both Quinn’s and Xander’s personal lives and careers. All of the details and conflicts kept the story interesting.
The romance is very much slow-burn. Quinn is more interested in how he feels about Xander and not concerned with the sexual relationship side of things. Xander wants Quinn in all ways but he is more than willing to take things as slow as Quinn needs him to.
The chemistry between Quinn and Xander pretty much radiated off the pages and felt genuine to me. I loved Xander’s father and extended family. Quinn’s homophobic mother was hard to take but fortunately didn’t have a large role in this story.
Advanced Review Copy provided by Gay Romance Reviews.
Really enjoyed this fast reading well written slow burning love story. I couldn’t have ran into my old childhood friend at a better time, my life is changing because it’s time for my wife to have her hearts desire so our marriage is over but I still want to be involved in their lives for my son. It is so hard when things change, moving forward and learning to be who you really are is even harder. But there is just something about Xander that keeps drawing me in, yes we were friends then and our friendship is even stronger now, but maybe it’s time for us to be more.
While this book can be read as a standalone, don’t do that. Go read Living on a Dare first, because it’s an excellent book. This story changes gears because brothers Quinn and Julien are radically different people. Quinn is genderfluid and yet married a woman and has a child. There is technically no cheating in this book since Quinn’s marriage is more of a social construct than an intimate relationship. It took me a bit to wrap my head around the queerplatonic concept, but I’ve read enough mm romance of all kinds that I’ve learned to be open-minded. I got a bit frustrated at times but that’s because I was emotionally invested in the characters and they weren’t behaving the way I wanted them to – but if they had, then the book would have been a lot shorter and not nearly as good a read.
Dancing with a Star by Grace Kilian Delaney is the second book in A Shore Thing series but canbe read as a stand alone. It is a contemporary LGBTQ+ romance that had me feeling emotions and living every page. These characters had me hooked on their story and I love them together – childhood friends who find a second chance. There is a sweet exploration of different kinds of love and relationships and sexuality explored here. Overalthis is a fantastic story that Ihighly recommend.