It’s time to leave college and the closet behind.Nathan Rhodes has put hockey first for most of his life, but as graduation looms, he has a different goal in mind. He needs to come out and reclaim his first love. If only Caleb will believe him…Theater geek Caleb Stockwell gave up on love when his boyfriend chose the closet over being with an openly bisexual guy. Now, he hides his heartbreak … guy. Now, he hides his heartbreak behind a string of casual hookups. He loves the drama on stage, but he’s done with the drama of Nathan Rhodes. For good.
Nathan is determined to right the wrongs of four years ago, but the clock is ticking.
One month until he and Caleb go their separate ways. One month to take a final shot at winning Caleb’s heart back.
Win or lose, everything is on the line.
NOTE: This is a second edition released June 2020 with an additional 18k words of brand new content, fresh edits, and a new cover.
more
A great story of two guys navigating society and themselves to find love. The main plot is fabulous, but I quite enjoyed the entire “world” Brigham created along with her vivid array of characters. Off to get book 2 because I HAVE to read Lowell’s story… adore him!
Second Chances – New Beginnings
This is the first book in the Midwest series and I can say I’m officially hooked!
The narrator did a fabulous job of bringing the characters and story to life Filled with all kinds of bumbling firsts and heartfelt sweet seconds
An easy to follow story with a cast that will steal your heart from the first hello
Nathan and Caleb are both in their last year at university.
Caleb out and proud – Nathan still in the closet.
Caleb has carried his first love with him since high school. Not for the HEA that it should have been but for the broken heart it left him with. He has used those memories to fortify the wall around his heart. To ensure no one and nothing ever broke him again.
And it has worked for almost 4 years
Until he showed up again
Nathan will never forget his first and only love. The one he betrayed, the one he hurt. He has lived on autopilot for the last 4 years now fate has given him a second chance one he intends to grab with both hands
He is done hiding
Done lying
Yes what he did was beyond cruel
but he was young, scared, unsure …
so many factors behind his actions
There has to be a way to get Caleb to hear him out
Right?
A chance to make things right?
The supporting cast was just as front and center (if not more so)
I can not wait for Lowell’s story!!!
I’m reviewing the audio edition. This story is so full of raw emotion. Nathan the high school hockey star and Caleb the nerd who excels at theater. So different from each other but there is an attraction that draws them together. And since both are young situations happen beyond their control that causes so much hurt.
Later toward the end of their college years Nathan decides he is tired of hiding who he is and he has regret for what he did to Caleb in high school so he tries to apologize to Caleb but Caleb is having none of it. Caleb was too hurt by Nathan to listen or let his heart open again.
The narrator, James Edward Jones did such a good job on this story I could feel the hurt and pain of these two. At first I was not sure about listening to another “hockey” story but this turned out to be so much more. I now can’t wait to hear more of this series.
Bully and Exit is the first book in The Midwest series which is a contemporary romance series. Nathan and Caleb are ex-boyfriends who reconnect in their last month of college. Old feelings are rekindled and the demons from the past are reexamined in a new light. The passion and attraction that these two men feel for each other is intense and leads to some really sexy scenes.
The book’s plot is structured between the main character’s current timeline (attending college) and flashbacks to their high school romance and fallout. This structure works really well for the book because it keeps building tension within the plot with all the new reveals that the flashbacks provide. These flashbacks also show the character growth that each character has experienced as well as the growth in their relationship.
The audiobook was narrated by James Edward Jones who does a nice job with the audiobook. He’s a new to me narrator and I really liked his voice and performance. Overall, I found the audiobook performance was well suited for this plot and the audiobook production was well done.
Second chance love story that doesn’t appear to have a chance.
Bully is probably a misnomer, Nathan isn’t actively a bully, more of an unwilling audience, and he is a sweet guy, just closeted. Caleb is definitely a sweet guy, and doesn’t deserve any of what happens to him, and the chances of the two of them ever getting back together seem very unlikely, there’s a fair amount of doubt for a lot of the book. There’s some angst loaded moments, and towards the end it’s a relief that a happy ever after is even remotely possible.
Nathan is looking for a second chance and hes willing to risk it all for Caleb’s forgiveness. Nathan was too afraid to come out and too afraid of his father the first time he tried to love Calab.
Caleb young love is awful and when it goes wrong it wrecks you hes spent 4 years of college trying to avoid the jock that broke his heart in Highschool but Nathan won’t stop until Caleb listens to him. Why did Nathan break his heart and is Caleb ready to move past his hurt to here Nathan out. This book has allot of heart both Calab and Nathan had allot of growing to do and hurt feelings to get past yes Nathan did a really awful thing but he thought he was protecting the only person who ever understood him. And with allot of help from there friends they will both overcome there fears and be able to find happiness.
I was allowed to read and advance copy of this book via Booksprout and this is my honest review.
I’ve read this author before. This is a mm contemporary story set in college in the USA. Second chance love for Caleb and Nathan. I had no real connection with the main characters. They had known each other in high school that didn’t end well and they wait 4 years to try again. I’ll read more from this author.
This is my first book by Brigham Vaughan. This is a beautiful second chance romance. While there are some heartbreaking moments, the end result is well worth it. I cannot wait to see what happens in subsequent books!
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
Brigham Vaughn tells two different love stories in Bully & Exit. In one story we get to experience all of the young awkwardness of young love. The realization of one’s sexuality while falling in love is also told. We get to experience Nathan’s fear, but also his desire to be with Caleb. Caleb on the other hand knows he is gay, in love, and ready to shout it from the roof tops – bullies or no bullies.
In Vaughn’s next story we shoot forward four years later and we see an older and wiser Nathan. He has been in the closet, slept with guys, had fun but he still remembers his first love. Caleb, on the other hand, still has a well of hurt from his first love. He is angry and bitter.
Vaughn moves back and forth between these two stories and it is sweet and heartbreaking at the same time. My heart hurt for Caleb, so it made it hard to read the past and know what was coming.
I will say that my favorite character is Lowell. There is one scene early on in the book where you would think that Vaughn will take the “romantic” route and instead they take the right route in my book – BRO CODE!!!! I love it and Lowell. Lowell is funny, stylish, and will bring you food when you are depressed. My kind of friend.
College is all about leaving high school behind. Growing, learning, and experiencing life. Vaughn lets us have both.
I received an ARC of this book and I am writing a review without prejudice and voluntarily.
This book had all the feels. It wasn’t overly filled with angst, but enough to keep you interested. Throw in some scorching hot scenes and a sweet as can be HEA and this book was awesome. College jocks finding the courage to come out always make for an amazing story.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
Caleb and Nathan’s journey was so good. Nathan went all out to fix the past and damage he had done. Through many years of want, Nathan finally manned up went after his man. Took a bit but they finally found their HEA. I loved it.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
This is the 3rd book I’ve read written by Brigham Vaughn; she has done a great job at writing a good book; I can’t wait to read more of her books.
The story line caught my attention at the very beginning and kept me interested throughout the entire book.
I loved the characters.
I received a free copy of this book via booksprout and I’m voluntarily leaving a review.
Nathan is a hockey jock at university, and it is his last year. One month to go and he will graduate, when he sees Caleb at a party. They grew up together, had been lovers, but as Nathan was in the closet, he dropped him and hurt Caleb badly. As he never forgot about Caleb he sees this last month at university as his last chance to find forgiveness and maybe even another chance.
A lovely story of two young man making mistakes and the support they get from friends and family, who not only accept them for who they are, but help them find a closure, if not a second chance.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
A great second chances, hockey romance!! Caleb and Nate were entertaining characters and had a good story line. Will they find their HEA? Read and enjoy!!
I absolutely loved this book! This beautifully written book has ALL the feels, all the way through it. So much emotion written in this story. Though Nathan had to hide a part of himself for so long he never stopped loving Caleb. I feel Caleb was justified in his attempt to move on with his life, I do feel a part of him never stopped loving Nathan. I enjoyed the positive relationship Caleb had with his mother. It was wonderful to watch Nathan and Caleb grow and move on from their past to look to the future together. I want to know more about Brent and Lowell’s road trip, oh to be a fly in that car!
This book is amazing and I highly recommend it.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
This is my first read by this author. If this is not your first read through, they added 18k words since it was initially published in 2015.
While the book is well written, the story was engaging, and characters were ones you could somewhat relate to or at least like, it wasn’t my favorite book to read. I would like to read more by the author though.
I did find it odd that Caleb’s friends were willing to help a complete stranger try to woo or win back Caleb. From what was provided in the story, Nathan’s reasoning for destroying Caleb’s heart when they were 18 was a bit of a stretch for me. Nathan has to work hard to earn back Caleb’s trust.
The book is in 3rd person told from the pov of both characters with flashbacks. The HEA was a little bit of a hard sell for me, but they did manage to get together in the end.
A story-line is good when you aren’t sure whether to shake the characters or give them big hugs.
Caleb and Nathan were properly aged for their roles. Two men who had to overcome so many obstacles is gut wrenching. Your past can be painful. Walking away is hard. Forgiveness is harder.Growing together as a couple while growing as individuals is no small feat.
Nathan was on this love/hate streak with me, but I grew to love and understand him by the end. Being able to see what Caleb saw in him took restraint. Especially since Caleb was comfortable with whom he was and Nathan, not so much. A crushing high school love is something hard to get over. Caleb had every right to guard his heart, but it was clear a larger part of him lived in that moment of hurt. Missing the opportunity to confront the person who hurt you the most. One brick at a time, the wall came down.
Nothing like a second chance to make the best impression.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Brigham, whether co-authoring or solo, has a way to pull into the pages and make the reader feel what all the characters are enduring. Whether MCs or supporting roles. This book was no exception. The extra content just added to all the feels.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
Brigham has a way with words that always amazes me. And it’s no different here. Bully & Exit is about two guys who were nothing to each other, and then become everything to each other. But life – and stuff happen – and we get to see how they deal with all that happened. The dual POV, with past and present fits perfectly here: we understand, from both sides, what happened and what led to where they are now. This story is about forgiveness and acceptance, about growing as a person and as a couple, about being able to let the past in the past and focus on the furure. I had mixed feelings for Nathan – love/hate/some more hate/ some love – but in the end things kind of made sense… I really wished for more background with Nathan and his father, that would explain more some of his actions. Other than that, only good feelings about their story.
It’s really good to know how it all began! I had this on my TBR for a while, and now that the author is re-releasing it, It was the perfect time to get to know more about Caleb & Nathan, and how their story developed. And we get to know Lowell, Brent, Micah, which is alwaus a bonus 🙂
Bully & Exit stares out and proud drama major Calab, and the quinesstential jock; Nathan Rhodes. The two men have not had any contact with each other for four years; after Nathan broke Caleb’s heart in high school. Now with college graduation upon then, Nathan decides he is sick of hiding who he is and he’s desparate for another chance with Caleb. But Caleb isn’t making this easy on Nathan. With a little help from some friends and some big romantic gestures Nathan is going to have to put a lot on the line to prove to Caleb that he can trust him again and it’s not just Caleb’s heart on the line.
I wasn’t too impressed with this novel. I think the plot itself was fine, but I was really questioning the second chance romance between Nathan and Caleb. I really wasn’t buying their romantic connection this time around. Therefore, I wouldn’t recommend this book.
SPOILERS
First, Nathan corners Caleb at a party and urges him to give them another chance and then he kisses him. I found so many things wrong about these scene. For one, why now – yes Nathan is apparently reading to come out, but just to automatically jump back in with Caleb. For that matter, it’s not fair for Caleb either; to just assume he wants to be with Nathan and to randomly kiss him like that. After Caleb storms off Nathan basically tells his whole life story to Lowell and this was just very weird. Realistically I wouldn’t believe that a virtual stranger would go up to someone and confess his sordid past. I understand Nathan felt that maybe with Lowell’s help he could win Caleb back but at this point it’s been four years; does he even know who Caleb is anymore? A person changes a lot in college and as we see throughout the novel Caleb is not the shy boy he was in high school.
Second, I found it odd again when Harper agreed to help Nathan and his quest to get Caleb back. Here, Nathan did the same thing as he had done with Lowell; he revealed his past history with Caleb. I just don’t like this, I cannot frame my mind around being approached by someone you don’t know to win someone else back. Plus to reveal all those intimate details about your relationship it just feels unnatural.
Third, the reason why Nathan was so cruel to Caleb- personally I think it was ridiculous. Yes his dad was so-to-speak verbally and emotionally abusive. This was hard to fanthom because we don’t know a lot about the man. We know he had some physical altercation with a driver and he berated Nathan when he saw him watching gay porn; but I just felt like there wasn’t enough to warrant Nathan’s complete and total fear that his father would harm Caleb in some way. Even if there was some cause to warrant this assumption the way that Nathan ended Caleb was so cruel. Telling Caleb it was all a ruse and nothing was real was for Nathan. Nathan said he couldn’t break up with him nicely because it would be too hard on him, it would provide him with some hope of still being with Caleb. So, Nathan treated Caleb like crap; stomped on his heart and basically had him distrustful of being in relationships all for really his own selfish purposes. Frankly, all signs point to Nathan being a grade a jerk.
Frankly, this second chance romance flopped for me. If I was Caleb I wouldn’t get back together with Nathan. Nathan did too many unforgiving things and for all selfish reasons. Caleb deserves someone better then Nathan. I would pass on this one.
I really enjoyed this book.
Second chances are my weakness and I can never resist diving into one whenever I get an opportunity to! And it’s always a pleasure to find new amazing ones as this one was!
Bully & Exit has a kick of angst because at the beginning Caleb is dead-set on not giving Nathan another chance and continue hating him to protect his heart after the way things finished beteen them in high school. Thank goodness for meddling friends!
I loved the bits of flashbacks, they give you the background story, but not all at once, you really want to keep reading because you want to get the whole picture!
The characters are lovely: both Nathan and Caleb are such sweet guys, but with their head on their shpoulders, too, despite being so young!