Review: Good addition to the series
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 07 11, 2014
3.5 Stars ~ As I've worked my way through Lane Hayes's 'Better Than' series, I've noticed my overall enjoyment of each book has grown exponentially. When faced with reading 'Better Than Friends' I was excited to see how much more I was going to love this installment. The first thing I adored was how the author picked the story up right from the end of the previous book at Jay and Peter's wedding. If you've read the other books in the series (which, really, you must), you'll remember that Curt was Matt's roommate and Jack is Peter's ex. So, the fact that Curt and Jack meet at Jay and Peter's wedding just had my inner romantic squealing and jumping up and down like a thirteen-year-old girl. *grins*It didn't take me very long to get a picture in my head of Curt. He views himself as average, not very exciting, plain, nothing that really stands out. Curt sees himself as someone who doesn't make waves, and certainly isn't an energetic and amazing person to be with. When he spies Jack at the wedding he imagines him as some gorgeous pirate with tattoos. Jack exudes self confidence and has this energy about himself that is magnetic. It's no surprise that when Jack shows an interest in getting to know Curt, he totally doesn't believe him. I mean, Curt is a lawyer who specializes in eminent domain and property acquisition, and Jack owns a gay leather daddy club and a motorcycle shop. As Curt says, "Motorcycles and leather bars. Um… Okay, I was right. I was out of my depth, as in a twenty-five-foot tidal wave out of my depth. I didn't even know what kind of questions one asked about those subjects."Thus begins an unusual friendship based on sports, mainly baseball, and a back-and-forth banter that both Curt and Jack seem to enjoy. Jack teases Curt irrepressibly and Curt struggles to not sound like a dork or a priss. Jack enjoys enlightening some of Curt's preconceived notions about leather, tattoos, motorcycles, etc. while Curt really likes the arguments. He's a lawyer, what can I say? Thrown in amongst these "getting to know you" times, are some very hot kissing and make out sessions which leave Curt struggling to get his brain working. Then, naturally, they move into extremely hot sex, which Curt classifies as friends with benefits because he's too afraid to ask Jack for clarification about their "relationship". Of course, he doesn't think that Jack really likes him, more that he's playing with him. I mean, Curt is twenty-eight and Jack is forty-two. What could a guy with all that experience see in control freak Curt? By the time the truth comes out that Jack is very interested in Curt, Curt has almost managed to wreck the whole thing with his insecurities. But Jack is hiding his own difficult past and insecurities too.I enjoyed this third installment in the series. I have to be honest, though, and admit that I didn't like it more than Jay and Peter's story. The entire book is in Curt's point of view, and for a really smart guy he could be incredibly dense. Granted, I understood why the author wrote him that way and why Jack was written as older, a little wiser, more confident and self-assured, but it didn't endear me to Curt's character. Jack, I adored. How could I not? Overall, it's a very sweet romance with a little extra angst from Curt and a whole lot of hotness from Jack.NOTE: This book was provided by Dreamspinner Press for the purpose of a review on Rainbow Book Reviews