Him by Sarina Bowen, Elle Kennedy

Him (Him, #1)

by Sarina Bowen and Elle Kennedy

A m/m romance collaboration between Elle Kennedy and Sarina Bowen. USA Today bestseller!

They don’t play for the same team. Or do they?

Jamie Canning has never been able to figure out how he lost his closest friend. Four years ago, his tattooed, wise-cracking, rule-breaking roommate cut him off without an explanation. So what if things got a little weird on the last night of hockey camp the summer they were eighteen? It was just a little drunken foolishness. Nobody died.

Ryan Wesley’s biggest regret is coaxing his very straight friend into a bet that pushed the boundaries of their relationship. Now, with their college teams set to face off at the national championship, he’ll finally get a chance to apologize. But all it takes is one look at his longtime crush, and the ache is stronger than ever.

Jamie has waited a long time for answers, but walks away with only more questions—can one night of sex ruin a friendship? If not, how about six more weeks of it? When Wesley turns up to coach alongside Jamie for one more hot summer at camp, Jamie has a few things to discover about his old friend…and a big one to learn about himself.

Warning: contains sexual situations, skinny-dipping, shenanigans in an SUV and proof that coming out to your family on social media is a dicey proposition.

Reviewed by lessthelonely on

4 of 5 stars

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4/5 stars.

This book was a delight. If you want to know something interesting, I usually try to get away from books like this one - the ones where it's very clear that I'm going to get smut. I am starting to warm up to smut and to make myself understand what I like. I realized I like smut when it's not just about the sex, but about the emotion as well. So...

This is a childhood friends with a little misunderstanding, but not one of those annoying ones where you just want them to talk to each other. They were friends, they had a little "falling out" (if you can even call it that), they got separated and now they find each other again, and old feelings resurface, especially for Wesley. The romance is the best part of the book, followed by the smut - which there is quite a bit of, friends! Strap in. I found myself excited to keep reading and get to the next moment, and I'm starting to enjoy waiting for the big moments even if there isn't that much pining before the first one.

I will murder people for the slow-burn type of pining. This book mostly delivered and I can't complain about much except for the fact that the authors tried to grab a couple of straight-acting guys and make them fuck each other. You'll see a lot of very "straight boy who thinks they're hilarious" things here, and I will grant the book the fact that yes, they are often hilarious. But though I know these dudes are in a mostly heterosexual field (hockey), I don't think anyone who is gay or even bi would act this much like a straight dude.

But this was very cute, very satisfying! I don't think I'm going to be grabbing the sequel, which existence I only found after I finished this book, which was yesterday. Anyways, now you know that if a romance book fulfills the requirements I mentioned, it's at least a guaranteed 4/5 stars.

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 16 October, 2021: Finished reading
  • 16 October, 2021: Reviewed