First and goal. Three years ago, football star Griff Parker shared a locker room sexual encounter with brainy scholarship kid Raj Mehir. That stolen blow job turned Griff’s worldview upside down, unlocking desires he wasn’t ready to face.
Now a senior, Griff’s working in Holsum College’s biology lab, where he’s in direct contact with his freshman crush. Raj wants nothing to do with him or the memory of that afternoon. Too bad. Griff’s falling hard for Raj, battling his way past every one of his sexy scientist’s defenses.
Raj Mehir knows he’s gay. But he’s locked that knowledge tightly inside and has no desire to change that. But he does have desire for Griff. In a big way. Now he’s experimenting with Griff and inching closer to the closet door.
Double overtime. Two deeply closeted guys. Two hearts on the line. One term to change everything.
Griff and Raj are both gay and living in the closet. In their freshman year Griff, the muscled football player treats Raj badly but they have a sexual “moment” in the locker room. After that they don’t talk to each other at all.
Three years later Griff gets a job at the biology lab and runs into Raj. Raj wants nothing to do with Griff but the pair find some common ground because they are the only ones who knows the other is gay, and start a small friendship. The friendship soon turns sexual but there’s a lot going on in each of the guys’ heads. Griff is scared to come out to his football team as well as his parents and Raj’s very proper Indian family doesn’t want to hear about him liking guys. On the other hand if and when they do come out can they be together when they do?
I found this 7th installment in the Men of Holsum College series quite different from the others I’ve read. I couldn’t quite get a handle one Raj or Griffin and it was a bit frustrating, I must admit.
Raj was very devoted to his studies and getting a fellowship at MIT, keeping his family happy and moving about life in his own little cocoon. When Griffin happened along Raj knew he was attracted to the guy but after being treated badly 3 years prior he wasn’t anxious to start anything up. That lasted about a minute and a half and I quite frankly had to wonder if they got together originally because of the secret between them.
When it came to sex Raj was very reluctant at first. He seemed so…well, kind of shy and innocent. But when they finally got down to business and Raj figured out what he liked in bed he was rough and domineering. This wasn’t a bad thing but it seemed as he was going from mouse to mountain and then back – it put me off a bit. Raj also seemed, even at the end of the story when he was 100% with Griffin, very lonely and I found that odd. At that point in their relationship I expected him to be happier. Yes, he was happy, but not completely.
Griffin was a good guy. He had a good personality and sounded oh so hot. Lol He had a great sense of humor and knew how to look at the brighter side of life, it seemed, even when troubles were weighing him down.
The issue I had with the book was that I didn’t feel the love. I got the sex – it was great. I got the attraction – that was wonderful. I got the bond that the men felt with each other over their families and coming out and just being together, but when it came down to it, it just didn’t feel right to me when the I love you’s were spoken. It felt to me like Raj and Griffin were much younger than they were and that they had a shit ton of growing up to do before they could even think about love. For me that made the book much less of an emotional read than the previous books and I admit I was a bit disappointed as I know how well Harris can write that emotional bond.
The book was good and it was definitely an enjoyable read but in the end there was just something missing for me.
Rating: 3.25 out of 5
It's amazing how quickly I'm falling behind in this series. 🙂
They're coming out pretty quickly one after the other – it's easy to get behind. 🙂