Men of Summer Series
Author: Lauren Blakely
Kindle Edition, Audiobook, Audible
Prequel Novella: Crushing with Him
Book 1: Scoring With him
Book 2: Winning With Him
Book 3 – All In With Him
Narrators: Jeddy! (Jacob Morgan and Teddy Hamilton)
Men of Summer is the latest series of sports related books by Lauren Blakely. The sport of choice is baseball, which I personally find more boring than watching paint dry…but it’s Lauren Blakely and she can make anything fun. Plus, you get narration by Jeddy! And with that you have already guessed that this is indeed a MM romance series and that it’s going to be oh so very hot. Indeed.
The series starts with a little novella (that you can absolutely skip, but why would you? It’s free on Kindle and it’s cute. It’s told completely by the point of view of Grant Blackwood. It shows you a bit of how he was in his teenage years and how he comes to term with his sexuality, his friendship with his bestie Reese and how he develops a crush on Declan Steele, his new team’s shortstop.
Now here I add a little piece of advice: if you, like me, HATE duets, get the two next books or you will be in for a world of hurt. NOTHING annoys me more in a book that a cliff hanger that I wasn’t expecting. Book 1 leaves you hanging big time. I went in knowing, so I waited for book 2 to be released so that I could start it right after I finished.
I loved Grant and Declan. Declan has been spent his whole life running away from emotional attachment and Grant has felt the worst kind of rejection – from his parents. And that rejection doesn’t even have anything to do with his sexuality. They were teen parents who had a toxic relationship and they made it abundantly clear that both of their kids were “unwanted mistakes”.
They meet at spring training in Arizona and they are completely hot for each other. The catch is that this is not going to go well. They are teammates and this is Declan’s rookie year, so things can go really bad for him if he is not focused on the game. But the attraction is too much and they decided that they will have a fling with an expiration date.
Things get complicated and they go their separate ways. Declan is traded to NYC. Grant makes the team roster… But their fling was not just a fling. They do “catch feelings”, but neither of them is in a place to make things work, either personally or professionally.
The story in books 1 and 2 takes place during the course of 5 years. In these years, you see them grow and learn how they can truly make their relationship work. There is a HEA at the end of book 2, but the story continues in book 3.
If you are like me and always want to know more about the characters, book 3 is the book for you! It reads like a delightful super-epilogue. Declan and Grant are now living together, but they still have to grow as individuals and as a couple. Lauren Blakely does this with such a delicate hand. It brings all the good stuff, and if you haven’t fallen in love with them yet (which I sincerely doubt) you will. <3
If you listen to the audiobook, you get some nice extras at the end: a half hour interview with Teddy and Jacob (interviews with Jacob always give me the giggles 😉 ) and a novella narrated by Joe Arden and Shane East!
