Book 817: Better to Believe (Harrison Campus #4) – Andy Gallo

Who doesn’t love a younger brother and best friend fall in love off-limits MM Romance? I didn’t purposefully time it this way, but this one and the next one (Keeping Kellan) both ended up being this trope.

Coury, roommate of Luke (from Better Be True) is on the verge of becoming a professional baseball player, starts spending time with his best friend’s little brother, Liam, fresh out of the dorm because of homophobic abuse and never had a real boyfriend. The close proximity adds fire to the flame Liam has been carrying for Coury since they were young, and helps Coury see Liam not as the little brother that tags a long, but as an attractive sexual being in his own right.

Not only did this book have the little brother and best friend trope, but it also had the jock and nerd trope which I was most definitely here for. Somehow, the jock/nerd trope worked a little better and I think it’s because it wasn’t that Coury was a dumb jock, it was just that he needed someone to recognize and reward his potential which Liam does and the sparks fly

There was definitely a tone shift in this novel from the first three in the series and I think that was with the departure of Anyta Sunday as a co-author. Gallo’s writing was fine and engaging, but he’s no master of the slow-burn romance like Sunday. She’s proven time and again that she’ll give you the lightest touch or lingering look and keep you waiting, but Gallo’s pace was faster.

Coury and Liam definitely had sex a lot sooner in this novel than in the others of the series, and there were clearly delineated roles. The sex scenes were also written differently. There was none of the softness and subtlety that female authors bring to MM Romance. It was dialed up and it was definitely rougher. It reminded me a bit more of how Damon Suede writes sex scenes, wham bam, maybe thank you, but that’s about it. I’m not saying this is a bad thing, it just really stood out from the series in that it wasn’t the same and the slow-burn wasn’t as long.

The big crisis of the book is whether Liam and Coury can or will stay together and Liam’s brother is the one who puts this to both of them to figure out before anything actually happens. Both Coury and Liam try to make sacrifices so the other can be happy and, in the end (because of course it does) it all works out perfectly.

Honestly, the best part of the book was the epilogue and I don’t say that often. The flash forward after Coury makes his decision and they stay on campus so Liam can continue his studies and Coury becomes a coach and an employee of the local minor league team was just perfectly written and had the perfect build up for me.

Recommendation: This didn’t feel like it was in the same series as the first three books in the novel because of the loss of Sunday. It wasn’t bad, it was a middle of the road MM romance, but it just didn’t have the same tone or overall feeling as the previous three works. The sex was rougher and more intense and the emotional connection wasn’t quite as well written. I won’t cross Gallo off my list, but if this is what his general writing is like he’s more of a less is more when I want to read him (similar to Damon Suede).

Opening Line: “Balls zipped across the field house floor and smacked into well-oiled leather, and Coury Henderson breathed it in from the bleachers.”

Closing Line: “‘Ready to start the next stage of our lives together?’ Coury asked with a dimpled grin. ‘Yes.’ Together.” (Whited out to avoid spoilers, highlight to read.)