Better Than Another Man

by H.K. Carlton

Better than Another Man is a love story between two best friends, Bryan and Carey. Bryan is straight and Carey is gay, but they stand by each other through the milestones of their lives, including Carey’s coming out.

But when a family tragedy strikes, Bryan turns to Carey for support, and their relationship moves in an unexpected direction.

Can a straight man and a gay man enter into an intimate relationship, or will it destroy their friendship forever?

Who knows Better Than Another Man…

Genres: Friends To Lovers, M M Romance

110 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 15, 2013

About the author

H K Carlton is a multi-genre Canadian author of romance—From naughty to nice, historical to contemporary, time travel to space travel, and everything in between.

H K has over thirty titles in publication including Editor's Choice [historical romance] The Devil Take You, and Fan Favorites [romantic suspense, mafia romance saga] The Always Cambridge Series, and [forbidden love, erotic rom], Swap.

Variety is creativity’s playground—It’s where you’ll find me

Reviews

[Jennifer · Rating 1 out of 5]

I noticed the description at the top no longer includes "romance" in it. That's a big clue. Normally I reserve 1-star ratings for DNF books, but I actually finished this one... only I hated the ending so much I wished I had never started reading it. Since the description still called it a romance when I bought/read it that's what I was expecting.

I can't really fault this one on the writing - it was pretty good with likable characters; in fact, I liked the characters so much that it made me doubly hate the ending. It was a very enjoyable GFY (one of my favorite tropes) and friends-to-lovers (another fave) until just a few pages before the end.

I'm not going to give detailed spoilers, but I will say if having the two MCs end up together in any way is a must for you then you'll want to take a pass.

[Gabbi · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a difficult review to rate and to write. On one hand Better than Another Man is a very thought-provoking, well-written story between two best friends, (one gay and one straight) who decide to explore the love and affection they have for each other. On the other hand, one of the reasons why I read romance is because I want the two heroes to work through their issues and find their happy ending together. Unfortunately for me, this didn’t happen. I don’t feel uncomfortable in telling you this because the blurb from the publisher lets us know this. In all honesty, if I had known this before, I’m not sure I would have picked this up. This would have been a shame really, because it WAS a good book and although it didn’t turn out the way I wanted, I’m still glad I read it.

One of the reasons why this is such a good book is: I really loved the two main characters together. They are true friends. It’s very obvious they have great affection toward each other. I enjoyed their banter and the emotional connection they had together. I shamelessly admit, I WANTED it to work out between them. I kept hoping it would and although they still remain close, in the end, they had to come to the realization that a gay man and a straight man cannot in the long run be happy together.

It was a bittersweet pill to swallow. My mind certainly understood it, but my romantic heart sure hated that it turned out this way. Let’s face it, it’s probably a more realistic approach when it comes to the gay-for-you/only-for-you themed stories, but darn it…they were so good together! UGH!

There is a happy ending and as I stated the book is very well written. Is it something that I’ll read again in the near future…probably not…BUT when I’m in the mood for a good cry, this will definitely be a book I’ll refer back too.

Better than Another Man is a well-written, realistically portrayed book of two best friends who cross the boundaries of friendship into intimacy to see if love really can conquer all…and in some ways it did.

Recommended!

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bittersweet, but in the end they both were gonna have a happy ending.

[Pippii · Rating 4 out of 5]

Two best friends, one gay and one straight, explore their love for each other during a difficult time in their life.

Corey has been in love with Bryan for as long as he can remember, and Bryan love him too, but as a best friend.
During a stressful time in his life, Bryan develope feelings for Corey that are more than friendly, and Corey are more than willing to act on them.

It is a sweet and loving story about friends and how much love means in a friendship.

[Bitchie · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book does NOT have a hea between the two characters. It's well written, has a lot of sexy experimentation, but in the end, it just left me cold and sad. It should be listed as a "bittersweet" title, because people expecting the traditional HEA will be sadly disappointed.

[Jennifer Wright · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another great book by HK Carlton!

[Portia · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an interesting spin on gay for you...I enjoyed it.

[Hrtnsoul28 · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't know why the low rating, I enjoyed this story. I know the two do not get together in the end, but to me it is a HEA as they still love each other and they have an amazing friendship.
I don't like the comment at the end about it not being their last kiss because marriage to me is not kissing other people.
It was a beautiful story of friendship.

[jules0623 · Rating 2 out of 5]

I liked that the GFY didn't work out. It was different. But generally, the writing was not great and, apart from the unusual turn in the trope, it was fairly forgettable.

[Linda-Grace · Rating 1 out of 5]

Wish I checked if I had read it first and checked the ending

[Anjali · Rating 4 out of 5]

Realistic, practical, truthful, sensible ,that's all I can say about this story. This is not romantic story .Its a story about friendship and grief ..