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Eric & Clint #2

More Than Friends: The Complete Second Story

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M/M Straight to Gay First Time Romance

Life doesn’t stop after happily ever after. Jason “Clint” McClintock and Eric Look have overcome the impossible and done the impossible, turning a bond stronger than brotherhood into a blazing hot romance and surviving some of life’s cruelest lessons. Now, they will discover how strong their love truly is and how deep it can be.

Eric has promised never to leave Clint— a promise he never intends to break. But when standing by his man means giving up the opportunity of a lifetime, will he be able to make good on his words? The reappearance of an old friend and a once in a lifetime shot at achieving his dreams may be too much to resist. Is their love strong enough to weather the storm?

Clint has what he never thought he could: a peaceful life and somebody who loves him. He has built his world around Eric and is determined not to let anything or anyone jeopardize what he has fought so hard to possess. When a mysterious woman shows up on his doorstep, he is reluctant to involve himself in her affairs; the secrets she carries may be the keys to both his future and his past. The only question is whether or not Clint is ready to face the truth and get the answers he needs.

With the shadow of tragedy hanging over their heads, their love will be tested like never before. Clint and Eric must discover how far the bonds of love, friendship, trust, and forgiveness can stretch if they hope to keep their love alive.

Please Note: This book contains Adult Language & Steamy Adult Activities, it is intended for 18+ Adults Only. Approx. 50,000 words in length. HEA (happy ever after ending). Does not end with a "cliffhanger". It is recommended to have read "More Than Friends : The Complete First Story" prior to reading this book.

Purchase the Print Edition new directly from Amazon & it come with a free Kindle Matchbook (digital edition which can be read on your Kindle).

190 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 5, 2015

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62 people want to read

About the author

Jerry Cole

182 books293 followers
Jerry Cole is a gay author who lives in California & enjoys writing love stories. Jerry has been writing fiction since he was a child. As a young adult, he worked as a freelance writer in the evenings & on weekends. Jerry started writing gay romance stories several years ago, but initially just for his own entertainment & occasionally sharing stories with his friends. In the summer of 2015 he published his first gay romance short story on Amazon. Overwhelmed by the positive response he decided to quit his “day job” & took up writing gay romance full time. When he’s not writing steamy M/M romance he enjoys globetrotting, watching movies with family and friends, working out, & being dragged down the road by his two Great Danes.

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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
Profile Image for Amanda Jean .
629 reviews17 followers
Read
March 20, 2016
Won't rate it because didn't finish it at 51%. Not a fan of reading about a man, who is not one of the MCs, fantasize in the shower about one of the main characters. The fist book was great but I'm not going to finish this one
Profile Image for Robert W. Books.
33 reviews1 follower
January 26, 2017
Happy and sad

Many happy chapters, and also one that brought tears to my eyes. You know a book is good when the author makes you feel a range of emotions for the characters. And always a sucker for a happy ending.
Profile Image for Himi.
275 reviews5 followers
October 29, 2016
And we’re back for round two. I don’t know if it’s because I’m a writer as well or it’s simply a condition of my curious nature, but I enjoy dissecting other writers’ thought processes, seeing if I can unstitch the seams, hidden or otherwise. And it is to that end that I wind up reading things that I really should give up on. Initially I decided that book 2 wasn’t worth the effort, but since I am nothing if not fair… and curious, I gave it a go to see how Cole attempted to make amends. I knew he would.

I can tell that Cole figured he’d get some of his redemption out of the way early. The first chapter was Claire’s point of view and she regaled us with her courtship and state of bliss featuring Ali.

Fail.

Claire talks about how Ali views and treats women, and I guess it’s supposed to be a sweet and noble sentiment, but “every girl is somebody’s mom” is stupid. Every girl is a person. She doesn’t need to be chained to someone else’s personage or a function she serves in someone else’s life to matter. The same would never be said for boys and fatherhood.

Yeah, I didn’t like Claire in the first book, or rather, I didn’t like how Cole used her. And I like what he used her for in the second book even less. She started going to AA. That’s great, but Clint drank excessively, too, but he didn’t have to go to AA, it wasn’t even mentioned. Granted, he curbed his drinking after he and Eric got together, but as soon as things went downhill, he turned to alcohol. She started going to therapy. This was also great, but considering the life that Clint had lived and was still living–his father raising him as a soldier instead of a son; his father mentally and physically abusing him; his father nearly killing his boyfriend; his unresolved feelings about his mother; and being gay, but planning for a life in the military–he had plenty of things to reconcile that he really should have sought therapy to help him work through. But no.

Claire and Ali had been dating for sometime and everything was great, but she said he was too good to be true, and her reasoning was that he’d never made an advance to have sex with her and resisted all of her advances. First, she thought that she was unwanted (something wrong with her if she isn’t wanted), then she wondered if he was gay (something wrong with him if he doesn’t want her). So, one day, she freaked out on him. He, of course, explained, chastised, that it’s neither of those, but that he hasn’t tried to sleep with her because she is not a whore and he isn’t an animal. And this, this is what makes everything alright for her, with her, eases her worries. This.

I weary of the idea of a woman coming to understand herself through the eyes of a man; the idea of a woman coming to understand herself self-worth through the eyes of a man, or banking on any of that because a man approved, agreed, encouraged, said.

You know, fine. In and of itself, there isn’t anything wrong with Claire’s characterization–it is just one of so many that could be. Except that it’s not. Cole could have written the other female characters to balance out Claire, but he didn’t. She is the most prominent female in the entirety of the series, but all the other women seem like thinly veiled facets of her. If the men, including the minor characters could be diverse, why not the women?

Claire was Claire, but there was also Sophia, Clint’s long lost sister who came on the scene reeking of trouble. Rather than being upfront about her dire situation, she was written to be underhanded, conniving, and throwing herself at a man who was only using her. Her redemption was essentially wrapped up in her being desperate at one point and eventually seeing the error of her ways, but not knowing how to undo her mess without making a bigger one. All her wrongs were righted by a man.

Then there was Clint’s mother who was demonized for abandoning her son to a unstable man. Her story was tidied up by making her out to be unaware of the type of man Clint’s father turned out to be and by her bequeathing her company to Clint. But it didn’t take long before all of that was undone when Clint’s father’s unraveling was pinned on the fact that she left him. He was so in love with her that it broke him. So even though he’s in jail, he’s being let off the hook in someway because of something this woman did.

Now, Eric’s mother was made up to be this over the top, overly emotional, eccentric woman who annoyed Eric and hated Clint and didn’t want them to be together (I can’t remember if part of that was due to their sexuality, but I think so). It took her death for her personality, quirks, and flair for the dramatic to be seen as something endearing and okay rather than more checks on the list of why women shouldn’t be president.

Side note. After Eric’s mother passed away, Clint and Eric were in a diner and Eric broke down and when Clint told the concerned waitress why, she offered pie. Only in America is pie the appropriate response to grief.

The last woman with more than a cameo appearance is Mrs. Reginald, the wife of one of Clint’s superiors. She was understanding and caring and supportive of her son who was a gay Marine. I was hoping for too much. Some of her support came in the form of acknowledging, accepting, and perpetuating the division between Army men and their significant others: men are the conquerors and women are the caretakers. As if that alone wasn’t enough, Eric and Mrs. Reginald’s son-in-law–who was married to her son and was also a Marine, but deemed the pretty one–were relegated to the section of womenfolk. Yeah.

The same thing I said for Claire goes for all of the other women; individually these are not bad depictions–there’s a lot you can do with them, but put together like this, it’s sickening. The women have no agency and anything that seemed like it at anytime was eventually attached to her relationship with a man.

And yet, I’ve hardly scratched the surface of the story, though after all I’ve said, I kind of feel like… what’s the point.

If you can believe it, book 2, overall, was much better than the first one. Cole was making up for certain losses, impracticalities, and imbalances that were staged in the first book. The writing is a lot better, more engaging, better flow, there’s a lot more tension, real tension; and there’s a marked sense of growth in characters. Though they’re still dealing with a lot of the problems that have spilled over from volume to volume. Problems don’t just go away–usually–so this book, in its misguided way, is making amends and there’s sense of cleaning up in the aftermath. Not that any of that makes up for the failures, but it’s still worth mentioning.

The past comes back to bite both Eric and Clint and it hangs around long enough to threaten their futures. About 60% of the way through I tried to call it. With the inheritance, its stipulations, and Sophia; the slimy guy chasing Eric; Eric’s mother; Claire trying to get her life together and reconciling with her former sort-of-friends–there were a lot of loose ends to tie up. I was very close with everything centering on the inherited company, though there were somethings I didn’t see coming, but that’s all a part of the happy ending model that relies on “anything goes” logic. At this point, I’m not in the mood to complain about it.

Even though she was a significant part of the story, Claire didn’t show up all that much in this book. However, while I had my issues with it, her opening the book worked out to be a great setup for Cole using her voice to close it. Even after everything I’ve complained about, the story had a decent the ending. Claire remarked that after Eric and Clint said “I do”–yup, they got married–Eric was beaming and Clint looked like he just got away with the crime of the century. And I have to tell you, that was a perfect description. I can’t say exactly what that look is like, but considering the person he was and all the crap he put Eric through, Clint really didn’t deserve him. And that he somehow managed to get Eric to put up with him until death do they part… yeah, that line was so perfect.

If you haven’t guessed it by now, I’m not a fan of Jerry Cole. He’s off my list. People can change and writers live thousands of lives, so I never dismiss them completely, but since The Complete Second Story was released in this year, it’ll probably be 2018, ’19 before I consider giving him another chance.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
620 reviews
July 25, 2019
Another great book!

Another great book by Jerry Cole. An awesome follow up to the first book. I absolutely loved Eric and Clint and I didn't want their story to end. I'm going to miss them. Loved it!
71 reviews1 follower
July 20, 2017
Another stunner

Omg , this one was like and emotional rollercoaster,I laughed and cried and just couldn't put it down
You knocked this one out of the ball park jerry
Profile Image for Darlene.
1,045 reviews10 followers
December 14, 2016
Jerry Cole did it again in finishing a great complete second story (2nd Edition) about Eric and Clint as their life continued after the first book. I really love these two characters, and I was heartbroken when they broke up. But I still continued to cheer them on to get back together.

The breakup was Clint’s fault again, but soon after discovers he can’t live without Eric and was miserable. Without the help from his friends/family he would have continued to be miserable, but when Clint goes to Eric to get back together he got a taste of his own medicine. The trust in their relationship was broken and Eric wasn’t sure he could trust his best friend/lover again.

That’s when Clint finds out it takes more than loving his man, he had to regain Eric’s trust and fight for what he wanted and Eric is who he wanted. The story goes on with a thorn in Clint’s side by the name of Fernando; a man Eric had a brief affair with during their breakup. The man is a real sleaze bag and it took Eric awhile to figure that out.

Once good-ole Clint got his head out of the pity-potty, he rose to the challenge of winning his boyfriend back with more confidence. He had to, he’s head-over-heels in love with Eric, his only true love, but he soon discovers paybacks a b-tch and it was much harder to convince Eric to take him back.

Fernando caused much havoc between the two lovers that when Clint got his crap together and gave his best shot at Fernando, the guy didn’t know what hit him when his walls tumbled down around him.

On top of dealing with his romantic problems his long lost sister arrives on the scene to cause even more frustrations for Clint. She had her own devious motives that Clint had to figure out which also kept him on his toes. Jerry did a great job writing the juggling between both situations that I really got into the whole mystery behind Clint’s sister and the downfall of Fernando. There was never a dull moment throughout the whole story and I loved it when Clint and Eric got back together.

As always, Jerry Cole gives us a wonderfully warm HEA ending. I recommend this book to anyone, but would suggest you read the first book to be able to follow along in this book. Happy reading

I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy of the book.
Profile Image for K..
189 reviews
June 17, 2016
„More than Friends 2” by Jerry Cole sums up story about Clint and Eric. In the first part we got HFN ending and in this book we can witness their further path to HEA! :)
What we get in this part of the story is growing up, character development, jealousy and even some scams. You name it, the book has it! And I liked every part of it. The best part of it was Clint’s maturation, though. I loved how he took the reins when needed.
Catching up with Claire was nice addition, this girl had issues and it’s good to see that she’s trying to do better. It’s great to see her metamorphosis.
„More than Friends 2” is a great, interesting and engaging book. Ending was heart-warming and just what boys deserved. I would highly recommend it! TEAM CLERIC!

*I received a free advance reader copy of this book in exchange for an honest & unbiased review.*
Profile Image for Paisleyrowan.
366 reviews50 followers
July 22, 2017
This is one of my favorite fictional couples, and I read a LOT. So to get more time with them was great. It was not as good as the first installment of their story, but I'm trying to only judge this book on its own.
For some reason, this still needs a ridiculous amount of editing or proofing. And instead of just one skeezy character you feel coated in slime after reading about, there's multiple. I will admit, I did not see the twist coming with Fernando at the end, which is rare and very nice. And I think Clint was able to show how much he'd grown and matured. We didn't get to see Eric the way Clint did this time and that made a difference.
Overall, when you can overlook all of the switching into first person and back again, sometimes even in the same sentence, it's a good story. But you won't receive the best from this unless you know the first part of their story.
117 reviews
March 23, 2016
Dell.

I've just finished this gay for you parts 1 and 2 book and it was wonderful.Everything about Eric and Clint did it for me, their age, the fact that they had been in love since they were teenagers,they knew each other inside out. Loved when Eric's father told him that he always knew he was gay because he had seen the love in Eric's eyes for Jason. There was pain and tears, a few unexpected spots in the book but most of all there was love. I would love to read more about these two. Thank you for the great books.
Profile Image for Lora.
1,330 reviews10 followers
April 22, 2016
This story line was def better than the first book. This one, Clint and Eric's relationship was more mature and i have that connection i was looking for in the first book. The first book, Clint was the one who was a little shaky in my mind but in this one he really pulled out ahead and i felt Eric was the one lacking. I felt Eric was very very VERY nieve and it really made me dislike him at times. Clint was the saving grace in this relationship. I really liked watching him grow.
562 reviews12 followers
April 17, 2016
A knockout

This novel has a bit of intrigue and unexpected plot twists. Have your hanky ready for the last quarter. Some very well written lines will have you laughing. Go Team Cleric! Could there possibly be a Book 3?
Profile Image for Mrs. Reader.
132 reviews19 followers
October 25, 2016
I liked this book. Eric was starting to get on my nerves with the whole ex boyfriend thing though. Really? He didn't understand why Clint was so jealous. He was just annoying. Clint I loved him. It was a pretty good read. I even forgave the ex girlfriend.
Profile Image for Lea Blottiaux.
483 reviews2 followers
March 6, 2016
A Good Read

This book was the continuation of Clint and Eric and their friends. It was a touching and romantic. I hope that there is a third book. It was a good read.
120 reviews1 follower
November 2, 2016
Loved team Cleric. I especially liked the way Clint took charge and went and got his man.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews

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