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Games We Play #0.5
Two Truths and a Lyle
Two Truths and a...wait, what?!
What happens when drunken idiots, aka your friends, use a silly drinking game to sideswipe you and your BFF with the truth bomb that you’re actually in love with each other?
Truman: You impulsively kiss the best friend you’ve been in love with for ages…then wake up with a hangover—and regrets.
Lyle: You freak out because you’re not gay or bi, before realizing the kiss wasn’t *actually* bad. Then you begin to wonder…should we do it again?
Two Truths and a Lyle is a cute, low-angst M/M romance with two oblivious best friends who are perfect for one another, a town full of quirky residents who get in everyone’s business, and a sweet demisexual awakening.
What happens when drunken idiots, aka your friends, use a silly drinking game to sideswipe you and your BFF with the truth bomb that you’re actually in love with each other?
Truman: You impulsively kiss the best friend you’ve been in love with for ages…then wake up with a hangover—and regrets.
Lyle: You freak out because you’re not gay or bi, before realizing the kiss wasn’t *actually* bad. Then you begin to wonder…should we do it again?
Two Truths and a Lyle is a cute, low-angst M/M romance with two oblivious best friends who are perfect for one another, a town full of quirky residents who get in everyone’s business, and a sweet demisexual awakening.
130 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2022
248 people are currently reading
583 people want to read
About the author
D.J. Jamison
78 books975 followersDJ Jamison writes a variety of queer men finding extraordinary love through M/M Romance! She is a lifelong reader and has always loved writing and editing, with a ten-year journalism career before she began publishing romance. She has books in ebook, print, and audio, as well as German, French, and Italian translations.
DJ lives in Kansas with her husband, two sons, and a sadistic cat named Birdie.
Join DJ's mailing list at http://tinyurl.com/DJandCompany
Join her FB group at www.facebook.com/groups/DJandCompany
Follow her on Ko-Fi for bonus content: www.ko-fi.com/ReadingDJ
DJ lives in Kansas with her husband, two sons, and a sadistic cat named Birdie.
Join DJ's mailing list at http://tinyurl.com/DJandCompany
Join her FB group at www.facebook.com/groups/DJandCompany
Follow her on Ko-Fi for bonus content: www.ko-fi.com/ReadingDJ
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 163 reviews
July 2, 2023
I think I’m going to really like this series!
September 15, 2023
3.5 ⭐️
- besties to lovers
- bi awakening
- small town
A drunken game of Two Truths and a Lie sparks a kiss that makes things a little awkward between lifelong besties Lyle and Truman, but leaves Lyle questioning if his feelings are truly platonic for Truman.
He soon realizes he may actually be in love with his best friend, something their entire small town has joked about for years, after watching Truman being kissed by (multiple) someone else(s) at a kissing booth.
What Lyle doesn’t know is that Truman is equally in love with him, and when Lyle gets possessive of Truman after one too many charity kisses, they confess their feelings for each other.
& the rest is history.
These two were so oblivious, but oh so cute!
- besties to lovers
- bi awakening
- small town
A drunken game of Two Truths and a Lie sparks a kiss that makes things a little awkward between lifelong besties Lyle and Truman, but leaves Lyle questioning if his feelings are truly platonic for Truman.
He soon realizes he may actually be in love with his best friend, something their entire small town has joked about for years, after watching Truman being kissed by (multiple) someone else(s) at a kissing booth.
What Lyle doesn’t know is that Truman is equally in love with him, and when Lyle gets possessive of Truman after one too many charity kisses, they confess their feelings for each other.
& the rest is history.
These two were so oblivious, but oh so cute!
March 31, 2023
I swear I’ve read this exact book 10 other times before.
January 18, 2024
During the drinking game, "Two Truths and a Lie", Lyle and Truman’s friends stage an intervention, pointing out that they are actually in love.... which was one of the "truths". The question is whether their friend's good intentions when they interfered would spark romance, or anger, or flight, or perhaps all three. This is a novella and can easily be read in one sitting. In the audio version, we hear the story told in alternating chapters from the viewpoints of Lyle and Truman. The one thing that I found a bit annoying was the text chats that constantly went on between all their friends. For once I'm glad that I read out of order, or I might never have finished it. I know it was designed so that the reader could tell what was going on in the heads of the others, but it was still annoying. The setting for the entire series is a small Nebraska town where everyone knows everyone's business and there are no secrets. Gossip spreads quicker than news on social media. It’s also a place where meddling also comes off as simply caring. I loved the gossipy, golden old ladies. Age and experience had given them absolutely no filters, and they loved to make the young folks blush. They called themselves the "Grannie club" and I suppose every small town has one. It's a low-angst romance, and given its length, the ensuing drama was appropriately realistic. I loved meeting Truman and Lyle... one isn’t right without the other. That was vividly apparent when Truman left for college and made family and friends, especially Lyle, feel like they were missing a vital part of their bodies. As everyone knows, you sometimes don’t know how much you miss something until it’s gone. If you like 'friends to lovers' " stories, you might give this little jewel place in you reading life.
January 26, 2023
This is one of those lovely friends-to-lovers stories that feels like a comfort read since there is really no angst between the main characters. I loved Truman and Lyle, and they just melded together as if they always were and always will be. Their friends know this, and while they may have been a bit much when trying to make the guys see they should be together as more than just friends, they really were well-meaning.
The addition of the group texts was cute, and gave some extra insight into what the friends were thinking. Since I’d already read all of the books from the series, it was nice to go back to before it all started to get Tru and Lyle’s story.
Two Truths and a Lyle is a shorter read at novella length, and is a great story for anyone who is a fan of M/M contemporary romance, particularly if you love the friends-to-lovers trope. This was a 4.5-star read for me, and as sweet as the guys were, there was also a nice touch of spice ;-)
The addition of the group texts was cute, and gave some extra insight into what the friends were thinking. Since I’d already read all of the books from the series, it was nice to go back to before it all started to get Tru and Lyle’s story.
Two Truths and a Lyle is a shorter read at novella length, and is a great story for anyone who is a fan of M/M contemporary romance, particularly if you love the friends-to-lovers trope. This was a 4.5-star read for me, and as sweet as the guys were, there was also a nice touch of spice ;-)
August 26, 2023
Cute and short and sweet. The drinking games seem like a fun push to tie the stories, in my opinion. I wish we had a bit more clarity over their plans in the end, but overall I liked it.
January 25, 2023
They were best friends and planned to share an apartment together. Only, Truman left, Lyle was heartbroken, he had to make his own plans for the future.
Now he’s back and Lyle still doesn’t know why Tru left in the first place.
Truman’s dad had high expectations, too high for Tru, being around Lyle was getting too hard too, so he fled.
Looking back, it wasn’t the best choice.
It’s crystal clear for their friends, Lyle is… into Tru, and Tru? You can guess!
After a drinking game and a very drunk kiss, the situation gets awkward, it’s maybe time to man up.
A sweet, gentle story, where two best friends explore their feelings for each other.
After they confessed to themselves their true feelings, the heat is on!
The meddling friends were awesome, this story is the prequel of the series, and we know already what’s going on between them all, that was fun!
The author has a wonderful writing style, clear, and structured, with a good pace, the content always with great characters, palpable feelings, and fun!
Now he’s back and Lyle still doesn’t know why Tru left in the first place.
Truman’s dad had high expectations, too high for Tru, being around Lyle was getting too hard too, so he fled.
Looking back, it wasn’t the best choice.
It’s crystal clear for their friends, Lyle is… into Tru, and Tru? You can guess!
After a drinking game and a very drunk kiss, the situation gets awkward, it’s maybe time to man up.
A sweet, gentle story, where two best friends explore their feelings for each other.
After they confessed to themselves their true feelings, the heat is on!
The meddling friends were awesome, this story is the prequel of the series, and we know already what’s going on between them all, that was fun!
The author has a wonderful writing style, clear, and structured, with a good pace, the content always with great characters, palpable feelings, and fun!
March 29, 2024
I was looking for something light and fluffy and this fit the bill very well. I did want to hit Lyle over the head a few times, but not hard enough to do serious damage, haha. The story was the perfect length - that nothing was shortchanged; I felt like I knew the characters. Two best friends, 1 gay, the other "not" and one drunken kiss leads to questions and feelings and awakening. A fun story to help pass the day. And the narration was great too!
I do indeed recommend and give this 4.5 stars because I can. No, this isn't a revolutionary tale of love and dramatics, but it was well written, and it made me happy to listen to it.
I do indeed recommend and give this 4.5 stars because I can. No, this isn't a revolutionary tale of love and dramatics, but it was well written, and it made me happy to listen to it.
Read
July 17, 2024Quite literally the worst narrator in the world. His soft slow "Lyle, chapter 7" or whatever chapter it is, makes me feel gross all the way down to my toes. WHY DO PEOPLE KEEP GIVING HIM WORK? DOES ANYONE LIKE HIM??? Ugh.
July 18, 2023
A sweet story and a great prequel to the Games We Play series. I love D. J. Jamison and look forward to reading the other books in this series.
May 22, 2023
3.5⭐
This was an interesting and funny novella about the hilarious town of Granville and a group of young friends who live there.
It was seriously entertaining, well thought-out with funny ideas and pretty good characters.
This story is Lyle and Truman's, so
🟨 Best friends to lovers
🟪 Bi/Demi-awakening
🟩 Blue collar town, everyone very accepting
🟦 Gay MC is a virgin
🟥 Really funny
🌶️ Good spice
I absolutely liked this book, it's a small town bi-awakening sweet story of two childhood friends becoming lovers.
Everything about the story made me want to read the next installment, but the bi-awakening was too insta for me, I think Lyle jumped too soon into an actual relationship with Tru and didn't take enough time to internalize everything.
I was glad they found each other, but the beginning of their love story lacked something, I needed more push/pull, a little more angst to make it believable.
Other than that, I liked all the side characters and I'll gladly read Evan's book.
This was an interesting and funny novella about the hilarious town of Granville and a group of young friends who live there.
It was seriously entertaining, well thought-out with funny ideas and pretty good characters.
This story is Lyle and Truman's, so
🟨 Best friends to lovers
🟪 Bi/Demi-awakening
🟩 Blue collar town, everyone very accepting
🟦 Gay MC is a virgin
🟥 Really funny
🌶️ Good spice
I absolutely liked this book, it's a small town bi-awakening sweet story of two childhood friends becoming lovers.
Everything about the story made me want to read the next installment, but the bi-awakening was too insta for me, I think Lyle jumped too soon into an actual relationship with Tru and didn't take enough time to internalize everything.
I was glad they found each other, but the beginning of their love story lacked something, I needed more push/pull, a little more angst to make it believable.
Other than that, I liked all the side characters and I'll gladly read Evan's book.
June 18, 2023
3.5 stars
Light, short, easy read with a demi sexuality awakening, a longstanding crush, and two best friends.
This book had nice physical touch, both platonic and romantic. I felt the connection between the MCs and the sadness that Lyle felt when Tru left for college with only 1 week notice, when they'd been planning to rent an apartment together in town.
I both hated and loved the kissing booth plotline. The tension it created was great though and I'm glad Lyle called Tru out on it being a bit of a dick move to try to show him he didn't mean anything by the kiss when they could have just, y'know, talked it out.
The sex scenes were fine though I think they rushed into it a bit. I did really like the demi MC's comment about how natural it felt between them, and how sex had always felt slow and forced up until then.
I think I would have enjoyed this a lot more if it were longer, but it is a prequel novella, and it does make me want to check out the author's other works, so I'm rounding up for that!
Light, short, easy read with a demi sexuality awakening, a longstanding crush, and two best friends.
This book had nice physical touch, both platonic and romantic. I felt the connection between the MCs and the sadness that Lyle felt when Tru left for college with only 1 week notice, when they'd been planning to rent an apartment together in town.
I both hated and loved the kissing booth plotline. The tension it created was great though and I'm glad Lyle called Tru out on it being a bit of a dick move to try to show him he didn't mean anything by the kiss when they could have just, y'know, talked it out.
The sex scenes were fine though I think they rushed into it a bit. I did really like the demi MC's comment about how natural it felt between them, and how sex had always felt slow and forced up until then.
I think I would have enjoyed this a lot more if it were longer, but it is a prequel novella, and it does make me want to check out the author's other works, so I'm rounding up for that!
Want to read
November 19, 2024demisexual awakening truly sold it for me, hope it's going to be good
February 6, 2025
2.5 rounded up because it was cute. But nothing memorable tbh.
January 26, 2023
This is the prequel to the Games We Play Series. Each book in this series has a couple getting together because of some party game they play. The titles of all the books in this series are spot on and so clever.
This novella was previously released as a free short but has been revamped and is now available on Amazon. I have not read the updated version but loved the earlier version so I’m sure it’s even better now. I do plan to read it again!
Lyle and Truman are best friends who eventually fall in love. Theirs is a cute short story that really sets everything up for the rest of the series. I absolutely recommend reading this book first and reading the series in order. It’s such a fun series you won’t be disappointed!!
This novella was previously released as a free short but has been revamped and is now available on Amazon. I have not read the updated version but loved the earlier version so I’m sure it’s even better now. I do plan to read it again!
Lyle and Truman are best friends who eventually fall in love. Theirs is a cute short story that really sets everything up for the rest of the series. I absolutely recommend reading this book first and reading the series in order. It’s such a fun series you won’t be disappointed!!
June 8, 2025
3 🌟
audio read 🎧 — John Solo
Lyle and Truman
— best friends to lovers
— idiots in love
— queer awakening
— virgin MMC
— pining
Super sweet but the romance was very fast paced even for a novella. I didn’t really feel the connection between them as strongly as I would have preferred.
I also wasn’t a huge fan of this narrator. There were some strange inflections and emphasis that would pull me from the story.
They were cute together though, and they were 100% all in once the lightbulb finally went off. I’m going to read the next story about Evan and see if a full length novel by this author is better for me.
.
.
.
.
Potential spoilers
Dynamic: MM — strict on page, epilogue mentions potential for vers
Sharing? No
Cheating? No
Breakup? No
Sex scene with OM or OW No, but 1 MMC runs a charity kissing booth and the other MMC gets jealous.
audio read 🎧 — John Solo
Lyle and Truman
— best friends to lovers
— idiots in love
— queer awakening
— virgin MMC
— pining
Super sweet but the romance was very fast paced even for a novella. I didn’t really feel the connection between them as strongly as I would have preferred.
I also wasn’t a huge fan of this narrator. There were some strange inflections and emphasis that would pull me from the story.
They were cute together though, and they were 100% all in once the lightbulb finally went off. I’m going to read the next story about Evan and see if a full length novel by this author is better for me.
.
.
.
.
Potential spoilers
Dynamic: MM — strict on page, epilogue mentions potential for vers
Sharing? No
Cheating? No
Breakup? No
Sex scene with OM or OW No, but 1 MMC runs a charity kissing booth and the other MMC gets jealous.
January 19, 2023
Two Truths and a Lyle by DJ Jamison ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
A best friends to lovers small town romance 💛
Two Truths and a Lyle is a super sweet prequel novella that provides a great introduction to the Games We Play series.
After a drunken game of two truths and a lie leads to an unexpected kiss, best friends Truman and Lyle start to question if their friendship could become something more.
Truman is such a loveable, bubbly character and Lyle's quiet, calm personality compliments him perfectly.
I thoroughly enjoyed the original free novella and love this new version even more. The new 'friend chat' is so funny and truly showcases the spirit of the series.
This is another fantastic book from DJ, full of romance, friendship and small town cosiness which I know I will find myself re-reading again and again.
💛 Best friends to lovers
💛 Low-angst
💛 Small town
💛 Demisexual awakening
A best friends to lovers small town romance 💛
Two Truths and a Lyle is a super sweet prequel novella that provides a great introduction to the Games We Play series.
After a drunken game of two truths and a lie leads to an unexpected kiss, best friends Truman and Lyle start to question if their friendship could become something more.
Truman is such a loveable, bubbly character and Lyle's quiet, calm personality compliments him perfectly.
I thoroughly enjoyed the original free novella and love this new version even more. The new 'friend chat' is so funny and truly showcases the spirit of the series.
This is another fantastic book from DJ, full of romance, friendship and small town cosiness which I know I will find myself re-reading again and again.
💛 Best friends to lovers
💛 Low-angst
💛 Small town
💛 Demisexual awakening
January 15, 2023
“𝗙𝗼𝗿𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝗶𝘁. 𝗧𝗵𝗼𝘀𝗲 𝘁𝘄𝗼 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗯𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗲𝗹𝘀𝗲 𝘀𝗲𝗲𝘀.”
So this is a revamped novella to one of my favorite series, Games We Play. This is Truman and Lyle’s story and I absolutely looooooved it! Everyone, and I mean EVERYONE, sees the deep bond between best friends Tru and Ly. Tru loves Ly but Ly is straight…you know the rest. When Tru kisses Ly, things just quickly develop and I was here for it all.
This little story was so quick but fulfilling. Some sexy times, some sweet times, and so many emotions packed in this one. Of course we get some quirky Granville residents and once again I wish this place was real. 🥺
An absolute wonderful introduction to the Games We Play Series. If you haven’t found this series yet, now is the time!
QUOTE HIGHLIGHTS: 15
POV: 1st, Dual
STEAM: 🔥🔥🔥
TROPES: MM, Friends-to-Lovers, Novella
🅁🄰🅃🄸🄽🄶: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
August 7, 2025
Very cute short story about best friends Truman and Lyle.
Out and proud Truman has been in love with straight as a board Lyle since they were 15 only Lyle has no idea.
After a game of two truths and a lie, Truman drunkenly kisses Lyle, and the truth is mistakenly revealed.
Lyle does a lot of self reflection and decides that he is actually in love with Truman and has been for a long time.
There's a little bit of spice. I'm giving it 🌶🌶2/5 chilies on the spicy scale.
The guys get their HEA and there is a great epilogue.
This is third person, and it's pretty annoying.
Out and proud Truman has been in love with straight as a board Lyle since they were 15 only Lyle has no idea.
After a game of two truths and a lie, Truman drunkenly kisses Lyle, and the truth is mistakenly revealed.
Lyle does a lot of self reflection and decides that he is actually in love with Truman and has been for a long time.
There's a little bit of spice. I'm giving it 🌶🌶2/5 chilies on the spicy scale.
The guys get their HEA and there is a great epilogue.
This is third person, and it's pretty annoying.
July 27, 2024
Fun novella about two best friends realizing how they feel about each other. I enjoyed the little bit of angst, but really appreciated that the author was not trying to put too much into a short novella like this. The MCs were fun and I enjoyed their friend group.
November 30, 2024
This was so cute
Lyle and Truman were adorable. This whole town is adorable and I want to live there. This was a perfect little palette cleanser as I transition into some darker reads. Perfect for a light read.
Lyle and Truman were adorable. This whole town is adorable and I want to live there. This was a perfect little palette cleanser as I transition into some darker reads. Perfect for a light read.
December 17, 2023
THIS WAS JUST ALL OVER THE PLACE
Okay, I didn't hate this, but it really disappoints. Let me start by saying that I liked this a lot at the beginning—that is, until things started to feel very forced, and subsequently kept getting forced that it became unbearable. The sudden decline in quality of the storytelling actually blindsided me because the writing was actually very good, so I'm really confused as to what happened and how it happened. To break it down…
*** SPOILERS AHEAD ***
The crucial drunken kiss that supposedly set the main conflict of the story in motion was dismayingly executed – it didn’t feel organic at all and it might as well have been a sneeze with how abruptly and randomly it happened. Like, Truman literally decided to trip and bump lips with Lyle. Which would have been fine. Drunken kisses can happen that way. Given Truman's personality though? Hmmm. I doubt he would have chosen to do it that way, but… Okay, let's say we give that the benefit of the doubt… It's the way both characters reacted to it afterwards that made everything so wrong. These two were supposed to be the bestest of friends since infanthood who’re tighter than thieves, but they stir up a huge fuss over a little accidental mouth bump that can hardly even be counted as a legitimate kiss? Not kosher! Now, if it was an unmistakably flirty kiss, one that incontrovertibly conveys romantic interest on Truman's side, then and only then would the ensuing drama be completely justified. What kind of ultimate best friends are they if something so insignificant and in fact even considered normal among friends (yes, chaste pecks on the lips happen between friends, even among guys!) rattles the very foundation of their supposedly rock-solid, perfect-friends relationship? The inconsistency was so bad that my mind could not reconcile it with established "facts". That was the first instance my immersion in the story was broken and I couldn’t quite get back into the reading flow after that.
Then the kissing booth scene happened and I thought that it was great! Brilliant, even! And it was redeeming the story so nicely that I began to settle into a flow again… Until their official kiss happened and again, the pace seemed rushed, the mood utterly insipid and devoid of passion. I don’t know if the detached delivery was intentional for whatever effect the author was going for, but the result is practically just an exchange of dialogue with hardly any insights into to how they were feeling—heck, it might as well have been a no-nonsense business transaction. Which is why it seemed like their first real kiss had no real weighty emotional impact on either of them—the much-awaited profession of their true and-or awakened feelings could not have fallen more flatly. Why? Why choose to have that pivotal scene unfold that way, when it was supposed to be a MONUMENTAL, DEFINING moment for them and their friendship. It was supposed to be earth-shattering at the very least. I honestly don’t understand why the tension drops so drastically in the most important parts, and sadly, it just resumed tumbling downhill from there. The way they discussed their issues, the way they confessed their feelings, their desires, it all unfolded in such tone-deaf and painfully anti-climactic mess. Almost like they were but afterthoughts and the author just wanted to get it over with so everything was just dumped in one careless, unromantic regurgitation.
As a fan of this trope, I know it's almost impossible to go wrong with a Friends to Lovers story, because there is nothing more exciting and fulfilling than romantic love deeply rooted in friendship. Yet this story seemed to totally miss all the good parts of it, there were so many things that just made no sense with them. There are so many instances where they seemed more like strangers to each other than super BFFs. To name a few:
• Truman has never seen Lyle naked (and erect) and vice-versa? Unbelievable. If they were girls and the story was set in Asia or some other notoriously conservative country, sure, it would've worked. But they're both males, they were born and grew up in the "Land of the Free", and they've seen each other in diappies! Given that, would it make sense for them to act prudish about their bare bodies around one another all those years they were growing up? Any guy with a really close bestie (ergo, one they're perfectly comfortable around) would know that getting naked in the other's presence is no biggie, and if they practically grew up together, it's almost impossible that Truman has never seen Lyle's package – especially since he has been madly in love with the guy, c'mon. If it were as big as he claimed it was, then it should have been even more impossible to miss! Heck, even normal friends go as far as mutually masturbate and all, and that isn't something that would make things awkward between open-minded people, especially males. Yet Truman acts and talks about Lyle's big D like it was an alien from another planet that he never saw coming. Heck, even Lyle seems caught off guard by Truman's nudity. (Hmmm. Are these two really childhood best friends??)
• Along the same vein: Don't best friends dance and go home together? Yet, everyone, including Truman's dad made it seem like dancing and going home together is something they have NEVER-EVER done before, thus, is unshakable proof that two people are lovers. Haven't they ever danced before? Went home together before? In fact, doesn't Truman already go home with Lyle on a regular basis (he crashes over often, Lyle said so himself)? Heck, even kissing is something common among friends, they don't even have to be besties. In a kissing booth of all places. All the goading and teasing around them would have been cute, actually. If only it wasn't so obviously railroading.
• While I'm forever a sucker of the Jealousy trope and I gobbled up all of Lyle's silent stewing and consequent meltdown over Truman giving out kisses—and it would have been so sweet if it was kept at that and at a reasonable amount, but as with a lot of things between them post-kissing booth, it turned overkill real quick. Again, if this was something that had been properly established, then the overreacting would not come off as OTT. But while Love at First sight can usually justify such a thing, that usually doesn't work with BFFs to Lovers. It doesn't add up that Lyle has never cared before about who Truman batted his eyelashes to, then suddenly he's breathing fire down the necks of everyone Truman interacts with, even when it isn't even remotely sexual. (Even when Truman just mentions to his dad that he'd kissed a lot of boys, clearly merely as a cover up??) I know teens tend to be irrational because they're governed by their emotions more, but Lyle started out as a fairly mature character – the more judicious one of them. Then in the blink of an eye, he's a whiny baby? The sudden violent and very incongruent shift in Lyle's personality feels so contrived, it just comes off as disingenuous.
• Another thing is the Gay For You angle. No, I'm not one of those people who think there's no such thing. In fact, I believe it can happen (but most likely not in the way non-believers usually imagine it). I totally think this could have worked, but it should have happened in increments since they were really close friends. But Lyle going from negative-zero lust to a hundred in roughly a day? Even for the most impressive of mental gymnastics, that is a helluva stretch to wrap one's suspension of disbelief around. I think the biggest mistake here is how the story focused more on the game and that lame excuse for a kiss and Lyle painfully trying to accommodate the idea that he needs to be in love with his best friend or lose him again. If the story put more emphasis on what truly mattered here: their reunion and how profoundly it affected changes on both of them, then everything would have just fallen into place more naturally. Instead, a greater chunk of their time together was crammed chock-full of schmaltzy overboard-cringey speeches (like they were both trying to convince themselves so hard) of how much they want each other over and over ad nauseam, just to overcompensate for the lack of that solid foundation for their romantic feelings for each other. Worst part is, it was mostly telling with so little showing, so readers were constantly nagged to feel whatever they were saying, instead of allowing the readers to be imbued with the right emotions effortlessly by just letting us experience them ourselves.
Other things that kept tanking the story…
• The short-sighted characterisation (no real depth to their memories or experiences)
• Jarring dialogue-to-introspection ratio (the pacing fluctuates and falters)
• Sometimes the dialogue is gold, sometimes it's SAY WHUT??
• The main characters are borderline cardboard, making the side characters more interesting
Some last thoughts:
• Their friends egging them to get together out of the blue was one of the most egregious contrivances, that again, could have been fixed if only it had been justified better (with, again, that very important reunion scene, that was bizarrely left out of the story entirely, not even a wisp of a flashback or anything, like it didn't matter at all, when it was THE MOST IMPORTANT event of their lives!).
• I felt more sparks between Truman and Garrett, to be honest. I found myself giddy over the idea and aching to see more of them, in a way that I had difficulty feeling for Truman and Lyle. And that's kinda tragic. (I mean, Lyle is kind of a terrible friend and lover if he had never even once ever noticed Truman's feelings. Ironically, his shocking "obliviousness" kind of discredits their "perfect" friendship completely. What kind of "good" "best" friend could be that insensitive?)
• Up until the end, as much as I really wanted to be onboard with their love story, Lyle just couldn’t fully convince me that he was truly in love with Truman, and it made their relationship seem like nothing more than pity dating (which is again, very sad).
On the positive, I did like the cover for this and the other books in the series, and yes, the writing style. It was engaging and had plenty of amazing moments, but… I think a reliable copy editor or beta reader could have done wonders in smoothening out all the kinks. It was promising, and all things considered, I wanted to give this at least 2 stars (equivalent to "It was okay."), but then, the final nail on the coffin was finding out that there isn't a single open-door sex scene! (Why is this under the ADULT/NEW ADULT genre then??) Nooo… I was hoping for a smashing sex scene as a consolation, but there is none (that measly oral-sex scene was not even erotic)! For the lack of a sex scene in an MM romance of this length alone, I would have decked 5 stars! That's gotta be the biggest letdown for me at the end of an "ADULT" MM romance book. Okay, now I'm spectacularly gutted.
(But since I really jibed with the writing style, I'm giving the next story in this series a chance. I am looking forward to giving it a perfect 5 stars. Hopefully.)
Okay, I didn't hate this, but it really disappoints. Let me start by saying that I liked this a lot at the beginning—that is, until things started to feel very forced, and subsequently kept getting forced that it became unbearable. The sudden decline in quality of the storytelling actually blindsided me because the writing was actually very good, so I'm really confused as to what happened and how it happened. To break it down…
*** SPOILERS AHEAD ***
The crucial drunken kiss that supposedly set the main conflict of the story in motion was dismayingly executed – it didn’t feel organic at all and it might as well have been a sneeze with how abruptly and randomly it happened. Like, Truman literally decided to trip and bump lips with Lyle. Which would have been fine. Drunken kisses can happen that way. Given Truman's personality though? Hmmm. I doubt he would have chosen to do it that way, but… Okay, let's say we give that the benefit of the doubt… It's the way both characters reacted to it afterwards that made everything so wrong. These two were supposed to be the bestest of friends since infanthood who’re tighter than thieves, but they stir up a huge fuss over a little accidental mouth bump that can hardly even be counted as a legitimate kiss? Not kosher! Now, if it was an unmistakably flirty kiss, one that incontrovertibly conveys romantic interest on Truman's side, then and only then would the ensuing drama be completely justified. What kind of ultimate best friends are they if something so insignificant and in fact even considered normal among friends (yes, chaste pecks on the lips happen between friends, even among guys!) rattles the very foundation of their supposedly rock-solid, perfect-friends relationship? The inconsistency was so bad that my mind could not reconcile it with established "facts". That was the first instance my immersion in the story was broken and I couldn’t quite get back into the reading flow after that.
Then the kissing booth scene happened and I thought that it was great! Brilliant, even! And it was redeeming the story so nicely that I began to settle into a flow again… Until their official kiss happened and again, the pace seemed rushed, the mood utterly insipid and devoid of passion. I don’t know if the detached delivery was intentional for whatever effect the author was going for, but the result is practically just an exchange of dialogue with hardly any insights into to how they were feeling—heck, it might as well have been a no-nonsense business transaction. Which is why it seemed like their first real kiss had no real weighty emotional impact on either of them—the much-awaited profession of their true and-or awakened feelings could not have fallen more flatly. Why? Why choose to have that pivotal scene unfold that way, when it was supposed to be a MONUMENTAL, DEFINING moment for them and their friendship. It was supposed to be earth-shattering at the very least. I honestly don’t understand why the tension drops so drastically in the most important parts, and sadly, it just resumed tumbling downhill from there. The way they discussed their issues, the way they confessed their feelings, their desires, it all unfolded in such tone-deaf and painfully anti-climactic mess. Almost like they were but afterthoughts and the author just wanted to get it over with so everything was just dumped in one careless, unromantic regurgitation.
As a fan of this trope, I know it's almost impossible to go wrong with a Friends to Lovers story, because there is nothing more exciting and fulfilling than romantic love deeply rooted in friendship. Yet this story seemed to totally miss all the good parts of it, there were so many things that just made no sense with them. There are so many instances where they seemed more like strangers to each other than super BFFs. To name a few:
• Truman has never seen Lyle naked (and erect) and vice-versa? Unbelievable. If they were girls and the story was set in Asia or some other notoriously conservative country, sure, it would've worked. But they're both males, they were born and grew up in the "Land of the Free", and they've seen each other in diappies! Given that, would it make sense for them to act prudish about their bare bodies around one another all those years they were growing up? Any guy with a really close bestie (ergo, one they're perfectly comfortable around) would know that getting naked in the other's presence is no biggie, and if they practically grew up together, it's almost impossible that Truman has never seen Lyle's package – especially since he has been madly in love with the guy, c'mon. If it were as big as he claimed it was, then it should have been even more impossible to miss! Heck, even normal friends go as far as mutually masturbate and all, and that isn't something that would make things awkward between open-minded people, especially males. Yet Truman acts and talks about Lyle's big D like it was an alien from another planet that he never saw coming. Heck, even Lyle seems caught off guard by Truman's nudity. (Hmmm. Are these two really childhood best friends??)
• Along the same vein: Don't best friends dance and go home together? Yet, everyone, including Truman's dad made it seem like dancing and going home together is something they have NEVER-EVER done before, thus, is unshakable proof that two people are lovers. Haven't they ever danced before? Went home together before? In fact, doesn't Truman already go home with Lyle on a regular basis (he crashes over often, Lyle said so himself)? Heck, even kissing is something common among friends, they don't even have to be besties. In a kissing booth of all places. All the goading and teasing around them would have been cute, actually. If only it wasn't so obviously railroading.
• While I'm forever a sucker of the Jealousy trope and I gobbled up all of Lyle's silent stewing and consequent meltdown over Truman giving out kisses—and it would have been so sweet if it was kept at that and at a reasonable amount, but as with a lot of things between them post-kissing booth, it turned overkill real quick. Again, if this was something that had been properly established, then the overreacting would not come off as OTT. But while Love at First sight can usually justify such a thing, that usually doesn't work with BFFs to Lovers. It doesn't add up that Lyle has never cared before about who Truman batted his eyelashes to, then suddenly he's breathing fire down the necks of everyone Truman interacts with, even when it isn't even remotely sexual. (Even when Truman just mentions to his dad that he'd kissed a lot of boys, clearly merely as a cover up??) I know teens tend to be irrational because they're governed by their emotions more, but Lyle started out as a fairly mature character – the more judicious one of them. Then in the blink of an eye, he's a whiny baby? The sudden violent and very incongruent shift in Lyle's personality feels so contrived, it just comes off as disingenuous.
• Another thing is the Gay For You angle. No, I'm not one of those people who think there's no such thing. In fact, I believe it can happen (but most likely not in the way non-believers usually imagine it). I totally think this could have worked, but it should have happened in increments since they were really close friends. But Lyle going from negative-zero lust to a hundred in roughly a day? Even for the most impressive of mental gymnastics, that is a helluva stretch to wrap one's suspension of disbelief around. I think the biggest mistake here is how the story focused more on the game and that lame excuse for a kiss and Lyle painfully trying to accommodate the idea that he needs to be in love with his best friend or lose him again. If the story put more emphasis on what truly mattered here: their reunion and how profoundly it affected changes on both of them, then everything would have just fallen into place more naturally. Instead, a greater chunk of their time together was crammed chock-full of schmaltzy overboard-cringey speeches (like they were both trying to convince themselves so hard) of how much they want each other over and over ad nauseam, just to overcompensate for the lack of that solid foundation for their romantic feelings for each other. Worst part is, it was mostly telling with so little showing, so readers were constantly nagged to feel whatever they were saying, instead of allowing the readers to be imbued with the right emotions effortlessly by just letting us experience them ourselves.
Other things that kept tanking the story…
• The short-sighted characterisation (no real depth to their memories or experiences)
• Jarring dialogue-to-introspection ratio (the pacing fluctuates and falters)
• Sometimes the dialogue is gold, sometimes it's SAY WHUT??
• The main characters are borderline cardboard, making the side characters more interesting
Some last thoughts:
• Their friends egging them to get together out of the blue was one of the most egregious contrivances, that again, could have been fixed if only it had been justified better (with, again, that very important reunion scene, that was bizarrely left out of the story entirely, not even a wisp of a flashback or anything, like it didn't matter at all, when it was THE MOST IMPORTANT event of their lives!).
• I felt more sparks between Truman and Garrett, to be honest. I found myself giddy over the idea and aching to see more of them, in a way that I had difficulty feeling for Truman and Lyle. And that's kinda tragic. (I mean, Lyle is kind of a terrible friend and lover if he had never even once ever noticed Truman's feelings. Ironically, his shocking "obliviousness" kind of discredits their "perfect" friendship completely. What kind of "good" "best" friend could be that insensitive?)
• Up until the end, as much as I really wanted to be onboard with their love story, Lyle just couldn’t fully convince me that he was truly in love with Truman, and it made their relationship seem like nothing more than pity dating (which is again, very sad).
On the positive, I did like the cover for this and the other books in the series, and yes, the writing style. It was engaging and had plenty of amazing moments, but… I think a reliable copy editor or beta reader could have done wonders in smoothening out all the kinks. It was promising, and all things considered, I wanted to give this at least 2 stars (equivalent to "It was okay."), but then, the final nail on the coffin was finding out that there isn't a single open-door sex scene! (Why is this under the ADULT/NEW ADULT genre then??) Nooo… I was hoping for a smashing sex scene as a consolation, but there is none (that measly oral-sex scene was not even erotic)! For the lack of a sex scene in an MM romance of this length alone, I would have decked 5 stars! That's gotta be the biggest letdown for me at the end of an "ADULT" MM romance book. Okay, now I'm spectacularly gutted.
(But since I really jibed with the writing style, I'm giving the next story in this series a chance. I am looking forward to giving it a perfect 5 stars. Hopefully.)
May 25, 2023
3.5 stars - I'm interested in the first full book of this series, so I read this 0.5 novella ahead of checking that out. Predictably cute, and the word demisexual was written out for all to read.
January 15, 2023
Okay first things first. I may have started this series just a teensy bit out of order. I started with the first full length book Never Have I Evan. I enjoyed that one so much I just went on to binge the remainder of the series, totally missing out on this prequel novella. As you can probably tell I have now rectified that and have officially completed the series by finishing this novella. It was definitely too cute to miss out on.
I loved finally getting to know how the drinking game match making officially began. Truman was such a fun character in all the books so it was great to read about his and Lyles love story. And it is a love story. Two best friends, basically living in each others pockets, until Truman finally decides he's had enough pining and leaves his bestie to go away for college. Shocked at being left behind, Lyle is heartbroken without his best friend, though he doesn't know that's what he's feeling at the time. He just thinks he misses his friend. It takes the meddling of the rest of their amazing friend group to finally get these two to see what was in front of them all along. That and a well intentioned charity Kissing Booth.
I loved finally getting to know how the drinking game match making officially began. Truman was such a fun character in all the books so it was great to read about his and Lyles love story. And it is a love story. Two best friends, basically living in each others pockets, until Truman finally decides he's had enough pining and leaves his bestie to go away for college. Shocked at being left behind, Lyle is heartbroken without his best friend, though he doesn't know that's what he's feeling at the time. He just thinks he misses his friend. It takes the meddling of the rest of their amazing friend group to finally get these two to see what was in front of them all along. That and a well intentioned charity Kissing Booth.
October 28, 2023
Adorable and super sweet, though the pacing was a little odd to me
May 10, 2024
When you're gay and in love with your best friend, who happens to be straight, what do you do? You run of course, pack up and leave town. The pain and heartbreak here gives us a very sad tale, makes you want to smack these two up side their heads. It's a touching story, this author nails us with the pain these two feel, as well as the annoying but well meaning interference from their friends.
Read
January 28, 2023Free read via Your Book Boyfriend's Boyfriend! at Prolific Works. LINK.
February 17, 2023
Very cute and sweet story.
Want to read
January 25, 2025🎁 FREE on Amazon today (6/10/2023)! 🎁
June 19, 2023
Easy breezy best friends are in love with each other and one of them hasn't figured it out. Literally everyone else in the world knew but my boy had some serious blinders on.
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