Review: Rush by Nyrae Dawn

Rush

Nyrae Dawn

6th May 2014

NA, Romance

Summary from Goodreads

This heartbreaking, powerful New Adult male/male romance will be loved by fans of Jamie McGuire, Jessica Sorensen and Abbi Glines, as well as by all fans of Nyrae Dawn's The Games trilogy...

What if you fell in love with your best friend? But no one could ever know...

Brandon Chase has always defined himself by one thing: football. He's the star of the team, an idol to his teammates and surrounded by the hottest girls. But Brandon has a secret - how he really feels about his friend Alec Andrews. Rather than confront the truth, Brandon pushes Alec away. 

But when Brandon is seriously injured in a car crash, the only person who can get through to him is Alec. Against all odds, Alec helps Brandon train his way back to fitness and prepare for the NFL draft. As they spend the summer together, the two can't deny their attraction - the rush they feel when they're together is impossible to deny and neither wants to walk away. Will Brandon be brave enough to face the consequences of following his heart? No matter what the cost? 

My Review

4/5

Rush was so heartbreaking and stunning at the same time.

This was the first full length M/M book I read and as I said before I love Nyrae Dawn's books so it was easy for me to trust her to do this right.

I hadn't read Four Summers before this which I probably should have to get the background story but I wasn't aware they were connected but I'm almost glad I read them in the wrong order. 

Brandon's situation made me feel so bad for him but at the same time I harboured a lot of annoyance for him in the way he treated Alec. He was worried that if anyone found out that he was gay that he wouldn't be able to continue on with his football career, that none of his teammates would stand by him. He spent a lot of the time lying to himself and hurting Alec in the process which was really what got to me.

Alec's home life was worse than Brandon's. Having a homophobic father isn't exactly the best situation for someone to come out to. The thing that I admired about Alec, though was that he was true to himself and Brandon for the most part and that made me more sympathetic to his case.

Though neither myself nor the author is a gay adolescent/young adult I believe she did a very good job with this story. I'm not an expert on it but as romances go I really enjoyed this Romeo and Juliet-esque story (and I do not like R&J). Their relationship was sweet at times and though they seemed to tear each other apart at times it just proved how much they loved each other.

I hope to see more of this beautiful writing in the future.

-Tia