Review: Better Be Sure by Andy Gallo & Anyta Sunday
SYNOPSIS:
Orphan Jackson Murphy just staked his legacy on a bet.
Holy shit, his impulsive ass is in trouble.
Bring a guy to the fraternity formal? Pfft. Easy. Won’t be him kicked of the house.
So what if his luck with guys on campus has been shitty? Ed Knowles is Jack’s winning ticket.
Tall, handsome, hardworking—and he doesn’t go to Harrison.
With every stolen look, every secret kiss, every clandestine touch Ed becomes more than just an answer to a bet.
These cloak-and-dagger meetings that set Jack on fire? They mask one tiny, enormous obstacle: Ed’s not out. Can’t attend the dance.
What does Jack do now?
Hold on to his legacy… or his heart?
REVIEW:
I stumbled across this book in my typical fashion, while doing a deep dive on Goodreads. And as I finished the story I am left feeling a whole lot of meh. New to me authors, the cover was okay, the synopsis seemed fun and playful but the story didn’t resonate.
There were a handful of truly cute scenes but the story lacked depth. I felt like Jack and Ed didn’t really know each other before they were deciding to pour out their deepest, darkest secrets. The relationship had plenty of simmering sexy times but the characters lacked a true emotional connection.
Jack has a ton of issues, and I understand trying to create a dynamic character but the execution was bad. Jack is suffering from PTSD, he keeps everything bottled inside, suffers from panic attacks, and yet he isn’t in therapy or doing anything to improve his mental health. Which at the end of the day, left Jack as feeling like your ‘token’ mental illness character. In comparison, Ed didn’t really have any depth to him. Actually, now that I think about it, I feel like I don’t even know anything about Ed at all other than his family members, which position in the bedroom he prefers, and his career plans.
There were numerous side plots and side characters that took away from the main romance. Mostly this intense hatred between Jack and fellow frat member, Harper. Which we don’t really get into other than that Jack ratted a cheating Harper out and then endless hatred ensued. But the animosity between these two really detracted from the romance. Honestly, I was more wondering why the hatred ran this deep because the reasons we were provided with didn’t feel like the whole story.
At the end of the day, there was just a lot going on in the book and it wasn’t a good balance. There was no character growth or big revelation. The ending was cute but the story didn’t suck me in enough to want to pick up the other books in the series. I was just indifferent.
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