Review: Rush by Nyrae Dawn

Rush
By: Nyrae Dawn
Publisher: Forever Yours
Release Date: May 6, 2014
Genre: M/M New Adult Romance
Rating:

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For the love of the game.

Brandon Chase has always defined himself by one thing: football. Tough and athletic, he is a great college player who enjoys the hard hits and the sweaty grind of the gridiron. But when Brandon is injured, only one person can help him get back on track-a forbidden love he’s desperately tried to put behind him.

Alec Andrews has never quite forgiven Brandon for walking away when their friendship turned into something more. But he can’t deny help to one of his closest friends. As the two spend the long, hot summer working together, their old attraction comes flooding back.

Now as Alec thinks about coming out to his conservative family and Brandon considers revealing he’s a gay football player, the two men must be strong to fight for a love that could be the greatest rush of their lives.

Brandon and Alec have been in love with each other since they were sneaking off into the woods at the age of 16. It started off as an innocent friendship but became more every summer that they met up. However, with not being able to come to terms with being gay, Brandon breaks things off with Alec and never returns the following summer. Now, a year and a half later, they find that their feelings haven’t changed. The only question is, are they willing to put it all out there on the line for a love that some people would find wrong?

I’ve only read one of Nyrae’s books before and I must say, that after reading this, I need to add the rest of her books to my list. I mean, wow. She has a way of pulling such emotion from her characters that make the reader want to weep for them. I seriously could not put this book down. I had to make myself go to sleep for work the next morning. I kept telling myself, “Just one more chapter.”, and two hours later, there I was still reading. Heck, I woke up and the first thing I did was pick up the book again, BEFORE MAKING COFFEE. I even thought about Alec and Brandon while at work wondering what was in store for them next. Sheesh, I’m seriously going to have a book hangover after this one. It consumed my life.

The struggles that these characters face is heartbreaking, their love for each other was passionate, and their decision to come out no matter how hard it was, was inspiring. Even though the story wasn’t suspenseful, Nyrae had me on the edge of my seat the entire time. I don’t normally read M/M romance because the story lines very rarely interest me but this combination of new adult, self discovery, and romance really did it for me. I was in love with the story from the first page and it held onto my heart until the very last word. I’m bummed that it had to end. If only Rush could’ve been the size of Harry Potter.

“The summer after I turned sixteen, I discovered a new side of who I am. It was scary because this me was realer than any other version of myself. It was the Brandon I had never admitted existed. It hid inside me, afraid and fucking weak and trying to blend into the shadows, hoping, praying to disappear.”