Never Hollowed By The Stare

Secret Admirer – D.J. Jamison

You deserve all the kisses you want …

Benji,
I want you to know how amazing you are. You won’t believe me, because I’m just your brother’s best friend, but it’s true. Each day my feelings for you grow, confusing but undeniable.

With a few anonymous love tokens, I finally have an outlet for all the things I can’t say. And with each gift and note, you smile. For me. Not your brother’s straight friend, but something new. Something more. Something that will change everything if we can both find the courage to believe.

All I have to do is confess who I really am:
Your Secret Admirer

Secret Admirer is a super cute, feel-good offering from D.J. Jamison. She’s one of the more enjoyable MM romance authors out there. I said this about her before, she can make me read and like pure contemporary romance, a genre I typically struggle with.

This is an opposites attract, nerd + frat boy, brother’s bestfriend romance. It’s not really breaking new grounds but it makes up for it by all the adorkable moments.

First off, I really liked that the identity of the secret admirer was known to the reader right off the bat. I don’t have to drive myself crazy trying to figure it out. This is dual POV.

Benji is out and proud. He’s been secretly crushing on Ace, the best friend of his older brother, Jeremy, since forever. He knows it’s hopeless because the guy is straight. Ace has always been kind to him. Now that he is in college, Ace looks out for him on behalf of Jeremy. Ace treats him like a lil’ brother. Or so Benji thought.

Normally, I’m all over the shy, nerdy types and I was so ready to love Benji. But as the story progressed, his insecurities got the better of him. He gradually lost his charm.

Ace was the better guy here for being genuinely nice, caring, sweet and selfless. He had to reflect on his attraction to Benji a bit, especially in relation to his bi-curiosity and his best friend who might not think too highly about Ace hooking up with his baby brother. Eventually, he became honest with himself and took a chance to see where his feelings would lead.

There is the spectre of Jeremy hanging over most of the story with the guys holding off from telling him. He made his grand entrance, surprising both Ace and Benji. Then it tapered off to a blessedly drama-free but yeah, also anti-climatic, ending.

Secret Admirer falls somewhere between like and love. While there were many scenes that gave me warm fuzzies, these were mostly because of Ace’s efforts. The Benji issue could be a ME thing because many other GR reviewers were okay with him. I could still say the romance developed nicely despite Benji not appealing to me as a character. The story is low-angst and humorous, ideal for days when you’re in the mood for light, fluffy college boys shenanigans.

P.S.

Posts on D.J. Jamison’s works here.

Rating:
3.5 Stars – that place between like and love

Soundtrack: He’s So Fine
Artist: The Chiffons
Album: He’s So Fine

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