Review: Top Secret by Sarina Bowen and Elle Kennedy

I loved this book. From start to finish, I was in love with the geeky Keaton and the more suave Luke. AH, just totally in love. This book read likes the college frat fan fictions I love to read on AO3. Needless to say, I devoured this book.

Here’s a little info on this new collaboration from Sarina and Elle.

LobsterShorts, 21
Jock. Secretly a science geek. Hot AF.

LobsterShorts: So. Here goes. For her birthday, my girlfriend wants…a threesome.

SinnerThree: Then you’ve come to the right hookup app.

LobsterShorts: Have you done this sort of thing before? With another guy?

SinnerThree: All the time. I’m an equal opportunity player. You?

LobsterShorts: [crickets!]
SinnerThree, 21
Finance major. Secretly a male dancer. Hot AF.

SinnerThree: Well, I’m down if you are. My life is kind of a mess right now. School, work, family stress. Oh, and I live next door to the most annoying dude in the world. I need the distraction. Are you sure you want this?

LobsterShorts: I might want it a little more than I’m willing to admit.

SinnerThree: Hey, nothing wrong with pushing your boundaries…

LobsterShorts: Tell that to my control-freak father. Anyway. What if this threesome is awkward?

SinnerThree: Then it’s awkward. It’s not like we’ll ever have to see each other again. Right? Just promise you won’t fall in love with me.

LobsterShorts: Now wouldn’t that be life-changing…

——————————————————————–

What I really loved about this book include…

The romance, obviously! Keaton and Luke are fabulous together. These two are not exactly BFF in the frat house. Not enemies but not pals. They have some rather unsavory opinions about each other so watching them realize that there is so much they don’t know about each other (aside from the facade one put’s on with everyone), well, it was great. These two really do not know each other well but the app helps improve that. They like what they discover.

I really liked Annika, Keaton’s girl friend. I honestly would love to see her get her own story. I liked that she was the one to break it off honestly. I didn’t like seeing Keaton cheat on her through the app and I wish that had resolved itself sooner. But Annika seems like a sweet woman and I would like to see her find the passion and desire she craves.

I liked that Keaton’s dad, while a bit of a hard ass, is not a total jerk. He clearly does want Keaton to be happy, even if that happiness takes him in a direction that isn’t into pharmaceuticals and finance (and really, can you blame Keaton? That sounds boring as heck). I liked that their relationship ends on a good note in the story.

I LOVED the odd animal biology facts Keaton throws out into conversations. I really enjoyed the frat scene (as I said, one of my favorite settings in fan fiction and new adult honestly). I love, love, love how Luke throws a party. That scene was totally something a guy would think of.

I know this sounds mean, but I actually thought Luke did the right thing in eventually cutting communication with his family. His kindness and generosity had long been abused and seeing him work so hard only to have his mom complain and his brother try to ruin his college career, yeah, they deserved to be cut out of his life.

Basically, there is a lot to like in this story. Mistaken identity, sexy chatter, sexy boys, and a strong romance. Sarina and Elle seem to have really hit their stride as a writing duo. This book is just plain fun from start to finish. It is one of my top m/m romances of 2019 so far!

Top Secret is available now!

ARC provided by authors for review.

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Tagged: Elle Kennedy, Sarina Bowen