There are some extremely ugly moments, but oh, the catharsis of the ending.

The reader is meant to feel it right in the gut, but it doesn’t work for every reader. Bauer is a writer who uses power words, and the text leans vivid and evocative. 😜) Anyway, this is high drama, and there’s a lot of content that is definitely included to evoke specific feelings in the reader. (Pay attention to all the foreshadowing!) (Have I mentioned that Bauer is good at spinning tension? I don’t know if I’ve mentioned that before. It’s long, a chonky 400 pages, and Wes and Justin don’t find themselves addressing just one problem as life spins out in front of them. But home brings everything crashing down, and both Wes and Justin are left to pick up the pieces separately.įrom their initial tiptoeing and optimism to the secrets to the fallout of being discovered, this book is an angst-filled ride. Paris is a dream for both young men, and they have stars in their eyes all the way home, like maybe this summer romance can be the real love they both want to last forever. Wes is also gay, he’s just been keeping his head down and focusing on football so he can stay in college and have options after he graduates. And yes, Wes is really a cowboy, not just because of his attire but because his dad is actually a rancher far out in west Texas. Justin sees Wes and immediately thinks he’s going to be just like all the other dreadful, homomisic, filled with toxic masculinity cowboys he’s known his whole life growing up in Texas. The Jock begins with two new adult men-juniors in college-meeting the day they move in together for a study abroad program in Paris. The Quarterback is a gentler friends to lovers – though it has its share of angst, too – centered mostly on the protagonists with a more singular conflict. The Jock starts angsty and gets angstier, full of drama and multiple hurdles. These books both have Bauer’s voice and highly developed world-building, but they’re very different stories.

Floating hearts just coming right off it. Plot: (Best friend) and (father) of The Jock’s protagonists are third wheels so much that they find themselves pairing off, particularly after the quarterback is left behind while everyone else has summer break Heat Factor: It’s actually not that slow a burn, but getting to that first kiss is oofĬharacter Chemistry: They just like each other so gosh darn much

The quarterback by tal bauer