Genre: Contemporary
LGBTQ+ Category: Gay, Bisexual
Reviewer: Lucy
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About The Book
Jules:
I’ve been in love with my brother’s best friend since I was twelve, and twenty years later, Erik Osouf is still so far out of my league, we aren’t even playing the same sport. Not that I play sports. That means talking to people, and my social anxiety makes that all but impossible.
It also makes my brother incredibly overprotective, and while I love that Stef always has my back, it’s why I still can’t tell Erik how I feel. It would wreck their friendship, and after everything Stef’s done for me, I won’t ever be the cause of that. I just wish my heart would get that memo.
Erik:
For years I thought of Jules Evans as the quiet, sweet kid who regularly crushed me at Mario Kart, and let fireflies loose in our camping tent. Then he accidentally admits he’s in love with me. He doesn’t remember saying anything, and I’d never embarrass him by mentioning it, but since then I can’t stop thinking about kissing him.
If it was anyone else, I’d probably have told them how I feel by now. But he’s my best friend’s younger brother. The same best friend who told me Jules is off-limits. That makes this all kinds of impossible. Unless I can convince them both I’m the right man for Jules.
Choose Me is a 70,000 word low angst, brother’s best friend, contemporary MM romance about flawed but devoted families, taking chances, and sweet cinnamon roll Vikings. It contains no cheating, and a guaranteed HEA.
The Review
Choose Me is a low-angst love story between Jules, who suffers from severe social anxiety, and Erik, with whom Jules has been in love since before he could probably define what romantic love meant.
This is a very well-written story with fun, colorful characters and a sweet HEA. If you want good storytelling and an adorable cast of characters, this is perfect for you. It is the third book in the Love in the Pacific Northwest series by Beck Grey, but it read perfectly well as a standalone. However, I have every intention of going through the author’s backlist and reading the other books in this series.
The brother’s-best-friend trope isn’t one of my favorites, but this was so well constructed, with good pacing that it was a joy to read. It does contain a lot of details about social anxiety and panic attacks, but it was done in such a respectful, realistic manner, and it is very pertinent to the story.
I really loved both Jules and Erik. They each faced insecurities and anxieties, and both of them had family who meant well but were difficult in various ways. They had to learn how to deal with their personal issues, navigating the rough waters of troublesome siblings while developing their own relationship.
I thoroughly enjoyed Choose Me. The story was well-paced, had a great plot, and fun, interesting characters. I will definitely look for more stories from this author.
The Reviewer
I’m an avid reader who loves pretty much all genres except math textbooks. As a kid, my parents exposed me to everything from fairies, hobbits, and dragons to the biographies of interesting people around the world, interspersed with poetry, plays, and music. Into adulthood, I spent a lot of years with my nose buried in various textbooks. Now, I read whatever grabs my fancy.
