Review- Rush by Nyrae Dawn

Goodreads Summary:

This heartbreaking, powerful New Adult male/male romance will be loved by fans of Jamie McGuire, Jessica Sorensen and Abbi Glines, as well as by all fans of Nyrae Dawn's The Games trilogy... 

What if you fell in love with your best friend? But no one could ever know... Brandon Chase has always defined himself by one thing: football. He's the star of the team, an idol to his teammates and surrounded by the hottest girls. But Brandon has a secret - how he really feels about his friend Alec Andrews. Rather than confront the truth, Brandon pushes Alec away. But when Brandon is seriously injured in a car crash, the only person who can get through to him is Alec. Against all odds, Alec helps Brandon train his way back to fitness and prepare for the NFL draft. As they spend the summer together, the two can't deny their attraction - the rush they feel when they're together is impossible to deny and neither wants to walk away. Will Brandon be brave enough to face the consequences of following his heart? No matter what the cost?

REVIEW:

I loved Nyrae Dawn's What A Boy Wants, What A Boy Needs and Measuring Up. Those are books I read when I was completely into Young Adult and I thoroughly enjoyed every bit of them. I, however, no matter how big a fan of Nyrae's I became after that, didn't read any other books by the author. But once I got to know that her latest book, Rush, was a male/ male romance, I just knew I had to read it. And while I realised I missed out on Nyrae's simple and sweet writing, I didn't really enjoy the story as much as I was looking forward to enjoying it. 

Rush is the story of Alec and Brandon, who have been gay for as long as they know and they've been friends for a long time. When they first meet, sparks fly, but it's never a bed of roses. They know how difficult it is to survive in a world where anything outside of "normal" is taken as something that's bad, horrible and disgusting. They know how disappointed in them their respective families will be and how much Brandon, the football star's career will be affected by coming out of the closet. 

What I did like about Rush was the relationship between our two heroes. Alec and Brandon made for a very sweet and sensible couple, who cared deeply for each other and were at their best only when they were together. The chemistry between them was nice and hot. The few aspects that didn't sit quite well with me were the time Brandon took to accept that it's guys he likes. At the beginning, it frustrated me to no end when he kept pushing Alec aside. But to balance that out, Alec was a determined and practical person, who put Brandon first no matter what and who was the reason why the two came together. The huge difference between both their families gives two points of views on the breaking of the big news. While Brandon's side of the story was very sweet, Alec's side seemed more real and impacting. 

Overall, Rush wasn't a bad read at all. It was really good, in fact. It's just that I've read a lot of LGBT books and they've blown me away. In a way, I expected Rush to do the same. But now that I think of it, the whole theme on which Rush is based is different and taking into consideration that context, it was a very cute and compelling read that was good in its own way. Nyrae Dawn writes really well, although the typos could have seen better editing. Anyway, the author has written a nice, contemporary M/M romance that takes up the good and the bad side of things and in this day and age, we need more books like this. 

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