Out in the Open

Browerton University, Book 1

Libraries are meant for studying - not sex.

College sophomore Ethan Follett never says what's on his mind and never wants to rock the boat. After a high school social life spent anonymous and alone, things are finally falling into place for him. He's found a group of friends just as studious as he and is on track for a promising legal career. Out in the open, things couldn't be better, but secretly Ethan yearns for some real excitement in his life.

He finds it in cocky frat boy Greg Sanderson, who challenges every rigid, preconceived notion Ethan lives by. Soon, their sparring relationship turns sexual, and these enemies-with-benefits "get their freak on" all over campus. Yet the more Ethan comes out of his shell, the more Greg retreats into his, working overtime to keep his ladies' man public persona intact. As the sex gets hotter, and they get closer to getting caught, one part of their arrangement can't stay hidden any longer: love.

Contains mature themes.

©2014 A.J. Truman (P)2019 Tantor

good listen

this is my second listen of this book. it's a little slow and confusing at the start while he figures it out. then it gets a lot better. it feels like a genuine college experiment. I like the mix of taboo public sexual experiences with discovery of this tentative thing between them.

Better than I thought it would be!

Thanks to the plus catalog I found this freebie from A.J. Truman. I've found a couple of other Truman titles and they were misses so I almost passed this by. It helps that Alexander Cendese was at the helm - he's such a funny character voice actor - so I was able to immerse myself into the world of Ethan and his tipsy topsy relationship with Greg. This was told from 1 POV in 3rd person - which in audible titles I don't usually like - but it didn't matter because of the performance. There were some sizzling scenes but the emotional scenes were heart felt. Definitely loved Ethan's character developement.

4 stars - worthy of a repeat listen

Ignore women’s advice.

They caused all the tension in this story. Ethan was more their toy than anything.

Worth Reading

Studious Ethan arrives late to a class and the only seat open is next to an obnoxious frat boy, Greg. Sitting together through the semester, they are like oil and water. Until something changes.

This was an opposites attract and bisexual awakening (or FTG) troupe. I agreed with the book reviews that say the book would have been better if we could have seen Greg’s point of view; dual POV. I liked the story and will probably listen to the rest of the series.

Narration is subjective. One person could dislike a certain narrator, even if they are a fantastic actor. Having said that, I do not know why anyone would hire this narrator for anything other than cartoon voice acting, at which he would be excellent. I honestly do not understand why someone would write a book, a labour of love, and then hire someone to play the characters as if they are cartoons.

I avoided this series, as well as many other books, because of this narrator. But then, I became obsessed with South Rock High, book 3 which takes place after this book. The two MCs, Greg and Ethan, are hilarious as secondary characters in the South Rock High book. So I finally listened to this one. I guess my dislike of the narrator is less than my dislike of actually reading.

A young person's very limited perspective

I was looking for more stories performed by this narrator because I loved his joint performances in another MM series. Alexander Cendese brings an enthusiasm that rarely comes through in audiobooks and he did not disappoint here. However, the story was very hard to get through. The main protagonist had challenges that, while somewhat realistic, got tiring really soon. The character just seems to be written by a very young person for a very young audience, and not even college-aged crowd like the story is supposedly set in. I found myself rolling my eyes at Ethan's problems and descriptions of his personality growth. And the nonchalance of his college hookup feels like a teenage imagining of what college hookups are glamorized to be. For a while, I rather enjoyed his struggles with his different social circles more, finding those more relatable to the college experience. But even that got old and eventually resolved so quickly, it didn't feel genuine. Unfortunately that turned me off the rest of the series even with the promise of Cendese's fantastic performance.