Lane Hayes's Better Than Series Continues When Two Men Become "Better Than Friends"

“Love is friendship set on fire.” – Jeremy Taylor

Author: Lane Hayes

Publisher: Dreamspinner Press

Pages/Word Count: 216 Pages

Rating: 4.5 Stars

Blurb: When Curt Townsend, a successful young DC lawyer, attends his first gay wedding, he doesn’t expect anything more than a great evening out spent celebrating two lucky guys willing to commit to one another. He certainly doesn’t anticipate meeting someone like Jack Farinelli. Fourteen years Curt’s senior, Jack owns two businesses: a gay bar and a motorcycle shop. He’s gorgeous and self-assured, but Curt is positive they have nothing in common.

Jack is comfortable in his own skin. He’s attracted to Curt’s quick wit and easy manner but most of all, to their unexpected mutual love of baseball. As they forge a friendship based on their shared enthusiasm for the sport, they begin a journey which reveals how their differences might be the catalyst behind a growing attraction. Both men have experienced their share of pain, but they realize they need to set aside the past and learn to trust in a future if they are to have one together

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Review: If you love the Better Than series, you will love this addition to it. Better Than Friends picks up right where the last book finished, Peter and J’s wedding, and spans a year in time. Curt, Matt’s roommate, notices Jack, Peter’s ex, and is immediately attracted to him. During the reception they talk, and Jack decides this day, April 21st, is the first day of the future and he is going to let the past be in the past. They begin a friendship after the wedding and share a kiss…or a couple.

We see a side of Curt in this book that was different from the Curt we saw in Better than Good. We get a glimpse into his past and the story about why he came to DC This gives you a better understanding about his self-deprecating attitude. This smart, sweet, good looking friend, who loves all sports, including baseball, does not think he is good enough for someone as vibrant as Jack. He misses, or purposely misinterprets, all the signs that he and Jack are developing something more than a friendship. Jack brings light, fun, spontaneity, a little kink and motorcycles into this traditional lawyer boy’s life, but it takes death to realize he is worth it.

Jack is the total antithesis of Curt. For starters, he is beautiful, 14 years older, has tattoos, drives a motorcycle, owns a shop and a leather bar. He also left home early in life and is only close with his sister and has so many trust issues that he claims are in the past.

Together Curt and Jack form a friendship that becomes more intimate. Jack is the pursuer of this friendship throughout the book, and you cannot help but fall in love with him. Both of them are open and honest with each other throughout the book, except when it comes to the final jump.

Lane Hayes does a beautiful job of writing about friendship and discovery. All of her characters from Matt and Aaron to Peter and J, and finally, Curt and Jack, leave you believing in love and forever. This book is more of a slow burn, with little angst. This author’s books are like comfort food for me; they are well written, with a good flow that leaves you finishing them in one sitting. I really enjoyed Better Than Friends and am looking forward to hearing it on audio!

You can buy Better Than Friends (Better Than #3) here: