Title: The Blueprint
Author: S.E. Harmon
Narrators: Alexander Cendese and Sean Crisden
Publisher: Self-Published
Run Time: 8 hours and 24 minutes
Category: Contemporary
At a Glance: Be prepared to overlook some of the flaws and enjoy the pairing of Cendese and Crisden; their narration saves the book.
Reviewed By: Mike
Blurb: Kelly Cannon is satisfied with his life. He has friends, a wonderful family, and a great job. But his love life has reached a new level of pitiful. Why? Well, his heart decided to break all the rules. Don’t fall in love with a straight guy. And definitely don’t fall in love with your best friend.
NFL standout Britton “Blue” Montgomery has pressure coming at him from all sides: from his father, who’s only interested in Blue’s football career; from his coaches, who just want him to play without getting injured again; from the fans; from his agent; and from his mother, who has popped up on the radar after leaving his family years before. And now his relationship with Kelly is on shaky ground, and that frightens Blue more than anything.
When Kelly admits he’s in love with Blue, bonds are tested, and Blue has to decide what’s really important. He doesn’t want to lose the number-one person in his life, but the cost to keep Kelly close might be more than he’s willing to pay. It’s a good thing his nickname is the Blueprint – it’s time to draft a new set of plans.
Review: Blue and Kelly have been friends for years, since they got each other into trouble as boys and even now, though their lives are quite different. Blue is an NFL hero, and Kelly leads a quieter life out of the spotlight, but the two have always been close. But each has something missing from their lives to make them content. For Kelly it’s obvious—he has been in love with his best friend most of his life. For Blue there has always been a gaping, indefinable hole in his life which is obvious to the reader but isn’t so obvious to him. He has always been in love with Kelly; he just hasn’t allowed himself to accept that idea, considering his career.
After a life-long dance trying to feel and not feel love for one another, Blue and Kelly’s initial kiss is alcohol fueled, both at least partially impaired, so they have deniability to themselves if nothing else. Their second encounter, also alcohol fueled, is even more disappointing. When they finally start admitting who they are to one another, the fireworks go off, as they should after a long awaited and unencumbered love making session.
The Blueprint does end rather abruptly; whether it’s because the author thought the story was complete or it’s a set-up for a second book, it doesn’t matter. Be prepared to overlook some of the flaws and enjoy the pairing of Cendese and Crisden; their narration saves the book. Cendese and Crisden work well together, given that the material they were working with was problematic at best. While multiple voice narrations can get cumbersome this one seems to work better than most. I attribute that to the extensive skills of both narrators. This is a nice enough book with some plot device problems, but the work done in voice acting makes up for most of them.
You can buy The Blueprint here:
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