The Best Ever is the story of Jason Lewis and Blake Huntington and their second chance together with a little help from Madame Eve, who owns a company called 1Night Stand. The company seems to have an uncanny ability to match people together for a memorable night, or maybe more. The story is told in third person through both Jason’s and Blake’s eyes.


3.5 Stars
The story starts with a prologue of Jason the geeky, young nerd tutoring the high school baseball star, Blake, in math. Over the course of months, they become good friends and through Blake’s friendship, Jason is no longer bullied as much at school. They part ways after Blake graduates and goes on to college and to the major leagues. But Jason follows Blake’s career until they once again meet at a video game convention where sports figures are signing autographs for their games.

Jason is now twenty-two when they meet again. He’s a bit more confident, thanks to Blake’s support in high school, but he still has this insecurity inside when faced with ‘the cool kids’ as he calls them. Blake as always, is as outgoing and friendly as ever. When they meet at the convention the scene was enjoyable. I could feel Blake’s happiness at seeing Jason again.

The first half of the book is told in Jason’s pov. One of the things the author did to add a little more emotion to the scenes was to give us snippets of Jason’s thoughts using hashtags. It was something Jason and his sister used while texting. I enjoyed the hashtags for about the first quarter of the book, after that it got old quick to the point of annoying.

Blake’s pov didn’t occur until Jason and Blake were in the suite together. I was disappointed in Blake’s voice. None of the enthusiasm or longing for Jason really came through his pov. I found it rather flat.

Once in the suite, the scenes are almost all sex. I also thought the writing wasn’t as good. It was choppy and I didn’t feel as immersed in it as I did the first half. Another thing I didn’t like was the over use of descriptors such as, ‘smaller man, bigger man, big guy,’ etc. Also there were too many pronouns that made who was speaking confusing when the use of their names would have worked out much better.

There's a plot discrepancy if you want to call it. I'll spoiler tag it.

When Jason first sees Blake at the signing, Jody, Blake's rep, comes over to have Jason sign a release to use his image etc in Blake Huntington, Inc. At that time she says to Jason, "This'll be a great follow up to his 'It Gets Better' video." I admit I don't know much about those videos, but aren't they usually about LGBT people's lives after they grow up? See this seems contrary to what later the author has Blake tell Jason, that he keeps the info that he's gay on the very down low. Meaning only Blake's rep, his family and a few other necessary people know. Now if that's true, what is he doing making an 'It Gets Better' vid? Wouldn't that be outing himself?

Despite the many issues I had with the story, I’m going to round up and give The Best Ever, 4 Stars. The reason is because of the magical overtones to the story. I think the author did that well. I also think the two characters were believable as friends who always had crushes on each other, and then they became lovers. Jason and Blake are a cute pair. The final reason is because I loved Blake’s enthusiasm when he met Jason again and his interaction with him at the party. I think those were the best scenes in the book.

If you’re looking for a cute, fluffy, friends to lovers, second chance, romantic story, this one is for you.


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This is a very cute, very sweet incarnation of the nerd/jock theme. What I really liked was the undercurrent of emotion from the very start. And even though "nothing happened" because Blake is eighteen and Jason only fifteen at the time, this first scene is pivotal to their relationship. Written with a lot of sensitivity (that lasts throughout the story), it is a sweet and heart-warming tale about two men who are clearly meant for each other on more than one level.

Jason is a self-proclaimed nerdy guy who was bullied in school, and still has very low self-esteem even after obtaining a masters degree in accounting. Others may see the potential in him, and how clever he is, but he still hasn’t gotten the memo. He decides to indulge himself and attends the World Video Game Expo in Las Vegas, only to run into his old crush from high school. The jock he tutored in math is three years older than him, and looks even sexier now than he did back then. Nothing goes as expected when they start talking, but the old attraction is still there.

Blake has always remembered Jason and can’t believe he runs into him at the convention, not once, but twice. He was eighteen when Jason tutored him, and there was no way he'd have started anything with a minor, but now that they're on even footing, the gloves come off, so to speak. Blake has always had a thing for redheads, and he will no longer be denied. Thank God he is determined enough to cut through Jason's shyness.

What follows are a few misunderstandings, Jason finally opening up and trusting Blake, and some very tender first time (for Jason) lovemaking, If you like nerd/jock stories, if you enjoy reading abut romantic reunions that lead to new beginnings, and if you're looking for a sweet read with lots of emotion and heat, then you will probably like this novella.



NOTE: This book was provided by Decadent Publishing for the purpose of a review on Rainbow Book Reviews.
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