During freshman year, football jock Griff Parker did something completely unexpected--he had a sexual encounter with another guy. Although it was a momentary thing, he's never been able to shake that experience in the locker room with Raj Mehir, even though he never really saw him again. Now that he's working in the lab building and seeing Raj on a daily basis, it's even more present in his mind (and elsewhere). But Raj wants absolutely nothing to do with him, still angry about what happened and not entirely willing to go down that road. Will proximity wear down his resolve?

I love the way in which Daisy Harris has seamlessly assembled this series. They can all be read as stand-alone books, but there is a wonderful added layer if you read them in order and start to recognize the various characters that make cameos--it definitely gives the sense of this all taking place at the same school. This one was frustrating, but mostly because of the characters, not the writing. But it was very interesting to see their development over the course of the book and to see where they ended up at the conclusion. ( )

Genius and the Jock is a charming romance with an aura of innocence that is incredibly appealing. To read my review in its entirety, please click HERE. ( )

Really 4.5 Stars

Reviewed on http://scorchingbookreviews.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/a-nix-review-genius-and-jock-...

Three years before, shy shower boy Raj somehow managed to wangle a blow job from the jock he couldn’t help but notice in the shower. That encounter left Griff dealing with feelings that were at odds to his Jock persona but you just can’t fight who you are.

Now it’s their final year at college and they are thrown together again when Griff takes the building security job at the Bio-lab where Raj is working. Raj has never forgiven Griff for the way he treated him after their encounter but Griff is oblivious to any wrong doings on his part. Trying his hardest to get past Raj’s defences becomes his new mission, and when his offers of a ride home start to pay off, they start to pick up where they left off that night in the locker room.

Neither of them feels that they are able to come out to anyone. Raj fears what his traditional parents will say, what his already out gay friends will say and even what his landlords will say. It’s easy to let Griff close, but no one else can ever know. Griff is a star football player and that means that he has to stay firmly in the closet with the door locked. He knows what his team –mates will say and it won’t be pretty. Both of them see no choice but to be each others dirty little secret.

As the boys realise that they are each other’s only confidant, feelings start to grow between them. When hearts start to get involved, keeping their relationship becomes more of a challenge. Will they part ways to keep everyone but themselves happy?

This series is a personal favourite for me and this one took the whole theme to a new level. The series began being very sweet, but recent books have been getting more and more hot. This one is HOT! We begin the book with a hot blow job scene and the last chapter contains some of the hottest scenes of the book; I really did have no issues in reading it from start to finish!

I loved the plot of this one. Both of these guys lived in worlds were homophobia is a very real problem and, in each other, they found someone they could be totally honest with. I suppose it was sweet, but it was hidden very very well under the layers of pure hotness :D Raj was a man who didn’t know he fit. He knew he was gay, but thought that that mean’t he automatically needed to start acting effeminate and flamboyant. He didn’t know how others would act around him once they knew; he seemed to think that once he came out he would be a different person. He really was adorable and I thought he was a really strong character.

Griff was a sweetie. He had already decided that he was coming out once he had left the football team but he was more than willing to do whatever Raj wanted to do as far as telling people. He was so laid back about it all that he was horizontal. He was willing to be top, bottom, sub, Dom, dating, fucking..... It was quite entertaining! It did, however, make him less of a character in my eyes. It all felt that it was about Raj, that he wasn’t a character in his own right. He just didn’t stand out as much as Raj did!

This is a hot tale with a very realistic angst. I loved the chemistry and the sex was HOT! There is a scene after a wedding *fans*..... ( )