Better Than Chance (A Better Than Story)

Title: Better Than Chance  (A Better Than Story)

Author: Lane Hayes

Publisher: Dreamspinner Press

Length: 200 pages

Rating: B List

Quad Shot of Love

Blurb: A Better Than Story

Jay Reynolds has a crush on his project leader at work, but an office romance with Peter Morgan isn’t likely to happen since Peter is straight. Worse, Jay soon fears Peter is homophobic, and his initial infatuation turns to loathing. But one fateful night, Jay is forced to acknowledge things aren’t quite as they seem with Peter. Suddenly, his crush is back and unbelievably, Peter is interested too.

They begin a friends with benefits arrangement, which becomes difficult for Jay when he starts falling for his sexy boss. Peter’s past issues keep him from committing, and Jay has to decide if he can be satisfied with friendship if Peter isn’t ready to take a chance on anything more.

Review: This is the second book in the Better Than Series. We first meet Jay (Aaron’s best friend, from the first book) and Peter in the first book and they play an important role. We get a feeling for who they are and see them as a solid couple.

In this book we go back five years and see where Jay and Peter meet and fall in love. I had a great time seeing the progression of their love story and spending time with them as the focus. While I could see shades of the men I knew, I found that they were so much more than I had realized. I really enjoyed seeing those parts of them.

Jay is a sweetheart. A charmer who makes everyone smile and laugh. He can’t stand silences and always jumps in to fill them, often with interesting, embarrassing and funny results. Always looking for the best in people, even when they make it really hard for him to find it.

Peter has such a hard ass front. Those people who have a reserve with most people make you feel wonderfully special when they relax and let you see the person behind the facade. How could Jay resist when he’s not only allowed into Peter’s bed, but into his inner circle? The man that he begins to find Peter to be is sweet, kind, sarcastic generous, vulnerable, hurt, funny, charming, sexy, stuck in the past, afraid of connecting emotionally and getting hurt, and utterly irresistible.

The story is told from Jay’s perspective so we are at times as confused as Jay is by Peter and the disparity between his words and actions (talk about mixed signals). There were moments where I felt like this was a situation that almost every reader has experienced in their dating life – usually without the happy ending that these men find. I enjoyed that twinge of ache that we felt as Jay tried to keep his emotions out of the “friends with benefits” relationship and couldn’t. Felt the conflict as the pain became too big for the pleasure to cover. Again with that been there, felt that, sense of familiarity. (Haven’t we all?)

I loved how much Jay and Peter liked each other, there was friendship and respect there along with the lust and sex. It was fun watching them stumble their way through misunderstandings, miscommunications, commitment phobia and falling in love in a sexy, sweet and fun story.

Reviewed by Nina