Ratings12
Average rating4.3
Football, friends, and film are the most important parts of Simon Murray's life, likely in that order. Despite being lonely, Simon is cautious about looking for more, and his best friends despair of him ever finding that special someone to share his life. Against his will, they drag him to a party, where Simon barges into a football conversation and ends up defending the honour of star forward Declan Tyler -- unaware that the athlete is present and listening. Like his entire family, Simon revels in living in Melbourne, Victoria, the home of Australian Rules football and mecca for serious fans. There, players are deemed gods and treated as such – until they do something to cause them to fall out of public favour. Declan is suffering a horrendous year of injuries, and the public is taking him to task for it, so Simon's support is a bright spot in his struggles. In that first awkward meeting, neither man has any idea they will change each other's lives forever. As Simon and Declan fumble toward building a relationship together, there is yet another obstacle in their way: keeping Declan's homosexuality a secret amidst the intrusion of well-meaning friends and an increasingly suspicious media. They realise that nothing remains hidden forever... and they know the situation will only become more complicated when Declan's private life is revealed. Declan will be forced to make some tough choices that may result in losing either the career he loves or the man he wants. and Simon has never been known to make things easy – for himself or for others.
Featured Series
4 primary books6 released booksTigers and Devils is a 6-book series with 4 released primary works first released in 2009 with contributions by Sean Kennedy.
Reviews with the most likes.
A really good story and characters you could empathize with. I enjoyed the entire book. The only real down side to it was that I didn't like it too much when Simon would break the fourth wall. It doesn't happen that often, but I found it a bit cheesy.
The only part that kept me from giving this 5 stars was that I don't think I'll read this book again, at least not for a fairly long time. I liked the characters and could relate to them, but I just didn't fall in love with them.
3.5 stars. I liked the friendship between Simon and Roger as much as, if not more than the romance between Simon and Declan. The author does a good job of showing the complicated dynamics of two men who are lifelong best friends after one of them comes out of the closet. As for the romance, it starts out strong but then it gets bogged down in repetitive misunderstandings and miscommunications. At the end of the day I wasn't sure that Declan and Simon had grown or learned or changed enough that their relationship would survive in the long run.