Bully & Exit

The Midwest Series, Book 1

By: Brigham Vaughn

Narrated by: James Edward Jones

It's time to leave college and the closet behind.

Nathan Rhodes has put hockey first for most of his life, but as graduation looms, he has a different goal in mind. He needs to come out and reclaim his first love. If only Caleb will believe him....

Theater geek Caleb Stockwell gave up on love when his boyfriend chose the closet over being with an openly bisexual guy. Now, he hides his heartbreak behind a string of casual hookups. He loves the drama on stage, but he’s done with the drama of Nathan Rhodes. For good.

Nathan is determined to right the wrongs of four years ago, but the clock is ticking.

One month until he and Caleb go their separate ways. One month to take a final shot at winning Caleb's heart back.

Win or lose, everything is on the line.

©2015 Brigham Vaughn (P)2020 Brigham Vaughn

A second chance romance after a high school heartbreak

Theater loving Caleb and hockey star Nathan were hot and heavy in high school, but when Nathan screwed everything up at their senior prom leaving Caleb utterly heartbroken, the relationship soured.

Now, years later, the two find themselves at the same college. Caleb is furious, but Nathan wants a second chance. It is clear that the intense feelings are still there, but even though Nathan is ready to come out, Caleb is still hurting over their past.

This was such a sweet read. These boys care so much for one another, but the past is haunting them. When I got to the part of their senior prom my heart was breaking right along with Caleb. We get both points of view, which definitely helps us understand the whole situation.

James Edward Jones does a great job narrating Caleb and Nathan (as he always does). And I thoroughly enjoyed his voice this book. This was a fast listen and I can’t wait to check out more in this series.

Nathan and Caleb

I love to listen to a book that takes place in my own state.
opposites attract, sports romance. Great story with good characters. James Edward Jones is new to me but, did a good job bringing the story to life. HEA Thank goodness.
Bring on Brent and Lowell.
well worth the credit and your time to listen.

2nd chance romance is beautiful

I'm really enjoyed this story. It was sweet 2nd chance love story that was wonderful and showed some people can make bad decisions to protect the ones they love and hopefully are able to learn, grow and love again.

Enjoyable

I quite liked it, I kind of guess what had happened to make Caleb hate Nathan from the get go but I still liked the book and the characters, I can’t wait to dive into Lowell and Brent’s story

Second chances are worth it!

What happens when two boys fall in love in high school? One being a theater geek the other a hockey star. It’s a recipe for disaster and heartbreak from the beginning. No foreshadowing is needed to know what happens between these two boys. But you really don’t find out the reasons why until you dig deep into the story.
Well worth the read to find out where these two started and where they end up.
Highly developed characters that you can connect with immediately. The narrative created around them as they are about to graduate college and starting their adult lives is the best place to start for any series. It lets the characters look at their past and analyze it and decide what their future looks like. Using this as a starting point also allows a writer to have a lot of room for future growth or digression.
I had assumed this would be a high angst book however I was pleasantly surprised that it was on any medium angst. After the two main characters re-introduction to each other there was minimal angst at that point and much more openness to forgiveness.
Definitely a feel good book at the end of the day and I can’t wait for the next in the series.