Out in the End Zone

By: Lane Hayes

Narrated by: Michael Dean

Length: 4 hrs and 58 mins

Publisher's Summary

Evan di Angelo is an upbeat, good-natured goofball who loves his friends and family…and football. A traumatic accident may have ended his hopes of playing professionally, but he’s made the most of his four years on the field at a small Southern California college. He’s learned the hard way to embrace change, take chances and try things outside of his comfort zone…like agreeing to play fake boyfriends for someone else’s senior project. 

Mitch Peterson knows that being his authentic self is the path to true happiness. He’s grown from a shy, quiet kid from a broken home to an out-and-proud budding internet sensation bound for grad school. An awesome senior project is the key. It’s unlikely anyone will believe the hunky, straight athlete is Mitch’s new lover, but it’s worth a shot. However, as their tentative friendship blossoms into unexpected attraction, the lines between reality and fiction blur for both men. Evan is forced to face old demons and decide if he has the courage to take the next step and come out in the end zone.

©2018 Lane Hayes (P)2019 Lane Hayes

Out in College #2

Michael Pauley continues narrating the Out in College series with distinct, easy to follow character voices, good pacing and timing, and I really like the way he infuses emotion into the text. 

This is a New Adult series focusing on early twenties college students recognizing and coming to grips with their sexuality while falling in love. In this installment be prepared for some angst, including a break up, and some outside influence into the relationship. 

While I really like Lane Hayes' writing style, I must admit I prefer her older characters.

Single POV, pretend boyfriends that change to become very real boyfriends, with some angst, some very nice steamy moments, some miscommunication, and a happy ending. 

Though Out in the End Zone can be read as a standalone, I would recommend picking up Out in the Deep first.

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Holy sweetness

Another great book by Lane Hayes and narrated by MIchael Dean. Evan shocked Mitch with his take on love, and had a hard time believing him. Based on Mitch’s past, you couldn’t really blame him, though. Evan has to really put some effort into convincing him, too. He had his own demons to slay as well, before he could get there. Evan and Mitch were a lot of fun to read about. This is a stand alone, but the characters from the previous book was in the story, and so are the ones that will be in the next book. Reading them in order will add to the experience, but isn’t required.

Lovely twist on the fake boyfriend trope

We first met Evan, Mitch, and many of the characters in this story in book 1 (Out in the Deep), so although it’s not entirely necessary to have read/listened to that first, I think it’s a good idea to get some background on these characters and the timeline as the two stories run concurrently.

I like how Lane Hayes creates her various series with a group of characters and in each subsequent story we find out more about one or two of them. In this series, one or both of the main characters are bisexual and are seniors (aged 23) at college. Here it is Evan who explores his previously suppressed bisexuality as he falls for Mitch.

Out in the End Zone is a twist on the fake boyfriends trope. Evan agrees to take part in Mitch’s YouTube/social media project where viewers have to decide whether or not they are in a real relationship. They pretend to be boyfriends for the camera, but behind the scenes they actually fall for each other. As with Derek and Gabe in book 1, Evan struggles with accepting his sexuality and wants to remain in the closet at first. Of course, Lane never makes it easy for the poor guys. Evan has to deal with a female admirer and a friend who is trying to push them together, which in turn threatens to come between Evan and Mitch. Evan also has to build up the courage to come out to his teammates and also his housemate, Derek.

This is an enjoyable, well-written story with some lovely steamy moments. The inevitable ‘break-up’ scene felt a little contrived and I didn’t fully understand Mitch’s thinking here. Other than that, the main characters are well portrayed and very likeable.

Michael Pauley’s narration is good. He created distinct voices to match the characters’ personalities. It was clear who was speaking throughout. The emotions and passion were expressed well and made the steamy scenes even hotter. The pacing and narrative style made for easy and enjoyable listening. I like that the same narrator is used throughout a series to maintain continuity of character voices.

Loved It!!

So many of my favorite tropes are all in this amazing story. Fake boyfriends, athletes, and coming out. I’m a huge sports fan, football in particular, so I was excited that Mitch’s story would be the next in the Out in College series.

Mitch is a football player, and not totally straight. Admittedly he’s probably “bi”. Evan is a cheerleader and is out and proudly gay. Mitch and Evan have always had the same circle of friends over the years, but haven’t really connected until they get to chatting at a party. Mitch asks Evan to participate in a project for school, essentially being fake boyfriends. As Evan spends more time with Mitch, he realizes he doesn’t want to be fake boyfriends and is decidedly bi. While Evan wants to be with Mitch, he has his own reasons for wanting to wait to come out. Mitch respects the fact that Evan needs to be ready, but he doesn’t want to be Evan’s fake anything.

I got all the feels with this story, I loved it and didn’t want it to end. I've been a huge fan of this series in ebook, and I was ecstatic when it came out in Audio. I can hardly wait until the next in the series is out on Audio - Out in the Offense. This is shaping up to be a go to re-read series for me.

Great coming out story

Lane Hayes always creates such great characters that work their way into your heart. Evan and Mitch did just that. I adore how with this series Lane has brought to light the positive side and the optimism with self discovery and coming out. These books aren't all about the horrors of staying in the closet and the pressures of coming out or else. They're about loving and supporting your friends and allowing them to take the path they need. I adored Evans easy but apprehensive discovery of himself and how patient and understanding Mitch was with him. Love this series and I can't wait for more.

Cute story

This is a cute, sweet, quick listen. I originally read it as a standalone but did feel like I missed some of the history between Mitch and Evan by not reading book one so I listened to book one before listening to this one. While you do meet these guys in book one, I think this can be listened to as a standalone.

I really liked both characters. Their banter is entertaining and they have great chemistry. I was glad to see Evan embrace and admit his feelings for Mitch. I typically shy away from stories with characters in the closet but Evan had a unique reason hiding his sexuality and when he realized he could/would lose Mitch if he continued hiding he made the right choice.

My only wishes are for Mitch’s POV and the story to have been longer with a little more development…that would have made this a 5 star read for me.

The vocal performance is good. There was great emotion in both characters and he nailed Mitch's attitude!

Loving this series and Michael is fantastic!

Out in the End Zone is the second book in the Out in College series by the fabulous Lane Hayes. I'm a newish fan of Lane's and I'm so happy I discovered her. I've been looking forward to this story since the end of Out in the Deep!
As always, Michael Pauley was fantastic! I love how he uses his voice to show emotion. He brings these characters to life!

Evan is Derek's roommate. He's handsome, a little silly, funny, tells it like it is and better at relationships than he thinks. And he's Italian and I always have a soft spot for my fellow Italians. Mitch is Derek's friend and they don't really know each other too well until one night at a party. There has always been something about Mitch that calls to Evan. Mitch is pretty and fun and out. Evan is bi and not quite forthcoming about his status. But he knows love is love and he's comfortable with who he is. This story takes place at the same time as Derek and Gabe's and I loved how the same thing was going on with Evan and Derek. Mitch needs help with his senior project and Evan is the perfect person. Who would believe the straight, sexy football player is gay? But as Evan and Mitch pretend for the cameras their attraction becomes real. Mitch doesn't want to force Evan to do something he's not comfortable with, Evan needs to do it on his own. They both have painful pasts when it comes to love and trust. Can they put the past behind them and try to move forward together? I loved this story! Evan is just so perfect. He's adorkable, sexy, and actually romantic. I love how open he is with his feelings and how he shows Mitch that he wants him. Mitch is hilarious! I love how free he is. He knows who he is and he doesn’t care what people think. Evan and tall and dark and Mitch is smaller and light. They are opposites who fit perfectly together! Overall, I laughed, teared up, swooned, got hot and bothered and laughed some more. I loved the ending and I can't wait for more on this series!

My favorite of the series so far!

5 Stars!

Out in the End Zone is book 2 in the Out in College series by Lane Hayes and while it can be read as a standalone, you'll be missing out if you don't read or listen to book 1 first. Not only was Out in the Deep fantastic, but Derek and Gabe have cameos in this new book and we met Evan there as Derek's roommate.

I loved Evan since I met him in book one. He seemed so easygoing and laidback, a go-with-the-flow kind of guy, and yes, he was that, but he's so much more than that, too. He'd gone through loss and resolved to bury a part of himself because of it, but once faced with the possibility of having something with Mitch, he simply can't stop it from happening and is mostly all in, only, he wasn't quite out. He figured his parents suspected, but no one else did and it wasn't easy for him to make a decision after what happened to him during senior year in high school. While closeted characters usually frustrate me, Evan was young and really, it's not that he's not willing to come out, he just hasn't found his reason to do it.

And then we have Mitch, who I liked a lot. He was understandably wary at times, waiting for the other shoe to drop considering Evan wasn't out and that was a tad annoying, but he seemed like a sweet, snarky, fun guy. The chemistry between Evan and Mitch was out of this world and it was great to see them progress from sort-of-fake-boyfriends into real boyfriends.

I loved catching up with Derek and Gabe and I'm very intrigued about Christian, Evan's team's captain, whose book we're getting next. I only wish we'd seen more of Mitch's grandma, who was wonderful!

Michael Pauley did a fantastic job with this audiobook! The pacing, the emotion, the way he brought Evan and Mitch to life somehow made this book even better, which was a feat considering it was already awesome.

All in all, Out in the End Zone was amazing in both e-book and audiobook, but if you have the chance, don't miss out on Mr. Pauley's narration, it was outstanding!

Even better than book one!

I received a free copy of this audiobook to listen to and review for Wicked Reads.

There are few things more exciting for an audiobook lover than getting an email telling you that there is not one release, but two releases from an author you love and even better, the release blitz you signed up for has been turned into a doubleheader. Weekend plans SET!

I have to say that I liked that Evan and Mitch’s story in Out in the End Zone played out concurrently with Derek and Gabe’s from Out in the Deep, even starting at the same party hosted by Chelsea. It doesn’t always work, but Hayes does a great job of presenting a handful of scenes and events from a different character’s perspective so that series fans can place events in that overlap without feeling as though they’ve read that scene before. And considering that Mitch’s project is all about perception, those overlapping scenes are a subtle way to show readers just how perception plays into how interactions are interpreted, such as Amanda’s interaction with Evan at the party. But I digress. As much as I enjoyed the first book, there is something about this one that made me love it even more. Perhaps it was the opposites attract chemistry between Evan and Mitch. Perhaps it was Mitch’s social media experiment and how it gave Evan the excuse and push he needed to get to know Mitch. Perhaps it was the fact that despite his open-mindedness, Evan still struggled with coming out as bisexual to his friends, teammates, and family. And it may have had a little to do with Evan’s cluelessness when it came to Nicole’s attention. While all of that contributed to my enjoyment of the story, ultimately it was Mitch and Evan who made me love it – specifically the gradual way they fell for each other even as they tried to protect their hearts because of events in their pasts. I fell in love with these guys as they fell in love with one another.

One of the things I enjoy about Hayes’ series is that she tends to use the same narrator for the entirety of a series, so I was excited to see that Michael Pauley was back at the mic for Out in the End Zone. As in the first book, Pauley doesn’t pull any punches when it comes to the emotional scenes. However, what I appreciated most is that the voices for Evan and Mitch were not the same as those for Derek and Gabe. Some narrators have a distinct main character one and main character two voice they use, even when working on the same series. However, Pauley is not one of those narrators. In my opinion, he created great voices for Evan and Mitch, voices that conveyed who the young men were without being the stereotypical over-the-top football jock or campy male cheerleader voices. The voices Pauley created for Evan and Mitch made it easy to tell who was talking, even when Derek and Gabe popped into scenes, and not once was I confused as to who was speaking, which considering I listened to the two audiobooks back to back, was a delight. I’m already chomping at the bit for Out in the Offense to be released as an audiobook. I can’t wait!

I love Evan and Mitch together

Ahhh, Evan and Mitch, now this was an interesting match-up. The football player and the cheerleader is something we all knew about growing up right?!? Well, Lane Hayes takes that and gives us one heck of an MM Romance with a star football player and a male cheerleader.

Mitch is out and proud and I loved that about him. His happiness was infectious and I never wanted his light to dim. Evan is Derek's roommate from Out in the Deep, and these two books overlap one another in time but I honestly had no clue this was going on while listening to the first book but then as I listening to this one I was like "Oh Yeah, I remember that...Oh LOL I totally thought something else was going on" and in my defense so did Derek!

This story was a little more intense than the first one and there are a few reasons for that the first being Evan's past, I will not get into it because it will give to much away but wow did my heart break for him. And second, I was afraid at one point that there would be some gay-bashing within the story but I am really glad it didn't go where I had thought it would. Yes there is some teasing and things like that which is offensive but I really expected it to get dark at one point, but like I said before I am really, really glad it didn't go in that direction.

Once again the narrator, Michael Pauley, did an amazing job with this story. I am going to check out some of his other narrations and add them to my ever growing TBR shelf.

If you are a lover of MM romance with athletes I would recommend giving this book a read. It is relatively short and can be listened to in just one afternoon, but if you're like me you'll make a day of it listen to book 1 & 2. Happy Reading!!!

**I voluntarily listened to an Advanced Readers/Listeners Copy of this book**

loved this

With each book she turns out, I swear this lady's writing just gets better and better. Well written as per usual, with loveable MCs and strong supporting characters, this is the second in the Out in College series from Ms Hayes and, as with the first, I absolutely loved it.

I loved that it's light on the angst, heavy on the feels, and leaves you with a smile. I needed a book with a lighter feel and this was most certainly it. The dialogue between Evan and Mitch is spot on, and their obvious attraction just drags you into the story. Once I started reading I couldn't put it down, in fact I didn't, I just read it all over again.

Evan was such a fun character. He had a real zest for life and, due to his earlier experiences, he wants to grab life and give everything a go. He's not had it easy, but hasn't let himself be soured by the past. Mitch is a love, he's unforgivingly gay, outwardly confident, but, as the book progresses his vulnerability becomes apparent.

Once the two guys get together, working on their secret project, all bets are off. They were great together. I loved watching them fall in love, and I LOVED the ending. Bonus that we got to see Derek and Gabe again, and the next book is gonna be just as awesome, bring it on 😉

Narration is very well done.

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