Lauren Blakely Follow

THE BOYFRIEND COMBACK is the first instalment in Lauren Blakely’s contemporary, adult THE BOYFRIEND ZONE erotic, LGBTQ, MM, romance series, set in the same world as the author’s HOPELESSLY BROMANTIC duet. This is cross-town, rival, football quarterbacks Jason McKay , and Beck Cafferty’s story line.

NOTE: There is a prequel novella THE BOYFRIEND KICKOFF focusing on when Beck and Jason first met, but most copies of THE BOYFRIEND COMEBACK include our couple’s introduction.

Told from dual first person perspectives (Beck and Jason) THE BOYFRIEND COMEBACK follows the building romance and secret relationship between cross-town, rival, football quarterbacks Jason McKay , and Beck Cafferty. One year earlier, following an almost one-night stand, Jason McKay was ghosted by rookie quarterback Beck Cafferty. Beck had been traded to Jason’s cross-town rival but Beck’s personal life was beginning to fall apart. Fast forward to present day wherein Jason struggles with his attraction to Beck, believing Beck wanted nothing to do with him but Beck’s attraction to Jason is just as strong, and our couple begin a secrets affair in the face of Beck having yet to come out of the closet. What ensues is the building but clandestine relationship between Beck and Jason; their weekly Monday Morning Quarterback podcasts, and the potential fall-out when our couple are discovered, in the wake of a potential Super Bowl rivalry.

The relationship between Beck and Jason is one of immediate attraction but Beck is bi-sexual, and hasn’t revealed his personal status to anyone else. Jason is willing to keep their relationship a secret, a secret in the face of the cross-town rivalry. Late night rendezvous, and early morning escapes place an additional level of pressure on our story line couple. The $ex scenes are intimate, passionate and intense, without the use of over the stop, sexually graphic language and text.

We are introduced to both Jason and Beck’s fellow teammates, as well as team owners Nadia Harlowe, and Wilder Blaine; Beck’s landlord Portia, IT specialist Zena Palladium, and Beck’s friend Rachel; his therapist Rosemary, coffee shop owners Cheyenne and Mitch, and Jason’s father, and his brother Nolan (Shut Up and Kiss Me).

THE BOYFRIEND COMEBACK is a story of secrets and seclusion; attraction and obsession, friendships, relationships, family and love. The premise is enjoyable and engaging; the romance is seductive and provocative; the characters are charming and charismatic.

I would like to note that Lauren Blakely’s LGBTQ world is a world with little to no homophobia. The story lines barely scratch the surface of gay -life in professional sports.

Audio Review from September 2019

Best friends sister with some history.

This story was a lot of fun! I loved seeing how Jason and Truly gave into their desires for each other.

The full cast narration was epic also!

Andi Ardnt and Shane East were the primary characters with Jason Clarke as her brother, Sebastian York played a couple of past characters, Grace Grant, Vikas Adam and more!!

Audio Review from November 2019

This audio was AMAZING!!!

I loved Dan (Bitner)! His voice is similar in style to Jason Clarke's--soft but deep and smooth. He was so perfect for Vaughn!

I loved the Birthday Suit connection too!! Hi Lulu!!


Andi Ardnt, Jason Clarke and Emma Wilder were wonderful as well!

Audio Review from September 2020

This was a super cute short story told in half story/half play mode.

The narrators were plentiful and it was so much fun for me to try to keep up with which was voice was talking to me!

The story itself was cute and sweet and flirty and fun with just a dash of sexy thrown in.

It would have been better if it was more straightforward with when they were changing scenes as it just went quiet and I always thought my phone had stopped playing the book.

Audio review from September 2020

This book was amazing! I loved it so hard!

The story was so well written as usual with a Blakely book.

Shane East and Joe Arden brought their narration game to the next level with this book.

So much emotion! Laughter and swoon moments and near tears!

The addition of the full cast was so much fun!

Jackobi Diem, Vanessa Edwin, Sebastian York dropped in as Leo!(Birthday Suit character)

Emma Wilder, Ron Butler, Zachary Webber, Vikas Adam, Maxine Mitchell, Stella Hunter.

So much fun!

Audio Review from October 2020

Loved this book! Such a fun story! The characters were a little older and in a different stage of life than typical romance novels which made this a bit more enjoyable!

Andi Ardnt and Joe Arden played the two lead characters. I love Andi and I adore Joe!

The cats were played by Emma Wilder and Santino Fontana! Oh my that was a fun twist in a book to have the cats have their own point if view lol

And there was a tiny snippet of Connor Crais in the middle and that was a fun surprise!

Audiobook Review from October 2020

This story was amazing. Slow burn that sizzled flashes of heat until it caught fire and burned soooooo hot!!

Joe Arden uses his deep, rough and growly voice for this tough badass Bodyguard character and it WORKS! Wow!

Jacob Morgan gets some “screen” time in this beauty also and he is voicing a rockstar who is fun, flirty and maybe a little silly, so he plays that angle well. And we get to see a little preview of how his story with HIS characters Bodyguard is gonna play out. ON TOP getting an actual preview of the audiobook at the end! Score!

Emma Wilder is the voice of the female characters in this book and all I need to say is AMAZING! She slips from character style to character style changing her voice just a hair each time and it’s flawless.


And her guy voices change just a shade for each of the guys too! This women is a superb talent.

Teddy Hamilton makes a sneak appearance in the book to voice Stone in a scene and that was a fun surprise!

So to cap this super long review with one word overall? HOT!!

Audio Review from November 2020

So this was absolutely adorable and explained some things but really this could have been folded into their primary book. (But inspiration sparks at different times, I get that)

Jason Clarke and Andi Ardnt are great. They have ways of pitching their voices to sound younger and flirty than they really are which is a great testament to a voice actor ❤️❤️