Bad Company

I really loved the writing and storyline for this book. It was fantastic. Definitely a book I will pull out to re-read and re-listen to over again, which is kind of crazy, liking a book so much you want to re-read it when you don’t even really like the characters themselves. I just wasn’t all that impressed their personalities and how they acted even though they grew on me after time. But that said, this book really worked for me overall.

This was especially fun to listen to in audio. I kept finding myself laughing out loud with some of the ridiculous things these main characters and their friends did. I would highly recommend everyone give this one a chance, and I cannot wait to see what happens in the next book of this series.

Kellan is kind of a selfish, self-involved “completely straight” jerk for the beginning portion of the book. I really didn’t like watching him walk over Nate, knowing how Nate felt about him. All just to get revenge on his dad for kicking him out. Kellen’s hare-brained scheme to “be gay” to rile his dad up was a really bad decision at first, but he does actually evolve as a person throughout this book and it was nice to see that happen as time went on.

If Kellan was selfish, then Nate was a little self-righteous. Nate was always right and everything had to be done his way or he wasn’t happy with it. He also didn’t really seem happy with the way his life has turned out at all, so I think the dynamic between the two worked out for the best. They didn’t really like each other all that much, but in the end with the help of their friends they totally made it work. And when they got together it made for some steamy scenes to read and hear about.

Audio - my first, but won’t be the last time listening to this narrator, Chet Daniels. He made this book even more entertaining to listen to than just reading it. He did a great job with the voices for all of the characters in this book and I felt he got all their personalities correct as well. I look forward to other books from him in the future.

This was a sweet and slow burn book with a bit of sass and banter that kept things going. Nate is fairly grumpy and a bit cynical so when Kellan jumps back into his life after so long, he pretty much has no clue what to do. Kellan is genuine, a little clueless at first but that changes drastically from the beginning to the end of the book. There is a lot of character development between both MCs but we really see Kellan's growth a lot by the end.

Even though Nate was a little grumpy I still really liked his character. He was a good guy and did not seem to really believe that him and Kellan could be together. It was fun to read Kellan put him in his place a little for that and convince Nate to take a chance on them.

The writing in this story and the internal dialogue was incredibly honest. The writing was very authentic to me and I felt like I was reading a real story about real people. It was easy to connect to this book because of that. This story ends in a HFN so I really hope to see more of them in future books. I also loved Eli and cannot wait for his book next!

*copy provided to Bayou Book Junkie by Dreamspinner Press in exchange for an honest review*

Coming out is hard and when you lose your best friend it is worse. But having to go back through all of that years later is enough to make Nate crazy. Kellan seems to be full of mixed messages. They both have baggage and there are so many layers they have to sort though to get to each other.

Kellen and his dad have a falling out leaving him homeless and penniless. He turns to his once best friend for help both in making his father mad and a place to live until he finds a job. It is hard ot like Kellen. He is spoiled, lazy and seems to want a lot form Nate.

Nate has always had a crush on his friend until in highschool Kellan turned on him and made him a laughing stock now he has turned up wanting Nate to play boyfriend for revenge.

The story did have a good premise. I never really connected to either character but with a side character Eli. This book was Ok. It started off slow but did get better. Chet Daniel gave a good narration.
If you like frenemies to lovers, revenge on daddy, fallen from grace, and a fair romance you may like this one.

'Bad Company', the first book in K.A. Mitchell's series 'Bad in Baltimore', was, interestingly enough, also the first book I had the pleasure of reading by this author. A friend recommended the author and this series and I was so glad she had when I finished reading Nate and Kellan's story. If you are anything like me (goddess help you), take the warning in the description to heart. I almost choked myself when I snorted water up my nose from laughing so hard.

I couldn't help but adore both Kellan and Nate right from the beginning. Kellan is everything I'd love to despise, wealthy playboy with not a care in the world, except something about him really tugged at my gut. It might've been my maternal instinct ‘cause he needs taking care of more than anyone else I've ever seen. Nate, on the other hand, desperately needs to loosen up and laugh a little more. Nate is too serious, although it's a good thing he's as responsible as he is or this partnership would've ended up in the crapper right from the start. Of course, it could've easily ended up there anyway since Nate and Kellan hadn't seen each other in fifteen years and Nate was never going to forgive Kellan for outing him in high school and allowing the popular kids to torment Nate. The fact that Kellan's very powerful father stole an energy drink formula from Nate's father and used it as his own, sending Nate's family down the river, didn't help this situation except giving Nate a motive for revenge.

"No. Gay is what I am. It's not something you decide to wear for a while and then throw it out when you're done."

Oh, the flames practically jumped off the pages after just three days of Kellan living at Nate's, and nothing had happened. Well, not sexually, anyway. This is probably the most interesting book I've read, to date, that involves a straight man finding his inner gay. The internal dialogues Kellan has with himself are intricate and complex in a way I haven't experienced before. The fact that Kellan finds his perfect-for-him job as a music therapist at nursing homes in the area made me ecstatically happy. Why? Because it's so obvious from the beginning that there's so much more to Kellan than wealthy, happy-go-lucky, playboy, and he just needs to re-discover that part of himself. By the way, I'm stating for the record that Kellan's dad is the biggest homophobic, bigoted Neanderthal I've read about in a while. He's one of those people that will crush anyone he thinks is in his way and, frankly, he nauseated me. However, watching Kellan grow up and deal with daddy dearest was refreshing.

This book was even better than I had hoped. It was a new look at an old plot, so to speak, and it worked very well. Nate is wonderful as the control freak and Kellan just jumped off the pages in all his glory. Eli as Nate's friend and co-worker was amazing and I'm looking forward to reading his story. This is a great read that I'm adding to my favorites. Thank you, K.A. for bringing these men to light.