Lane Hayes - Better Than Good

Matt Sullivan understands labels: law student, athlete, heterosexual. He has goals: graduate and begin his career in law. One fateful night, Matt tags along with his gay roommate to a dance club and everything changes. Matt finds himself attracted to the most beautiful man he’s ever seen. All labels go flying out the window.
Aaron Mendez doesn’t believe in labels, and he’s leery of straight curious men. He makes it clear that he’ll hide his fabulous light for no one. While Aaron can’t deny the attraction between him and Matt, he is reluctant to start anything with someone who is still dealing with what this new label means—especially when that someone has a girlfriend.

Comment: Some years ago, I've read a series by this author which really convinced me this was an author to look for. Well, in regards to stories containing tropes/genres I like, of course, and that is why I've added this book, another contemporary romance by her, to the pile.

Matt Sullivan is a college student already interning at a law firm he hopes to join and he has a pretty stable life. Things change for him when he randomly goes to a gay bar with his gay and non gay friends one night. Suddenly, he exchanges a look with a stranger and he is smitten. They meet and talk and while he feels attracted to Aaron, he believes this to be easy to overcome, since he even has a girlfriend. However, as the days go by, the more Matt thinks about Aaron and hat he feels when he thinks of him. He decides to find Aaron and see if his confused emotions remain... when he realizes they do, what else can he do but spend time with Aaron? Is there hope for them?

This story is told exclusively by Matt and sometimes, as usual when it comes to a romance story, I felt the lack of having Aaron's POV in certain moments. Matt is also a rather stoic thinker and narrator and his way of describing things made the story feel stilted at times and made me think of Matt as someone who is a bit too dry. I suppose this might have been so to better contrast with Aaron who repeats often he is out and proud.

The plot isn't complicated and is all about the character driven. The conflict is internal - mostly Matt's of course - and while I did expect some external issues regarding how those closer to Matt would deal with his apparently sudden attraction to another guy, that never really materialized and the reactions of those who were told were pretty mild. This is also a story more in the novella size... I can't tell if that was intentional or if other books in the series will have a bigger page count, but perhaps if it was on purpose, the stories are not meant to feel as long anyway.

I've checked and it seems this book might be one of the first the author has published, perhaps that is another element to consider in how this book felt like to me, when I compare with my overall impressions of the others I had tried years ago. This story really read as being a bit one sided (even for a 1st person POV) and Matt didn't seem to be very intriguing or special enough as to why his side of things would feel important. Some situations he described actually felt a little boring to me.

Perhaps this impression wasn't helped by the fact Aaron is a more flamboyant element, even more so when compared with "average" Matt, and I will be honest and say characters who tend to be more extroverted or, as in this case, more "twink-alike" don't usually captivate me. I tend to fins these characters a bit over the top and tiring to follow. Sadly to me, Aaron didn't change my mind and while I liked him in general terms and loved the fact he was himself with no excuses for others, his personality wasn't my favorite either.

The guys' relationship felt very under developed too. I can accept how difficult it might be to showcase the feelings between them and how scaring it would be to deal with a novel type of situation for Matt and a scaring one for Aaron (he had been an experiment for a closeted man before) but the chemistry, the sense they were in sync with one another never really seemed obvious to me. I think the author did improve with time and this was easier to "see" in her other novels I've read, but here everything was rather meh.

Therefore, a story with two protagonists who weren't always perfectly appealing to me, a conflict they had to deal with themselves and which felt one sided over the 1st person narration led to a reading experience I wasn't particularly moved by. If I had read this book before others by this author, I might not have continued... and what a pity because of those I've read, I've given five stars to two. This said, some months from now, I might skip the next installment in this story  - the blurb suggests it might be a very similar mix to this one - and jump into the one after, which seems more appealing.

Grade: 6/10