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My Review:Title: Counterpoint
Author: J.E. Birk
Series: In Vino Veritas #2
Published by: Heart Eyes Press
Release Date: September 8, 2022
Pages: 298
Genres: Contemporary, LGBT, Romance
Source: Heart Eyes Press
Reading Challenges: Lenoreo's 2022 COYER Summer, Lenoreo's 2022 Diversity Reading Challenge
Find it: Goodreads ✩ Amazon
My rating:
Blurb:One playboy. One perfectionist. So many secrets.
I’m considered the biggest playboy in Burlington, Vermont. The party boy. The guy who lives in the moment and makes decisions with no thought for the future. But people don’t know my past. They don’t know why I make the choices I do. Even my best friend doesn’t know the truth about me. Actually, there are a lot of things he doesn’t know…like the fact that I had a one night stand with his brother last year.
Did I mean to hook up with Aaron? Um, no. Mistakes were made, okay? But unlike most of my mistakes, this one has lasting consequences. Aaron works at the law firm where circumstances are forcing me to be their errand boy. Now we see each other every day. Aaron’s such a nervous wreck he keeps tripping over the copy machine. I’m surprised he hasn’t ended up in traction yet.
He and I are opposites in almost every way. He’s got a GPA higher than Mount Mansfield, and I’m barely going to graduate college. He grocery shops with a spreadsheet, and I’ve got YOLO tattooed on my body. But Aaron sees things in me that no one else does, and I see things in him he doesn’t see in himself. Before I know it, we’re sharing late-night office picnics, evenings out at the bar, and long, hot afternoons on my boat. I’m having the best summer of my life, but there’s no way this can end well. My bff will kill me if he ever finds out how thoroughly I’ve corrupted his brother…
Counterpoint is an opposites-attract forbidden romance featuring an incense-filled law firm, meddling friends, and angst and humor in (mostly) equal parts. It stars Jeremy Everett and Aaron Morin, who first appeared in the Vino and Veritas story Booklover, but Counterpoint is a standalone novel.
I received a free copy through Heart Eyes Press in exchange for an honest and unbiased review/opinion.
4 stars — While I found the beginning a bit slower, I really enjoyed Jeremy and Aaron together. I felt like the issues they each faced were unique, something not as often explored.
Jeremy was a playboy on the surface, but he was dealing with something pretty life changing in the background, something he didn’t feel he could talk to anyone about. I loved that there was this dichotomy between who he portrayed to most people, and the kind heart underneath it all. He was also sassy AF, and I loved the little one-liners he had, the way he would try to cheer people up in a situation (often involving pranks). I felt like his growth in the story was wholly believable, and I appreciated where he ended up at the end — with room to grow more, but a good solid start.
Aaron was this perfectionist full of anxiety, and I felt for his need to be “good enough”. He really did heap a lot of those anxieties on his own head, but just like Jeremy, I felt like his growth in this story made sense, and I loved where he was at by the end of it. He was sweet, hardworking, smart…a teddy bear in his own right. I have less to say about him, but that didn’t mean I loved him any less.
And even though they had a lot to work through to make a relationship actually possible, I really rooted for them and loved how they brought out good things in one another. I wanted them to find that HEA.
It was fun to see both characters I’d already met, and new characters in this story. I definitely have intrigue over Scott and Peter in particular…Benson less so, though not none.
As far as the already met characters, it was wonderful to see both Jeremy and Aaron have this great support system of friends, so it wasn’t just them leaning on each other, but on their group. I kind of want Lexy and Mindy stories now.
All in all this was a solid addition to the World of True North, and I loved seeing these 2 boys find their HEA.
I didn’t request this round of the series, so it is fun to read your reviews. I’m going to be doing that to decide whether I want to pick any of them up or not.