4 stars
OVERALL: Great hidden identity turns rivals-to-lovers m/m secret relationship story! Full of tropes and sexy times, this book was fun and fast to read, with decent emotional maturity and respect for mental health and each other.
Content warnings: explicit sexual content, language, abusive family, bullying, blackmail, homophobia, police incompetency

I wanted something light and sexy, and saw this title being recommended multiple times. Lots of tropes at play here: rich/poor, rivals to lovers, "doesn't know he's gay", teaches about sexuality, 'out'/'in' the closet...
I've read and enjoyed Elle Kennedy before, but this was my first Sarina Bowen, and I thoroughly enjoyed this book, so I'll be checking out more from this duo and from Bowen too!

I liked the set-up, which is clear from the blurb: when Keaton's girlfriend wants a threesome for her birthday, he joins an app to set one up, and starts chatting with a guy to make that happen. But they have a connection, both physical and mental/emotional, and the guys start to really like each other, not knowing they're both members of the same fraternity and even competing against each other to be president of that frat!
And of course after their identities come to light, they start to have a secret relationship. It starts out purely physical, but then evolves into more. There's never cheating, except maybe a little emotional gray area while they're texting and getting to know each other in the first third of the book.
I liked the pacing of the story and the writing was great. The initial 'getting to know you' via texts was great to both learn a bit about each of their characters/personalities, and to lay down a foundation for emotional attachment and connection. (There were one or two moments of having to pause and remember whose username belonged to whom--I thought the voices were distinct, but I still had to pause and think once or twice.)
After they get together and start having a physical relationship, there was a time jump where we didn't get to see much of them together, and this was a bummer to me. Basically it was a new chapter and the text said "over the last couple of weeks we had a lot of sex and had grown closer"--but I wanted to see some of that 'growing closer' part! I felt like this was a weak area of developing romantic feelings, to have this time jump. But I know the book needed to move along.


I liked that Luke chose his mental health and well-being over his parents/family, and that Keaton supported him with that and didn't interfere about repairing familial relationships.
I also liked that after the jail time part and their break up, they took time apart to reflect if their relationship was going to work. Keaton respected Luke's need to think things through and yet also drew the line eventually for his own mental and emotional health.
Great quote: "I love you, too. I know it's easier for me to get there than it was for you. I don't blame you for your scars."