Monday, September 7, 2020

BLOG TOUR, EXCERPT, GIVEAWAY & REVIEW - Just Friends by Saxon James

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Blog Tour, Excerpt & Giveaway:
Just Friends by Saxon James

FINAL Just Friends

 A Never Just Friends Novel, Book 1


Roo

Five years ago, I walked away from Sunbury, Oregon, and left my best friend behind. The move was supposed to get my life on track. I even had a list.
Life-changing epilepsy surgery. Check.
See the world. Check.
Get over my straight best friend … Not exactly.
No matter where I go or who I meet, I can’t let Tanner go.
I’m back to tell him how I feel. To get the closure I need once and for all.
Only now I’m here and falling for him all over again, it’s getting harder to say the words.
Because once I have my closure, I’ll be gone.
And this time it will be for good.

Tanner

When my best friend, Roo, left for Australia, it was the worst day of my life.
I thought we’d have each other always.
But Roo needed the surgery so I let him go, thinking he’d come straight back.
Five years is a long time.
Now he’s here, all I want is to hold on tight.
I need to show him what he means to me.
The problem is, I’m not exactly sure what that is.
My draw to him has always been confusing and different—everyone in town says so. But I struggle to understand it.
All I know is I won’t survive him leaving again.
And I’ll do anything to make him stay.

 Amazon US   *   Universal Link

Goodreads

Teaser 4

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My Rating - 5 Stars!


Oh, how I love Saxon James' Just Friends! The first book in the Never Just Friends series, this has the hope of becoming a favorite series of mine. 

Roo and Tanner's story is a second chance romance that combines friends to lovers and forced proximity. I absolutely adore how oblivious Tanner is about his own feelings, let alone Roo's feelings. 

Roo's an Aussie who's back in the US after leaving 5 years ago. When they were separated, it was a tear jerking moment. Now they are temporary roommates and sharing a bed. 

The two men were best friends, and upon being reunited things are a little awkward, which I appreciate. Roo is secretly in love with his best friend and it just ups the tension. Of course, they naturally blend and can't help but to fall into their natural interactions again. 

Tanner's always been straight, and his sudden sexual awakening is well done. They play fight, they banter, and they bring all the feels. Omg. I love it all, including the lipstick scene.

The one thing I don't like is the way the author handles Tanner's dyslexia. It's well done, but a personal pet peeve of mine. I hate when a character is ashamed of his learning difference. I just wanted to yell at Tanner to ask for help. Of course, I have an up close look at how dyslexia can make one feel dumb and ashamed if they don't fully own it. 

Damn. The author's writing style is fabulous. Despite being written in present tense, there is plenty of descriptive phrases around the verbs to keep it from bothering me at all. Told from alternating 1st pov, the reader is fully absorbed into the character's minds, gifting us with an up close look into their thoughts, feelings, and motivations. 

Just Friends is a must read for anyone who loves friends to lovers. I couldn't put it down. This is one of those special light-hearted reads that I could read over and over again. 

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Teaser 5

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New Excerpt for the Blog Tour:

“Tell me something I don’t know about you,” Roo blurts out.

My eyebrows jump up. “Ah, like what?”

I don’t know. That’s the point of the question.”

Huh, I guess it is. I frown at the ripples in the water as I try to think of something—anything—Roo might not know about me. “I …” What? Where the hell was I going with that? “I don’t think there’s anything you don’t know.”

“Nothing?”

“Not off the top of my head. What about you?”

He bites his freckled lip as he thinks. “I’m sure there’s probably a lot. Out of curiosity, is there anything I could tell you that would make you hate me?”

I scoff. “Never.”

“What about if I hurt animals for fun?”

The hypothetical takes me a second. “Yeah, okay, that would be a deal breaker.”

“Or if I was an arsonist?”

I shake my head. “But you’re not those things.”

“I’m not. But like you said, things are different. Maybe there are things about me you wouldn’t like.”

And out of all the hypotheticals in the world, those are a steaming pile of stupid. “Nah, because no matter how much you’ve changed, you’re still a good person. So I don’t think anything would make me walk away.”

His expression is full of skepticism. “Remember you said that.”

“Should I be worried?”

“I don’t think so.” But he doesn’t look happy.

And Roo being unhappy is unacceptable. Deciding the conversation is over, I grab the hand resting on my shoulder and tug him until he’s behind me, before grabbing his other hand and locking his arms around my neck.

“Tanner, what are you—”

Holding his wrists with one hand, I dive, submerging us again, but this time I don’t let him go. If swimming gets him out of breath, then I’ll make things easy for him, because that’s what I do.

We spend another hour there, Roo holding on as I swim up and down the pool. We toss remember whens back and forth, and his voice in my ear reminds me of old times. Of falling asleep listening to his fierce rants about the world. Or his jokes. Or his plans for the future.


Out Now Banner

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Enter the Giveaway:

To celebrate Saxon's New Release, we are giving away an e-copy Just Friends and a $25 Amazon Gift Card!

Enter the Rafflecopter giveaway for your chance to win!

A Rafflecopter Giveaway

Direct Link: http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/cc0f2a5759/?


About Saxon:

Saxon James is an author from Australia who's obsessed with writing queer characters. She has a range of books from YA to adult and they all have one thing in common: swoony, sweet love.

When not writing, Saxon exists on a diet of coffee and chocolate while putting her KU subscription to the test.

Connect with Saxon:
Facebook page: www.facebook.com/pg/thesaxonjames/
Facebook group: www.facebook.com/groups/saxonssweethearts/
Bookbub: www.bookbub.com/profile/saxon-james
Amazon: www.amazon.com/Saxon-James/e/B082TP7BR7
Goodreads: www.goodreads.com/author/show/19404191.Saxon_James
Instagram: www.instagram.com/saxonjameswrites/


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