Bully & Exit

The Midwest Series, Book 1

By: Brigham Vaughn

Narrated by: James Edward Jones

It's time to leave college and the closet behind.

Nathan Rhodes has put hockey first for most of his life, but as graduation looms, he has a different goal in mind. He needs to come out and reclaim his first love. If only Caleb will believe him....

Theater geek Caleb Stockwell gave up on love when his boyfriend chose the closet over being with an openly bisexual guy. Now, he hides his heartbreak behind a string of casual hookups. He loves the drama on stage, but he’s done with the drama of Nathan Rhodes. For good.

Nathan is determined to right the wrongs of four years ago, but the clock is ticking.

One month until he and Caleb go their separate ways. One month to take a final shot at winning Caleb's heart back.

Win or lose, everything is on the line.

©2015 Brigham Vaughn (P)2020 Brigham Vaughn

A second chance romance after a high school heartbreak

Theater loving Caleb and hockey star Nathan were hot and heavy in high school, but when Nathan screwed everything up at their senior prom leaving Caleb utterly heartbroken, the relationship soured.

Now, years later, the two find themselves at the same college. Caleb is furious, but Nathan wants a second chance. It is clear that the intense feelings are still there, but even though Nathan is ready to come out, Caleb is still hurting over their past.

This was such a sweet read. These boys care so much for one another, but the past is haunting them. When I got to the part of their senior prom my heart was breaking right along with Caleb. We get both points of view, which definitely helps us understand the whole situation.

James Edward Jones does a great job narrating Caleb and Nathan (as he always does). And I thoroughly enjoyed his voice this book. This was a fast listen and I can’t wait to check out more in this series.

Nathan and Caleb

I love to listen to a book that takes place in my own state.
opposites attract, sports romance. Great story with good characters. James Edward Jones is new to me but, did a good job bringing the story to life. HEA Thank goodness.
Bring on Brent and Lowell.
well worth the credit and your time to listen.

2nd chance romance is beautiful

I'm really enjoyed this story. It was sweet 2nd chance love story that was wonderful and showed some people can make bad decisions to protect the ones they love and hopefully are able to learn, grow and love again.

Enjoyable

I quite liked it, I kind of guess what had happened to make Caleb hate Nathan from the get go but I still liked the book and the characters, I can’t wait to dive into Lowell and Brent’s story

Second chances are worth it!

What happens when two boys fall in love in high school? One being a theater geek the other a hockey star. It’s a recipe for disaster and heartbreak from the beginning. No foreshadowing is needed to know what happens between these two boys. But you really don’t find out the reasons why until you dig deep into the story.
Well worth the read to find out where these two started and where they end up.
Highly developed characters that you can connect with immediately. The narrative created around them as they are about to graduate college and starting their adult lives is the best place to start for any series. It lets the characters look at their past and analyze it and decide what their future looks like. Using this as a starting point also allows a writer to have a lot of room for future growth or digression.
I had assumed this would be a high angst book however I was pleasantly surprised that it was on any medium angst. After the two main characters re-introduction to each other there was minimal angst at that point and much more openness to forgiveness.
Definitely a feel good book at the end of the day and I can’t wait for the next in the series.

Amazing listen!

I love second chance at love and I love Caleb and Nathan's story. Their story has angst and love that I love. I love the flashbacks. They give so much background to these two and just makes me love them story even more. Then James Edward Jones does an amazing job brings this story to life. This is the first time I have listened to a book by him and I love it. Such an amazing listen.

Just wow

I love Brigham Vaughn books and this one just brought it all. James Edward Jones did a truly fantastic job narrating this. The characters were brought to life and it was easy to distinguish between them.

2nd times the charm

I love a good 2nd chance romance. Caleb and Nathan's rise, fall, and potential rise and fall are told through flashbacks of high school sr year, concurrently with at the end of college senior year. definitely worth the listen.

I enjoyed this a lot.

Second chance stories are one of my favorite romance tropes and this was a great one. Nathan screwed up big time with Caleb back in high school and now he wants a chance to fix things and have Caleb forgive him.

What Nathan did was pretty horrible but this is a romance so I had to trust that things would work out OK. The story goes back and forth between their senior year of high school and their senior year at college. The time shifts were clearly marked and I didn’t have any trouble with the shifts.

This was a story that really got my emotions involved. It was hard to hear what Caleb went through in high school but it was also hard to learn why Nathan did what he did.

I believe this is the first audiobook I’ve listened to by James Edward Jones and I thought he did a great job. I would definitely listen to more books performed by him.

A complimentary copy of this audiobook was provided to me but my review was voluntary and not influenced by the author and/or narrator.

Excellent second chance romance

Caleb and Nathan once loved each other in another time in their lives. But circumstances got in their way leaving both men destroyed. Heart broken they move move on. In their senior year of college they run into each other again leaving Caleb’s emotions destroyed and Nathan willing to do whatever it takes to reunite with his lost love. This was excellent!! Sooo freaking good. James Edward Jones did a great job with the narration!