Review: Exes by Kade Boehme

Exes by Kade Boehme
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Exes was a simple, sweet and fluffy friends-to-lovers story with a HEA and a medium spiciness level.

Wesley and Bryce have been friends since college. They were even more for a while, but have settled into best friends and lovers occasionally. Their friends call their little group of cohorts "The Exes" as at some point they have all dating one another. That's actually how Wesley and Bryce initially got together since they both dated Dabney at different points in time. Being bi gives you a bit more choice in partners, but it's still a small community.

Bryce is a bit of the party-boy of their group and Wesley is a bit more settled, so they play off each other well. But lately it seems as though Wesley is being a bit grumpy and in response Bryce finds himself trying to be the life of the party more than normal.

Even inviting a third back after their night at the bar doesn't end up playing out as it used to. Instead of Wesley and Bryce having sexy times with some temporary playmate, it somehow just doesn't happen.

Bryce doesn't know what's going on with Wesley, but he feels like he's losing his best friend. They talk about everything, so to have Wesley not share with him just feels wrong.

Then Dabney reveals that Wesley is interviewing for a job a few hours away. Shocked that Wesley is planning on moving away and didn't even say anything, Bryce knows he needs to find out what's going on.

While Bryce is still trying to figure out what to say or do, the pair go on their annual trip to the cabin. Sex, sun, and fishing is the normal pattern while there, but Wesley seems in a strange mood and Bryce is trying to understand why his best friend is leaving him.

The story might seem like it's potentially angsty, but instead we get a touching, sweet story about one friend wanting a relationship while the other is frightened of taking on more responsibility. Is it time for these two friends to become more? Or for them to leave the gray area of a relationship behind and move on?

This is an emotion-based story, not an active, action-backed one, and unlike many books about emotions, this one is low-angst. It truly was just a simple story about two guys who realize it may be time to grow up and that relationships change over time.

It is a HEA and has a few really nice sex scenes. Not enough to turn this into porn, just enough to spice things up.

I really liked Wesley and Bryce. They were perfectly age-appropriate, just a couple of younger guys no longer in college, but not quite fully settled down yet. That confusing in between time where you're starting to get tired of being with someone new all the time and just want to come home to someone who knows you.

Their rule about "no macho" bs and insisting on talking things out is so awesome. These aren't too-dumb-to-live guys, they actually understand that discussing things can fix problems.

There are a couple minor issues of confusion with the descriptions of the secondary characteristics. Not enough to really be huge, but enough to just make one pause and try to figure things out. Wesley's dads are gay and one of them is called aba which is a Jewish term for father. At another point Dabney's current spouse is spoken of as one person, then later it is another. Not that important, just can be a bit confusing trying to figure out what's up with the people. They have little page time in the book though, so it doesn't really matter. And I've heard the issue has been fixed in some editions.

So, if you want a sweet, short read about two guys trying to figure out when things changed and where to go from here, this one if for you. It's just a light read to make you smile.

Also, I'd love to see a prequel for this one, even just a short story of Bryce comforting Wesley after him and Dabney broke up. It would be so cute to see him come to terms with his sexuality.