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Out of Frame by Megan Erickson Also by this author: Make It Right, Changing His Game, Focus on Me, Dirty Talk, Dirty Deeds, Tied to Trouble, Strong Signal, Leveling the Field, Fast Connection, Hard Wired, Mature Content
Series: In Focus #3
Also in this series: Focus on Me
Published by InterMix on March 15, 2016
Genres: College Romance, Contemporary Romance, Friends to More, M/M Romance, New Adult
Character(s): Actors, Nerdy/Geeky
Pages: 202
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Romance trades the open road for the high seas in the latest from the author of Focus on Me and Trust the Focus...
Perpetually shy, Quinn Mathers is content to remain in the shadow of his brash best friend Jess Hartman. But before their college graduation, he and Jess have planned one last hurrah: a spring break Caribbean cruise.
And it won’t be just any cruise. On board are members of the reality show Trip League, which follows young twenty-somethings on adventures around the world. Since the show’s beginning, Quinn has been fascinated by J. R. Butler, with his amazing body, warm eyes, and killer grin. Unfortunately, he’s straight—or so the world thinks.
At nineteen, J. R. signed a contract to play straight for the show, and there’s no way to get out of it now. Yet with each passing day, Quinn and J. R. find it harder to keep their hands off each other and to keep out of the camera’s frame. But when the lens finally focuses on them, J. R. must decide if he’s willing to risk his career by admitting his bisexuality, and Quinn must determine if he's bold enough to stand in the spotlight with the man of his dreams...
Erin: If a book about a reality show of early twenty-somethings filming on a Spring Break cruise ship with a shy, kinda geeky ginger and an in-the-closet bi-sexual who’s trying to help his family and keep his career at the same time sounds like your kind of thing (and why wouldn’t it be??), then you definitely need to check out Megan Erickson’s newest novel, Out of Frame. Out of Frame is the third book in her much loved and highly successful In Focus series, and though it is part of a series, it can definitely be read as a standalone. This book is pretty much perfect for anyone wanting to get away from it all, and if it was summer, would definitely be a must read to take along to the beach or to read while sitting poolside while sipping a margarita.
Quinn Mathers is the geeky ginger of the story, and boy is he cute as all get out. Sometimes brave and bold and others shy and introverted—he’s the perfect blend of quirky and hot. He arrives at the cruise ship ready (well, mostly) to let go and have fun with his best friend, Jess along for the ride. And if that wasn’t enough, his secret crush, J.R. Butler from the reality show Trip League, is going to be aboard the ship as well. Cue lots of drunken shenanigans and party games, some well-timed accidentally-on-purpose run in’s with said J.R. and you have the beginnings of a Spring Break Quinn won’t soon forget.
This book was FUN, y’all. Like seriously just super fun. I grinned through the whole thing (even during the brief moments of serious) and this book left me with a smile on my face. Quinn is adorable as can be. His relationship with Jess is lovely, and it was so enjoyable watching him begin to let go and discover himself. This is a theme in the In Focus series, and it’s one of my favorites. It’s so nice to see well-rounded characters (which Megan Erickson does supremely well) grow and learn during the progression of the book. I really liked how she slowly and genuinely took Quinn and J.R. from insta-crush (because their attraction to one another is immediate—even after a bit of a rocky start) to deep friendship and then love.
J.R. will pull at your heartstrings. He’s trying so hard to be the “strong one” for his family, even though hiding who he truly is inside is slowly eating away at him. His family sees this, his brother especially, Quinn sees this, his friends on the show (who are all pretty great secondary characters themselves) see this as well. Megan did a great job with his struggle to do the right thing in terms of being true to himself while not losing the career he loves…or Quinn.
These two guys? They were great together. Sweet and sexy and plenty of swoons and sighs, too.
But then J.R. took a deep breath and lifted his head.
And when his gaze met mine, I knew there was no coming back from this.
Not when he placed his palms on the wall beside my head, not when his face drew closer, and especially not when his lips brushed mine.
“Quinn,” he whispered.
“Yeah?”
There was a beat of silence. “Fuck it.”
And then there was no gentle brush of his lips on mine. There was no mistaking this as anything but a kiss full of lust and pent-up attraction and want.
All. The. Sighs.
Out of Frame was enjoyable from beginning to end. There is lots to love about it: the dual POV, the cameos by our other two much-loved couples (Justin and Landry and Collin and Riley), the setting, the secondary characters, the sweet and sexy relationship between Quinn and Jay and on and on. Don’t miss this one people, you’ll be missing out if you do!
She's a Texan, though she drinks her tea plain and NOT sweet. She loves cheesecake, strawberry limeade's from Sonic and her favorite color is purple. In her books, she loves an HEA, but she never minds if the road is rough to get there, as long as the reward is worth the struggle.
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