A review by tashmarcelle53
Until You by Briar Prescott

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

 Outstanding, exhilarating storytelling in a riveting MM romance 
 
Wow. Uh. I’ll say that again. WOW. It took me a chapter or so to get drawn in, but then, to quote a favorite line from a rather famous romance, “I was in the middle before I knew that I had begun.” Blake! His patience, his humor, the way he just gets Jude (who is the sole narrator/MC1 until the epilogue)… I was all in before I even noticed. I’m a sucker for a guy who has so much going on beneath the surface that you’re dying to know what it is, but no one’s saying, and you don’t care because you just want to keep reading about this fascinating person. Here there are two of them. 
 
The author is genius with laying out the bread crumbs and possibly laughing/cheering as you pick each one up and keep going. Toward your doom? Toward HEA? Well, it is a romance, so…but the fact that I felt that tension every step of the inevitable way shows the genius in the writing. This is a storyteller who knows what she’s doing. 
 
Some people have chemistry as friends. Some have chemistry as lovers. Here we have both, and the match up is incendiary and confusing and addictive and all the Things. I almost didn’t want them to get together physically bc the tension was so high it seemed there’d be nowhere to go but down. Not so. 
 
Jude has protective walls so high they should be unscalable. Blake shrugs and digs under them before Jude ever thinks to block him that way. Knowing more about the story would spoil things, and this one’s too good to do that to. If you enjoy reads where the characters have arcs and evolve and bring out the best in each other with utter unconditional appreciation, this one’s for you. Witty, kind, poignant, steamy, full of wariness, determination, despair, and joy…a true roller coaster of emotion and intellectual stimulation. (That’s a weird thing to say. But it’s true.) 
 
Secondary characters are well-drawn and authentic and support the main plot beautifully. 
 
HEA, hard-earned with a massively satisfying payoff. Sneak-into-your-life to friends to lovers to I don’t want to exist without you even though I can. No cheating or emotional cheating. Highly, highly recommended. 
 
My thanks to Gay Romance Reviews for the ARC; this is my free and impartial opinion. And I bought a print copy of this book because it was that fabulous.