Finn is ready for a relationship, but his friends want him to have the perfect romance trope. When his old childhood friend reappears in his life Finn realizes he missed Jesse, and maybe he can get his own trope or falling in love with his former childhood friend.
From the blurb:
My friends have a theory: I just haven’t hit the right trope yet. A blizzard. A fake boyfriend. A tutor I’m not supposed to want. A sworn enemy who’s secretly the love of my life. You know? The sort of stuff that landed every one of them their happily-ever-after.
So now there’s a corkboard in the frat house with my face pinned on it. There’s a points system that calculates my odds of true love to three decimal points. And there are four well-meaning maniacs treating me like a group project.
Every guy they pick is perfect on paper. Brilliant in a romance novel, but a slow death across a dinner table.
Enter Jesse, my childhood best friend, newly transferred to Elmwood U, and the one name nobody thought to pin to the board.
Jesse wants to help. And his roommate is the perfect guy to set me up with, as if those very words aren’t enough to make me want to scream.
But when Jesse’s roommate fails to show up, Jesse takes the empty seat so I won’t sit there alone. The only problem is, he’s nothing like the shy boy I’d hopelessly fallen for once before. He’s like a supernova in the night sky, burning bright and untouchable.
And I’m about to make the same mistake again.
My friends signed me up for a crash course in finding The One.
I never expected to crash straight into him.
Crash Course is the third and final novel in The Boys of Elmwood U series, but it can be read on its own. It features former best friends to lovers, polar opposites, matchmaking on campus, spice, and a guaranteed happy ending. It’s perfect for fans of whimsy and contemporary college romance stories.
SNik's review:
Third in series (Boys of Elmwood U), but can be read as a standalone. Former childhood best friends. Slow burn. Dual POV.
Finn’s frat brothers want to set him up for a romantic trope so he can be in a relationship, and Finn goes along with the varied blind dates they plan. Meanwhile he reunites with his friend Jesse after ten years and they both feel the pull of their former affections more realized as adults and unexpectedly comfortable.
Finn is really sweet as he goes along with all of the horrible dates and is genuinely happy to get to know Jesse all over again. Jesse, who secretly feels he has loved Finn since they were kids, is hesitant to reignite their friendship. I struggled with the idea that Jesse was in love at the age of twelve, but some of the writing was really compelling when it came to both character’s internal monologues about their feelings. Overall, I enjoyed Finn and Jesse together and how they fell into their own trope which worked for them and provided an HEA.
GreenwingReads review:
I've been doing a lot of reading while I recover from surgery and after a couple heavier romances, I wanted something low angst. I knew Hayden Hall's new release would be exactly that for me and it was short enough to read in one long sitting, which is perfect when you can't get out of bed all day anyway.
I thought his take on the best friends to lovers trope was cute and it was the one trope his friends hadn't tried to incorporate, since as far as they knew, the friends were all coupled up. But Jesse and Finn weren't best friends in the present tense, they'd been childhood best friends reunited at college around the same time Finn's friends were trying to set him up. Given that, I was surprised at how well Jesse knew the adult version of Finn and what he would want in a partner since the last time they'd seen each other, they were ten years younger. So that was a bit far-fetched, but still cute. And the matchmaking mishaps were pretty funny.
It was very clear how angsty Jesse's feelings were and how long he'd been carrying a torch for Finn. On the other hand, I didn't really find Finn's feelings for Jesse all that believable. His feelings of friendship and care, yes. But romantic feelings for Jesse, no. I think Hayden held off too long on letting those feelings show, so the romance felt a bit skewed. Nevertheless, it was a cute story and well worth the read. I love Hayden's writing style and the care he puts into his stories. There was also a bit of cross-over with another series of his that I enjoyed, so that was fun to see too.
Heather's Review:
While the rest of the Boys at Elmwood U set Finn up on terrible blind dates, he manifests a chance to reconnect with a childhood friend and explore what Jesse has always wanted... I love how the book handles Jesse's childhood crush and doesn't rush them into anything. The slow burn works as they reconnect and it makes the HEA all the more poignant.
Crash Course is currently available as an e-book and can be read as part of your Kindle Unlimited Subscription
Crash Course is currently available as an e-book and can be read as part of your Kindle Unlimited Subscription
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