[Emily’s Review]: The Step Bro Situation by Jesse H. Reign

It’s official, my step bro is the biggest himbo ever to himbo.

He’s a massive blond beefcake with a soft heart and an over-eager smile. The mere sight of him incites a shaking hot rage in me.

He’s everywhere. He’s around me all the time. So sweet and gentle it makes me feel wild. I see him and smell him everywhere. And when I can’t see him or smell him, I hear him. The wall between our bedrooms is paper thin. I can’t help it - I hear what he does in his room when he thinks he’s alone. I hear everything.

I know I shouldn’t do it. It’s obviously a terrible, terrible idea. Still, I bide my time. I wait, and I wait, and finally, I pounce.
“Luke! I know what you’re doing in there.”

I received this book for free from Author in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

The Step Bro Situation was a fast paced, slightly taboo, sexy contemporary novel.

I loved the characters. This is a grumpy sunshine, himbo situation that I could not get enough of.

Luke was a sweet little baby angel, innocent and gentle and he brought out all of Jessie’s soft parts.
Jess was all talk in my opinion. He liked to act hard, but honestly, he really just needed a good cuddle.

I thought it was an interesting choice to have a major part of the plot happen simultaneously with the pandemic.
I haven’t read a book where covid actually cause a huge part of the plot’s conflict. I thought that was smartly done.

I will say, for all the great things that this novel DID have, there were a few things lacking- hence a 3.5 star review over a 4 or 5 star review.

I felt like the “step brothers” trope was only mentioned a few times. The whole step-brother trope is one of my favorites. It’s a trope that is usually high angst, fast paced, and super emotive.

However, the Step Bro Situation had little to none of the typical angst that naturally accompanies this trope. (Which was a huge bummer to me).
Everyone in Luke and Jessie’s liver were just so accepting of the “step bro situation” right off the bat! I felt a little cheated to be honest.
Truly, this book could have very well been a roommates to lovers novel and the story line would have changed very little, if at all.
I also felt like there was so much back story with Jessie and his mother, but it wasn’t expanded upon until the very end of the book.I think that bit of the story (between Jessie and his mom) would have benefitted from some serious extrapolation.

Over all, the entire novel felt a tad under developed for my taste.

However, it was sexy.
Like, super sexy.
The scenes when Luke and Jessie were together intimately had so much tension and emotion. I felt like the reader could so easily connect with them while they were together. They definitely communicated through body language and Jesse H Reign wrote those scenes very well.

It took some time, definitely a slow burn, but eventually the reader could see that Luke always harbored feelings for Jessie and he had come to terms with those emotions far earlier than Jessie did. Jessie was a hard sell to begin with, but watching him go through the internal struggles and self-growth was really satisfying. By the time he had come to terms himself with his feelings, Luke was ready and waiting and supportive and it was all just ooey-gooey sweet.

I read The Step Bro Situation in a matter of hours. It was such an easy read, it was humorous, and sexy and fast paced. If you’re looking for something low angst that has a happy ending then I would highly recommend.

Emily

Emily is a coffee loving, cat snuggling, hairstylist and book-a-holic.
Having always been a voracious reader and devouring books at a breakneck speed, joining the bookish and blogging community seemed like a natural next step. She loves giving recommendations to friends and family and then very gently (and not forcefully at all) asking for their opinions after they complete each chapter.
Her reviews tend to be goofy, a little sweary, on the more impassioned side and maybe sometimes a little self deprecating.
Emily typically enjoys reading almost every genre, including (but not limited to) monster romance, literary fiction, rom-com, contemporary, LGBTQ+, low/urban fantasy, paranormal, dystopian, sci-fi, gothic romance or basically any book that will make her cry.