The Boyfriend Mandate by River Jaymes

Title: The Boyfriend Mandate
Author: River Jaymes
Publisher: Self published/ Amazon
Cover Artist: n/a
Length: Novel (284 pages)
Formats: Mobi

Guest review from Feliz

Stuntman and two-time cancer survivor Memphis Haines excels at beating the odds. When he’s presented with the opportunity to help his ex-boyfriend with a charity event, he jumps at the chance to make up for the devastating way he left Tyler ten years ago. Memphis might have taken the college geek’s virginity, but the former mathelete is now a hell of a head turner. And Dr. Tyler Hall’s cool reserve is a challenge Memphis can’t resist. A self-confessed rule breaker and line crosser, he keeps turning up the heat with one goal in mind: to melt the man’s composure.

Tyler Hall sticks to one simple mandate: no more dating ex-boyfriends. Ever. He certainly isn't interested in hooking up with Memphis Haines, the ex who jumps off buildings, dodges explosions, and poses for designer underwear ads. Ten years ago, falling for Memphis changed Tyler’s life. The man’s abrupt departure turned his world inside out. But he moved on long ago. Besides, he has a clinic for the homeless to run, patients to take care of, and no time to deal with the trouble his ex brings. Memphis, however, seems determined to rehash the past. And his boxer-dropping grin, hard body, and confident charm are resurrecting ultra-hot memories best not remembered, making Tyler’s rule harder and harder to keep...

I enjoyed the first book in this series, The Backup Boyfriend, so I could barely wait for this one to come out.

And I really liked this book too, although not quite as much as the first in the series. More about this later. First the pros:

The writing was wonderful, catchy and smooth (aside from those annoyingly overused expletives--"Judas Priest" and "Jesus Haploid Christ"--ehm, wait, what?) Tyler, whom I didn't care for all that much during the first book, really grew on my during this one. In the first boo, he was a cold, detached asshole, but the details on his backstory revealed here made me understand him much better, made him appear human, and by the end, I'd come to care for him a lot.


Memphis, however....of course he was adorable like he was meant to be, on the surface at least, but he also had some rather unappealing traits. For one, he was manipulative to a fault, not only with Tyler, but also with everyone else around him. He played the "poor me cancer survivor" card a little too often, and even though his remorse seemed real, I though Tyler forgave him too easily. Then again, the two had some real good chemistry between them, too. 

Alec and Dylan from book one made a few cameos, and I loved meeting them again; I especially loved to see insecure Dylan giving and receiving advice from Tyler, of all people. As Tyler and Memphis's relationship grew closer, so did their group of friends. Meeting Julissa was another pro; she's a great female character, so well developed even in her rather minor role that I almost wished she'd get her own book at some point.

However, I somewhat missed Noah. Even though much of the book was set at his place, Noah's presence wasn't as strongly felt as it was during the first book. Since Noah is kind of like the glue that keeps them all together (and my secret favorite of them all, admittedly) I was glad to see a new scrap of development during the epilogue, hinting at Noah finding happiness of his own in the not-so-far future.

It's always hard to come up with a reason for a decade-long separation of "star-crossed" lovers. Although the reasons for Memphis's taking off in the first place took some suspension of disbelief, they were toroughly explored later and explained to a point where I almost--almost could relate... which was the biggest issue I had with the book: the almost, even more so since I couldn't quite put my finger on what actually bothered me about Memphis and Tyler's breakup-and-reunion-trope. IN the end, I guess it might've been a case of it's not the book, it's me, so... as taste is subjective, I think other readers need to find out for themselves.

Overall, this was an enjoyable and commendable read, although I'm looking forward to Noah's story even more now.