Rebel at Spruce High

A Spruce Texas Romance, Book 5

By: Daryl Banner

Narrated by: Chris Chambers, Cooper North

Vann, the gorgeous, leather-jacket-clad new bad boy in school, just set his eyes on me.

I'm not really good at making friends. That's simply a fact. I'm happy enough if I can just get through the school day, avoid eye contact with anything that breathes, and make it home where my family can continue ignoring my existence and I can play video games in peace.

But then he crashes into my life like a tidal wave. The hot new senior at Spruce High. The bad boy everyone can't stop talking about. The one with the leather jacket, smoldering eyes, and cloud of danger following him. The one called Vann.

My whole life changes overnight. Now, I want different things. I want an end to my lonesomeness. I want to stand up to the jocks who keep pushing me around.

But most importantly, I want to know what Vann's lips taste like. And why he looks pained every time his dark eyes catch mine in class. And why he keeps paying attention to me when the rest of the town doesn't. And why every time I open my mouth to speak, my racing heart chokes me.

I don't know what's coming for me in my last year at Spruce High, but I sure hope I'm ready for it.

Contains mature themes.

©2020 Daryl Banner (P)2021 Tantor

It happens before

Daryl is a master and this audiobook brings the story to life. This is truly a love story.

One of the things I like about this one is how the author takes his time with character development without being boring. There are times though where I find myself saying “get on with it.“

Enter the MCs, one a perceived bad boy, the other a victim of bullying and totally unsure of himself. I find myself at times losing patience with them but it adds to the conflict and helps propel the story forward.

For me, as much of a spoiler as this might be, is the appeal of hearing those three words before sex and it actually happens here. The MCs are together quite awhile before it moves beyond the make out sessions.

If you’re a beginner in the MM Romance genre, I highly recommend the Spruce Texas series, of which I think this one is the best. Sometimes I find myself laughing out loud, at others shedding a tear.

Rebel at at Spruce High

Very powerful love story! I couldnt put it down. The characters were well developed and the plot t

Love this whole series!

I'm telling you if you want feel good, funny, sometimes angsty, dramatic, sweet, charming. this book and the previous ones has it all and then some! So romantic and heartwarming. Honest and yet fanciful.

The good and the bad

Great story about Spruce, Texas. The performer who voiced Toby to life is great. The same cannot be said for the performer who voiced Van - pedantic and breathy are the kindest adjectives I can write. Despite that, it was great to visit Spruce again and I look forward to more from Daryl.

Another great read in the Spruce series

I am a BIG fan of the while series. the characters are so well rounded and, being from Mississippi in the south, i know these people haha.

This book in particular had a more sentimental, emotional feel. maybe it was my reader response, but these characters seemed to bring out real relationship feelings, trials, and emotional depth I really responded to. The steadier scence here were more tame and less explicit, but that added to the tenderness and vunerability the book had as a theme.

As usual, Banner transported me to that small town in Texas, references people I cared about from previous books, made me want a burger form Biggies and to see if that Country Lovin crepe is all it is hyped up to be, and overall made me feel like a member of this small, albeit progressive, southern town. cannot wait for the next book in the series.

THIS BOOK IS AMAZINGLY A MUST!

I don’t know where to start, BUT I loved the whole story and where it went! I’ve read every Spruce romance and it was definitely the best and the kicker! I honestly wish it wouldn’t be the last, especially because I wanna see Hoyt (side character) get his happy ending but I loved it completely and the creativity of this story had me smiling from ear to ear! It has made me fall in love with the development of all the characters and the town itself and truly inspired my life. It’s just a must read, sweet, sexy and dramatic in the best ways possible!

Small Town Country Boy & Big City Rebel

I enjoyed the story. The performance was excellent! I would definitely listen to other stories by the same author and especially the same performers!

Come for the love story, stay for the fluff

I saw a few reviews that said this book wasn't to par with the other in the series and it wasn't as spicy. I will agree on the spicy but it makes sense since the story is about two 18 yr olds. Their love can be more simple and less smutty and that's ok. I loved how they developed and enjoyed the time jumps instead of everything happening in 3 weeks.

fitting high school story

it's amazing how Daryl Banner can bring back high school memories. He's a great storyteller. He has a fantasy world that I really truly wish existed. I love how he brings past characters from other books into his newer books so characters and community still grow.

The BEST, yet SO, SO MUCH MORE… 🤩🤩🤩‼️

The BEST, yet SO, SO MUCH MORE… 🤩🤩🤩‼️ I’m NOT sure that I can adequately RAVE about this book/audiobook enough. The 5️⃣th in the series I was worried after the last that I was growing tired of the format, even though I 🥰🥰🥰 the town, the returning main and supporting characters from the previous iterations.
Though wonderful, the repeated neuroses of one of the two characters grew stale for me in the last 📕. The romance was there and the other half of the couples’ arc was great, but I wanted to slap the sh*t out of the other one and though the more focused high school setting was a nice change this time around I felt like this “wash, rinse, repeat” was happening all over again especially when the main obligatory “wrench” was interjected into the story.
But then it happened. There were more and more and more completely unexpected surprises that kept happening, not just for the main protagonists/lovebirds, but with many of the this books’ side characters AND the couples from EACH of the first 4️⃣ installments.
In the end, the very end AND in the epilogue, it just couldn’t have been better, then better and better once again.
From the first book, “Football Sundae”, Spruce, Texas and its inhabitants (both on the printed page and in their narrated, audiobook form) are imprinted on my soul next to Armistead Maupin’s, “Tales of the City” series as well as Casey Morales’, autobiographical “Raised By Wolves” series….
👏👏👏‼️