Category: Contemporary

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Shy Audiobook by John Inman

Dreamspinner presents http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=5960

shyBlurb

Dating is hard enough. Throw in an incontinent Chihuahua, an unrequited love affair, a severe case of social anxiety disorder, a dying father, and a man-eating hog and it becomes darned near impossible. Still, it takes two to tango—and when Tom Morgan, a mild-mannered assistant bank manager with a debilitating case of shyness, meets Frank Wells, who is straight off the farm and even shyer than he is, sparks start flying.

Just when Tom and Frank’s burgeoning love affair is rolling along nicely, Frank must return to Indiana to oversee the farm while his father battles cancer. Tom tags along to help Frank out and finds himself slopping hogs and milking cows and wondering what the hell happened to his orderly citified existence. And what’s with all the chickens? Tom hates chickens!

With Frank’s help, Tom grits his teeth and muddles through. Funny what a couple of guys can accomplish when they’re crazy about each other. Not even nine hundred chickens can stand in the way of true love.

Review

I have some mixed feelings about this story. First, I love John Inman’s writing style. He makes it so easy to just jump right in and feel like you are part of the scene. Second, I thought the two MCs were hilarious and sweet and so cute together it almost gave me a cavity! Third, I didn’t mind their insta-love one bit. I thought it suited their characters and fit with their own desperate need to find someone to be an anchor in their lives. But…

I really, really, really didn’t like the way Stanley was handled. First, the fact that Jerry was with him and he was such an obvious dick made me question Tom’s judgment- especially since apparently their “marriage” was dismissed so easily and casually by Jerry. Why, why, why would Tom still be Jerry’s friend??? It sounds like he was an idiot who dumped a wonderful guy (Tom) for a psychopath!   Second, Stanley went from your basic home-wrecker to deranged, druggy, greedy psycho pretty quickly. Even his own father thought he was a dick. I would have appreciated just a little bit of explanation as to how Joe (super awesome dad) and Frank (the nicest guy in the world) could be related to such a psycho. Finally, the pig eating the brother. ICK! I did not like that part at all. I was sad for his death and even sadder that no one else was sad. Sure, he was a dick, but really – he’s dead! And he’s Frank’s brother and Frank is a sweetie. I think Frank would be torn up more.

So… most of me simply loved this and found the quirkiness of the characters (especially the judgmental Pedro) to be hilarious, but I was a bit shocked by how Stanley was portrayed and a little put off by his demise.

I thought the narrator, Tommy O’Brien, did a nice job. Nothing too crazy or over the top, good at the pacing and mostly letting the story tell itself.

So for both the story and the narration 4 of 5 hearts.

4

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One Holiday Ever After by Tere Michaels and Elle Brownlee and Elizah Davis

Dreamspinner Presents http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=5849

one holidayBlurb

The holidays are a time for celebration, discovery, coming home, and maybe even miracles for those who are lucky. From the streets of New York City, to the wintery wonderland of the Maine woods, to the quaint, small town charm of Idaho, the men in these stories have different holiday desires. They’re looking for familiarity or fresh starts, but they have one thing in common—their happily ever afters might be waiting in the last places they think to look. Come see what they unwrap in these stories by three acclaimed authors of male/male romance.

Holiday Roommates by Tere Michaels

As an actor without prospects, Nate Brandywine needs an emergency roommate for the month of December. During a humiliating gig as a Christmas elf at a NYC department store, he meets Sean Callahan, his producer and a man struggling under the weight of a past-due loan. Sean’s desperate for a place to stay in the city for a few weeks. A month of sharing a workplace and an apartment with someone you can’t stop flirting with? Maybe the holidays won’t be so terrible after all.

Review

This is a very cute, sweet, light holiday romance about two “roomies” who find they have a lot in common. They spend a lot of time flirting and the dialog is what makes this story so great. Tere Michaels is an excellent writer and her sense of humor really shines in this one. (A nice light read after the much darker Who Knows the Storm). I especially loved the parts where Nate is promoted over and over in his store production Christmas show – really funny!
4 of 5 hearts

4

Holiday Sanctuary by Elle Brownlee

Chris Declan is trekking through the wintry wonderland of rural Maine, searching for inspiration and himself, when he’s literally and figuratively taken by storm. First by the surprise blizzard that finds him seeking refuge in Paul Bak’s secluded cabin, and second by Paul. Making the best of being snowed in together soon becomes a comfortable friendship with fireside chats, a quaint holiday celebration, and more. But despite their growing closeness, there’s one thing they avoid—what will happen when the snow clears and the holidays end.

Review
Chris ends up finding shelter in Paul’s cabin and the two end up “falling in love”. This is one of those stories where you will either really love the “insta-love” or be frustrated by it. Since it’s a holiday story – I let my disbelief go and found it charming. I didn’t think the writing was as good as Tere Michaels’ story, but it was still a pretty good offering.
3 of 5 hearts.

3

Holiday Homecoming by Elizah J. Davis

Gavin Anderson never thought making it as a writer in LA would be easy, but when his latest project falls through, he gives up on Hollywood and heads to Bonabri, Idaho in hopes that the peace and quiet of his childhood home will help him figure out his next move. Instead he finds Eric Nichols, his parents’ cute and charming housesitter who is there to experience the small town Christmas festivities. Gavin’s plans for quiet reflection are no match for Eric’s holiday cheer, and he soon finds himself swept up in the spirit of the season. Gavin thought his life had hit a dead end, but in coming home he finds what might be a new beginning.

Review

Gavin ends up falling for Eric, the housesitter. There is no sex in this story but lots of funny lines, and warm feelings. I was really enjoying this, but was a little bewildered by the abrupt ending, though it generally left me with a strong feeling that these boys were going to make it.
4 of 5 stars

 

4

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The Best Corpse for the Job by Charlie Cochrane

corpsejobTea and sympathy have never been so deadly.

Schoolteacher Adam Matthews just wants to help select a new headteacher and go home. The governors at Lindenshaw St Crispin’s have already failed miserably at finding the right candidate, so it’s make or break this second time round. But when one of the applicants is found strangled in the school, what should have been a straightforward decision turns tempestuous as a flash flood in their small English village.

Inspector Robin Bright isn’t thrilled to be back at St. Crispin’s. Memories of his days there are foul enough without tossing in a complicated murder case. And that handsome young teacher has him reminding himself not to fraternize with a witness. But it’s not long before Robin is relying on Adam for more than just his testimony.

As secrets amongst the governors emerge and a second person turns up dead, Robin needs to focus less on Adam and more on his investigation. But there are too many suspects, too many lies, and too many loose ends. Before they know it, Robin and Adam are fighting for their lives and their hearts.

Kimi’s Review:

If you’re a fan of traditional English murder mysteries set in small villages, this is likely to be right up your street. It was supposed to be a long, dull day of interviewing candidates to fill the headteacher’s position at the local primary school. Instead, it turned out to be a day filled with gossip, excitement, and frissons of fear as one of the candidates turns up quite dead, and on school grounds while class are in session no less. It sets the tongues to wagging and speculation is rife, which doesn’t help matters for Inspector Robin Bright when he is called to the village to investigate.

Things get even more awkward as teacher Adam Matthews is not only a potential witness AND suspect, but turns out to be utterly delectable and very, very tempting to spend time with. Adam just wants this to be all over so they get on with selecting a new head, but he doesn’t want to let the Inspector drive his car off into the sunset either, which makes it even harder for the Inspector to say no. It’s a dilemma Miss Marple certainly never had to deal with, though the mystery itself is one she would have loved to sink her teeth into. It resolves rather nicely for all concerned, bar the victims along the way, with a lovely HEA at the end.

Buy from Amazon 

Rating: 4

kimisig

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What’s in a Name by Pat Henshaw

Dreamspinner presents http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=5965

what nameBlurb

Barista Jimmy Patterson thinks it’s a good idea to get rip-roaring drunk on his birthday after he’s dumped by his boyfriend. When the burly owner of Stonewall’s Saloon rescues Jimmy, the night starts to look up.

Now Jimmy just wants to know the bartender’s first name since he’s worn a different name tag every time Jimmy’s seen him. “Guy” Stone gives Jimmy seven guesses, one for each night he takes Jimmy out on a date.

While Jimmy’s trying to come up with his name, he’s distracted by the destruction of his coffee shop and what looks more and more like a hate crime.

Review

Jimmy is having a terrible birthday! His boyfriend was supposed to take him on a romantic date in San Francisco and instead picks up a stranger and ditches Jimmy at the bar, leaving him all alone. Jimmy drowns his sorrow in beer but luckily the bartender, Alex2/Guy/Stone is there to help when things get messy.

“Stone” aka Guy, aka Alex2 has been keeping an eye on Jimmy for awhile now and swoops in to help when Jimmy’s worthless boyfriend ditches him at his bar. Stone won’t tell Jimmy (or anyone) his real name because it’s so awful. Instead he makes Jimmy a deal that if Jimmy can guess his real name he’ll buy him the motorcycle he’s been after for his birthday.

Jimmy and Stone get along right from the start. Stone helps Jimmy to get free from the ex-boyfriend, gives Jimmy a place to crash when needed, helps Jimmy with his new coffee-shop plans and is generally an amazing boyfriend – right from the start.

Jimmy can’t believe his good fortune and realizes that in all the months he’s been going to the one gay bar in town, he’s actually spent more time talking with the bartender than his (now ex) boyfriend.

**
This is a fast story with very little angst and no on page sex. Some people are going to find fault with it for those reasons. But… it’s a tremendously sweet story with a lot of heart and lots of ooey gooey feels that just made me smile. Sure, the ex boyfriend was a bit too psycho. Sure, I’d have liked to see the relationship take more than a week but as is pointed out in the story – they’ve known each other for months already. Sure, I wish there was some sex in the story, but the chemistry is there and the two clearly love each other.

Overall, I really enjoyed this short story and recommend it to anyone willing to suspend their disbelief and smile at a sweet tale of love.

4 of 5 hearts

4

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Feline Persuasion by Cheyenne Meadows

Dreamspinner Presents

http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=5222

feline persBlurb

When tiger shifter Cade turns an oily owner of a consultation firm over to the FBI, he finds himself with a hit man on his heels. Chester was in possession of security-breaching national secrets, and even more concerning, evidence that shifters exist, and if it got out, trouble would follow for all shifters. So now Cade is on the run. He holes up in an isolated hideout where he doesn’t expect anyone to find him–least of all a former one-night stand.

Alpha lion shifter Micah can’t shake Cade from his mind. They spent one glorious night together before Cade ran off without leaving even a name. He’s determined to find his runaway and protect what he’s come to think as his despite Cade’s one and done rule. He surprises Cade in his secret nest in the forest, learns the reason for Cade’s self-imposed exile, and decides to call for help. This nets them Stone: a top-of-the-line bodyguard and the one man Micah can’t stand. Stone isn’t thrilled either. He can think of better things to do than spend days in the wilderness with the uppity alpha who stomps on his last nerve.

Despite their differences and history, they need to find a way to survive and expose the traitor in their midst. They also realize chances at love are fleeting unless you grab the opportunity between your teeth and hold on for one wild ride.

Review:

Lions and Tigers and Bears – Oh My! Ok, really, one bear, two lions and a tiger. Sounds like the start of a joke. But no – it’s really a hot, hot m/m/m book by Cheyenne Meadows.

She is a new author for me, but I am grateful to see (based on her website) that she has more coming and soon!

This is a very hot, very well written triad story. First, you have to suspend your disbelief that the three Alpha males would all find happiness with another Alpha (not to mention 2!) but if you let that go – the author does make us see how compatible and caring they are for each other.

The mystery/action part of the story moves along, plays into the back story of the MCs and is exciting, if not terribly full of surprises.

What I liked about the smexy scenes in this book was the constant sexual tension – even though (as you can see in the Blurb) two of the MCs have sex in the first chapter. The author manages to bring us back around to a high level of tension between those two and then compounds it by adding in a third. Very nice.

I thought it was a great book and a fast, easy read. Well edited and nicely written.

I give it 4.5 out of 5 hearts – highly recommended.

4.5

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Heaven Can’t Wait by Eli Easton

Dreamspinner Presents

http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=5150

heaven can'tBlurb

When Brian Matheson dies at nineteen, his soul is in limbo. He has one chance to redeem himself before he’s thrown into a nasty pit. All Brian has to do is save the life of Kevin Anderson, a boy he and his friends tormented for being gay.

Kevin thought he’d finally escaped bullying. But his college roommate, Chuck, and his homophobic pals, prove him wrong. Now he can only wait for another room to open up—and try to keep his eyes off sexy, uber-straight Chuck.

Chuck is struggling to keep up the tough-guy façade everyone expects, but being trapped in a dorm room with the prettiest twink he’s ever seen isn’t helping him keep his feelings hidden.

If Brian can untangle this mess, he’ll deserve his wings.

Review

OMG – literally. Such a sweet, fun read. Ok, there were parts that were hard – very hard, to read, but it has such a fantastic ending, you forget the hard parts.

Brian is kind of a jerk – but he realizes this and learns from his mistakes. On the path to redemption he is sent back to earth to help some of his college “friends” find love and though he pretty much screws up all his attempts, he does manage to help them out in the end.

Poor Kevin – the typical “ugly duckling” who needs only a bit of time and perspective to become the “swan” touches any one of us who was less than perfect in high school/ college/ now … I just cringed when he was bullied and felt every single one of my heart strings pluck when he manages to stand tall despite it all.

Chuck, what a sweetheart. Sure, he didn’t do things right the first time, but he’s human, and he learns and … GOL-LY he is so damn sweet at the end you can forgive him anything.

I LOVED Eli’s version of heaven/evolution/explanation of Gay… fantastic.

This was a super fast read, but well worth it. I’m sure it will be re-read many times.

I give it 4.75 of 5 hearts – a teeny tiny deduction because DAMMIT I wanted to see more of the two lovebirds!

Highly recommended!

5

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The Mating of Michael by Eli Easton

Dreamspinner Presents:

http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=5157

matingBlurb

Michael and James are made for each other. But they must let go of stubbornness to see that life finds a way and love has no limitations.

Sex in Seattle: Book Three

 Everyone admires Michael Lamont for being a nurse, but his part-time work as a gay sex surrogate not only raises eyebrows, it’s cost him relationships. Michael is small, beautiful, and dedicated to working with people who need him. But what he really wants is a love of his own. He spends most of his time reading science fiction, especially books written by his favorite author and long-time crush, the mysteriously reclusive J.C. Guise.

James Gallway’s life is slowly but inexorably sliding downhill. He wrote a best-selling science fiction novel at the tender age of eighteen, while bedridden with complications of polio. But by twenty-eight, he’s lost his inspiration and his will to live. His sales from his J.C. Guise books have been in decline for years. Wheelchair bound, James has isolated himself, convinced he is unlovable. When he is forced to do a book signing and meets Michael Lamont, he can’t believe a guy who looks like Michael could be interested in a man like him.

Michael and James are made for each other. But they must let go of stubbornness to see that life finds a way and love has no limitations.

Review

 Everyone should have a Michael in their lives. If we did, the world would be a better place.

I fell in love with Michael in the first of the “Sex in Seattle Series” and was so excited to see him finally get his own book. Eli Easton has taken a somewhat controversial subject, surrogacy, and shown us how beautiful and powerful a tool it can be for healing.

Through Michael’s story we are shown how sex is not only an important part of being in a realationship or being in love, but how it’s a natural part of being ourselves, being human. She has clearly done her research, as she explains in the prologue, and her effort shines through. I admit, when we met Michael at first, I wondered, along with him, how he could possibly have a long term relationship for himself, given his job. I felt how sad for him, and/or for his potential clients, because what he offers is such a gift, but it must be hard to share that with someone you love. This story addresses that issue. It is touching and sweet, sexy and informative. It made me laugh and cry and I couldn’t put it down.

I love Eli’s characters. They are not physically perfect gods, they don’t have picture perfect resumes, they have flaws, quirks and are real people. She has a fantastic grasp of pacing and story telling. I never felt like I needed to rush ahead but was always on the edge of my seat. The story just plucks at every darn heart string and leaves you with a huge smile on your face, after you’ve gotten done crying, of course.

James’ character is so heartbreaking, you feel for him, from the first page. His back story is amazing and so sad, but his ability to use his pain and turn it into something wonderful is a precious gift.

Marnie and Tommy are also inspired characters and brought both pain and love and humor to an already rich story.

I really loved the snippets of James’ book that we are shown throughout Michael’s story and would love to read the real thing! Eli may have to branch out into some serious Sci-Fi next, clearly she has a knack with the genre. Lamb’s story also made me cry… you bastard!

This is another one of those books that I will have to read and re-read because there was just so much going on that I am sure I missed some the first pass. But it will be a pleasure to find every nook and cranny because it is such a good book.

Thank you Eli for giving us Michael’s story and I really hope that there are people out there doing your work, it sounds amazing.

I highly recommend this book, 6 out of 5 hearts… or 7… well, you get the idea. Buy this book!

amazing

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Aaron audiobook by JP Barnaby

Dreamspinner presents:  http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=4870

aaronBlurb

Two years after a terrifying night of pain destroyed his normal teenage existence, Aaron Downing still clings to the hope that one day, he will be a fully functional human being. But his life remains a constant string of nightmares, flashbacks, and fear. When, in his very first semester of college, he’s assigned Spencer Thomas as a partner for his programming project, Aaron decides that maybe “normal” is overrated. If he could just learn to control his fear, that could be enough for him to find his footing again.

Review
The Story

WOW.
Just. WOW.

This is an absolutely amazing book. Amazing.
JP Barnaby manages to take an absolutely horrific event and funnel it through the mind of a teenager. Can you imagine? Being a teenager is hard enough as it is. Then add being a gay teenager, just coming into your own sexuality. Then add in a brutal, horrible attack that leaves you physically and emotionally scarred and your best friend, dead. It is incredible that Aaron had the will to live, and JP even explains HOW he manages to avoid suicide.

It is completely believable, and touching, and so, so painful, but sweet and hopeful at the same time. I couldn’t read/listen to it all at once. I had to take breaks, read lighter books in between. But when I got to the end, I said “I MUST read Spencer!” and started it immediately.

One of the things I absolutely found so powerful, was JPs ability to show us (without telling us) the areas where Aaron’s family – despite ALL their best intentions – were NOT helping him. She also showed us where the fact that he was a teenager (and thus prone to illogical thinking and hormone driven decision making) impacted his event even more so than it would have on an adult. Aaron lived through this event at such a pivotal time in his life and JP does an amazing job of showing us just how pivotal it was.

Then you have Spencer. (Sigh) I LOVE Spencer. I wish I KNEW Spencer, I would hug and love him up. Such a fantastic soul and such a huge heart. He takes on Aaron and sees through to the boy he is/could be and simply loves him. He has his own demons, and this makes him empathetic and vulnerable and wonderful It is a testament to the power of love in the act of healing. So very touching. I can’t say enough about how wonderful Spencer is.

JP also paints a detailed, if flawed, picture of Dr Thomas, Aaron’s parents/siblings, and all the other people in Aaron’s life. She is accurate down to her coding and tech-speak, but not didactic or pedantic.

It was a hard book to read/listen to, but so worth it.

I had not read any JP Barnaby books before this, but you can bet I am a fan for life now.

5 out of 5 hearts

Review
The audio
Tyler Stevens can read any book to me any day. He did such an amazing job with the language, the tonal qualities of Spencer’s speech. (Spencer was born deaf, but can and does speak throughout the story.) Tyler subtly changes the voice for all the characters in a way that is helpful to the story and not distracting in its “over acting”.

His reading pace is good, his voice quality clear, his emphasis on the dialog perfection.

I would specifically look for him as a narrator, he is that good. I really hope he reads Spencer when the audible version comes out.

I liked the audible version even better than the book (shocked gasp!). It was that good. Tyler just made me feel the characters in a way that when I went back to read the book, his intonations were what I heard.

I highly recommend this audio version, the book, the series, the author, the narrator.

Ok, I sound a little fan-girl, but really. Go now and buy them.

amazing

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Dance With Me by Heidi Cullinan

Loose ID presents:http://www.loose-id.com/dance-with-me.html

Dance with meBlurb

Ed Maurer’s life would be fine if he could just get Laurie Parker off his back. He’s bounced back, more or less, from the neck injury that permanently benched his semi-pro football career, and he volunteers now at a local community center. It’s just that every time he turns around, that damn professional dancer is in his way, hating Ed right back. But when a bargain Ed strikes at the center lands him as an assistant in Laurie’s ballroom dancing class, their perceptions of each other turn upside down. Both Ed and Laurie have heartbreak in their pasts, but somehow dancing together eases their individual pain. For Ed, dancing with Laurie becomes a way to reconnect with his body after losing football. For Laurie, partnering with Ed has erased some of his fear of performing and brought back joy to a sport he wasn’t sure he could ever truly love again.

As Laurie and Ed lose themselves in dance, their lives continue to spin around them: Ed’s injury makes it clear he’s nowhere near recovery, Laurie feels the pressure by friends and family to perform once more, and the community center that has become such an important part of both their worlds threatens to close. Alone, they haven’t had the strength or spirit to face what life has hurled at them. But as the turns of their personal paths lead them into the arms of love, Ed and Laurie begin to think that if they dance this dance together, they might be able to succeed.

Review

Ed is an out and proud football player (semi-pro) who hurts his neck and has to look for alternative ways to stay in shape and rehabilitate against the debilitating pain.

Laurie is a dancer who runs a small studio but who used to be on the path to greatness until he and his then partner (both dance and life) tried to break into a couples dance competition as the only same sex couple and failed, epically.

At first these two are enemies – Ed plays the music too loud, Laurie is a priss, but then… magic (sigh). They begin to dance together and it is everything they’d hoped to find. Laurie loves how Ed can be the strong partner he’s always needed and Ed loves how Laurie can give him some of his self respect back.

Along the way they become lovers, too, and that, by far, is their most important relationship.

There are many road bumps – Laurie’s mom, Ed’s pain and ego, Laurie’s fear of rejection and his past sexual history, money…

But in the end they conquer them all for a very, very satisfying HEA.

**

This is one of those books I have read and then read again and again. I just love it so!

Some of the things I really appreciate about it:

The real sex. It’s not all hot and sweaty, panting and perfection. There’s pain, and gas, and preparation, and mess. Wonderful!

I love the scene in the hot tub with the other, older couple… again, real, messy, normal, but still hot.

The real problems. Pain and money and egos. Who hasn’t had one or both of those issues in their life – even to the point of ruining their relationship?

Their love. I just fell in love with them as a couple because they are so very different but when they put down their walls you can see just how perfect they are for one another.

All in all it was an amazing book that I can’t recommend more highly than: you must read this!

I give it 6 of 5 stars – Amazing!

amazing

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Love Lessons by Heidi Cullinan

Samhain Publishing Presents https://www.samhainpublishing.com/book/4770/love-lessons

Blove lessonslurb
Love doesn’t come with a syllabus.

Kelly Davidson has waited what seems like forever to graduate high school and get out of his small-minded, small town. But when he arrives at Hope University, he quickly realizes finding his Prince Charming isn’t so easy. Everyone here is already out. In fact, Kelly could be the only virgin on campus.

Worst of all, he’s landed the charming, handsome, gay campus Casanova as a roommate, whose bed might as well be equipped with a revolving door.

Walter Lucas doesn’t believe in storybook love. Everyone is better off having as much fun as possible with as many people as possible…except his shy, sad little sack of a roommate is seriously screwing up his world view.

As Walter sets out to lure Kelly out of his shell, staying just friends is harder than he anticipated. He discovers love is a crash course in determination. To make the grade, he’ll have to finally show up for class…and overcome his own private fear that love was never meant to last.

Warning: This story contains lingering glances, milder than usual sexual content for this author, and a steamy dance-floor kiss. Story has no dairy or egg content, but may contain almonds

Review

Kelly is a small town guy with Disney –HEA – visions in his head. He just KNOWS life gets better in college and he won’t let anybody tell him otherwise.
Walter is the jaded, older student and now roommate who, at first, wants to break Kelly of his romantic ideal nonsense, then feels it’s his duty to protect those dreams and finally to make them come true.

This is a long book, so we cover a lot of ground and in a lot of detail.
We get a good, hard look at what makes Walter so cynical and a good look at what makes Kelly so idealistic.

We get to watch the relationship, in its early seedling stage nearly die before finally taking root to grow into a full-fledged, Disney-level-happiness, rock solid, Red-wood of a relationship.

This is a new adult novel. Not quite YA – too much drinking, drugs, and sex for that. But the story is more closely that of a YA than some of the other, far more raunchy, Heidi Cullinan “adult” books. It is very well written and very involved, like the rest of Heidi’s books, and hits all the right buttons for me.

I just love the characters. They are all very well developed, three-dimensional, interesting and unique. There are several secondary characters that add complexity to the story and help to give this book it’s authentic flavors.

Kelly is an amazing guy. Heidi has managed to give us a freshman boy, who loves Disney movies, is a die-hard romantic, a virgin and yet he is still very much a boy. I love him! I love that he idolizes Tangled and has dreams of how his first date, first sex and wedding should all be. I loved the juxtaposition of his money poor, love rich household with Walter’s money rich, love poor life. Walter, the playboy, the cynic, the last guy to imagine Happy Ever After is the PERFECT choice for Kelly.

Their story is told slowly, organically growing and unfolding tenderly in such a way that we can easily see how the switches can be flipped and how our jaded Walter can come around to being Kelly’s Prince by the end of the book.

I could really relate to Kelly’s vision of what love “should and should not” be, I think many of us remember that time in our lives – whether it was high school, college, or later in life – and how hard it was to mesh that vision in our head with what life hands us. What I admired was how Kelly held on to his vision of Disney-Princess-Happiness without shame or wavering even in the face of disillusionment and that, in the end, his enduring faith brought everyone around and actualized his feelings rather than crushing his spirit.

The length of the book is both its strength and weakness. It takes a little dedication – there are times the story drags and it takes a little perseverance. However, the pay out is definitely worth it. Because she doesn’t compromise on length, the story feels very natural and real, and because life is more than just romance, the added side stories Heidi guides us through help us to see how our MCs are growing and changing in a way that feels authentic.
By the end I think everyone will have at least some tears in their eyes if they are not out-right bawling. It is an amazingly tender, sweet and satisfying book on many levels.

You will fall in love with Kelly and Walter and – now that I have read the sequel – I can tell you that you will be excited to know we get to see even more of them real soon and it only makes this book that much more sweet.

I give it 4.75 hearts and I really recommend this book to anyone who ever had a Disney-Princess fantasy or anyone who ever thought true love only existed in fairy tales.

5

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