Higher Learning

by Ellen Holiday, Ellee Hill, G.P. Keith

Enter the hallowed halls of higher learning, where there's a lot more to life, sex, and love than what these men can get out of a book. They'll give English a slip of the tongue, practice their Interpersonal Communication skills, and learn about the birds and the bees in Biology. Join them as they see why flexibility is important in Phys Ed, figure the odds of finding the perfect mate in Statistics, flirt and woo each other with poetry in Literature, and discover why Chemistry is a double entendre.

Rainy Days and Star Charts by Ellen Holiday
Tutor Me, Love by Ellee Hill
Inspiration by Claire Russett
Second Beginnings by Leora Stark
Bug Boy by Jeanette Grey
Accismus by Cooper West
Men's Shirts, Short Skirts by Amberly Smith
Learning After Hours by Jamie Lowe
Universally Gay by M. Lee
Literature and Lust by J.J. Levesque
Statistical Outliers by G.P. Keith
Surprise Me by Dawn Kimberly Johnson
Close Distance Education by Dar Mavison
Brazos Mud and Horn-Rimmed Glasses by Eve Ocotillo

Genres: Anthologies, M M Romance, College, Contemporary, Romance, Short Stories, M M Contemporary

328 pages, Paperback

First published October 16, 2011

Reviews

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

Keeping in mind that anthologies are a mixed bag, I read every story and truly enjoyed about three. That's pretty good, actually. The last one by Eve Ocotilo was a well-characterized slow-burn featuring two people from very different walks of life. I loved the pacing, the show-not-tell writing style, the sweet passion without resorting to counting fingers and body parts. I hope Eve Ocotillo writes and publishes more. I also enjoyed "Bug Boy" by Jeanette Grey for it's sweet and brainy portrayal of two guys who overcame their preconceptions of one another, and "Close distance education" by Mar Davison for it's fairly-tale feel that somehow came across just right in its contemporary setting. The rest of the stories were acceptable, although there were two or three I just flew through with rolling eyes. I won't tell you which those were, since tastes vary.

Overall, I'm inflating the rating on this anthology by half a star just to flag the three writers I mentioned by name. I'm definitely looking them up for future releases!

[Tam · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

This was an anthology of college related stories. Students with students, professors with professors, students with professors/tutors, variations with college employees. I have to say they were all pretty good. However there were none that really stand out one way or the other. There was only one whose "voice" didn't mesh with my brain, but on the whole most of them had something I enjoyed, but none stood out as a favourite or truly superior so there's no way I can really say which was good. None were overly angsty nor overly sweet however some made me chuckle. I have a thing for college student stories so it was enjoyable, and all were different enough (not only students with students) that I didn't get overly bored or feel they were repetitive. Might be good for reading one or two between other stories.

[Marlobo ♥ epilogues · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rainy Days and Star Charts by Ellen Holiday - 3 stars

Tutor Me, Love by Ellee Hill - 3 stars

Inspiration by Claire Russet - 3 stars

Second Beginnings by Leora Stark - 2,5 stars

Bug Boy by Jeanette Grey - 2,5 stars

Accismus by Cooper West - 2 stars

Men’s Shirts, Short Skirts by Amberly Smith - 2 stars

Learning After Hours by Jamie Lowe - 1.5 stars

Universally Gay by M. Lee - DNF

Literature and Lust by J.J. Levesque - DNF

Statistical Outliers by G.P. Keith - 3 stars

Surprise Me by Dawn Kimberly Johnson - 3 stars

Close Distance Education by Dar Mavison - 2 stars

Brazos Mud and Horn-Rimmed Glasses by Eve Ocotillo - 3 stars

[Rosemary · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've had this sitting on my Kindle since it was published, but finally had a chance to read it while on vacation this week. Dreamspinner always publishes the best anthologies and this collection was no exception. My favorite stories in this were Tutor Me, Love by Ellee Hill, Bug Boy by Jeanette Grey, and Men’s Shirts, Short Skirts by Amberly Smith.

[Major English (Laura) · Rating 3 out of 5]

1st story:Star Charts and Rainy Days by Ellen Holiday - 3.5 stars - cute story about two young college kids, freshmen I take it, who like each other, fool around some and enjoy astronomy. Not deep, not angsty, a very light read. Freckle fetish in this one, I'd say!

[Erica Pike · Rating 5 out of 5]

Finished reading ages ago, but I still plan on leaving a short review for each story! Now I just need that little thing called "time".

[Yue · Rating 2 out of 5]

Most of these stories are not romance per-se; more like hook-ups with maybe a future. I didn't fall in love with any of these stories; some were nice but most had a terrible pace, like it starts good and sweet and then out of nowhere, the leads are hooking up.

[Carrie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Apparently I've read this before. I only remembered a few of the stories though. I'll add what I thought of the majority of them this time around. Still a 4 star average though so I got that right. Included are my tags and notes from my eReader.

Rainy Day and Star Charts Ellen Holiday
4/5

Tutor Me, Love Ellee Hill
3.5/5 Prickly nerd tutors musician

Inspiration Claire Russett
Did not read (didn't appeal)

Second Beginnings Leora Stark
3/5 Widower professor falls for a former military older student

Bug Boy Jeanette Grey
4/5 Former high school classmates who were on different sides of the popularity line find common ground (with bugs in it).

Accismus Cooper West
4.5/5 Bi/Demisexual athlete and geek find friendship then love (lots of pining, I loved this one)

Men's Shirt, Short Skirts Amberley Smith
3/5 I remember this one from the last time I read this. Shania Twain drag, flash mobs, and an accidental outing.

Learning After Hours Jamie Lowe
3/5 Read before. Bisexual party god goes after prickly grammar nerd.

Universally Gay M Lee
2.5/5 Barely HFN; Newly out freshman explores his sexuality at an Oregon college

Literature and Lust J J Levesque
2.5/5 Connecticut; Not even HFN

Statistical Outliers G P Keith
3/5 Christmas; newly out athlete and a professor

Surprise Me Dawn Kimberley Johnson
3.5/5 Texas; Read before; a bit of action and adventure; professor and campus policeman are shut in a closet to hide from criminals robbing the science dept. Ends in a sex scene and planning to move in together.

Close Distance Education Dar Mavison
3.5/5 Toronto, ON; Age Difference (42/22); Multicultural (Romanian immigrant x White Canadian); Model/distance learning college student meets rich Romanian businessman in his online course and they make a grand connection in person.

Brazos Mud and Horn Rimmed Glasses Eve Ocotillo
4/5 Texas; Blue Collar (Carpenter/Janitor/Handyman), Professors, Interracial (White/American x Puerto Rican/Black?), Archaeology (first date is camping and searching for fossils)

[Jen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not going to get into each and every story - they were all equally fun to read in their own ways - lots of great action - love the different ways people can meet at school - everywhere from running into someone you hated in elementary school (Bug Boy) to meeting them a couple of months ago and not remembering (Tutor Me, Love)

I love how those that are OUT are able to help those that are too shy to do anything about, or those that know what they want, but don't know how to approach the other.

People have different tastes in people they are interested in, and some people are surprised that they're even interested in someone in the first place. Sometimes the person you're interested in is completely different than you are (Read about Jay and Zach!)


Great advice and fun stories :)

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

For someone like me who got int o m/m romance through fanfiction and loved fanfic AU with hight school and college settings this anthology is perfect. Not every short-story is a full hit, but most of them are romantic, erotic, with cute/interesting/peculiar characters, like the young college student covered in the most delightful freckles or the bug boy with his fascination for spiders and the likes. Not all stories are about students, some are about teachers and professors, janitors and security guards on campus. Most of the stories are about falling in love and proclaiming that love to one another, but there's one story with a committed couple as well, and one featuring an older Romanian distance learning student. And it's all set in rooms and halls and dorms of higher learning.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

14 delicious short stories in an anthology by Dreamspinner Press, what more could I want. I loved all of these stories a great deal. They were alternately sweet and hot. One didn't really hit me because of some weird POV issues, but that just might be me.

I think "Learning After Hours" may be my favorite. The romance betweent the janitor and the professor was great!

The great part of this anthology is the fact that even though I've read quite a bit of M/M romance in the past few years I have not read any of these authors so now I have 14 authors to check out in the coming weeks!

[OkayKim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rainy Days and Star Charts by Ellen Holiday (4)

Tutor Me, Love by Ellee Hill (4)

Inspiration by Claire Russett (3)

Second Beginnings by Leora Stark (3.5)

Bug Boy by Jeanette Grey (4)

Accismus by Cooper West (4)

Men’s Shirts, Short Skirts by Amberly Smith (3.5)

Learning After Hours by Jamie Lowe (3)

Universally Gay by M. Lee (3)

Literature and Lust by J.J. Levesque (3)

Statistical Outliers by G.P. Keith (3.5)

Surprise Me by Dawn Kimberly Johnson (3.5)

Close Distance Education by Dar Mavison

Brazos Mud and Horn-Rimmed Glasses by Eve Ocotillo

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

Probably 3.75 Stars over all. There are a lot of short stories in this anthology and for the most part I enjoyed each of them. The downside to a short story is they pretty much end where the relationship would just begin so there were quite a few that I wish had been much longer but such is the nature of a short story. If you enjoy the young adult/coming of age/coming out trope I recommend.

[Rachel Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best anthologies I have read in a while. I really enjoyed every story (some more than others, obviously) and really enjoyed reading books with the theme of teachers/college/high school/etc. Very enjoyable anthology, I really enjoyed it!

[Rissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I always love reading anthologies! I almost always find new authors and there's always a variety! I've been wanting to read this anthology and enjoyed it very much! <3 Now off to stalk some new authors, lol!

[Jeanette Grey · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really fun, sexy collection. Not a bad story in the bunch.

[Indigo · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5*