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Growing Up
Growing up wasn't really something twenty-one-year-old Kelly Alston thought about much. Being adult and independent was never his dream. With the pressures of coming out to his conservative parents and a mean ex, he'd rather not grow up at all.
He hadn't factored in his sexy, former physics teacher from high school, though; a man who'd starred in his dreams all throughout high school and years after he left his hometown for college. Now that Kelly is back home, suddenly being an adult looks like it might just have some perks.
He hadn't factored in his sexy, former physics teacher from high school, though; a man who'd starred in his dreams all throughout high school and years after he left his hometown for college. Now that Kelly is back home, suddenly being an adult looks like it might just have some perks.
80 pages, Kindle Edition
Published April 13, 2016
16 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
April 30, 2016
I took a chance on this one. I'm usually leery of new authors, but the blurb looked cute, I like coming of age stories, and who doesn't like to indulge in a little student/teacher fantasy?
The execution of that fantasy is where things started cavitating. There were several little things that had the suspension of disbelief puppeteer Drake dancing my facial region.
Kelly is a senior in high school lusting after his physics teacher along with the majority of the student body and most of the staff. Then we time jump 3 yrs to them running into each other at a restaurant and sparks flying. And again at a bar when Kelly is about six and half sheets to the wind.
He makes a pass and Lucas says no because sloppy drunk not to mention taking advantage, but he does offer his guest room. This evidently equates to outright rejection in Kelly's mind and he then proceeds to freeze Lucas out for the next eight months. I find this plot device flimsy in its contrived attempt to create drama, but it's popular so I pressed on.
Kelly's ex inexplicably shows up out of the blue after more a year or so in an effort to force a reconciliation and wends up acquiring an assault charge in the process.
Who does Kelly call in his hour of need?
This is an instance where the hurt/comfort missed for me. The comfort part of the equation was lacking and all the time they're living together there's no real relationship development. Or comfort for that matter.
What disappointed me most was they're not really together. They spend most of their time miscommunicating or giving each other the silent treatment. Then they're talking about forever and Lucas even threw in an "owning"? Huh? Wut? Erm...
Sol did a pretty good job with the continuity of Kelly's character. He's insecure, introverted, meek and full of angst, but can muster up some sass in random circumstances. He's firmly planted in the closet with his family and all the family dynamics were odd and probably could've been edited out altogether. Kelly comes across as coy/coquettish, he cries at the drop of a hat, but everyone wants to boink or is obsessed with him. He has no idea why because he's so plain and boring. Which had me thinking...
The one sex scene was pretty hot. Also, kinda weeeeihhhhd. If all of your trips to Pound Town to date were painful would you be desperate, eager even about taking a monster cock? *side eyes*
I liked all the kissing, noiseyness and begging.
The idea for the story is a good one and I suspect a little more experience in the genre will smooth out some of the rough edges.
Recommend as a gateway to MM read for those new to the genre.
A review copy was provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
The execution of that fantasy is where things started cavitating. There were several little things that had the suspension of disbelief puppeteer Drake dancing my facial region.
Kelly is a senior in high school lusting after his physics teacher along with the majority of the student body and most of the staff. Then we time jump 3 yrs to them running into each other at a restaurant and sparks flying. And again at a bar when Kelly is about six and half sheets to the wind.
He makes a pass and Lucas says no because sloppy drunk not to mention taking advantage, but he does offer his guest room. This evidently equates to outright rejection in Kelly's mind and he then proceeds to freeze Lucas out for the next eight months. I find this plot device flimsy in its contrived attempt to create drama, but it's popular so I pressed on.
Kelly's ex inexplicably shows up out of the blue after more a year or so in an effort to force a reconciliation and wends up acquiring an assault charge in the process.
Who does Kelly call in his hour of need?
This is an instance where the hurt/comfort missed for me. The comfort part of the equation was lacking and all the time they're living together there's no real relationship development. Or comfort for that matter.
What disappointed me most was they're not really together. They spend most of their time miscommunicating or giving each other the silent treatment. Then they're talking about forever and Lucas even threw in an "owning"? Huh? Wut? Erm...
Sol did a pretty good job with the continuity of Kelly's character. He's insecure, introverted, meek and full of angst, but can muster up some sass in random circumstances. He's firmly planted in the closet with his family and all the family dynamics were odd and probably could've been edited out altogether. Kelly comes across as coy/coquettish, he cries at the drop of a hat, but everyone wants to boink or is obsessed with him. He has no idea why because he's so plain and boring. Which had me thinking...
The one sex scene was pretty hot. Also, kinda weeeeihhhhd. If all of your trips to Pound Town to date were painful would you be desperate, eager even about taking a monster cock? *side eyes*
I liked all the kissing, noiseyness and begging.
The idea for the story is a good one and I suspect a little more experience in the genre will smooth out some of the rough edges.
Recommend as a gateway to MM read for those new to the genre.
A review copy was provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
April 11, 2016
***Reviewed for Just Love Romance***
Picking up Tricia Sol’s novella Growing Up, I was immediately drawn to the amazing cover art and the intriguing blurb. I was curious to see how a romance between a 21-year-old college student and his former high school teacher would play out.
The prologue offers a quick glimpse of top student Kelly Alston lusting over his hunky physics teacher, Mr. Bastion (let’s face it, even his name is hot). The story fastforwards to about 4 years later when they bump into each other by chance.
Kelly comes off as a pretty responsible young man – at first. Academically, he seems to have his act together. Right off the bat, we also find him mentally preparing himself to come out to his conservative parents, after pretty much spending most of his college years away from home just to avoid them.
Cue Lucas, former high school teacher and teenage crush.
I have to admit, apart from their sizzling first kiss and the idea of them together, I wasn’t a fan of Kelly and Lucas as a couple. The story is told from Kelly’s POV, and during a brief but significant period within the story, Kelly’s thoughts become rambling and pretty disjointed. At times, he struck me as somewhat childish. And there are very few words from Lucas at all. In fact, there seems to be very little dialogue throughout the book. I do feel that in this case, more dialogue and interaction might have helped show a stronger connection between the two men.
I was also confused by the use of the word “trigger” a few times during the story. During my initial read, I interpreted the word loosely, because it was used to refer to seemingly positive incidents involving Lucas (a smile, a fond look, a glimpse of skin, etc). But the word was used again later during a hug, and upon rereading the relevant parts, I think Kelly is suffering from some post-trauma anxiety? I’m honestly not sure. I totally interpreted Kelly shying away from Lucas as him feeling embarrassed or even aroused in Lucas’ presence. But perhaps those incidents were actually negative due to an unrelated incident. I feel terrible (and a little stupid) for not being able to figure this out, but I look forward to hearing someone else’s take on this.
There were some fun parts that were very enjoyable, some intriguing side characters, and yes, a bedroom scene that does not disappoint. But in the end, I can’t say I love them as a couple. I felt the age difference was dismissed, and I might have raised an eyebrow at some ground rules that Lucas set for their relationship. Lucas does seem to appear a little more flexible towards the end though, so maybe there’s some hope for them yet!
I received an advanced copy of this novel in exchange for a fair and honest review.
Picking up Tricia Sol’s novella Growing Up, I was immediately drawn to the amazing cover art and the intriguing blurb. I was curious to see how a romance between a 21-year-old college student and his former high school teacher would play out.
The prologue offers a quick glimpse of top student Kelly Alston lusting over his hunky physics teacher, Mr. Bastion (let’s face it, even his name is hot). The story fastforwards to about 4 years later when they bump into each other by chance.
Kelly comes off as a pretty responsible young man – at first. Academically, he seems to have his act together. Right off the bat, we also find him mentally preparing himself to come out to his conservative parents, after pretty much spending most of his college years away from home just to avoid them.
Cue Lucas, former high school teacher and teenage crush.
I have to admit, apart from their sizzling first kiss and the idea of them together, I wasn’t a fan of Kelly and Lucas as a couple. The story is told from Kelly’s POV, and during a brief but significant period within the story, Kelly’s thoughts become rambling and pretty disjointed. At times, he struck me as somewhat childish. And there are very few words from Lucas at all. In fact, there seems to be very little dialogue throughout the book. I do feel that in this case, more dialogue and interaction might have helped show a stronger connection between the two men.
I was also confused by the use of the word “trigger” a few times during the story. During my initial read, I interpreted the word loosely, because it was used to refer to seemingly positive incidents involving Lucas (a smile, a fond look, a glimpse of skin, etc). But the word was used again later during a hug, and upon rereading the relevant parts, I think Kelly is suffering from some post-trauma anxiety? I’m honestly not sure. I totally interpreted Kelly shying away from Lucas as him feeling embarrassed or even aroused in Lucas’ presence. But perhaps those incidents were actually negative due to an unrelated incident. I feel terrible (and a little stupid) for not being able to figure this out, but I look forward to hearing someone else’s take on this.
There were some fun parts that were very enjoyable, some intriguing side characters, and yes, a bedroom scene that does not disappoint. But in the end, I can’t say I love them as a couple. I felt the age difference was dismissed, and I might have raised an eyebrow at some ground rules that Lucas set for their relationship. Lucas does seem to appear a little more flexible towards the end though, so maybe there’s some hope for them yet!
I received an advanced copy of this novel in exchange for a fair and honest review.
April 21, 2016
2.5 Stars ~ Growing Up first sucked me in with an absolutely adorable cover; and then, though the blurb wasn’t great, it also promised a May-December romance, which I love. Even though it appeared to be the freshman effort of author Tricia Sol—so, it was a bit of the jumping into the unknown—I went for it anyway. And, I can’t say it was entirely unenjoyable. It had potential, especially early on. There was something really likeable about Kelly. And, I liked his relationship with his best friend, Grace. In the beginning the story had the promise of being cute; Kelly was really sweet in his initial nervous flirtation with Mr. Bastion upon seeing him again. But, unfortunately, there just was not enough substance to get this thing off the ground.
The main crux of the problem with this book was that there was simply way too much telling, and not enough showing. Told in Kelly’s point of view, we’re taken, in his head, through the different stages of the story almost entirely by virtue of him recounting that there were situations and conversations that got him to a particular point, but most of the time we don’t actually get the conversations, or get to see the scenes play out. Also, the characters just weren’t developed enough for the reader to become fully invested in their story—particularly Luke, who we truly never got to know well enough to understand. And finally, the story itself needed to be more fleshed out. It is difficult for even the most experienced writer to tell a great story, and make it satisfying and feel complete in less than a hundred pages. In this case I think Sol tried to do too much, introduced too much into the storyline, and then wasn’t able to see it all through.
Unfortunately, this one just didn’t work, guys. Great cover art. Good idea. But, I think in order to truly tell the story she wanted to tell, the author needed to make it a lot meatier by adding about fifty pages or so.
Reviewed by Jules for The Novel Approach Reviews
http://www.thenovelapproachreviews.co...
The main crux of the problem with this book was that there was simply way too much telling, and not enough showing. Told in Kelly’s point of view, we’re taken, in his head, through the different stages of the story almost entirely by virtue of him recounting that there were situations and conversations that got him to a particular point, but most of the time we don’t actually get the conversations, or get to see the scenes play out. Also, the characters just weren’t developed enough for the reader to become fully invested in their story—particularly Luke, who we truly never got to know well enough to understand. And finally, the story itself needed to be more fleshed out. It is difficult for even the most experienced writer to tell a great story, and make it satisfying and feel complete in less than a hundred pages. In this case I think Sol tried to do too much, introduced too much into the storyline, and then wasn’t able to see it all through.
Unfortunately, this one just didn’t work, guys. Great cover art. Good idea. But, I think in order to truly tell the story she wanted to tell, the author needed to make it a lot meatier by adding about fifty pages or so.
Reviewed by Jules for The Novel Approach Reviews
http://www.thenovelapproachreviews.co...
September 3, 2016
My first thought about this book (before I started reading it) was how beautiful the cover is. As always, I couldn’t resist pretty covers. Then, when I read the summary, I thought, ‘Oh my god, yes!’ I always did love it when there’s an age difference between the couple. Not that I didn’t like same-age couples, but sometimes I just love reading about couples with an age gap between them.
This is a very short novel, only 30, 000 words, and doesn’t have much of a plot. It is pretty straightforward actually. It’s probably a bit cliché-ish as well, but it’s the type of cliché that I like. Because what are the odds of you meeting your young, handsome high school teacher again, who starred in your wet dreams, and happened to like you too? That storyline is something that will make me squeal to myself.
I pretty much changed my mind about the book after reading it.
What I expected from this book:
→ Something cute or squeal-worthy when Kelly and Lucas hooked up/ started going out
→ Some conflict between Kelly and his family about him being gay and in a relationship with his high school teacher, or dramas involving Kelly’s ex, which would cause some distress or angst and hurt/comfort scenes.
Instead, what I get from this book:
→ No relationship development between Kelly and Lucas. After Kelly thought Lucas rejected him, things fast forwarded to eight months later, in which during that time Kelly avoided Lucas and they didn’t have any contact whatsoever. And then, after Kelly’s encounter with his ex, he called Lucas for help, and they just hooked up instantly after that. No romance. No squeal-worthy moments at all.
→ Nothing about Kelly’s family, no drama about Kelly coming out to his conservative family…nothing. In fact, it was only briefly mentioned at the end.
My thoughts on the characters:
I think that Kelly is practically a male version of a Mary Sue. At one point, he was described as meek, insecure, all that… And comes the scene at the night club, and he was all confident. And everyone showed interest in him. Okay, “everyone” would be exaggerating, but there’s only a few notable characters in this novel; Lucas, Lucas’s brother the bartender, and Kelly’s ex. So yes, that definitely screamed Mary Sue. Normally, I would immediately stop reading anything with Mary-Sues, but I thought there would be dramas with Kelly’s family or something so I kept on reading. I was disappointed.
As for Lucas, well, I didn’t really like him. Mostly because of the way he was described. I don’t know why but characters that are so physically perfect just grates on me (like Steve Rogers post-serum). Honestly, I liked Lucas’s brother the bartender more, even though he only has very little scenes in the book.
To sum it up, the book could have been better with a little bit of character development and/or relationship development between Kelly and Lucas. It would’ve been great if it doesn’t feel so rushed, or awkward at some scenes as well. But I liked the idea for this story, and I think the sex scene was pretty good too. Although i honestly cannot in good conscience recommend this to anyone who likes M/M LGBTQ books, at least not to the ones I know. But I can recommend this to people who wants to read the explicit scenes, and can ignore the lack of plot or development, and the Mary Sue-ish main character.
I rate this book 2.5 / 5 stars.
This is a very short novel, only 30, 000 words, and doesn’t have much of a plot. It is pretty straightforward actually. It’s probably a bit cliché-ish as well, but it’s the type of cliché that I like. Because what are the odds of you meeting your young, handsome high school teacher again, who starred in your wet dreams, and happened to like you too? That storyline is something that will make me squeal to myself.
I pretty much changed my mind about the book after reading it.
What I expected from this book:
→ Something cute or squeal-worthy when Kelly and Lucas hooked up/ started going out
→ Some conflict between Kelly and his family about him being gay and in a relationship with his high school teacher, or dramas involving Kelly’s ex, which would cause some distress or angst and hurt/comfort scenes.
Instead, what I get from this book:
→ No relationship development between Kelly and Lucas. After Kelly thought Lucas rejected him, things fast forwarded to eight months later, in which during that time Kelly avoided Lucas and they didn’t have any contact whatsoever. And then, after Kelly’s encounter with his ex, he called Lucas for help, and they just hooked up instantly after that. No romance. No squeal-worthy moments at all.
→ Nothing about Kelly’s family, no drama about Kelly coming out to his conservative family…nothing. In fact, it was only briefly mentioned at the end.
My thoughts on the characters:
I think that Kelly is practically a male version of a Mary Sue. At one point, he was described as meek, insecure, all that… And comes the scene at the night club, and he was all confident. And everyone showed interest in him. Okay, “everyone” would be exaggerating, but there’s only a few notable characters in this novel; Lucas, Lucas’s brother the bartender, and Kelly’s ex. So yes, that definitely screamed Mary Sue. Normally, I would immediately stop reading anything with Mary-Sues, but I thought there would be dramas with Kelly’s family or something so I kept on reading. I was disappointed.
As for Lucas, well, I didn’t really like him. Mostly because of the way he was described. I don’t know why but characters that are so physically perfect just grates on me (like Steve Rogers post-serum). Honestly, I liked Lucas’s brother the bartender more, even though he only has very little scenes in the book.
To sum it up, the book could have been better with a little bit of character development and/or relationship development between Kelly and Lucas. It would’ve been great if it doesn’t feel so rushed, or awkward at some scenes as well. But I liked the idea for this story, and I think the sex scene was pretty good too. Although i honestly cannot in good conscience recommend this to anyone who likes M/M LGBTQ books, at least not to the ones I know. But I can recommend this to people who wants to read the explicit scenes, and can ignore the lack of plot or development, and the Mary Sue-ish main character.
I rate this book 2.5 / 5 stars.
April 29, 2016
Book – Growing Up
Author – Tricia Sol
Star rating - ★★★★☆
No. of Pages – 80
Cover – Very cute.
POV – 1st person, past tense
Would I read it again – Yes
Genre – LGBT, Pansexual, Bisexual, Contemporary, Science, Geek
** COPY RECEIVED THROUGH NETGALLEY **
*There may be spoilers*
This could easily have been a 5 star read for me, but for a few things. One is that massive cliffhanger of an ending! I wanted to see Kelly confront his parents, find out what they thought and what would happen. So, not seeing that is a total disappointment and frustrating.
Secondly, there was a little too much background, flashback and personality information in places. Mostly when it interrupted the flow of the story, so much that sometimes I forgot where Kelly was and what was happening until he reminded me.
There's also a strange sentence structure here that jars with me. I can't pinpoint what it is, but the sentences either lack some grammar tricks to help them make more sense or I'm missing something. It just doesn't read naturally, but that may also be because of the 1st person POV, which I'm not a fan of.
Regardless, this was a great story. The plot had a lot of promise, even if it didn't always deliver, and the characters were fantastic. I loved the chemistry you could feel sizzling between the two MC's and how awkward it was for Lucas to counter his feelings against the fact that he used to be Kelly's teacher. Also, how weird it was for Lucas to see Kelly as an adult, when he'd only ever known him as a teenager.
There were a few times where I thought I was reading about one event, but it was actually about another. There was some confusion over what was a flashback, due to implications we were about to find out what happened back then, only for it to be present day. I think there were also a few things I'd have liked to have seen in more detail. There was some skimming over of events, understandably so, because this is such a short book.
However, overall it was a great read. Funny, charming and sweet, with a real romance and some hot sex thrown in to boot. Really good stuff. But could have been better. And I hate the cliffhanger that may never be solved.
Author – Tricia Sol
Star rating - ★★★★☆
No. of Pages – 80
Cover – Very cute.
POV – 1st person, past tense
Would I read it again – Yes
Genre – LGBT, Pansexual, Bisexual, Contemporary, Science, Geek
** COPY RECEIVED THROUGH NETGALLEY **
*There may be spoilers*
This could easily have been a 5 star read for me, but for a few things. One is that massive cliffhanger of an ending! I wanted to see Kelly confront his parents, find out what they thought and what would happen. So, not seeing that is a total disappointment and frustrating.
Secondly, there was a little too much background, flashback and personality information in places. Mostly when it interrupted the flow of the story, so much that sometimes I forgot where Kelly was and what was happening until he reminded me.
There's also a strange sentence structure here that jars with me. I can't pinpoint what it is, but the sentences either lack some grammar tricks to help them make more sense or I'm missing something. It just doesn't read naturally, but that may also be because of the 1st person POV, which I'm not a fan of.
Regardless, this was a great story. The plot had a lot of promise, even if it didn't always deliver, and the characters were fantastic. I loved the chemistry you could feel sizzling between the two MC's and how awkward it was for Lucas to counter his feelings against the fact that he used to be Kelly's teacher. Also, how weird it was for Lucas to see Kelly as an adult, when he'd only ever known him as a teenager.
There were a few times where I thought I was reading about one event, but it was actually about another. There was some confusion over what was a flashback, due to implications we were about to find out what happened back then, only for it to be present day. I think there were also a few things I'd have liked to have seen in more detail. There was some skimming over of events, understandably so, because this is such a short book.
However, overall it was a great read. Funny, charming and sweet, with a real romance and some hot sex thrown in to boot. Really good stuff. But could have been better. And I hate the cliffhanger that may never be solved.
April 9, 2016
Reviewing Growing Up by Tricia Sol.
The book opens with a prologue where we meet Kelly Alston during his senior year of high school, telling us about the crush he had for years on his physics teacher Mr. Bastion.
The actual story picks up three years later when Kelly returns home visiting his family. He's planned on finally coming out before he had to go back to college, which proves to be harder to do than he'd thought. So he's stalling...
On his first night back in town he runs into his former physics teacher and is invited out for dinner. As they hang out both men enjoy each other's company a lot. Afterward, they exchange contact details with a promise to stay in touch.
By chance they meet a second time, at a bar/club and their night ends with some sort of disaster. They stay in touch for the following six months, but their newfound friendship has quickly turned sour... until they meet again.
So, I really liked Kelly. He's a nice guy and I enjoyed his narrative voice. The book's well written but I found some parts were sort of repetitive, dry and dragging for me. I think I would've liked more dialogue and interaction between the MC, some parts weren't as engaging as others.
Most of all, I regret my dislike for Mr. Bastion / Lucas. He seemed nice at first but I quickly saw that he just wasn't as likable as I need my characters to be to fully pull me in :(
I didn't get why Kelly was so enchanted by him, or why Lucas refused to acknowledge his feelings for the guy! Maybe that was a personal issue, and you will like him a lot more than I did :)
There were definitely some nice bits but overall it wasn't as much fun and charming as some other books I've read :(
****
Many thanks to the publisher who kindly provided a free copy for an honest and impartial review.
The book opens with a prologue where we meet Kelly Alston during his senior year of high school, telling us about the crush he had for years on his physics teacher Mr. Bastion.
The actual story picks up three years later when Kelly returns home visiting his family. He's planned on finally coming out before he had to go back to college, which proves to be harder to do than he'd thought. So he's stalling...
On his first night back in town he runs into his former physics teacher and is invited out for dinner. As they hang out both men enjoy each other's company a lot. Afterward, they exchange contact details with a promise to stay in touch.
By chance they meet a second time, at a bar/club and their night ends with some sort of disaster. They stay in touch for the following six months, but their newfound friendship has quickly turned sour... until they meet again.
So, I really liked Kelly. He's a nice guy and I enjoyed his narrative voice. The book's well written but I found some parts were sort of repetitive, dry and dragging for me. I think I would've liked more dialogue and interaction between the MC, some parts weren't as engaging as others.
Most of all, I regret my dislike for Mr. Bastion / Lucas. He seemed nice at first but I quickly saw that he just wasn't as likable as I need my characters to be to fully pull me in :(
I didn't get why Kelly was so enchanted by him, or why Lucas refused to acknowledge his feelings for the guy! Maybe that was a personal issue, and you will like him a lot more than I did :)
There were definitely some nice bits but overall it wasn't as much fun and charming as some other books I've read :(
****
Many thanks to the publisher who kindly provided a free copy for an honest and impartial review.
May 5, 2016
*copy provided by the author/publisher via Divine Magazine in exchange for an honest review*
This book started out with real promise. Kellan/Kelly is a 21 year old college student, who heads home for a parental visit. Kelly is deeply in the closet, so to muster up the courage to go home he stops at a local eatery for a beer. When his old high school physics teacher approaches him, Kelly is a little tongue tied. He has a crush on Mr. Bastion/Lucas, along with most of the other student body and even some of the staff members, as well. They sit down and have dinner together. I dig in because as I said, the book shows real promise. Unfortunately the execution failed to deliver. I won't give too much away, so I'll just say, first, I didn't care for the author's writing style. Don't tell me what's happening. Let it play out on the page so I can see it for myself.
Put quite frankly the book needed more. More on page scenes, more passion, more connection, but the biggest thing it needed was more character development. I walked away feeling like I didn't know either Kelly or Lucas. They sat down and got to know one another, but with no real dialogue on the page, "I" didn't get to know them.
Told completely from Kelly's POV, we spend most of our time in Kelly's head. That's a confusing place to be. His thoughts were all over the place and sort of rambly at times and things didn't always make sense or follow any kind of a timeline.
Kelly's family is a huge part of who he is and why he hides, yet we never see them either. This wasn't a completely horrible book. As I said it had promise and potential, it just needed to be fleshed out, more on page scenes and character development.
You can find my other reviews for Divine Magazine at ~ http://divinemagazine.net/jreviews/my...
April 28, 2016
This is one of those books with a great concept that simply wasn't executed well. I love the idea of May/December romances, especially with the added element of family pressures. The blurb spoke to me and I was excited to start reading. Unfortunately, this book just wasn't what I was expecting it to be.
While there were a lot of things that didn't work for me, I'll just point out the major two here. The first issue I had was that we didn't actually SEE the relationship between Kelly and Luke. The author told us rather than showed us. I barely felt like I knew Kelly, and Luke was a complete mystery. I certainly didn't buy into their romance. The other major issue I had was the lack of interaction with Kelly's family. From the blurb it seems like their reaction to Kelly being gay will be a big factor in the story. In reality, Kelly barely has any interaction with them and they certainly don't add anything to the story.
While I think this book and the author have potential, in the end this book just wasn't for me.
While there were a lot of things that didn't work for me, I'll just point out the major two here. The first issue I had was that we didn't actually SEE the relationship between Kelly and Luke. The author told us rather than showed us. I barely felt like I knew Kelly, and Luke was a complete mystery. I certainly didn't buy into their romance. The other major issue I had was the lack of interaction with Kelly's family. From the blurb it seems like their reaction to Kelly being gay will be a big factor in the story. In reality, Kelly barely has any interaction with them and they certainly don't add anything to the story.
While I think this book and the author have potential, in the end this book just wasn't for me.
September 5, 2019
Rather sudden ending, I thought we'd get the reaction from Kellan's family to his coming out and new relationship. I suppose as the reaction didn't matter to Kellan it didn't truly matter to the reader. Also Luke's job at the high school is kind of in limbo, but apparently this is shrugged off too.
Tags: Abuse: Physical/Emotional, Kellan has broken up with a cheating ex who doesn't take it well, and is nearly assaulted at a night club when he returns home; Age Gap: 13 years (Kelly is 21 and Luke isn't specified but he implies mid to late 30s), Location: Unspecified, USA; Bi/Pan: Luke identifies as pansexual
Tags: Abuse: Physical/Emotional, Kellan has broken up with a cheating ex who doesn't take it well, and is nearly assaulted at a night club when he returns home; Age Gap: 13 years (Kelly is 21 and Luke isn't specified but he implies mid to late 30s), Location: Unspecified, USA; Bi/Pan: Luke identifies as pansexual
April 29, 2016
Let me start by saying that I don't disagree with some of the other reviews. This wasn't a perfect book and yes, there were times when I didn't completely buy how conveniently everything fell into place. That being said, I am the queen of suspension of disbelief and I LOVE to get lost in a story.
I loved this book. Absolutely loved it! The sex was hot, the romance was sweet, and I am DYING from some of the foreshadowing. Please please please tell me that this is the first in a series!
I loved this book. Absolutely loved it! The sex was hot, the romance was sweet, and I am DYING from some of the foreshadowing. Please please please tell me that this is the first in a series!
August 13, 2019
A Bit of a Mess
This is a weird story, with some closeted, yet out sometimes, gay characters. The storyline is sloppy, there is little character development and much in the story that is jumbled or doesn’t make sense.
This is a weird story, with some closeted, yet out sometimes, gay characters. The storyline is sloppy, there is little character development and much in the story that is jumbled or doesn’t make sense.
April 17, 2016
2.5 stars. It wasn't awful...it had potential - but, there were just some...things. :/ Review coming to www.thenovelapproachreviews.com
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