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College Try #3

Back to School

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Straight-to-Gay Enemies-to-Lovers College Romance

"I have to room with a freshman?!" Straight muscle jock David's girlfriend broke up with him and kicked him out of their apartment. He has to move in to the very last dorm room available at Stanford -- with his new roommate, Elias Chan, who at eighteen years old is already famous for founding a successful dating website.

David takes pride in showing off his muscle-god body and his surfing skills to Elias, but he doesn't tell Elias that he was just dumped, nor that he desperately wants to make himself attracted to women.

"I can't stop looking at his body." When David stretches and lifts in their dorm room, Elias catches himself staring. Back in high school, Elias was never interested in girls, but when he sees David casually doing chin-ups from the top bunk, he can't help but wonder what could happen. David says he's straight, but his backstory is a bit off, and he takes a bit too much pleasure in showing off his amazing muscle body to Elias whenever they're together.
"Let's surf." David tries to impress a girl with his surfing skills, but he and Elias are just too good together in the water. David's been scared to surf ever since Stacy dumped him, but with Elias, it's all just so natural.
"Partners in business, partners in love." Elias's business is attracting all the right attention, and with David's software expertise, there's a twenty-million-dollar investment deal coming. But David still wants to prove that he's good enough for his ex-girlfriend, while Elias fears being pumped and dumped once the novelty wears off for David.

Back to School is a standalone gay college romance set in the San Francisco Bay Area, with a feel-good HEA, hot surfing, and even hotter loving.

120 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 1, 2016

16 people are currently reading
40 people want to read

About the author

Steve Milton

52 books54 followers
Steve Milton writes the thinking person's stories of men loving men: highly enjoyable stories that convey deep human truth.

You can sign up for Steve's weekly update email list: http://eepurl.com/bYQboP

Steve is the world's last remaining non-user of Facebook and Twitter. In addition to his email list, he is happy to correspond with his readers one-on-one by email, whether about his books or about life in general. Email stevemiltonbooks@gmail.com.

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Steve Milton's current series:

Badboy Gay Mafia
Hot guys don't follow the straight and narrow.

Collins Avenue Confidential
Alissa Bennett is a matchmaker for Miami's most selective gay men.

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5 stars
12 (25%)
4 stars
14 (29%)
3 stars
11 (22%)
2 stars
6 (12%)
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5 (10%)
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
3,782 reviews44 followers
March 28, 2020
🏄Can he be man enough without a girlfriend?🤔

🌊👬 I thought there were good and not so good aspects to this MM story of two young men hitting the waves and the sheets.

Two college roomies with an abundance of hormones and the time and place to act on them, including some steamy times at the beach -👍

Emotional quandaries that need to be addressed, like Elias's preeminent desire to please his parents by dating a nice Chinese American girl and David's confusion about what being a man really entails -👍

Subplot about Elias's tech start-up - good idea but executed a bit too simplistically, particularly the meetings with investors and the tech conference appearance. But, okay, I understand that this is a romance, not a how to build a company manual. ↔

Moves the guys make that hide, belittle or negate their feelings - not good, especially David's insecure move near the climax (no pun intended) and Elias's readiness to deal with such lame behavior.🙄

So, overall, for me the good points outweighed the weaker ones and I liked it. Not the best of Steve Milton's College Try series (see Summer Project, which in my opinion had a better plot), but a nice, heated MM escape.
Profile Image for Ashley D.
1,358 reviews11 followers
December 4, 2019
David is having to room with a freshman after his girlfriend kicks him out. Elias created a dating app, while in high school and is now trying to get help with funding it. Neither David nor Elias are sure about rooming with the other, but after a bit they learn to get along.

David drove me crazy in this book with his oh i'm straight but I like my roommate, his trying to date a female while trying to get with Elias. I understand self doubt, but this seemed to be extreme, and there was really no back story about why he would be this way. Elias wasn't better at times, but he seemed to get over it much quicker.
Profile Image for Claudia.
2,988 reviews38 followers
October 5, 2017
Fun and light-hearted, this is an easy, entertaining read, although not my favorite by this author.

I enjoyed the cuteness of the story and the way the characters are drawn to each other almost without noticing. Also, the sexiness.

A nice book to spend a lazy afternoon.
Profile Image for Neil Plakcy.
Author 252 books654 followers
May 21, 2017
Milton has a great ability to write sexy scenes, making this a fun read. The characters were a bit shallowly drawn-- but the setup was clever and I enjoyed the book.
Profile Image for Kevin.
2,695 reviews38 followers
June 13, 2017
Typical gay college romance where both guys are afraid to come out. It ends well though.
13 reviews
August 4, 2016
Awkward writing errors

Several points in the this book the writing indicate one thing is happening and the next something completely different.

In one scene the names are very mixed up to the point where you can't tell who is doing or saying what and in one sentence one character does something/or says something to himself when its clear that's not what's supposed to be happening.

In the first surfing scene, there's a point where David is on the board with Elias at his back. Then they switch. During the next surfing scene, David tells Elias to get on the board and David will be at his back. They act like this is the first time they have done this but they did it the last time they went surfing. Not sure if this is another name error or a flub during a rewriting/ editing process or if the author just forgot what he wrote.

Also some of logistics of the sex scenes are just awkward either that or key details like major position changes are being left out.

I am not normally a nitpicker when it comes to minor editing errors. I chuckle to myself when I read there and its supposed to be they're or similar small errors and then move on. But when I have to reread the same page multiple times or flip back multiple chapters or pages to try and clarify what is happening it really takes me out of the story...

I also have a huge personal problem with the ending especially when it comes to the reappearance of the ex gf. I find the resolution completely unrealistic... (Spoiler ahead) If my current BF asked out and agreed to pay for a trip to Paris with his exGF and his only explanation was that he wanted to feel like a real man. I wouldn't be kissing him seconds later as if this is an OK thing to do.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews

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