Review: Teaching Ben by Shae Connor

Learning to love means a study in patience.

Fresh out of the military, Ben Cooper is ready for a new start. He’s away from his domineering father, making his own choices… and out of the closet. On his first day of college, he meets David Powell, who’s just the kind of gorgeous man Ben’s dreamed of. Too bad he’s the teaching assistant—which makes him off-limits in Ben’s eyes.

David is Ben’s age, but his life has taken a different path. He’s close with his family, who helped him deal with personal struggles after he came out. And while he’s staying away from any hint of scandal, Ben’s a kind of temptation he hasn’t faced in years. If only they’d met on more equal footing.

As the semester progresses and their lives become more entwined, keeping their relationship platonic becomes more difficult. They just have to hold out until the end of the semester…

This was cute but it didn’t really do much for me.

I’ll keep this short.

I liked the idea of student Ben falling for “teacher” David and the beginning with their flirting was super cute. It was even great seeing them become friends and David folding Ben into his family even if was just with his sister and roommate Hope for the time being.

But what bugged me was the reasons these two stayed away from each other for so long. I get that both men have had issues in their past but to keep beating the reader over the head with “But he’s my teacher” or “But he’s my student” was redundant and ridiculous because we are also beat over the head with the knowledge that Ben and David could be in a relationship and IT WASN’T AGAINST THE RULES.

I am all in for the slow burn but this was so slow, I got bored. The romance was pushed aside by a few characters that weren’t necessary and the Larry issues seemed to be a way to distract the reader and took me out of the story. David’s secrets weren’t as scandalous as we were lead to believe and the way he reveals his secret to Ben was told really weird and again took me out of the story when I should have been deeply engaged at that point.

There were parts I really liked and I did like Ben and David as characters, I even liked their chemistry but I wish something happened sooner than it did. The long drawn out wait for them to move forward romantically in any way made the sex or pay off for the wait feel obligatory and not organic. I didn’t care at that point if there was sex or not. But weirdly enough, I bought the “I love you’s” between them.

I don’t know. This wasn’t the book for me so we’ll leave it at that.

Review: Heart & Soul by Shae Connor

Love can sneak up on you in the last place you’d expect.

Kellen Grady has known he’s gay since he was a teenager, but he’s never been that interested in dating. A professional pianist, he’s happy spending his days teaching students of all ages and his nights working and playing at an Atlanta bar and concert venue. When former pro football player Terrence Harvey and his brother buy the bar, Kellen’s thrown by the change to his routine, but he develops a quick friendship with Terrence, drawn to his sunny nature and sharp mind. Then their relationship takes a turn when Terrence surprises Kellen with a kiss. The unexpected action, though not unwelcome, leaves Kellen faced with reevaluating everything he thought he knew—about Terrence, and about himself.

Heart and Soul wrapped me up like a warm hug and nudged me gently in the feels just right. Every now and again everyone needs a story that is a little more quiet and a little more mellow. A story that is character driven and those characters are real, likeable and accessible. That’s just what Heart and Soul is. It didn’t change my view of the world and I won’t remember details in minutiae next month but I will recall how it made me feel and it made me feel . . . . well, it made me feel good.

Kellen Grady is a professional pianist and his first love is and has always been, his music. He plays in a bar in the evenings and on weekends and gives music lessons during the day. He writes his own compositions and the author didn’t have to tell me he loved what he did because I could see it in all his actions. Kellen is a pretty chill guy all around. He’s dated, but love has never really disrupted his comfortable routine.

Retired pro NFL player Terrence and his brother buy the bar that Kellen has worked at for years and that impending change in Kellen’s routine has him a little uneasy, but he’s not unreasonable and while he’s not exactly happy, he recognizes the fact that he needs to keep an open mind and keep his discomfort to himself. At the same time his sister and her toddler son have moved in with him in the family home as she is splitting with her husband. For Kellen, this is a lot of things to deal with. 

Terrence and his brother are just great. They realize that part of the charm of the bar is in all of the things that are already in place and their changes are all about improving on the existing success. It was perfect for Kellen and allowed for him to roll with the newness more comfortably and also allow him to get a little closer to Terrence along the way.

The growing relationship between Kellen and Terrence is the gold in this story. All the “upheaval” in Kellen’s life wasn’t bad, just different and it distracted him enough from his own mental ramblings so that Terrence was able to work his charms on Kellen without scaring him off. None of that was constructed mind you, it just flowed along organically and I flowed along with it.

It was refreshing to read a story with mature men who communicated in a realistic way. They never held back because of fabricated drama for the sake of it or walked away because of reasons. Their relationship progressed like a relationship should. It wasn’t too easy, but it wasn’t fraught with manufactured difficulties either and I appreciated that most of all.

Heart and Soul is the definition of a comfort read and when you’re in the need for some comfort (and who isn’t these days?) queue up this one and be reminded that the simplest things are often the best.

For more information on Heart & Soul by Shae Connor, check it out on Goodreads.

**a copy of this story was provided for an honest review**

Review: Tongue and Groove by Shae Connor

Sometimes home is what two hearts make of it. 

After fifteen years on the road, rock singer Saul Wilder doesn’t know if he remembers how to stay in one place. While healing from a vocal cord injury, he decides to restore the cozy but neglected Atlanta home his grandmother left him. When home renovation specialist Perry Abrams arrives to assess the job, Saul’s on board with mixing business with a little pleasure. The sex is scorching hot, but the more they learn about each other, the deeper they fall emotionally as well. Trouble is, Saul’s a traveling man and Perry’s a homebody, so finding common ground to share could put the brakes on their relationship before it has a chance to get started.

Dear Shae, Perry and Saul, 

I love you all so. 

I needed to read a true love story that focused on the relationship and characters with all the wonderful and wonderfully awful things that go with navigating flirting and first dates. You all gave that to me in spades. 

Thank you. 

XOXOXO 

Peach 

<*******************************************************************>

Saul is a rock star on hiatus as his throat is healing and during his recovery he heads to the house his grandmother left to him and decides to give it a well-deserved upgrade and bring it all up to date. He’s got a minor connection to the house but mostly his heart was with his grandma. He has no definite plans to keep the house, he’s on the road much of the year so what’s the point? It needs a onceover/upgrade and the bands manager refers him to Perry. Perry had a relatively new business as a designer and he also seems to push all of Saul’s buttons.

What follows is basically a modern courtship sans stereotypical characters. And THAT is what I loved. Saul may have been the rock star in this story and you would expect that Perry would have been pursuing him, etc. But, nay, twas not that way at all. Saul was the pursuer and Perry the pursuee (which is now a word BTW) and it was exactly what I wanted to read. I sometimes shy away from the rock star romances because they can sometimes read one-sided in the affection department and I really don’t like the imbalance when that happens. Perry was much more cautious than Saul and it worked for their personalities and the story really well. There was no manufactured angst, just one half being more reasonably realistic and it was nice to read some emotionally mature characters.

The bit of real conflict the guys had regarding preconceived notions of masculinity and femininity was woven into the story organically and I found it really interesting. In the realm of the Bigger Picture, it hits on the topic of sharing kinks and likes with a new lover and how important all forms of communication are. What isn’t said can be as important as what is and it takes some reading-between-the-lines to figure out how to share and be shared with without judging. I thought Saul handled it all with a good heart and Perry needed someone like Saul to be able to be himself without feeling marginalized at all by ridiculous notions of what constitutes strength and manliness. And just because something is ridiculous on paper doesn’t make it any less real when it comes to how someone feels and I felt both their frustration as they worked it all out.

As well, not gonna lie, the lingerie was freakin’ hot and I may have had less than altruistic reasons for wanting them to come to some common ground.

I loved the ending so much. Well, I loved the whole thing, but it wrapped up really well with just the right amount of warm fuzzies and reasonable compromise all around. Again, all because the characters were mature and kept true to themselves while still being open to being happy and more importantly, making someone else happy.

For more information on Tongue and Groove, check it out on Goodreads.

**a copy of this story was provided for an honest review**