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4.14 AVERAGE
4.14 AVERAGE
Romance and music, plus a continuation of Walter and Kelly's story (and a bit of what's to come in book 3). :)
Brilliant! Seems that every time I read those books about parents who choose to love their children with conditions and then do horrific things to them when their children can't meet those conditions, a little bit more of my soul is ripped away. Oh I sobbed. I just can't understand how you can do that to your children. Had to put the book down for a bit.
Stellar writing as always. Giles and Aaron are lovely and meant to be. Such a treat to see Walter and Kelly. Best part of the book, though, was the music. I love romance and music. The combination just sings to me. The strings, the a capella singing, the conducting!!! - just loved it and it added SO much more feeling and emotion to the book. You could just hear the newly arranged "Titanium" for Baz and Elijah. Terrific secondary characters. Do we ever get a book about Brian?? I know book 3 is about Baz and Elijah.
Just a wonderful emotion-filled, with a solid character driven tale told brilliantly.
Stellar writing as always. Giles and Aaron are lovely and meant to be. Such a treat to see Walter and Kelly. Best part of the book, though, was the music. I love romance and music. The combination just sings to me. The strings, the a capella singing, the conducting!!! - just loved it and it added SO much more feeling and emotion to the book. You could just hear the newly arranged "Titanium" for Baz and Elijah. Terrific secondary characters. Do we ever get a book about Brian?? I know book 3 is about Baz and Elijah.
Just a wonderful emotion-filled, with a solid character driven tale told brilliantly.
Wow. Well this made me appreciate music majors even more than I already did. It was cool to see behind the scenes. I also like that we didn't stop with just the story of the two leads, but that we saw part of Elija's story as well. He's not handsome or nice or super talented or rich or even pleasant to be around, but his story mattered too.
It was also kinda freaky to me how two different sets of parents tried to control the bejesus out of their college aged kids' lives. It's alien to my personal experience, but now I begin to understand it bit more about what it would be like to experience it. Just as bad as totally disengaged parents, or maybe worse. Another type of parental selfishness.
This is my 7th or so Heidi Cullinan in a row. I'd only read one M/M before, and that one unwittingly. I never understood the appeal - books or movies without strong female characters are lacking...empty ...boring. But now I see. I don't know if it's Heidi or the genre, maybe something of both. Sure it's fun to read about hot male bodies, because hey. That's just a teensy bit of the pleasure and interest though.
These books, as she writes them anyway, are a bit like reading a regular M/F romance with all the cultural gender crap stripped out. what if you weren't a girl and he wasn't a boy, but you were just two people in love? Equal, less role and game playing, more understanding, take away the M/F dance and the tidbit of sexism always present but leave the love. That's potent. And much as I never want to be male, not even if there's reincarnation, because I really, really like being female and a straight one at that, the idea of a partnership in some future world without sexism, is incredibly appealing.
It was also kinda freaky to me how two different sets of parents tried to control the bejesus out of their college aged kids' lives. It's alien to my personal experience, but now I begin to understand it bit more about what it would be like to experience it. Just as bad as totally disengaged parents, or maybe worse. Another type of parental selfishness.
This is my 7th or so Heidi Cullinan in a row. I'd only read one M/M before, and that one unwittingly. I never understood the appeal - books or movies without strong female characters are lacking...empty ...boring. But now I see. I don't know if it's Heidi or the genre, maybe something of both. Sure it's fun to read about hot male bodies, because hey. That's just a teensy bit of the pleasure and interest though.
These books, as she writes them anyway, are a bit like reading a regular M/F romance with all the cultural gender crap stripped out. what if you weren't a girl and he wasn't a boy, but you were just two people in love? Equal, less role and game playing, more understanding, take away the M/F dance and the tidbit of sexism always present but leave the love. That's potent. And much as I never want to be male, not even if there's reincarnation, because I really, really like being female and a straight one at that, the idea of a partnership in some future world without sexism, is incredibly appealing.
I liked the book well enough despite its sugary sweetness. I may have to book some time with the dentist though. God, there was so much drama. It just dragged on for too long and too fraught with hysterics and recriminations. It's not a story I would ever want to revisit.
The first book, Love Lessons, and this one are fairly tightly woven together by the end of Fever Pitch. It will mean the most if you read them in order. I've read a lot of gay romance now, and I've learned more about how to write 'show don't tell' and deliver data to the reader without a plot-stopping data dump. Cullinan isn't perfect with the former, but she EXCELS at the latter. There are some powerful messages dished out by characters that are absolutely specific to those characters, and absolutely propel the plot. Well done. Impressive. I'm happy this one kicks off my reviews for 2017.
I bought the next two in this series, immediately upon finishing this one. Yay Christmas money. :)
I bought the next two in this series, immediately upon finishing this one. Yay Christmas money. :)
I'm just gonna give it max stars because I'm a sucker for a happy ending, especially when I felt like crying so many times along the way. And yeah, I realize it's fiction and I have no idea if there are people like that in the real world (I know good and kind people but they pale in comparison with Giles's parents and Walter and Kelly) but I wish there were and I hope this book and others like it inspires ppl to be more open and caring with others. And I hope that I too can become so one day.
Great read. Loved Aaron, struggled with liking Giles at bit at the beginning, but he gets better and you understand where he's coming from. Poor Aaron, your heart breaks for him. Totally interested in Baz, I enjoyed Elijah even with all his pricky-ness and prickliness. Can't wait for their book/s. All the technical musical talk was a bit much for me, but I do like learning about something as I read. Loved seeing so much of Walter and Kelly. Supporting characters were so likable, except for the ones you're supposed to hate, who are very hate-able.
Wow this book has everything I can ask for... A sweet and adorable couple Aaron and Giles, both music majors.. Everytime someone mentioned Aaron’s beautiful voice, I really wanted to hear him sing 😍😍 The A capella groups Ambassadors and Salvo were a joy to read about - all of them are amazing musicians and a great group of friends. I really loved how well they supported each other irrespective of the situation.
We also see a diverse group of parents here - extremely caring ones on one side and obsessively controlling and murderous on the other. The ending twist related to Elijah and Baz was so unexpected, that it just shook me *shudders*.
The message I took from this book is of love and acceptance - accept and care for your loved ones for who they are and not what you want them to be. Also, support anyone whom you are in a position to - any little thing might just be what they need.
I didn’t think I could love Walter and Kelly more but they are just awesome. Walter really is a true friend to Aaron. Giles’s parents are sweethearts. All of the friends are amazing and I can’t even choose between Mina, Damien, Marius, Baz, Drs Nussy, Dr. Allison , Pastor Schulz and his wife.. It’s such a joy to read about so many wonderful characters. Can’t wait to read the next one about Elijah and Baz !!!
We also see a diverse group of parents here - extremely caring ones on one side and obsessively controlling and murderous on the other. The ending twist related to Elijah and Baz was so unexpected, that it just shook me *shudders*.
The message I took from this book is of love and acceptance - accept and care for your loved ones for who they are and not what you want them to be. Also, support anyone whom you are in a position to - any little thing might just be what they need.
I didn’t think I could love Walter and Kelly more but they are just awesome. Walter really is a true friend to Aaron. Giles’s parents are sweethearts. All of the friends are amazing and I can’t even choose between Mina, Damien, Marius, Baz, Drs Nussy, Dr. Allison , Pastor Schulz and his wife.. It’s such a joy to read about so many wonderful characters. Can’t wait to read the next one about Elijah and Baz !!!
Much of this is meh at best but much of it is so much more. I want parents like Giles’ and friends like Aaron’s and all the musics.