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4.14 AVERAGE
4.14 AVERAGE
There are favorite scenes I wait for. Giles' encounter with Naughty Nate. Aaron's father yelling at campus security and what happens after, Titanium for Baz and Elijah. This re-read is the first time that I noticed Ed and Laurie on page 206, from the Enjoy the Dance books. They aren't named, but who else would be the football team out for a beer where two of them are touching?
Fever Pitch was a 4.5 star read for me. The book slowed in the first 1/4 and I got lost a few times and had to reread a few parts but after I got over that bump it completely sucked me in. Aaron and Giles were a great couple and I loved the musical elements to the story. Reconnecting with Walter and Kelly increased my love of this story. Walter was definitely a scene stealer and Giles parents rock. I'm looking forward to reading more books in the series especially Elijah and Baz.
Having raised a musical teenager, this story pulled me in from the start. I wanted to shelter Aaron from the heartache I could see coming, and Giles from the pain his open nature brought down on him. This book is darker than the first in the series (although not as gut-wrenching as I can see the third book will be.) This is a story of the quintessential first year of college, and the changes it can work on the young men who leave home for the first time. It's about coming out and acknowledging who you are, in all the myriad facets.
Aaron is gay, he lives for music, he's kind and lonely and in need of friends, and all of those are things he has shut away from his full awareness in the last year of high-school. But the floodgates open wide after his first meeting with Giles at a summer party. The force of just how much he wants his life to be different hits him like a gut-punch. He picks his college as a chance to try to reconnect with Giles, when he's too shy to go about it any other way. Unfortunately, when he sets eyes on Giles again, it does not go well.
Giles is lucky in having warm family support, both for his orientation and his music. His parents weren't able to protect him from bullying in school, but they had his back and they encourage him in his dreams and goals. Getting to college is the fresh start they all want for Giles. But even with the best parents, figuring out how to translate his interests into life goals isn't straightforward. He's not the type of prodigy to make music performance an obvious career. And that guy Aaron, whom he had a brief encounter with and then a stinging rejection from, seems to be lurking everywhere he goes.
I loved both the MCs. The misunderstanding that keeps them apart at first was plausibly supported by the characters and experiences. I enjoyed the way music infuses the whole story. The other music students, especially the choirs, were excellent (if occasionally too good.) There are some very nasty parents in this book - I wish that was just fiction, but in a decade where the number of homeless LGBT youth is increasing, it sadly is not. The secondary characters are excellent. I enjoyed seeing Walter again (and although he was occasionally intrusive, that fit his character. When Walter takes care of you he doesn't just drop by once with chicken soup, he hires a caterer to deliver it daily and comes by to be sure you're eating it. Turning off the Walter Lucas support system once engaged isn't easy.) And God knows, Aaron needed that, needed to know that he mattered, as the gay musician that he is, and not just to his boyfriend.
But the secondary character who really engaged my interest was Elijah, Aaron's confusing roommate. I expect the next book to be his and I expect it to kill me, in the very best way.
Aaron is gay, he lives for music, he's kind and lonely and in need of friends, and all of those are things he has shut away from his full awareness in the last year of high-school. But the floodgates open wide after his first meeting with Giles at a summer party. The force of just how much he wants his life to be different hits him like a gut-punch. He picks his college as a chance to try to reconnect with Giles, when he's too shy to go about it any other way. Unfortunately, when he sets eyes on Giles again, it does not go well.
Giles is lucky in having warm family support, both for his orientation and his music. His parents weren't able to protect him from bullying in school, but they had his back and they encourage him in his dreams and goals. Getting to college is the fresh start they all want for Giles. But even with the best parents, figuring out how to translate his interests into life goals isn't straightforward. He's not the type of prodigy to make music performance an obvious career. And that guy Aaron, whom he had a brief encounter with and then a stinging rejection from, seems to be lurking everywhere he goes.
I loved both the MCs. The misunderstanding that keeps them apart at first was plausibly supported by the characters and experiences. I enjoyed the way music infuses the whole story. The other music students, especially the choirs, were excellent (if occasionally too good.) There are some very nasty parents in this book - I wish that was just fiction, but in a decade where the number of homeless LGBT youth is increasing, it sadly is not. The secondary characters are excellent. I enjoyed seeing Walter again (and although he was occasionally intrusive, that fit his character. When Walter takes care of you he doesn't just drop by once with chicken soup, he hires a caterer to deliver it daily and comes by to be sure you're eating it. Turning off the Walter Lucas support system once engaged isn't easy.) And God knows, Aaron needed that, needed to know that he mattered, as the gay musician that he is, and not just to his boyfriend.
But the secondary character who really engaged my interest was Elijah, Aaron's confusing roommate. I expect the next book to be his and I expect it to kill me, in the very best way.
A finely tuned story about college love, finding your path, and learning the right way to be a human being. The protagonists are both gay males and though some of the topics covered are specific to their situation I found the whole book to be a resounding affirmation of good people triumphing over a**holes and difficult situation with the support of friends and family. There are a number of explicit scenes that make this unavailable to many young people who desperately need the love advice contained within. But, if your a consenting adult, love music, good characters and a world where good triumph over suck-a-tude then read this one.
Have you guys ever read a book and thought, this is one of my desert island books? I had that thought when I was reading Fever Pitch. Both times. Fever Pitch is one of the most perfect books I’ve read in a long time. If I were going to a desert island and could only take 5 books with me, this would be one of them. And, if Heidi Cullinan keeps writing books with Walter Lucas in them, then all 5 slots may get filled by her! But, this isn’t Walter’s book – though, thankfully, we get a healthy dose of him throughout – this story is about Aaron and Giles, and I guaranteed you will completely fall for them as well.
Aaron Seavers is having a tough go of things. His life thus far has been ruled by his father’s iron fist, and he has zero enthusiasm about heading off to college. Why bother finding out what life has in store for you when you feel that your entire existence has been decided for you already? But, a chance encounter with high school classmate Giles Mulder changes EVERYTHING.
Giles knows what he wants. To get the hell out of Oak Grove, first of all…but, he also knows that Saint Timothy College is the perfect place for him, and he can’t wait to finally begin his life away from all of the hatred and bullying he has experienced up until now.
When Aaron stumbles his way into the music department at Saint Timothy, he begins to find himself again. The boy that was lost when his parents divorced and he and his mother moved away from his old school and friends, starts to come to life at Timmy, and what a joy it is to watch. He starts to break away from the chains imposed by his father, and to learn that he is not alone, and that it’s ok to chase his dream.
Though Fever Pitch does deal with some pretty dark themes, the take-away is absolutely the joy. The joy one can find through music, through finding good friends and realizing that it’s ok to let them take care of you sometimes, through loving someone, it’s all there. I’m not gonna lie…I found myself getting choked up quite a few times, and even shed a few tears. There were several heartbreakingly beautiful moments in the book, one of them involving Giles’s parents stepping up to take care of Aaron when he needed it. The Mulders are amazing and perfect, though not at all in an unrealistic way. I know how it is to be reading a book and think, c’mon…these characters are TOO perfect, but that is not even remotely the case here. They are simply good people, and fantastic parents, and every single scene with them feels genuine and straight from the heart.
This book truly has it all: characters you will LOVE… and those you will hate. Moments that will have you laughing, cheering, swooning, fanning yourself, and even needing a few tissues. It showcases humor, love, friendship, loyalty, and at times, really tough life lessons. And, music. Always the music. I can’t say enough about how good Fever Pitch is or how much I love it. It’s a must read. And re-read. A desert island book.
Aaron Seavers is having a tough go of things. His life thus far has been ruled by his father’s iron fist, and he has zero enthusiasm about heading off to college. Why bother finding out what life has in store for you when you feel that your entire existence has been decided for you already? But, a chance encounter with high school classmate Giles Mulder changes EVERYTHING.
Giles knows what he wants. To get the hell out of Oak Grove, first of all…but, he also knows that Saint Timothy College is the perfect place for him, and he can’t wait to finally begin his life away from all of the hatred and bullying he has experienced up until now.
When Aaron stumbles his way into the music department at Saint Timothy, he begins to find himself again. The boy that was lost when his parents divorced and he and his mother moved away from his old school and friends, starts to come to life at Timmy, and what a joy it is to watch. He starts to break away from the chains imposed by his father, and to learn that he is not alone, and that it’s ok to chase his dream.
Though Fever Pitch does deal with some pretty dark themes, the take-away is absolutely the joy. The joy one can find through music, through finding good friends and realizing that it’s ok to let them take care of you sometimes, through loving someone, it’s all there. I’m not gonna lie…I found myself getting choked up quite a few times, and even shed a few tears. There were several heartbreakingly beautiful moments in the book, one of them involving Giles’s parents stepping up to take care of Aaron when he needed it. The Mulders are amazing and perfect, though not at all in an unrealistic way. I know how it is to be reading a book and think, c’mon…these characters are TOO perfect, but that is not even remotely the case here. They are simply good people, and fantastic parents, and every single scene with them feels genuine and straight from the heart.
Spoiler
On the flip side of the coin are Aaron’s parents and the Princes. Aaron’s roommate, Elijah Prince, is walking a dangerous line in Fever Pitch. Leading a double-life – one as the falsely repentant son of radical fundamentalist parents, and the other as a young, gay man, turning tricks to try to save up enough money to escape the constant wrath of his folks – is beginning to wear Elijah extremely thin, and it’s only a matter of time before something has to give. You’ll have to read the book to find out how that part of the story arc plays out, and then get ready… because Elijah’s story is next up in the Love Lessons universe!This book truly has it all: characters you will LOVE… and those you will hate. Moments that will have you laughing, cheering, swooning, fanning yourself, and even needing a few tissues. It showcases humor, love, friendship, loyalty, and at times, really tough life lessons. And, music. Always the music. I can’t say enough about how good Fever Pitch is or how much I love it. It’s a must read. And re-read. A desert island book.
Some parts in the middle dragged a bit with pacing and characters being uncommunicatively silly for slightly longer than I had patience for. The action at the climax, while probably in the realm of "this could realistically happen," seemed off to me based on the tone of the rest of the book. It also seemed a weak way to resolve the conflict when Cullinan is usually so deft at conflict resolution. However, the high points of the story and characters were glorious, and I cried at least twice. Walter gives Randy a run for his money as my favorite Cullinan character. I'm really excited to read the third book in the series, which includes characters from this book who desperately need their Happily Ever After.
Featuring a new university but some of the same characters as the original, this is a lovely sequel to Love Lessons.
Aaron and Giles were a hot mess of a pair, much lack of communication at the beginning but their eventual reconciliation was well done and totally real.
The book also has a real heart to it, a community based around music and the joyful benefits it can bring and it comes across in spades in this story.
Aaron and Giles were a hot mess of a pair, much lack of communication at the beginning but their eventual reconciliation was well done and totally real.
The book also has a real heart to it, a community based around music and the joyful benefits it can bring and it comes across in spades in this story.
This author does have a thing for one half of the main couple having shitty ass parents and the other having almost perfect ones
I listened to the audiobook. This is book 2 in the series and it needs to be read/ or listened to in the right order. This is a mm contemporary story set in a USA college. Featuring Aaron and Giles, but also a big part is the characters from book 1 Walter and Kelly. Great story and I’m off to listen to book 3.