Reviewed by Kimberley
TITLE: Teach Me
AUTHOR: Sloan Johnson
PUBLISHER: self published
BLURB:
Two words stripped Austin Pritchard of the privileged life he’s used to. The moment he uttered the words, “I’m gay,” he realized there is no such thing as unconditional love. Now he’s gone from traveling the world with his family to living on the streets trying to figure out how he’s going to stay in school. A chance opportunity changes everything. Austin impresses the foreman and lands a job, but even more, he catches the eye of David Becker who is determined to teach him that true love doesn’t come with strings.
The only thing David had as a child was love. His family struggled to keep food on the table and a roof over their heads. That has driven him to stay focused on his goals, become a tenured professor at a university and save enough money to build a home of his own. It’s not until he sees an insecure college student working on his new house that he realizes that he hasn’t planned on someone to share his life with. He’s about to learn that everything he’s already accomplished is nothing compared to the task of making Austin see that he is worthy of love.
REVIEW:
Let me start this off by saying that this author did a wonderful job with this story. I must admit that I was a tad bit worried that she wouldn’t be able to pull it off with this being the first time writing for this genre. To say that I was pleasantly surprised would be an understatement. I’ve always said that stories of this nature need to be told and told often; there is an alarmingly large number of homeless youth, LGBT in particular that are out there. Their stories are all the same: the price of coming out to their families have cost them so much. The characters are brilliantly written. I particularly like how Austin was able to remain strong and determined under the circumstances. He could’ve easily accepted what happened to him lying down but he didn’t. He was determined to find a way to stay in school despite his circumstances. Austin saw this as a setback; a temporary obstacle in the road of his life. He had pride, but not too much that he wasn’t willing to accept the help and advice from others. I also loved the way that he acknowledged he was privileged and spoiled his realization that he was no better than the homeless people; that there were circumstances and events in their lives to end up like this. This experience, I felt, changed him for the better. I know that’s a strange thing to think when you’re speaking about becoming homeless, but it’s fitting in this story. It was this experience that enabled him to find himself—the best part of himself and tap into a strength he didn’t realize he had. I also really enjoyed how David’s character was written. In David, you have a man who is intelligent, hardworking, kind and sexy. He was able to overcome his humble past and become a success. David and Austin’s background couldn’t have been more different: Austin grew up with money and the comfort and lifestyle that affords but without love and affection from his family. David was the opposite: he grew up very poor but with plenty of love and affection. I felt that although David grew up poor, he was the fortunate to grow up with a family that was generous with their love.
The only thing I disagreed with this story had nothing to do with the writing but the characters’ actions. I felt that David should not have prevented Austin and his sister’s confrontation with their father. I felt that he should have stepped aside and been there as a shoulder to lean or cry on afterwards. Austin and his family should have been allowed to fully confront this man and force him to see the pain he was putting them through. I felt that by stepping in, David took away Austin’s chance to gain complete closure. Also, another thing I would like to commend her on is the flawless way the surrounding/supporting characters were written in. She did an exceptional job in telling their stories as well. I personally believe that stories like this should always be told; it will never become clichéd. With so many LGBT homeless youth, we definitely need more stories like this that puts a spotlight and awareness on this sad situation.
The ending was tied up beautifully, the way Austin used his experience to pay it forward and help others showed just how of an impact this experience had on him. I also loved how Austin and his friend Casey were finally able to reconnect at the end and their interaction put a lump in my throat. Sloan Johnson definitely did an exceptional job with this book. There was only one true sex scene written into the book and that’s okay. The story more than made up for the lack of sex. In fact, I think that was a great call as the story would have been lost had the book had more than one sex scene written in it. She concentrated on these characters building a relationship based on first trust and then love as opposed to them acting on their attraction to each other earlier on. Reading this, I wouldn’t have believed that it was this author’s first time dipping into the M/M romance genre pond. Well done, Ms. Johnson. Very well done!
RATING: 
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