Reviewed by Cheryl

TITLE: Just Like That

SERIES: Albin Academy #1

AUTHOR: Cole McCade

PUBLISHER: Carina Adores

LENGTH: 136 pages

RELEASE DATE:  June 30, 2020

BLURB:

Summer Hemlock never meant to come back to Omen, Massachusetts…

But with his mother in need of help, Summer has no choice but to return to his hometown, take up a teaching residency at the elite Albin Academy—and work directly under the man who made his teenage years miserable.

Professor Fox Iseya.

Forbidding, aloof, commanding: psychology instructor Iseya is a cipher who’s always fascinated and intimidated shy, anxious Summer. But that fascination turns into something more when the older man challenges Summer to be brave. What starts as a daily game to reward Summer with a kiss for every obstacle overcome turns passionate, and a professional relationship turns quickly personal.

Yet Iseya’s walls of grief may be too high for someone like Summer to climb…until Summer’s infectious warmth shows Fox everything he’s been missing in life.

Now both men must be brave enough to trust each other, to take that leap.

To find the love they’ve always needed…

Just like that.

REVIEW:

I’m not going to lie, I wasn’t too fond of Fox Iseya to begin with. I’d say for most of the first half of the book I wanted to slap him. I thought he was an arrogant, overbearing, selfish man who was playing with Summer and not in the best way.

On the other hand, Summer was just like his name—sunny and warm. The fact that he suffered from severe anxiety and panic attacks made me even more angry at Fox.

But as Summer chipped away at Fox’s mask and we began to get glimpses of what lay behind, I started to warm to him, although it was slow. In the end, Fox’s overwhelming grief and slow return to some form of normality was what made the story for me and I was a Fox fan by the end.

This book was a thoughtful treatise on grief and the devastating affect it can have, not only on the person grieving but on those around them, especially if they can’t let go.

The writing was extremely good, maintaining a light tone, even when dealing with the darkest subject matter. That’s not to say the darker aspects weren’t treated seriously and with respect, because they were, but even then there was a lightness that carried us on, with the constant promise of hope.

If this hadn’t been a romance book (we all know they have to have a happy ending) I would have been concerned on more than one occasion that we would lose one or other of the protagonists, but even knowing they were going to come through at the end didn’t detract from those moments when you afraid they wouldn’t.

All in all this was an uplifting story, showing that bravery, about things great and small, can move you forward no matter what the obstacles, if you take it step by step and that grief, no matter how deep, can be overcome with patience and help.

The final scenes had me on the edge of my seat and the story’s climax didn’t disappoint at all.

RATING:

Carina Adores

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