Reviewed by Sadonna

TITLE:  A Foot in the Door

SERIES:  Open Doors

AUTHOR:  Vinni George

PUBLISHER:  Self-published

LENGTH:  2xx pages

RELEASE DATE:  May 13, 2022

BLURB:

The student…
If he wants a job when he finishes grad school, Tanner Brown needs to get a foot in the door. But when he arrives at the country’s largest statistics conference to find he has nowhere to stay, he’s not sure it’s worth it. Especially when he realizes his hot faculty crush just witnessed his embarrassment from a front row seat.

The professor…
Dr. Beckett James is happily focused on his career until one of his former students slides into his line of sight. Tanner is brilliant and engaging, and when he ends up without a room, Beckett has no choice but to offer him a place to stay for the weekend. Even if it means testing his restraint.

The problem…
When their conference fling turns into an on-campus complication, Tanner and Beckett will have to control the variables that threaten to keep them apart or risk losing their chance at a happy ending before it’s even begun.

A Foot in the Door is the third full-length novel in the Open Doors series featuring a statistics professor who makes a mean curry, a ginger-haired student with a bright future, and an offer neither can refuse.

REVIEW:

Note:  This is the third novel in this series and the 5th story overall in this world.  It can be read as a standalone but contains major spoilers for the previous stories in the series.  I recommend them all 🙂

Tanner Brown, like Alexander, is having a terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad day.  When the biostatistics grad student finally arrives at the International Applied Statistics Conference hours late, he discovers he has no accommodation.  And of course this all happens in full view of a distinguished former professor of his from his grad program.  The professor, Beckett James was very impressed by Tanner in his intro class.  He’s older than many of the grad students in the program and has already worked a “real world” job so his approach is different.  Unbeknownst to Beckett, Tanner has crushed on Beckett since that class.  Unbeknownst to Tanner, Beckett has been attracted to Tanner as well.  When Beckett invites Tanner to stay with him at his sister’s Boston townhouse, he reluctantly agrees.  When they are alone in the space of Trudi’s townhouse, they just click.  and when Beckett agrees to review Tanner’s presentation, they grow closer.  However, they do their best to maintain their distance.

Tanner’s presentation goes really well.  Important friends and contacts of Beckett’s are also at the presentation much to Tanner’s both delight and dismay – because nerves!  After the presentation though, when he and Beckett are alone at the townhouse, it’s clear that there is some real chemistry between them.  And they can’t ignore it.  Technically there is nothing unseemly about their relationship.  Beckett is not currently Tanner’s professor, nor is he in any kind of advisory capacity.  So when they return to Chicago they date.  And things are going really really well.  They are falling fast and hard for each other.  They are absolutely adorable together.

The other shoe drops when a competition comes up that could be a shoe-in for Tanner to his dream job.  In order for all of this to be above board though with no whiff of impropriety, Beckett breaks off their relationship.  He refuses to stand in the way of everything that Tanner has worked so hard for.  Needless to say Tanner is not happy about that at all.  In fact they are both miserable.  But there just might be a way that this can all work out, if they can be patient enough to get through the next two months.

I am a fan of this author and this whole series 🙂  The three novels and the two related short stories in this shared world are so good.  In this book, we get to meet another two college friends of Sam and Max from the first book, Hold the Door.  Julian and Beckett are friends that play a large part in the potential future of Tanner Brown.  Julian is a rockstar in the world of analytics and Beckett consults for him.  Their relationship is fun and a setup for the conflict in this story.  Tanner is a really sweet character.  He’s good at what he does and he’s got a plan.  He’s willing to deviate from that plan to be with Beckett.  But Beckett doesn’t want Tanner to resent him for missing out on his dream job.  Beckett is the older and he believes wiser and so his habit of making unilateral decisions fall hard on Tanner when that decision affects his future as well.  Poor Tanner is blindsided by Beckett’s decision and he’s not in agreement but what can he do?  This sets up the perfect conflict.  I understand Beckett’s  impulse to sacrifice his own desires for Tanner’s future and eventually he learns the error of his ways.  They both have helpful friends that manage to get them out of their own way.

There are so many great characters in this series and fodder for MANY more stories.  Like what’s going on between Miles and Julian?  Will Laurent ever settle down? But I’m particularly interested to find out Brody’s story and how Phin, Tanner’s BFF will fit into it. Looks like we’re back to San Diego for the next one.  I heartily recommend this book and this whole series.  The characters and the plots are fun and engaging.  If you’re a contemporary fan, I think you’ll really like this book.

RATING: 

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