Reviewed by Ro

TITLE: The Amazing Alpha Tau Romeo and Juliet Project

SERIES: Alpha Tau, Book 4

AUTHOR: Lisa Henry and Sarah Honey

PUBLISHER: Self Published

LENGTH: 203 pages

RELEASE DATE:  July 10, 2024

BLURB: 

When Charlie Mercer meets a cute guy at a party during summer break, sparks fly. But Tanner never calls him. Typical. At least he has his sophomore year at Lassiter and his fraternity brothers at Alpha Tau to distract him—and maybe this will be the year he finally meets someone.

College is meant to be a new chapter in Tanner North’s life, except he’s still stuck in the shadow of his older brother, Colt. Not only is Tanner going to Lassiter like Colt did, he’s also pledging to Kappa Beta Rho because Colt was chapter president there. Whatever. Tanner’s not interested in getting involved in the dumb frat rivalry that Kappa Beta Rho has going on with Alpha Tau. He’s just going to keep his head down and his grades up until he graduates.

It’s a solid plan, right up until Tanner realizes that Charlie is a member of Alpha Tau. And it turns out that keeping their hands off each other is harder than they thought.

The Amazing Alpha Tau Romeo and Juliet Project is a lighthearted contemporary m/m romance containing a ruined phone, two melodramatic frat boys, and a romance that spans the width of an entire street. Or something.

REVIEW:

This is book 4 of the Alpha Tau series, featuring Charlie from Alpha Tau and Tanner from the rival fraternity, Kappa Beta Rho. Except when Charlie and Tanner first meet, they are not at school and don’t realize. They meet at a party, where Tanner is unfortunately used by a -girl, Kennedy, to make her ex-boyfriend jealous. The fact that Tanner is gay is irrelevant, because Tanner isn’t out to anyone. The book is told in first person by Tanner and have to say, the man is funny. “My voice squeaked, but I figured that an “overwhelmed horny straight boy seeing boobs” squeak and a “panicking gay boy seeing boobs” squeak probably sounded the same to the untrained ear. As he is fleeing the room with the undressing Kennedy, he runs into cute, red-haired Charlie, grabbing his hand and taking off to get away from her.  They have an intense make-out session and, with some help from Charlie’s cousin, they exchange phone numbers and plan for a fabulous summer together. “…you could probably see that thing from space. Now visible – the Great Wall of China and Tanner North’s first big gay boner.” Seriously, not his first boner but the first one he’s gotten with someone else involved.

Except Kennedy’s play to make the ex jealous works and he attacks Tanner. No big deal, except Tanner’s phone gets broken in the scuffle. The phone where Charlie’s number has just been entered.

So, it is a huge shock to both of them to realize they are now at at the same college – Lassiter. Charlie is there on an academic scholarship, Tanner on a baseball scholarship. Unfortunately, they meet again under not auspicious circumstances, when Tanner (from Kappa) tries to Jello-gate Alpha. This is not good and Tanner is not only caught but banned from Alpha. And also, Charlie is hugely pissed that Tanner never contacted him, of course not knowing of the broken phone. It should also be noted that Tanner is Colt’s brother. Colt, the douchebag former chapter president of Kappa, who nearly got the Kappa house closed down. So lots against him.

It is another baseball player friend of Tanner’s, Nash, who introduces Tanner to the study group led by none other than Charlie. Just as an aside, I adored Nash and seriously hope he gets a book. During this first group, Tanner gets to explain during introductions what happened. “And the guy I kissed probably thinks I ditched him but I didn’t. We were just star-crossed lovers.”

Charlie agrees to tutor Tanner in English Lit, and things get going from there. Except Charlie is adamant they have to be in secret, because of the Kappa/Alpha rivalry. Very similar to Montagues and Capulets. “It wasn’t what I wanted, not really. I didn’t want Charlie in secret, but if that was the only way he’d consider it, then I’d take it.”

Tanner can’t really understand why the rivalry is such a big deal. Since he is a freshman, he wasn’t there when Colt was president and doesn’t realize how bad things were. Even with the new president, Bart, there are still some bad apples in Kappa. I’m a little slow, and I didn’t recognize Tanner’s roommate, Ethan, from previous books, and I should have. But Tanner and Charlie continue to meet in private and grow to really like each other. They are also two virgins learning with each other and are cute as anything, even when “I hit him right in the eye.” I’ll leave you to guess what Charlie got hit with.

There is a lot for these two, but particularly Charlie, to get past. He’s not very confident in himself, and things happen that make that worse. But I loved the two of them together and I got it, why Charlie and the Alphas were so against the Kappas. I was so pulling for these two. The book has some slightly angsty moments but generally, it is funny and made me smile. And just another mention, I am so hopeful Nash gets a book!

RATING:

BUY LINKS: 

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