Name: Just Like This
ISBN: 9781335200907

Cole McCade

Coming soon! Just Like This by Cole McCade will be available Nov 24, 2020.

Just Like This

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. Carina Adores is home to highly romantic contemporary love stories where LGBTQ+ characters find their happily-ever-afters. A new Carina Adores title is available each month: The Hideaway Inn by Philip William Stover The Girl Next Door by Chelsea M. Cameron Hairpin Curves by Elia Winters Better Than People by Roan Parrish The Love Study by Kris Ripper The Secret Ingredient by KD Fisher Just Like This by Cole McCade Teddy Spenser Isn’t Looking for Love by Kim Fielding

Just Like That

Sahi K

CW: anxiety and on page panic attacks, depression, talk of suicidal ideation, bullying, loss of spouse and parent in the past. 
There are other content warnings which are mentioned in the beginning of the book. 

I know I don’t read enough ownvoices gay romance stories even though I like the genre a lot, but I’m always looking out for more. And Cole McCade is definitely one author I look forward to even though I did abandon his Criminal Intentions aerial after reading nine or ten episodes because it was too dark for my taste. But this is a new romance series and I was so excited when I got the ARC. 

While this series is definitely not dark, it’s also not like the romcoms I’m used to reading. Both the characters of Fox and Summer are the products of their pasts and traumas, and their depictions felt so real and visceral. Summer suffers from anxiety and panic attacks but he is also brave enough to give voice to his desires when challenged and I admired him so much for being compassionate and relentlessly trying to get out of his comfort zone. 

Fox on the other hand has closed himself off for years because he couldn’t process the grief of losing his wife. He is a professor everyone is quite scared of because he is a very tough taskmaster, but underneath he is so soft and just needs someone to show him that deserves to live and love again. 

Cole has a way with words and the writing really is exquisite at places, tugging at your heartstrings so much that you can feel all the pain and the joy that the characters are experiencing. Even though I did feel that the falling in love part happened a bit fast, it was still very believable and I was rooting for them all the way. I wasn’t sure I would like the setting of the boarding school before I started reading the book, and I’m still not entirely impressed with it because the concept of rich kids being bullies and traumatizing each other is not my kind of narrative, but I liked the direction the author took that particular subplot in. There were not many other side characters except Summer’s mom who only made a couple of appearances, but was delightful. 

Overall, this was a very emotional love story with great depth in the characters and I thoroughly loved my reading experience. And I’m quite excited to see where the series goes next.

Taylor McNeely

It wasn't until I looked up this author that I found out that one of his other books is one of my favorite books to re-read. This book was steamy AND cute all at the same time. I loved both main characters and how they helped each other through their trauma and mental illnesses. Definitely read this book when it comes out June 30th!! 
*Thank you @netgalley for my advanced copy.*

“An un-put-downable gay romance.”—Publishers Weekly Rian Falwell has a problem. And his name is Damon Louis. Rian’s life as the art teacher to a gaggle of displaced boys at Albin Academy should be smooth sailing—until the stubborn, grouchy football coach comes into his world like a lightning strike and ignites a heated conflict that would leave them sworn enemies if not for a common goal. A student in peril. A troubling secret. And two men who are polar opposites but must work together to protect their charges. They shouldn’t want each other. They shouldn’t even like each other. Yet as they fight to save a young man from the edge, they discover more than they thought possible about each other—and about themselves. In the space between hatred, they find love. And the lives they have always wanted… Just like this. “The romantic longing, themes of bravery and confidence, and moments of cozy domesticity shine.” —Publishers Weekly, on Just Like That The Hideaway Inn by Philip William Stover The Girl Next Door by Chelsea M. Cameron Just Like That by Cole McCade Hairpin Curves by Elia Winters Better Than People by Roan Parrish The Love Study by Kris Ripper The Secret Ingredient by KD Fisher Teddy Spenser Isn’t Looking for Love by Kim Fielding The Beautiful Things Shoppe by Philip William Stover Learn to Knit in Nine Months or Less by Hettie Bell

Just Like This consisted of characters feeling lost and that they don’t belong which many people can relate to. I loved that the main characters helped each other through their troubles and bonded by trying to help out a student they both care for. They had a lot of ups and downs, but I like how they figured out what each of their problems were and why they couldn’t communicate properly with each other. Once they figured this out, they tried to fix it enable to have a healthy relationship.

*Thank you to @netgalley for my advanced copy.*

Just Like This

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