As I have said several times over the last few weeks, I have been reading a lot of m/m romance novels. In the past several years, I have listened to audiobooks. When I lived closer to work (five minutes or less away), I would listen to NPR on the way to the museum and listen to audiobooks when I drove anywhere that allowed me more time in my car, and thus, it could take a few weeks to get through a book. Since I moved two years ago, I live just over 30 minutes from work, I am now listening to about a book a week. However, since the first of the year and the improvement in my migraines, I have been reading a lot more on my Kindle. In fact, I’ve been going through a book every 1-2 days.
Last weekend, I finished the four-book series “South Rock High” by A.J. Truman (Instagram: @ajtruman_author). The series is about four best friends and fellow high school teachers (each with a different book), Amos, Everett, Chase, and Julian. The blurb for the series says, they are “giving out A's and hoping for some D. Get to know this found family of nerdy colleagues as they find their happily ever afters with a bunch of jocks.” The books are incredibly cute and fun to read. There is probably more sex in these books than I usually see in m/m romance, but I would say without a doubt, they contain some of the best sex scenes I’ve read in m/m romance books.
A.J. Truman is a gay man living in the middle of Indiana with his husband, son, and pets. He writes books with humor, heart, and hot guys, think LOL meets DTF. The books really are funny and sexy. Each of these books about a group of gay nerdy teachers had something I identified with, and I found it hard to put them down. I read the first one, Ancient History, because it was about a history teacher, and I have to say, I found myself identifying with the Amos’s character. I would not come close to claiming that I was adorkable like Amos, but his love of history, his teaching style, and his interactions with his friends is spot on. The next book was Drama!, and since I used to be the faculty advisor for the drama club at the small school I taught at, I identified with this as well. I also love the fake boyfriend trope in m/m romance. The third book, Romance Languages is the sweetest of all the books. Julian doesn’t have the perfect body and is always ignored by other gay men outside his friends’ group. I think a lot of us would identify with Julian in some way. The last book in the series, Advanced Chemistry, is the one I least identified with, but Chase does have a cat named Einstein that is the highlight of the book. If you’ve ever had a cat, you’ll know what I mean when you read it.
If you sign up for A.J. Truman’s newsletter, The Outsiders, there is a free bonus prequal novella about the gay principal who pops up in all of the books, and there are two free bonus epilogues for Drama! and Advanced Chemistry. The bonus epilogues are heavy on sexual content, but fund reads nonetheless. (Sometimes too much sex and not enough story can be boring. It’s kind of like when you watch porn, if it has a story, it can actually entertain as well as get you off [some of the acting can surprisingly be pretty good in recent porn movies], but if there is not story, then, it’s just about getting you off.)If you plan to read these books, I suggest you sign up for the newsletter (I’m sure you can unsubscribe later if you don’t want it clogging up your email) and reading the prequal, Getting Schooled first. I think it gives you a perspective on Principal Aguilar that you only get a glimpse of in the other books.
Getting Schooled is a sexy, sweet novella containing all your enemies-to-lovers, single dad, anonymous pen pal vibes…plus an apple tree, cacti, and karaoke machine to keep things interesting. It’s a prequel to the South Rock High series but can be enjoyed on its own.
Ancient History is a second chance, nerd/jock, small town romance filled with humor, heart, and hot guys. Hutch and Amos will put the A-plus in HEA, and like all good students, there’s no cheating. It’s the first book in the South Rock High series, which revolves around a found family of nerdy gay high school teachers.
Drama! is an enemies-to-lovers, fake boyfriend, theater nerd/football jock romance filled with humor, heart, and hot guys. Everett and Raleigh will put the A-plus in HEA, and like all good students, there’s no cheating. It’s the second book in the South Rock High series, which revolves around a found family of nerdy gay high school teachers but can be read as a standalone.
Romance Languages is a virgin, nerd/jock, friends to lovers romance filled with humor and heart. Julian and Seamus will put the A-plus in HEA, and like all good students, there’s no cheating. It’s the third book in the South Rock High series, which revolves around a found family of nerdy gay high school teachers but can be read as a standalone.
Advanced Chemistry is a teacher/former students, nerd/jock, friends-to-lovers MMM romance filled with humor, heart, and hot guys. Chase, Anton, and Sebastian will put the A-plus in HEA, and like all good students, there’s no cheating. It’s the fourth book in the South Rock High series, which revolves around a found family of nerdy gay high school teachers but can be read as a standalone.
_____________________
If you are a current or former high school teacher, whether gay or not, especially if you taught history, drama, foreign languages, or science, I think you’d really find yourself in these books somewhere, and for me, that made them all the more enjoyable. I hope you will check them out. They are certainly not deep literature, m/m romances tend not to be, but they are fun reads when you just need to sit back and relax with a good book.
3 comments:
I enrolled at Truman. He must be very very good since he has 2 cats.
Interesting. Sound like fun to read books. I thought your book reviews would be on "higher level" literary works. Think Edmund White? Other authors similar to him. What about these works?
RB, while I like some “higher level,” I did have a minor in American Literary History, I like to read for fun. For me, the more highbrow literary works are read for work, and these kinds of books allow me to relax. What you’ll never see me write a book review on, or even read, are pretentious modern literature, those type of authors who are writing for literary prizes, not enjoyment.Ive read that type of book in the past, and quite honestly, I hate pretentiousness. The books in this book review are purely for pleasure and enjoyment. Sometimes, I just have to shut down my scholarly minds and have a bit of fun.
Post a Comment