Book Review: Fever Pitch by Heidi Cullinan

Title: Fever Pitch
Series: Love Lessons, Book 2
Author: Heidi Cullinan
Genre: Contemporary Romance, M/M Romance
Sensuality Rating: Erotic
Source: bought
Published: September 30, 2014 by Samhain

Sometimes you have to play love by ear.

Aaron Seavers is a pathetic mess, and he knows it. He lives in terror of incurring his father’s wrath and disappointing his mother, and he can’t stop dithering about where to go to college—with fall term only weeks away. Ditched by a friend at a miserable summer farewell party, all he can do is get drunk in the laundry room and regret he was ever born. Until a geeky-cute classmate lifts his spirits, leaving him confident of two things: his sexual orientation, and where he’s headed to school.

Giles Mulder can’t wait to get the hell out of Oak Grove, Minnesota, and off to college, where he plans to play his violin and figure out what he wants to be when he grows up. But when Aaron appears on campus, memories of hometown hazing threaten what he’d hoped would be his haven. As the semester wears on, their attraction crescendos from double-cautious to a rich, swelling chord. But if more than one set of controlling parents have their way, the music of their love could come to a shattering end.

Warning: Contains showmances, bad parenting, Walter Lucas, and a cappella.

Reviewed By: Crissy

In A Nutshell: Wonderfully poignant coming of age story and a sweet, slow building romance with a side of geekdom, song and dance, and snark as well as a fabulous community of family and friends.

Why I Read This Book: I have a weakness for the geeky and the lost, and right off the bat, the blurb presented me with both. Also I happen to be the biggest choral nerd ever, so when I saw that one of my fave authors wrote a book centered in that world (along with chamber/orchestra music) I dove in.

What I Liked: This book is so good. I loved that the romance in this story was a slow burner. Don’t get me wrong, there were times that I practically screamed at my Kindle for the guys to come on already. But truly, this romance is perfectly paced. There’s a rightness that emanates from the moment that Aaron and Giles finally realize what they’ve been fighting for so long, and man, when they do give in, it’s beautiful.

What I Also Liked: I’m a huge fan of the geek/popular guy, trope and this story has that in spades. But really there’s so much more to these guys than their labels. There are layers upon layers upon layers of past trauma and pain that they deal with on a daily basis and then drama—family, friends, and school—that they deal with daily. And even those things don’t completely define them. Giles radiates an almost dominant protectiveness that is not stereotypical for the band nerd that he is built up to be, and as one of the most popular kids on campus, Aaron is curiously lonely and broken despite the hordes of followers in his life.

I loved the sense of togetherness that the author builds throughout this story. Aaron and Giles share community of family and friends who would fight to the death for them, of that I have no doubt. There are people in these guys’ lives, people they should have been able to trust, that broke my heart, but in the end they were a stepping stone for the main characters’ growth.

You won’t hear this from me very often, because emotional rollercoasters are tricky things to balance, but this one was so good. I laughed. I cried (at least three times). I scoffed—yes, I actually scoffed. And I may have yelled once or twice. But in the end I was left with the biggest smile and lightest heart. It’s an amazing ride.

Memorable Moments:

He wasn’t alone. He was lonely, but he wasn’t alone. He wasn’t quite sure how the distinction worked out yet, but it felt important, and for now that was enough.

“I’ve been adopted.” Elijah’s voice dripped with derision, and he gave Giles a freakish mock-smile. “Congrats, Daddy, it’s a boy.”

“I’m telling my parents to come. And warning Walter it’s going down. God, it’s gonna be the fucking O.K. Corral tomorrow night…”

IMO: I was expecting good, maybe even great, when I started this book, but what I didn’t expect was for these guys and their story to hit me so hard that I literally couldn’t sleep until I finished the book. I am so far beyond in love with this book. I can hardly wait to see what the author has coming up in the series. I highly recommend it to all m/m fans and it would be a great starter for those who have yet to read the genre.

Crissy’s Rating:

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