The Academyby Quinn Anderson
Published by Riptide Publishing
eARC
LGBT, contemporary, romance
True love stabs you in the front.
Nick Steele just wants a normal life, cliché or not. He had one once, back in Chigago. Before his father died and he took a year off from college to grieve. Now, he's starting fresh at a prestigious - but tiny - Catholic university. Adjusting to small-town life will be a challenge, along with making friends and keeping his scholarship. All he wants to do is blend in, get his diploma, and go back home.
But Sebastian Prinsen - campus heartthrob and a notorious player - has other plans. He notices Nick right away and makes a bet with his two best friends: Who can kiss the new kid first? Nick seems immune to Sebastian's charms, and yet genuine chemistry sparks between them. Even worse, real feelings do too. Sebastian falls more and more every time Nick blows him off, but if he comes clean about the bet, Nick will hate him forever.
The last thing Nick wants is to fall in love while he's still grieving, but Sebastian feels like home to him. Nick wants that so badly he may ignore the warning signs and risk his fragile heart once more.
Quinn Anderson's last novel, The Long Way Around, left me a little cold as I expected more from it. That's why I was a little hesitant going into The Academy, but I'm happy to say that any hesitance was for nothing as I enjoyed this story and its characters a lot. There was a great cast of characters; funny roommate Deen, insightful Theo, cool Dante, enigmatic Sebastian, and cautious Nick. Better than that, there was complexity to the characters. For example, Nick was very cautious because of the loss he experienced a year earlier, but he also wanted to make new friends. More than that, The Academy was a big on perspective of happiness and privilege; if someone is rich, does that make them happier than the one who's financially struggling? And of course, there was insane chemistry and tension between Nick and Sebastian, which made it a captivating read.
The Academy took place within two weeks; it felt longer and the building up of friendships and relationships was good. Still, two weeks is not a long time and the knowledge how little time had passed made Nick and Sebastian's growing closeness a little bit off, especially since they spend half of the time avoiding each other. That's my only complaint of this story and I feel like it would have been amazing if there had been a little more time between the beginning and end (not counting the epilogue, of course).
The Academy was enjoyable read; there's flirting and chemistry, worries and suspicion, and getting to know a new place and new people. It's all about forming bonds with others - friendships and relationships - and about trust. Trust in other people and risking your heart to find something that may or may not last. It's about that place between childhood and adulthood; when legally you're an adult with all the responsibilities but not necessarily emotionally ready to descent into the adulthood.
So yes, I do recommend The Academy.
The Academy was enjoyable read; there's flirting and chemistry, worries and suspicion, and getting to know a new place and new people. It's all about forming bonds with others - friendships and relationships - and about trust. Trust in other people and risking your heart to find something that may or may not last. It's about that place between childhood and adulthood; when legally you're an adult with all the responsibilities but not necessarily emotionally ready to descent into the adulthood.
So yes, I do recommend The Academy.
4 of 5 stars
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Thank you, Riptide Publishing, for giving me a chance to read and review The Academy!
(A copy of this ebook was provided in return for an honest review.)
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