Today, I’m hosting award-winning and USA Today bestselling author Leslie McAdam’s latest audiobook release Studious, book two in the IOU series, a m/m contemporary romance. Be sure to read my review of the e-book.
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Book Title: Studious
Series: IOU #2
Author and Publisher: Leslie McAdam
Narrator: Declan Winters
Length: 7 hours and 10 minutes
Genre: Contemporary M/M Romance
Tropes: Love tutor, virgin MC, reformed rake, nerd-popular, online bet
Themes: Self-acceptance, triumphing over past hurts, sweet and steamy, heart-warming
Heat Rating: 5 flames
Release Date: May 31, 2024
Blurb: After a disastrous high school game of spin the bottle, I gave up trying to get a boyfriend and spent my time studying instead. Now I’m twenty-four, and I’m not only a virgin, I haven’t even been kissed.
When I meet Danny, a handsome legal hotshot, he catches my eye. Right before I trip on flat ground. Ugh.
He’s got a massive … reputation. He’s the most popular guy in the club, a total playboy with a new conquest every night. There’s no way he’d be interested in me.
But one night after I imbibe too much, he winds up taking care of me. And when I ask for his help with my travesty of a social life, he agrees to teach me how to be less awkward with men … if I let him document my progress so he can win a bet with his best friend.
Even though he’s just my love tutor and I’m just his apprentice, this starts to feel like more.
Too bad it can’t be anything but a high-level seminar in how to seduce someone else.
Studiousis a sweet and sexy contemporary opposites-attract m/m romance about a suave attorney who’s scared to love and the shy, nerdy bookkeeper he’s teaching how to be a player. Cue makeover montage and a smoldering first kiss. These heroes most definitely are notfalling in love. (Okay, heartwarming HEA guaranteed.)
Note: A standalone story within a series. It does not end on a cliffhanger.
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Alden can’t do anything right. He can’t even kiss a guy without falling into a pool. My heart went out to him from the first page of the novel when he’s a teenager engaged in a game of spin the bottle. Being so awkward, he resigns himself to a life of loneliness and staring at numbers, until he meets his co-worker, hotshot lawyer Danny, the consummate playboy.
But Danny has his reasons for rejecting commitment to another. He got dumped on prom night by the boy he loved, and he isn’t about to get dumped again.
The author does a great job layering many tropes into the story, from friends with benefits to a beauty makeover. What I enjoyed most was the character arcs and the friendship the two shared before becoming intimate. The author does a great job building a solid foundation between Alden and Danny.
There are many cute moments in the book, such as when Danny helps Alden with his makeover. I also enjoyed the relationships the two have with their mothers. The “meeting the mom” scenes were adorable.
I wouldn’t call this a slow-burn romance because each knows what they want from the start. It’s a matter of the two acknowledging what they truly want from each other. Both are great characters to root for.
The writing is excellent. The dialogue is true to the character. And the romance is steamy while they uncover new tidbits about each other. I didn’t quite get the feel of L.A. though. That’s my only quibble. The author did a great job describing scenes and settings, but never the physical part of the city.
With that quibble aside, it’s a great story. Do yourself a favour and get a copy.
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Leslie McAdam is a California girl who loves romance and well-defined abs. She lives in a drafty old farmhouse on a small orange tree farm in Southern California with her husband and two children. Leslie’s first published book, The Sun and the Moon, won a 2015 Watty, which is the world’s largest online writing competition. She’s gone on to receive additional literary awards and has been featured in multiple publications, including Cosmopolitan.com. Her books have been Top 100 Bestsellers on both Amazon and Apple Books.
Leslie is employed by day but spends her nights writing about the men of your fantasies.
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Maggie Blackbird 