Review Tour: Just Like This by Cole McCade, Performed by Tim Todd

Just Like This By Cole McCade, Performed by Tim Todd

Genre: Contemporary Romance, GLBTQ, MM

Released: November 24, 2020

Publisher: Carina Press (Carina Adores)

Series: Albin Academy, Book 2

Length: 335 Pages / 12 hrs, 15 mins

Synopsis

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

Carina Adores is home to highly romantic contemporary love stories featuring beloved romance tropes, where LGBTQ+ characters find their happily-ever-afters.

A new Carina Adores title is available each month in trade paperback, ebook and audiobook formats.
• Just Like That by Cole McCade (available now!)
• Hairpin Curves by Elia Winters (available now!)
• Better Than People by Roan Parrish (available now!)
• The Secret Ingredient by KD Fisher (available now!)
• Teddy Spenser Isn’t Looking for Love by Kim Fielding (coming December 29, 2020)
• The Beautiful Things Shoppe by Philip William Stover (coming January 26, 2021)
• Our Level Best by Roan Parrish (coming February 23, 2021)
• Learn to Knit in Nine Months or Less by Hettie Bell (coming March 30, 2021)

Review

Reviewed by ButtonsMom2003

I loved this; the audiobook was fantastic!

Just Like This was a wonderful story. I’m not normally a huge fan of enemies-to-lovers stories but I loved this one. It also has an opposites attract vibe going on which I liked. While I enjoyed reading this book, I have to say that the audiobook made it even better. Unless he narrates under another name, I’ve never listened to an audiobook performed by Tim Todd until Just Like This. There was something very compelling about his voice and it really made an impact on me.

The story itself was very engaging. I was impressed with the depth of caring that Rian and Damon showed for one of their students and the lengths they went to, to help him. Cole McCade did a great job of keeping us guessing about what was going on by using breadcrumbs and not revealing, until the end, what was going on with Chris. I did not see it coming at all!

The epilogue, set a few years in the future, was perfect. Epilogues are often my favorite part of a book and that was the case with this one. Not that I didn’t love the main story, because I did, but the epilogue just made me feel all kinds of wonderful and made my eyes leak happy tears.

I don’t know if there will be more books in this series but if there are, I will be reading them.

♥♥♥♥♥

O Factor: Spicy

Reviews for Cole McCade

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Excerpt

Damon’s eyes lingered longest on that one, his dark, expressive brows rising fractionally, almost mockingly—and Rian’s face burned.

All of these were his personal projects, all unfinished, but still things he put everything he had into.

So why was this stone-faced, unsmiling jerk standing here looking over them like he was about to assign Rian a failing score?

What was he even doing here at all?

Those dark brown eyes snapped back to him as if Damon had somehow heard the question snarling in the back of Rian’s mind.

“So,” Damon drawled, and Rian realized this was the first time he’d actually heard Damon speak in his three years at Albin Academy, rather than noncommittal affirmative mut-ters during staff meetings. His voice was deep, raw, gritty, with a subtle pull to it that didn’t quite seem to echo typical New England accents around Massachusetts. “I thought this was some kinda broom closet. Chambers and Walden know you’re using it for…” He tilted his head. A damp ripple of hair fell across the refined sharpness of his cheekbone, the tip practically licking at the corner of his wide, full, stern-set mouth. “…this?”

Rian tensed.

More at the implied scorn dripping from this than at the fact he’d been…uh…

Caught using school grounds for unauthorized purposes.

He doubted Principal Chambers and Assistant Principal Walden would particularly care. Especially when Rian had been using the storeroom as a studio since he’d been hired, and no one had really noticed—though considering Lachlan Walden had only been hired last semester, the assistant principal had more things to worry about than one rogue art teacher moving a few brooms.

So Rian drew himself up, lifting his chin as he reached for the wet rag hanging from the edge of his wheel and began wiping the thick patina of clay from his hands, peeling off the cold, clinging layer.

“My broom closet,” he said firmly. “Attached to my classroom. I’m allowed to use it as I deem necessary as long as it’s for educational purposes.”

This…counted…technically.

He was the art teacher.

Books in the Series

Albin Academy Series

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About Author Cole McCade is a New Orleans-born Southern boy without the Southern accent, currently residing somewhere in Seattle. He spends his days as a suit-and-tie corporate consultant and business writer, and his nights writing contemporary romance and erotica that flirts with the edge of taboo—when he’s not being tackled by two hyperactive cats.

He also writes genre-bending science fiction and fantasy tinged with a touch of horror and flavored by the influences of his multiethnic, multicultural, multilingual background as Xen. He wavers between calling himself bisexual, calling himself queer, and trying to figure out where “demi” fits into the whole mess—but no matter what word he uses he’s a staunch advocate of LGBTQIA and POC representation and visibility in genre fiction. And while he spends more time than is healthy hiding in his writing cave instead of hanging around social media, you can generally find him in the usual haunts shown below.

Author Links

Blog tour materials provided by Carina Press.