Review: Another great read from Heidi
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 11 8, 2013
Oh my God, do I ever remember being a freshman at college. If only I had asked all the questions I should have, I wouldn't have gotten my butt in such a mess that first semester. If only I'd had a Walter as my roommate maybe it would have been a happier experience. I am a huge fan of Heidi Cullinan so I was all on board to read this latest of her endeavors.Walter and Kelly could not be two more different people if one of them were an alien. Walter is a junior, his family is back in Chicago which includes divorced parents; a dad who has a loft downtown and bangs anything that moves, a mom who has "issues", and a younger sister who still lives at home. Kelly is from a small, rural town in southwestern Minnesota with parents who are still married and a younger sister, and the whole family accepted him being gay, although he didn't come out to the town. Walter is jaded, cynical, sarcastic, and probably hasn't blushed since he was in kindergarten. Kelly is shy, fresh faced, sees nothing wrong with Disney, and never stops blushing. Walter does not, in any way, shape or form, believe in Mr. Right. Walter believes in Mr. Right Now. Kelly is saving himself for Mr. Right and wholeheartedly believes he will find him, fall in love, marry, and raise a family.The interesting thing is that halfway through the semester, everyone who really knows Walter, his best friend since kindergarten, and his advisor, all know that Walter has a crush on Kelly. Or, maybe it's better to say, Walter loves Kelly, but in Walter's experience the people he loves go crazy or leave. Walter, of course, denies all of this insisting that he and Kelly are great friends and roommates, and that Walter is just looking out for Kelly. Kelly, on the other hand, has a lot of confusing feelings about his roommate and doesn't know what to think. Now, the author could have kept the story line going with just this arc, but, no, not Ms. Cullinan. She wove in all of the angst that comes from being a freshman in college, and I'm not talking about being homesick. I'm talking about trying to find your own path, where you belong, who you are, and what you want from your life. I'm talking about thinking that as soon as you got to college you'd be a grown-up and you wouldn't feel so out of place and awkward anymore. I'm talking about feeling like everyone else knows the meaning of life and you're still standing in line at the playground.It is when Kelly meets up with Walter in Chicago at the end of Thanksgiving break, that Walter allows himself to admit to Kelly that he wants a relationship with Kelly, and Walter scares the bejesus out of himself. Walter is so terrified to do or say anything that will wreck the friendship and closeness they already share. So there is tension and angst and Kelly decides, to hell with it, and seduces Walter. "Yes, this, that deeply buried part of him whispered. I want this. Sweet, and simple, and Kelly. The kiss wasn't just something he'd never had before - it was something he'd never allowed himself to yearn for. It felt like a dangerous door opening to a land of tigers and demons and darkness. Kelly was there, though. That truth alone made opening that door worth the risk."I could easily write another four or five hundred words about 'Love Lessons', but I'm not going to. Mainly because the author has done something really wonderful here and it's truly impossible for me to capture the gist of it. I didn't want to like Walter at first, but oh how I grew to love him. Walter is, by far, the more fragile character, emotionally, and his horrible home life is at the root of it. The author does a beautiful job of showing all the intricate emotions involved without dragging me down into massive depression. Walter sees himself as a bad guy, not good enough for Kelly, but from the beginning it's obvious how hard Walter works to care for the people he loves, even though a lot of them crap all over him. It was impossible not to love Kelly. He has an amazing strength of character that I so admired and respected. Kelly was willing to hold out for the love he knew he could have and he couldn't accept any less. He loves Disney and I can relate to that.Thank you, Heidi, for giving me another fabulous couple to add to my favorites. This story had a lot of lessons and not all of them were just about love. It's a beautiful story and I'm grateful you shared it.NOTE: This book was provided by Samhain Publishing for the purpose of a review on Rainbow Book Reviews