Teach Me by Sloan Johnson Review

4 Smooches

Synopsis

Two words stripped Austin Pritchard of the privileged life he’s used to. The moment he uttered the words, “I’m gay,” he realized there is no such thing as unconditional love. Now, he’s gone from traveling the world with his family to living on the streets trying to figure out how he’s going to stay in school.

A chance opportunity changes everything. Austin impresses the foreman and lands a job, but even more, he catches the eye of David Becker, who is determined to teach him that true love doesn’t come with strings.

The only thing David had as a child was love. His family struggled to keep food on the table and a roof over their heads. That has driven him to stay focused on his goals; become a tenured professor at a university and save enough money to build a home of his own. It’s not until he sees an insecure college student working on his new house that he realizes that he hasn’t planned on someone to share his life with. He’s about to learn that everything he’s already accomplished is nothing compared to the task of making Austin see that he is worthy of love.

Review

Teach Me by Sloan Johnson was a powerful and emotional story of a young gay man forced to live on the streets after he comes out to his parents. When school ends, thus his room and board, he has no where to go and ends up staying on the streets with some young homeless. When one of them gets a tip about a shirt term construction job Austin jumps at the chance. While there he meets the house owner and things are not smooth at first. Homeowner, David, is not impressed with the  youth . . . at first. But still is drawn to help him and soon drawn to him for a whole lot more.

It becomes clear quickly that David and Austin have a connection but they also have a ton of obstacles in front of them. One David is a lot older than Austin and a Professor at his college. Austin has a lot of self-esteem issues resulting from being rejected by his parents when he came out. Can these two put their issues aside and learn to put love first?

I have always enjoyed Sloan’s writing and this was no different. She tells a great story and really makes you fall for her characters. Teach Me was sexy but I honestly found that the story was the star here. At times of I loved Austin and at times I was so mad at him and his decisions but the point is that throughout the entire story I was feeling something and that is what a good book is supposed to do. Make you feel. Overall, this was a great first M/M/ book for Sloan and I look forward to reading more in this genre from her in the future!

~miranda