Love Lessons

Love Lessons Series, Book 1

By: Heidi Cullinan

Narrated by: Iggy Toma

Length: 10 hrs and 5 mins

Publisher's summary

Love doesn't come with a syllabus. Kelly Davidson has waited what seems like forever to graduate high school and get out of his small-minded, small town. But when he arrives at Hope University, he quickly realizes finding his Prince Charming isn't so easy. Everyone here is already out. In fact, Kelly could be the only virgin on campus. Worst of all, he's landed the charming, handsome, gay campus Casanova as a roommate, whose bed might as well be equipped with a revolving door.

Walter Lucas doesn't believe in storybook love. Everyone is better off having as much fun as possible with as many people as possible - except his shy, sad little sack of a roommate is seriously screwing up his world view. As Walter sets out to lure Kelly out of his shell, staying just friends is harder than he anticipated. He discovers love is a crash course in determination. To make the grade, he'll have to finally show up for class - and overcome his own private fear that love was never meant to last. Warning: This story contains lingering glances, milder than usual sexual content for this author, and a steamy dance-floor kiss. Story has no dairy or egg content, but may contain almonds.

©2014 Heidi Cullinan (P)2015 Insatiable Press

Loved this!

Such a great well written book. Give this book a listen. You won't regret it.

Great introduction to a new favorite author.

This is the first Heidi Cullinan book that I ever read or listened to. I have now listened to everything presently available via audible and read several others that are not. Iggy Toma is one of my current favorite narrators and I had no trouble getting sucked into this story and his voice.

I *love* the cast of characters in this story. I love that there is a supporting cast of characters who genuinely flesh out the world instead of just being cardboard cutout place holders. I love the incorporation of real-world pop culture and the whole Disney obsession/shame thing that goes on. I love that in spite of some very real issue's and dark moments, over all this story leaves you feeling warm and fuzzy and dreaming of happily ever afters. This book is a fantastic introduction to and foundation for the series and made me fall in love with the author as much as with the couple it was about.

Love Lessons - A+

If you could sum up Love Lessons in three words, what would they be?

Sweet, touching, comfortable.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Love Lessons?

I love how Kelly's family rallied around Walter when his own family let him down.

What does Iggy Toma bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

He has a soothing voice that's very easy to listen to.

If you could rename Love Lessons, what would you call it?

Family Matters

Any additional comments?

Anyone, if you're paying attention to these reviews, please make Heidi's entire catalog available through Audible. Her books are wonderful and in my opinion, way overdue for a good listen.

Beautiful story!

Well written charming and smart story. I enjoyed it thoroughly. The narrator was awesome, bringing life to all of the characters.

love, love, loved this listen!

This is the best thing I've listened to in a while. Iggy Toma is the best and Heidi Cullinan is my new favorite. the characters are very well written and I would gladly listen to this again!

Sweet story

This was really a pleasure to listen to. It is one of those stories where you have a smile on your face most of the time you are listening to their story. The narrator did a wonderful job of bringing Walter and Kelly to life. This is a very sweet story that is a little darker than you expect. It starts off as the openly gay college playboy meets the super shy, gay freshman that has massive allergies and loves Disney movies. The slow build up and angst of their romance is just right. We learn that even though Walter appears in control, he has demons to fight, a la his messed up family life. And although Kelly's Disney princess view of the world seems unrealistic, he has some steel in his spine when it comes to Walter. No real drama, just a sweet story. Definitely worth a credit.

A bit sappy but sweet

Fun book for the summer. A bit predictable but sweet. Good for a summer beach read.

Love is magic.

This is the sweetest book ever. I loved it so much. They are amazing for each other.

Disney isn't just for girls!

Kelly is a small town guy with Disney –HEA – visions in his head. He just KNOWS life gets better in college and he won’t let anybody tell him otherwise.
Walter is the jaded, older student and now roommate who, at first, wants to break Kelly of his romantic ideal nonsense, then feels it’s his duty to protect those dreams and finally to make them come true.

This is a long book, so we cover a lot of ground and in a lot of detail.
We get a good, hard look at what makes Walter so cynical and a good look at what makes Kelly so idealistic.

We get to watch the relationship, in its early seedling stage nearly die before finally taking root to grow into a full-fledged, Disney-level-happiness, rock solid, Red-wood of a relationship.

This is a new adult novel. Not quite YA – too much drinking, drugs, and s*x for that. But the story is more closely that of a YA than some of the other, far more raunchy, Heidi Cullinan “adult” books. It is very well written and very involved, like the rest of Heidi’s books, and hits all the right buttons for me.

I just love the characters. They are all very well developed, three-dimensional, interesting and unique. There are several secondary characters that add complexity to the story and help to give this book it’s authentic flavors.

Kelly is an amazing guy. Heidi has managed to give us a freshman boy, who loves Disney movies, is a die-hard romantic, a virgin and yet he is still very much a boy. I love him! I love that he idolizes Tangled and has dreams of how his first date, first "time" and wedding should all be. I loved the juxtaposition of his money poor, love rich household with Walter’s money rich, love poor life. Walter, the playboy, the cynic, the last guy to imagine Happy Ever After is the PERFECT choice for Kelly.

Their story is told slowly, organically growing and unfolding tenderly in such a way that we can easily see how the switches can be flipped and how our jaded Walter can come around to being Kelly’s Prince by the end of the book.

I could really relate to Kelly’s vision of what love “should and should not” be, I think many of us remember that time in our lives – whether it was high school, college, or later in life – and how hard it was to mesh that vision in our head with what life hands us. What I admired was how Kelly held on to his vision of Disney-Princess-Happiness without shame or wavering even in the face of disillusionment and that, in the end, his enduring faith brought everyone around and actualized his feelings rather than crushing his spirit.

The length of the book is both its strength and weakness. It takes a little dedication – there are times the story drags and it takes a little perseverance. However, the pay out is definitely worth it. Because she doesn’t compromise on length, the story feels very natural and real, and because life is more than just romance, the added side stories Heidi guides us through help us to see how our MCs are growing and changing in a way that feels authentic.
By the end I think everyone will have at least some tears in their eyes if they are not out-right bawling. It is an amazingly tender, sweet and satisfying book on many levels.

You will fall in love with Kelly and Walter and – now that I have read the sequel – I can tell you that you will be excited to know we get to see even more of them real soon and it only makes this book that much more sweet.

I give it 4.75 hearts and I really recommend this book to anyone who ever had a Disney-Princess fantasy or anyone who ever thought true love only existed in fairy tales.

Audio
Iggy Toma is a new narrator to me and he did a fantastic job with this series. He adds so much real emotion that the listener is truly immersed in the story right along with the characters. He did some subtle variations on the voices, enough to differentiate the speakers, but did not go over the top with them. I really, really enjoyed listening to this and will probably find myself listening to it again and again – all 10 hours!
The listening experience contributes so much to the enjoyment to bump this to a 5 of 5 stars! I loved it!

happy ending

Would you listen to Love Lessons again? Why?

yes hands down and because the story is so sweet and touching and well developed

What other book might you compare Love Lessons to and why?

nothing comes to mind

Which scene was your favorite?

so many, but when walter visits Kelly for the 1st time and kellys family loves him, and the wedding when walter and kelly are dancing, however when walter ask kelly to marry him in such a disney style it was fantastic.

If you could take any character from Love Lessons out to dinner, who would it be and why?

walter because he seems so much like my husband

Any additional comments?

the building of the love story, and the relationship between kelly and walter and how there interaction is one way however u start seeing that they need each other and how they are there for one another through up's and downs. it's fantastic