Absolute Beginners

By: SJ Hooks

Narrated by: Nathan Foss

Length: 8 hrs and 57 mins

Publisher's summary

Romantic. Funny. Sexy.

Professor Stephen Worthington’s life makes perfect sense. He teaches classes Tuesdays and Fridays. He has dinners with his parents on the weekend. He goes to the gym with his stepbrother twice a week. And every night he heads home at a reasonable hour, alone.

Only one thing is bothering Stephen’s perfectly organized life: Miss Julia Wilde. Never has Stephen dealt with a more unruly student. She’s rude, provocative, infuriating and the clothes she’s wearing are completely inappropriate.

But all this changes once Stephen finds himself out of the classroom and in Julia’s bedroom. Suddenly the roles are reversed and the stuffy professor receives a much-needed lesson between the sheets.

ABSOLUTE BEGINNERS is the first book about professor Stephen Worthington and his female student, Julia Wilde.

©2022 Risky Romance (P)2022 Risky Romance

Cute. Steamy. Fun escape.

The main character is a nebbishy young professor, constantly in his own head. He has wildly low self-esteem while his love interest seems to have wildly high (i.e. healthy) self-esteem. Her confidence certainly keeps the plot moving along.

It's hard to avoid a few *ick* moments regarding the ethical conflict of a professor/student relationship, buuuuuuut:
1. Most importantly, I read the description and chose a story with this plot, so duh... It's a fantasy/trope for a reason.
2. The characters handle it fairly well - no one is intentionally participating in a quid pro quo.
3. The professor *eventually* sort of finds a fair work-around.

-1 star because they boink so many times before Dr Professor goes down on her. I get that he's supposed to be prudishly inexperienced, but she isn't! I had a hard time believing a woman this confident wouldn't bring it up.

Narrator Nathan Foss did a great job overall. Some of the character voices were a bit annoying, but I appreciated that he used a different 'voice' for everyone. It made it much easier to follow dialogue. I really felt his commitment to certain scenes - I could practically hear the gym weights! He was perhaps not the best choice for a character who hasn't ever left the US, given his strong Canadian accent? But not a big deal. He made it easy to get immersed in the story. Well done.

Laughed and Cried

Enjoyed it from the beginning to the ending. Hopefully this will be the first of a series… ending was open ended…. LOVED the part when the guys dressed up as Gay guys to get into the gay bar. Too funny.