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Review

“Do you feel that? Do you feel what we do together? This isn’t normal, Aspen. We are a force of fucking nature.”

Hell yeah, you are! And I loved it! 4.5 stars.

I fell in love with Linda Kage’s Price of a Kiss last year, and this is a fantastic follow up! Very loosely linked to the first book, this one features another ‘forbidden’ relationship – a student/teacher situation, and in a bit of a twist on that popular formula, this time it’s the woman that is the teacher! But it’s not really that shocking, with there only being a two year age gap between our star-crossed lovers.

Noel is the arrogant, man-whoring quarterback of his college football team. Poised for NFL success, he is gorgeously sexy, and he knows it. But his confidence masks a shameful past, and a tragic family situation. He is, in fact, working his butt off to keep his scholarship and find success so that he can look after his family. Threatening his scholarship is his seemingly uptight and hard-ass English Professor.

Dr Aspen Kavanagh was a bit of a child genius. Graduating high school and College early and earning her PhD, she is now a 23 year old University Lecturer and is working hard to prove herself as professional and mature in her first job. Coming from a strict upbringing, she has never known love and leads a solitary life, losing herself in her books without making any real connections with anybody else. But she has noticed the school’s hot football star in her class, and finds herself wildly attracted to him.

Noel Gamble was art, like God’s apology for all the regular men in the world.

When Noel’s English grades threaten his scholarship, it brings the two of them into conflict, and there is some serious animosity between them! He thinks she is a hard-ass, she thinks he is a conceited asshole, but there is some serious lusting going on.

How this one tiny little person could get me so instantly and completely riled, I didn’t know. But here I was, mad, turned-on, ashamed, alarmed and frankly disturbed by my attraction.

I must confess that I didn’t feel their attraction as quickly as I was expecting, but Kage does a fabulous job at building the chemistry, and instead we get to witness a slow realisation of what these characters are feeling and then see them react to it before caving to the inevitable.

When circumstances lead them to unintentionally open up to each other in a way they have never done with anybody else before, it signals a huge change in their relationship, and from then on, it’s an emotional and UST-filled rollercoaster, and I loved every minute of it!

The relationship between them builds beautifully and realistically, with the taboo nature of their ‘fraternization’ bringing an added dimension of drama to the story. But they are both mature about the situation, and deal with everything functionally and honestly.

“We might not stand a chance, but I can’t stop thinking about you. I can’t stop craving that connection we share. It’s so fucking strong, I’ve been willing to… God, I would do anything for little stolen pieces of you.”

And OMG, Noel proves himself to be an INCREDIBLE leading man! Not afraid to share his feelings, he is a perfect mix of vulnerability and strength and is absolutely full of swoon. Not surprisingly, I fell madly in love with him.

“What we’re doing is wrong. Making it a one-time deal is wrong. Trying to convince ourselves it was dirty and tawdry and something to be ashamed of is wrong. It was the best damn sex of my life, Aspen. I felt connected to you, like hell, I don’t know … I was sharing something deep and meaningful…with you. I don’t care how many school policies tell us no. I’m saying yes.”

I love his absolute belief that he and Aspen belong together – especially in spite of all that stands in their way. His love for her is totally overwhelming,

“You. Are. Mine … I don’t care how wrong we are for each other. I don’t care that I’ll never be good enough for you or that we’re risking everything to be together. Your mother would never approve. Whatever. Fuck it all. You are fucking mine. And I’m yours. And we belong together.”

The relationship between these two characters is amazing. I could feel their love and passion for each other, and the depth of their need for each other, and was completely swept away in the romance of it all. But they both have their own personal issues to deal with, as well as the huge secret of their relationship, and what follows is an emotional rollercoaster ride as their hearts battle against the reality of their situation and they face some huge obstacles. The emotion is beautifully portrayed, and I felt everything right along with them – the giddy highs, the devastating lows and everything in between – including a WHOLE heap of hotness! And I loved it all. Plus it’s all tied up with a beautiful epilogue which provides great closure to their story.

The side characters are well fleshed out and make important contributions to the story. There is a fantastic intro to the characters featured in the next book (I love Pick already!), and I’m hoping for more from Ten and even Brandt in the future. And Mason and Reese from Price of a Kiss both appear, and I enjoyed seeing them again.

I love Linda Kage’s writing, it is funny, romantic and sexy, and the banter is epic, but she also manages to be profound with brilliant little quotes sprinkled throughout the story – from both famous literature, as well as some of my contemporary favourites, and it added additional personality to the story.