Apple Polisher by Heidi Belleau

Title: Apple Polisher

Series: Rear Entrance Video, #1

Author: Heidi Belleau

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Length: Novel (194 pages)

Publisher: Riptide Publishing (July 29^th, 2013)

Heat Level: Explicit

Heart Rating: ♥♥♥♥ 4 Hearts

Reviewer: Thommie

Blurb: This straight-A student has a dirty little secret.

Christian Blake dreams of being a kindergarten teacher, but making the grade means maintaining a squeaky-clean image: no drinking, no drugs, no swearing, and no sex. And definitely no falling for his new roommate—tattooed bad-boy Max, who may or may not be a drug dealer.

Most of all, it means no working at a porn store. But Christian’s aunt has cancer, and her beloved Rear Entrance Video will go bankrupt if Christian doesn’t take over managerial duties. Soon enough, Christian finds himself juggling sticky twenty-five cent peep show booths, a blackmailing employee, and a demanding professor who likes to make an example of him.

And then there’s Max, who doesn’t know anything about the store, but hates Christian’s preppy sweater vests and the closet Christian forces him into when they’re together. Max just wants Christian to be himself—even though Max is keeping secrets of his own. Christian struggles to find the impossible balance between his real life and the ideal one he thinks a teacher needs to live . . . all while trying to keep his aunt’s dream alive without losing his own.

Product Link: http://www.riptidepublishing.com/titles/apple-polisher-rear-entrance-video-1

Review: I should have not read this book after Wallflower, but then again I’d have missed one hell of a story. Heads up: start this series from the beginning.

This is a beautiful story that wants its characters to be multi-dimensional and affected by life quite realistically, dealing with it just as we would and making mistakes, suffering from them and eventually grown and learn.

Christian is a gay man, fighting his way through college, trying to reach his dreams and prove his mother wrong. Being a teacher has been all he’s wanted ever since he was a little boy, but that little voice inside his head that is very similar to his mother’s keeps dragging him down under a thick veil of self-doubt. In his continuous fight to make a decent life Christian is dragged back and forth between trying to dispel people’s expectations and judgment, and expecting/judging other in the same harsh way he thinks he’s subjected too.

Enter Max, his new roommate (one out of four) who has a very I-don’t-care-what-you-think view in life. He’s charming and alluring in that bad-boy kind of way, gives vibes of being even a criminal, and lives life the way he wants to without care for other’s opinion.

Max is a very strong character here with a great effect upon Christian. I think – besides the fact that Christian is being a complete jerk for half the read – that he even hates Max. He is unnerved by Max and the attraction between them, yet when every cell in his body tells him to run away from him Christian can’t deny that being in Max’s arms feels just right. When Max tells him head on that his pursuit of his dreams is changing him into a man, he doesn’t want to be and that sacrificing his family for those dreams is the worst thing Christian could do, things turn a bit dark. The turmoil in Christian’s life is made twice worse from his newfound doubts, and choices he eventually can’t avoid.

In the end, this is a story about the struggles of this character (Christian) and how when everything seems to have come at its worse, there is always a bright and shiny side. I loved it; the plot, the characters involved, the turnarounds that were plenty, the surprises these character kept throwing along the way, and lastly the emotional intensity that this text was so wonderfully filled with. The balance between erotic and romance was fantastic. One moment I was reading a text full of passion and downright porn scenes, the next there was love and sweet emotions without it even being said, or when said came so effortlessly and smooth with the context. I just love it when romance is corny-free.

Another thing I want to mention every time, yet forget, about this publishing house’s work is its great quality. Half my enjoyment when I read a book coming from Riptide is from the feeling that I’m reading a real, solid book. I feel that if I go close enough my screen I’m going to even smell the scent of the paper, not to mention that the editing is just perfect and I’m left with only the story and the ride it takes me to deal with.

Overall, I’m highly satisfied by the first book in this series. It was exactly what I expected to be, made me feel so good after reading it, and yet again, I can’t wait for Austin’s story. Strongly recommended!