Lonely Hearts by Heidi Cullinan

Heidi Cullinan - Lonely Hearts 300Title: Lonely Hearts

Series: Love Lessons #3

Author: Heidi Cullinan

Genre: Contemporary with a Bit-O’-Kink

Length: Novel (260 Pages)

Publisher: Samhain (August 11, 2015)

Heat Level: Explicit

Heart Rating: ♥♥♥♥♥ 5 Hearts

Blurb: With the quiet help of his wealthy family, Sebastian “Baz” Acker has successfully kept his painful past at bay. But as the end of college draws near, his friends—his buffer zone—are preparing to move on, while his own life is at a crippling standstill. With loneliness bearing down on him, Baz hooks up—then opens up—with Elijah Prince, the guy Baz took a bullet for last year. The aftershocks of their one-night stand leave giant cracks in Baz’s carefully constructed armor. For the first time, the prospect isn’t terrifying.

Accustomed to escaping his demons by withdrawing into his imagination, Elijah isn’t used to having a happy herd of friends. He’s even less comfortable as the object of a notorious playboy’s affections. Yet all signs seem to indicate this time happiness might be within his grasp. When Baz’s mother runs for a highly sought-after public office, the media hounds drag Baz’s and Elijah’s pasts into the light. In the blinding glare, Baz and Elijah face the ultimate test: discovering if they’re stronger together…or apart.

Warning: Contains sex in a Tesla, sex in a cupboard, sex under a piano, kinky role play, and a cappella RuPaul songs. Just a couple of boys groping, battling, and then finally loving their way to becoming men.

Product Link: http://www.heidicullinan.com/Lonely-Hearts

ISBN13: 9781619226692

Reviewer: GiGi

Review: What a hot mess….putting these two flawed characters together was either going to be genius or dangerous but it turned out maybe a bit of both. Through this series, Baz had always pulled my heart strings, though I did have sympathy for Elijah. The two together were explosive, passionate and at the same time tender and beautiful. Both these characters have a lot of secrets and a past to unveil.

I may be biased because I lurved the first two books in this series so much, but I will also admit to needing to do some musical research before spouting too much about Lonely Hearts. Now the Lonely Hearts reference I get, but I just didn’t put Elijah and Ru Paul together musically. So I did my homework, Supermodel brought back memories, but I had to give Sissy That Walk a thorough listen.

Maybe I wanted more anger and aggression from him, but what I got from this combo is that Eli really was just totally misunderstood. Elijah had some really good reasons and really terrifying experiences to build up that hard and thorny shell around his heart. I was really worried when he began to expose it for Baz.

Yes, I was rooting for the hard-hearted Eli to keep his armor. I’m a sick bitch, right? But sometimes it’s a survival mechanism that can do us good. Thank the muses, that Heidi gave Baz an even bigger pair of balls and a constitution to stand up to Eli despite his physical weaknesses, because they wound up being a perfect complement to each other.
This hot angsty story contains political machinations, a little less song and dance, and a lot more fast cars, drugs and sex. And did I mention big tender hearts and a giant romantic streak…..just when I thought it was Baz that was all romance….Eli surprises me.
But wait…one of the best parts….we get to visit with Ed and Laurie again!!!!!!! If you somehow missed reading Dance With Me, first….what the hell? And second, go grab that baby and read it. Preferably before Lonely Hearts, but if you don’t- read it anyhow and find out what you’re missing. All together with Walter/Kelly, Aaron/Giles, Ed/Laurie, and the ever increasing supportive community around them, Cullinan builds a world of good people. Those I hope would reflect me and my community. I’ll just overlook the fact that she names one of her villains Giselle. I love to read Heidi’s books because I’m drawn to heroes and heroines that have hurdles to jump, the under dogs that have to fight for happiness and win it! But the truth is, none of these characters should have to fight these odds for love, and it’s a lesson we can apply to our own communities. People misunderstand this genre, but the truth is it’s a mirror to our society, one that helps us examine the problems, reflect on our own issues and hopefully find solutions. Both Baz and Eli found a community that loved and supported them in the end, and that shouldn’t be a fairytale.

Fever Pitch by Heidi Cullinan

81UoyiJwASL._SL1500_Title: Fever Pitch

Series: Love Lessons #2

Author: Heidi Cullinan

Genre: Contemporary/College Days

Length: Novel (285 Pages)

Publisher: Samhain Publishing (September 30th, 2014)

Heat Level: Explicit

Heart Rating: ♥♥♥♥♥5Hearts

Blurb: Sometimes you have to play love by ear.

Aaron Seavers is a pathetic mess, and he knows it. He lives in terror of incurring his father’s wrath and disappointing his mother, and he can’t stop dithering about where to go to college—with fall term only weeks away. Ditched by a friend at a miserable summer farewell party, all he can do is get drunk in the laundry room and regret he was ever born. Until a geeky-cute classmate lifts his spirits, leaving him confident of two things: his sexual orientation, and where he’s headed to school.

Giles Mulder can’t wait to get the hell out of Oak Grove, Minnesota, and off to college, where he plans to play his violin and figure out what he wants to be when he grows up. But when Aaron appears on campus, memories of hometown hazing threaten what he’d hoped would be his haven. As the semester wears on, their attraction crescendos from double cautious to a rich, swelling chord. But if more than one set of controlling parents have their way, the music of their love could come to a shattering end.

Warning: Contains showmances, bad parenting, Walter Lucas, and a cappella.

Product Link: http://www.heidicullinan.com/Fever-pitch

Reviewer: GiGi

Review: Okay, Heidi-baby is sneaking her angst back in now…but still, if Love Lessons #1 was woven around a Disney fetish, Fever Pitch is practically a musical, in fact that’s how my weird mind started imagining these fellas, moving into a dramatic scene and breaking out in song.

Poor Aaron is always hiding from himself, until he makes the decision to follow a high school tryst, Giles, out to college. He only picks the school because Giles is there, but once he faces him off and is seemingly rebuffed, Aaron makes efforts and has no problem fitting in. Only problem is it isn’t the pre-law crowd that Aaron finds his home with, but the music department, and the a cappella choir. He finds such swift success with the music department that he decides to switch majors but know his father will soon find out and facing that wrath is scary as hell.

Speaking of scary as hell, his roommate truly gave me the creeps along with the “toads” he hangs out with. Cullinan truly did well on the creep factor there! I really don’t’ want to give away the most interesting things about Aaron’s roommate, let’s just say, fuel plus fire can only lead to explosions and not good ones.

And Giles, that damned boy got things so screwed up with Aaron, he can only stand back, and try to be friends. Good thing Giles is a great guy, with very supportive parents to convince him to be patient. They wind up working together on some major musical programs and soon the lust reignites….YAY!

But all this fun and good times can’t last long. Aaron’s dad will discover many truths about his son and behave abhorrently. Thank goodness for good ole, Walter from Love Lessons #1. The moral of this story is to pay it forward. Be a good example for the youth of the next gen, be there for a friend in need. Walter took this to heart and is always there to help both Aaron, Giles and the creepster roommate.

This fever-pitch storyline crescendos into a huge explosive scene dredging up everyone’s past and creating a serious crossroads for all characters involved.

This story has more drama, more angst, and more twist sand turns than book one. I love them both for different reasons, though this one left us hanging with the tasty plot for book three. And I for one can’t wait!