Well written contemporary romance of Antony and Curtis battling homophobia in their community. ( )

Kansas is the setting for this touching installment in the ‘States of Love’ series with its stories of romance that span every corner of the United States. Antony and Curtis are both primary school teachers, they have to hide their relationship from the school board as well as the mostly conservative community, and they are very much in love. But when they kiss and a student watches them, their determination to be a couple is tested as much as their resolve to stay teachers.

Antony teaches first grade –with a passion. He loves everything about his job, adores his students and teaching them new things (especially how to be polite), and is as dedicated as I wish every teacher could be. Curtis teaches third grade, and while he loves his job, he loves writing poetry more. Since he has no idea how to earn money following his muse, teaching is as good as it gets for now. He is basically ready to quit his job though, except he’d never imagined the circumstances under which he ends up needing to make that decision way before he (or Antony) is ready.

When their kiss is discovered, they know the sh*t will hit the fan. They have very different ways of dealing with the fallout – but one thing is sure: they are determined to stay together. Watching them figure out how to do that while navigating the dangerous waters of school politics and community fury was as suspenseful as it was nerve-wracking.

If you like stories where the setting is as much a part of the story as the characters, if you think two men who love each other deeply should be able to be a couple openly, and if you’re looking for a read that is about real issues, suspenseful, and has the characters deal with more than one problem, then you will probably like this novella.


NOTE: This book was provided by Dreamspinner Press for the purpose of a review on Rainbow Book Reviews. ( )