RELEASE BLITZ
Book Title: Teach Me to Touch You (Novella 1 in the Teach Me Series)
Author: Joshua Landon
Publisher: Self-Published
Genre/s: Gay Romance
Length: 27 000 words approx. /100 pages
Heat Rating: 3 flames
Release Date: December 23, 2018
Buy Links - Available on Kindle Unlimited
Blurb
When Austin’s father deserts his young family, he leaves Austin and his sister to struggle with poverty and neglect at home and bullying at school. When Austin’s first girlfriend kisses him in high school, his PTSD flashback to childhood abuse scares his girlfriend away.
A Marine at eighteen, Austin returns home after four years with his PTSD aggravated by nightmares of war. He fears he’ll never have a sex life.
Daniel, a psychiatric technician with a speciality in PTSD, helps Austin readjust to civilian life. Over months of work together, trust grows between them along with an attraction they hide from each other, since Austin is straight and Daniel is gay.
A gifted healer, Daniel believes a sexual relationship between them could harm Austin, though Austin is anxious to learn to touch again. But when their visits are scheduled to end, both men must deeply examine their concerns and untangle their desires for the future.
Excerpt
Austin
I was seven when my dad left for work in the morning and never came back. My sister Julie was six.
It was a bad year, the first truly awful year. Not that the years before had been ideal, with my parents snapping at each other over each little affront, but at least they’d both been part of my life. And with either parent alone, I’d felt like a normal kid. It wasn’t entirely self-deceptive—it was all I knew.
But the day my dad pushed my mom against the wall, cocking back one huge fist to strike her, I ran to push myself between them.
“No, Dad, don’t!” I’d cried.
He’d looked at me, lowered his fist, and never spoke another word to me.
In the morning, he was gone.
At first, the dad-sized hole inside me seemed about to swallow me up. I was sure I’d die like the baby bird I’d found in the yard early that spring. I’d given it water and worms in a shoebox with crumpled toilet paper for warmth, but it wouldn’t eat or drink and grew steadily weaker. When it quit moving altogether, my mother stroked my hair, soothing me in a whisper.
“Its tiny heart quit beating, Tintin. Baby birds are too small to survive without their parents. But you gave it the best care you could. Its death isn’t your fault.”
I buried the bird in the back corner of our Mountlake Terrace yard without fanfare, digging its grave in the frozen ground with icy fingers that held a bent teaspoon. Despite my mother’s insistence that I wasn’t to blame, I knew the truth. I’d failed the bird just as I had failed my father.
I’m torn on this one. On the one hand, I liked the story and really wanted to find out how it would play out. I was intrigued by Austin and how he was adjusting to life now that he was back from the Military. I think my main focus really was on him more than anything. But then, on the other hand, I just was not a fan of the writing style and execution. It alternated between telling and showing and while some things seemed heartfelt others almost seemed clichéd.
What I Loved: Austin. He really pulled at my heart. I wanted to hug him as I read about his childhood, struggling with the abandonment of his father. The financial struggles of his mom and how she reacted to be single again and raising two children. He loved his family and its falling apart was a burden he shouldn’t have had to experience. On top of that, he lived in silence about the sexual abuse he suffered. He really didn’t stand much of a chance at living a seemingly normal and well-adjusted childhood. The Marine Corps was a good thing but also added to the mental and emotional toll.
This isn’t the typical romance with a newly discharged Marine and his Counselor falling in love. It’s not an overly sweet tale with an overabundance of sexy, steamy encounters. Instead, it’s full of emotion and hard subjects and themes. It’s different which is wonderful.
What I Liked: Daniel is a bit of an overachiever and highly intelligent and motivated. He graduates high school early and starts College and living on his own at 16. He knows what he wants and does what he has to do to achieve it.
What I Didn’t Like: There wasn’t enough balance between showing us the story and telling us the story. I wanted to really see how things developed with the characters and I felt that was missing. There were times in Austin’s past I really felt would have benefited being played out for us instead of being told that was the way they were. It would have helped my connection with both Austin and Daniel and made me feel as if I knew them and was invested in them more.
There is more to come from this couple and I really hope it shows us more connection. There is a lot of potential for this story and I am a tad anxious to find out what the future holds for them. Overall, this was an okay story with potential to be a great story.
***Copy provided to Bayou Book Junkie by the author/publisher for my reading pleasure in hopes of an unbiased opinion, a review was not a requirement.***
OK. So. I’m gonna try and keep this short. To me, this book had a ton of potential to be great, but in the end, just pulled off being good. The premise, blurb and storyline were all interesting and actually held my attention throughout. But, man, the writing was just a little odd to me. The way it was structured and moved from one chapter to the next just really threw me off a bit. I’ve never read anything by this author before, so I am willing to take another chance, but I really hope this writing style was a one-off and not the norm. If you want something with feelings that’s a bit different, this would be the book to pick up.
The characters were fine. Both had a ton of emotional baggage and past issues to work through; PTSD and past traumas mixed with some present issues definitely play a huge part of this book. I was prepared for the most part, but learning what caused the childhood trauma and fear of touch for Austin was actually surprising. Not that it couldn’t happen... I just wasn’t expecting the person who was the cause to be who they were. I liked Daniel’s character more. I can’t really pin down my reason why, but he was super crazy smart and such a sweet character. Daniel really just wanted to do everything he could to keep Austin moving in the right direction in terms of his healing process and not wanting to cause him any more harm.
I guess I am just a bit mixed on my feelings for this one. I wanted to love it, but with the structure of the writing style and interesting storyline, I have to give an average rating.
*** Copy provided to Bayou Book Junkie for my reading pleasure, a review wasn't a requirement. ***
A fanboy of books, theater, and cinema and a supporter of the LGBT+ community, Joshua Landon lives in the greenbelt and park-filled community of Lynnwood, Washington not far from Seattle, Edmonds and Everett—a great location to experience the outdoors, music and the arts. He recently authored the three Teach Menovellas, a romance about two young men: a troubled Marine and a talented healer. They will become available for order through Amazon online in multiple countries, releasing between December 23, 2018 and February 2019.
When not writing, Landon enjoys building stage sets, bungee jumping, river rafting, and watching films from all eras. He shares his bookshelf-lined home with a middle-aged tomcat, and his back yard fills seasonally with wild rabbits.
Austin
I was seven when my dad left for work in the morning and never came back. My sister Julie was six.
It was a bad year, the first truly awful year. Not that the years before had been ideal, with my parents snapping at each other over each little affront, but at least they’d both been part of my life. And with either parent alone, I’d felt like a normal kid. It wasn’t entirely self-deceptive—it was all I knew.
But the day my dad pushed my mom against the wall, cocking back one huge fist to strike her, I ran to push myself between them.
“No, Dad, don’t!” I’d cried.
He’d looked at me, lowered his fist, and never spoke another word to me.
In the morning, he was gone.
At first, the dad-sized hole inside me seemed about to swallow me up. I was sure I’d die like the baby bird I’d found in the yard early that spring. I’d given it water and worms in a shoebox with crumpled toilet paper for warmth, but it wouldn’t eat or drink and grew steadily weaker. When it quit moving altogether, my mother stroked my hair, soothing me in a whisper.
“Its tiny heart quit beating, Tintin. Baby birds are too small to survive without their parents. But you gave it the best care you could. Its death isn’t your fault.”
I buried the bird in the back corner of our Mountlake Terrace yard without fanfare, digging its grave in the frozen ground with icy fingers that held a bent teaspoon. Despite my mother’s insistence that I wasn’t to blame, I knew the truth. I’d failed the bird just as I had failed my father.
3 Stars!
I’m torn on this one. On the one hand, I liked the story and really wanted to find out how it would play out. I was intrigued by Austin and how he was adjusting to life now that he was back from the Military. I think my main focus really was on him more than anything. But then, on the other hand, I just was not a fan of the writing style and execution. It alternated between telling and showing and while some things seemed heartfelt others almost seemed clichéd.
What I Loved: Austin. He really pulled at my heart. I wanted to hug him as I read about his childhood, struggling with the abandonment of his father. The financial struggles of his mom and how she reacted to be single again and raising two children. He loved his family and its falling apart was a burden he shouldn’t have had to experience. On top of that, he lived in silence about the sexual abuse he suffered. He really didn’t stand much of a chance at living a seemingly normal and well-adjusted childhood. The Marine Corps was a good thing but also added to the mental and emotional toll.
This isn’t the typical romance with a newly discharged Marine and his Counselor falling in love. It’s not an overly sweet tale with an overabundance of sexy, steamy encounters. Instead, it’s full of emotion and hard subjects and themes. It’s different which is wonderful.
What I Liked: Daniel is a bit of an overachiever and highly intelligent and motivated. He graduates high school early and starts College and living on his own at 16. He knows what he wants and does what he has to do to achieve it.
What I Didn’t Like: There wasn’t enough balance between showing us the story and telling us the story. I wanted to really see how things developed with the characters and I felt that was missing. There were times in Austin’s past I really felt would have benefited being played out for us instead of being told that was the way they were. It would have helped my connection with both Austin and Daniel and made me feel as if I knew them and was invested in them more.
There is more to come from this couple and I really hope it shows us more connection. There is a lot of potential for this story and I am a tad anxious to find out what the future holds for them. Overall, this was an okay story with potential to be a great story.
***Copy provided to Bayou Book Junkie by the author/publisher for my reading pleasure in hopes of an unbiased opinion, a review was not a requirement.***
3.25 Stars
OK. So. I’m gonna try and keep this short. To me, this book had a ton of potential to be great, but in the end, just pulled off being good. The premise, blurb and storyline were all interesting and actually held my attention throughout. But, man, the writing was just a little odd to me. The way it was structured and moved from one chapter to the next just really threw me off a bit. I’ve never read anything by this author before, so I am willing to take another chance, but I really hope this writing style was a one-off and not the norm. If you want something with feelings that’s a bit different, this would be the book to pick up.
The characters were fine. Both had a ton of emotional baggage and past issues to work through; PTSD and past traumas mixed with some present issues definitely play a huge part of this book. I was prepared for the most part, but learning what caused the childhood trauma and fear of touch for Austin was actually surprising. Not that it couldn’t happen... I just wasn’t expecting the person who was the cause to be who they were. I liked Daniel’s character more. I can’t really pin down my reason why, but he was super crazy smart and such a sweet character. Daniel really just wanted to do everything he could to keep Austin moving in the right direction in terms of his healing process and not wanting to cause him any more harm.
I guess I am just a bit mixed on my feelings for this one. I wanted to love it, but with the structure of the writing style and interesting storyline, I have to give an average rating.
*** Copy provided to Bayou Book Junkie for my reading pleasure, a review wasn't a requirement. ***
About the Author
A fanboy of books, theater, and cinema and a supporter of the LGBT+ community, Joshua Landon lives in the greenbelt and park-filled community of Lynnwood, Washington not far from Seattle, Edmonds and Everett—a great location to experience the outdoors, music and the arts. He recently authored the three Teach Menovellas, a romance about two young men: a troubled Marine and a talented healer. They will become available for order through Amazon online in multiple countries, releasing between December 23, 2018 and February 2019.
When not writing, Landon enjoys building stage sets, bungee jumping, river rafting, and watching films from all eras. He shares his bookshelf-lined home with a middle-aged tomcat, and his back yard fills seasonally with wild rabbits.
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