Learning To Love: Michael & Sean (Learning To Love #1), K.C. Wells

A super sweet story about two college roommates who discover their sexuality, true friendship and love.

- Review by Cindi

*** This review contains spoilers. ***

Sean and Michael become roommates when each leaves home for university.  They share a room in a large house with three others:  Adam, Evan and Julia, the lone female.  Sean and Michael become friends almost instantly as they have a lot in common, everything from music to movies.  Michael comes from a close and loving home.  Sean does not. 

It doesn't take long before Sean and Michael are questioning their feelings for each other.  Neither man has ever been with anyone sexually, male or female, and they are suddenly wondering to themselves if perhaps they might be gay... for their roommate.  At separate times each man goes to Evan for advice.  Evan is openly gay and has no problem helping Sean and Michael figure out how they feel.  The way this is done was cute but different.  I loved Evan right off and continued to until the very end.  He is your stereotypical flamboyant gay character but he is not over the top.  He is a sweetheart.

Sean and Michael eventually confess their feelings for each other and they immediately jump into a sexual relationship.... and when I say sexual relationship I mean that that is literally almost all they do or talk about.  They manage to keep their relationship secret from everyone except Evan who is the reason they are able to get together in the first place.  Eventually Julia is told and they come out at school and to their parents (with hugely different results with the individual parents).

Adam, a roommate, is a major homophobe.  Sean and Michael do not become a couple or even hint at being one until long after Adam is forced out moves out of the house.  Evan, however, is fair game and Adam and his friends make it their mission to taunt and bully him at every turn.  Eventually this gets to be too much and the others in the house find a way to get Adam evicted.  This does not end Adam's behavior.  He still finds a way to continue his taunts and threats away from the house only now he has added Sean and Michael in those threats.  This later turns into an attack by Adam and others on one of the men that puts him in the hospital.  

Michael's mother and sisters are amazing.  Perhaps too amazing.  I wholly believe in accepting your child (and sibling) regardless of who he/she loves but I felt that Michael's mother took it to an extreme.  She was wonderful in how she embraced Sean as part of the family as were Michael's sisters but I found her to be a bit much.  

On the other hand, Sean's parents are totally different.  His father is homophobic and would rather have no son than a gay son and this is proven when he discovers that Sean and Michael are more than just friends.  His mother is afraid of her husband and is in no condition to fight him when he throws Sean out.  The scene with Sean's father sets things in motion that almost tears Sean and Michael apart permanently.  At this point I got extremely angry with Sean and I didn't think I would be coming back from that.  He blamed Michael for everything from his father disowning him to Sean being gay.  Later, my dislike for Sean grew when Michael is attacked by Adam and his cronies and after getting back to the house from the hospital Sean and Evan come very close to having sex.  His boyfriend is in the hospital after a very brutal attack and you're naked on the bed with the gay roommate only a few hours later?  While your lover is still in the hospital?  Eventually Michael finds out but instead of getting angry it turns into a three-way with Michael, Sean and Evan.  Hmm... okay then.  

This book was pretty good with a few exceptions.  

1.  The author's overuse of exclamation points in the dialogue, one of my biggest pet peeves.  There is an exclamation point in almost every single paragraph of dialogue.  I know I am not the only reader who has that particular pet peeve.

2.  Use of endearments.  I am a southern girl so endearments are part of my every day life.  Normally they do not bother me much in books but they are used excessively in this one, to the point of being too much.

3.  There is way too much sex in this book.  If Sean and Michael aren't having sex they are discussing sex.

4.  The three-way between Sean, Michael and Evan.  While I found it to be extremely sexy and hot there is an intimate moment between Michael and Evan that I did not understand.  It is stated that it was making love instead of just having sex and that the two men had connected in a way that Evan did not with Sean.  I am not sure where the author was going with that as I was not expecting feelings to be involved between the two men outside of sexual and friendship.  This led this reader to believe that Michael and Sean's relationship was not as solid as I was led to believe.

5.  This book took the word sweet to a whole new level.


Overall, this is an entertaining read.  Something happens with one of Sean's family members that broke my heart and I found that was written fairly well.  I enjoyed all of the secondary characters, Evan especially.  The small amount of drama that was thrown in was resolved quickly though I am aware that it will be continued in the second book of the series.  I look forward to reading Evan's story.  He is adorable and added the right amount of humor to this one.  I am eager to see what he does in his own book.

This book was provided by Dreamspinner Press in exchange for a fair and honest review.