Making the Grade

By Carol Lynne

Kenny Trenton has had a crush on Cattle Valley English teacher, Eli Sanchez, since the age of seventeen. Although Kenny's no longer a schoolboy, Eli refuses to see his fellow faculty member as anything but a student.

Eli has spent his life hiding from the outside world. When the loneliness gets too much, he decides to make the changes necessary to open himself up to friendships and perhaps a relationship.

When Eli attends a high school football game in a neighbouring community, he's attacked in the parking lot. Although Kenny's the one to rescue him, Eli begins to think he's made a mistake and living in the outside world isn't a good idea.

Kenny's determined to keep Eli from retreating into his shell once again, but will his love be enough?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Totally Bound Publishing
• Release date: Oct 4, 2010
• ISBN: 9780857152985

Carol Lynne

An avid reader for years, one day Carol Lynne decided to write her own brand of erotic romance. While writing her first novel, Branded by Gold, Carol fell in love with the M/M genre. Carol juggles between being a full-time mother and a full-time writer. With well over one hundred releases, one thing is certain, Carol loves to keep busy writing sexy cowboys, shifters, bodyguards, vampires and everything in between. Although series books are her passion, Carol enjoys penning the occasional stand-alone title. As founder and President of GRL Retreat, Inc., Carol helps organize the annual GayRomLit Retreat. Now in its sixth year, GayRomLit is an annual retreat that brings together the people who create and celebrate LGBT romance for a one-of-a-kind, must-attend gathering of dynamic, informal, and diverse fun.

Reviews for Making the Grade

[serenayates · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is another Cattle Valley book I really liked. Its message about the importance of love and friendship came through loud and clear, as did the reminder that locking oneself away to try to avoid pain doesn't work in the long run. Eventually, it is the loneliness and isolation that will hurt most.

Kenny and Eli are both such lonely men, each in their own way that my heart went out to both them. Kenny has been in love with his ex-teacher for so long that he's almost given up. Never having had a real family to accept and love him, he's in desperate need of finding that acceptance.

Eli has been afraid of people wrecking his life ever since his childhood in a neighborhood terrorized by gangs. When he realizes the isolation he has driven himself into, it still takes everything he has to change life-long habit of hiding - both physically and emotionally.

Luckily, these two men are able to figure out how to help out each other. Like in the other books of the series, the characters are real and have great depth. Their struggle touched me deeply and I loved following their path to not just mutual love, but to helping each other see what was missing, then going about getting it for their partner.



Note: This book has been provided by TEB for the purpose of a review.

[vampiregoth28 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Nothing really to say. Drama, as usual. Very low self esteem on Eli's part. Poor man.