Romance Languages: A Friends-to-Lovers, Virgin MM Romance (South Rock High, Book 3)

***ARC Review*** This is my honest review for the ARC I received. I’m a big A.J. Truman fan. I love his approach to writing romance with humor, heart, and heat. This is the third book in his South Rock High series, but can be read as a standalone. I always enjoy how “real” A.J. Truman’s characters come across. Julian and Seamus both have things that they think make them less appealing or are insecure about: weight, addiction, being worthy of love. They push through like everyone else and do the best they can. I sincerely appreciated the body positivity in this book, even if Julian is hesitant at first. Julian struggles with his weight and liking how he looks. Society judges him. His mother judges him. Seamus is patient, insistent, and consistent in his affirmation of his attraction to Julian and Julian’s beauty. Offhanded comments meant to help but that really hurt aren’t excusable, even if they are coming from a place of love by family members. So I was rooting for Seamus when he stood up to Julian’s mother. And I was rooting for Julian when he finally stood up for himself. Seamus is a genuine and kind person. I loved his go with the flow attitude. Julian is very knowledgeable and always willing to help out. So it was really sweet when Seamus offered to help him lose his V-card, even though Seamus has never been with a man before. (I think it helped that they were colleagues/friends for two years first). I loved seeing Julian grow more confident. It was an unexpected…

A sweet and sexy MM romance about finding confidence and discovering love in the last person you expected. Jules and Seamus are friends and colleagues, both teaching romance languages at South Rock High. Unbeknownst to all his friends, at nearly 35, Jules has zero sexual experience. Being in a bigger body and having no confidence in himself or his looks, Jules has spent years being rejected by men, whilst building up his virginity in his mind. When he gets drunk and confesses, to his supposedly straight friend Seamus, that all he really wants for his 35th birthday is to lose his virginity, he's shocked that Seamus offers to go through the bases with him and give him some experience. Seamus is trying to get his life back on track and make up for old mistakes as a recovering gambling addict. When he realizes how much he cares for Jules, he's terrified he will wreck his life like he feels he did to his ex. As the birthday approaches, everyone is catching feelings but can they get past their lack of confidence in themselves and risk their friendship for the possibility of a HEA? I really liked the body positivity and the way the gambling addiction was handled with lots of responsibility but also giving people grace. The side characters of Seamus's landlord "dad's" Greg and Ethan were adorable, and we see a lot of the South Rock and Single Dad's Club characters. Triggers: body image issues, negative talk about being fat from side (parent) characters, gambling addiction,…

The teachers of South Rock High and I couldn't be more different, but at the same time, I find more and more of myself in every single one of them. I loved the path Julian and Seamus took to find their HEA. I laughed 🤣, I swooned 🫠 (because who wouldn't swoon over Seamus), and I just genuinely related to and loved these two guys. One of my favorite parts of the binge reading of the works of AJ Truman that I'm doing is that all of these characters keep reappearing. Or when I meet characters I love, I find out that they have a story to read too. This is 💯 the case with Ethan and Greg, and I can't wait to read more about them. This entire world that has been created is wonderful, and I'm ready to dive into the next story!

I don’t really enjoy romance novels that are focused so much on someone’s weight. It’s kind of a cringe topic for me. And I found the dirty talk pretty cringe, too. This book wasn’t really humorous like the others. I think maybe the dirty talk was supposed to be sort of humorous because we wouldn’t expect that from the sweetest and most innocent of the friend group, but it didn’t come off that way. I’m also not a fan of the 100% straight guy agreeing to have sex with a gay friend. I mean, I know this is a genre trope, but It’s just too unbelievable. I’m also not looking forward to the next book now that the love interests have been introduced. Yet more cringe, I’m afraid.

I have been really enjoying this series and I was eager for Jules and Seamus’s book. Jules, part of the amazing teacher friend group we’ve come to love at South Rock High, is the secret virgin of the group. And an *almost* 35 year old one at that! Seamus, a fellow teacher in the Romance languages with Jules, is his straight friend he’s been crushing on forever. One night after a considerable amount of drinks, Jules spills his secret to Seamus, to which Seamus offers to help Seamus lose his virginity by his birthday the following month. I enjoyed the firsts that Jules got to experience with Seamus, as well as his firsts with Jules. I struggled a bit finding the connection between the two as Seamus began to realize he may not be as straight as he thought. Jules really tried to dial back the intimacy with Seamus to protect his heart, and I think that’s why the physical connection never really solidified for me. I did enjoy as their friendship and relationship grew. I also really enjoyed these two as people. Jules was a wonderfully vulnerable character and I loved how Seamus was able to get him to see past his insecurities. I loved getting to know Seamus’s “Dad” roommates and Jules’s Grandmother was an awesome human. The amazing witty banter we’ve come to love through this series was very present in the friend group and had me laughing throughout the book. I’m so eager to see how Chase’s story is going to unfold!