Off Campus

Bend or Break, Book 1

By: Amy Jo Cousins

Narrated by: Cooper North

Length: 10 hrs and 28 mins

Publisher's summary

Everyone's got secrets. Some are just harder to hide.

With his father's Ponzi scheme assets frozen, Tom Worthington believes finishing college is impossible unless he can pay his own way. After months of sleeping in his car and gypsy cabbing for cash, he's ready to do just that. But his new older-student housing comes with an unapologetically gay roommate. Tom doesn't ask why Reese Anders has been separated from the rest of the student population. He's just happy to be sleeping in a bed.

Reese isn't about to share his brutal story with his gruff new roommate. You've seen one homophobic jock, you've seen 'em all. He plans to drag every twink on campus into his bed until Tom moves out. But soon it becomes clear Tom isn't budging. Tom isn't going to let some late-night sex noise scare him off, especially when it's turning him on. But he doesn't want any drama either. He'll keep his hands, if not his eyes, to himself.

Boundaries have a way of blurring when you start sharing truths, though. And if Tom and Reese cross too many lines, they may need to find out just how far they can bend before they break.

Warning: This book contains cranky roommates who vacillate between lashing out and licking, some male-male voyeurism, emotional baggage that neither guy wants to unpack, and the definitive proof that sound carries in college housing.

©2014 Amy Jo Cousins (P)2016 Insatiable Press

Good story, but too long

The premise of the story was fantastic. Two characters who have both experienced trauma in their own ways are thrown together and forced to share a dorm room. Reese is an out and proud gay man who is expecting to have a room to himself. Tom, who has experienced a complete upheaval in his life thanks to his con artist father, is coming back to school and trying to start his life over. The story itself of these two trying to overcome adversity, becoming friends, and then taking their relationship to the next level is a great premise. However, it just kept going on and on and I felt like the author kept rehashing and retelling the story, and not even from differing angles. After a while I kind of just tuned it out and if I felt like I missed even a small plot point, I rewound and listen to that point over again. Otherwise the last six chapters are completely unnecessary. It could have been resolved much sooner and much more succinctly. It may be that she just tried to make the entire book last over a school year.
I really enjoyed the supporting cast of characters including Cash and Steph, the two best friends of our main characters. They were a lot of fun. The narration was fine. No complaints.

Great Story , BUT

Is there a word requirement ?? Holy cow ! - there’s a whole paragraph describing why Tom is wearing a dress shirt to drive (halfway through the book) but his 6/8 weeks self improvement gets less than a chapter . Also the writer relies TOO much on back telling . Instead of starting at the beginning of an event she brings us in at the end and THEN tells what happened .
wish I had bought the book instead of the audio so I could skim. The narrator was great ! And the story was interesting but Christ! more than once I forgot what the MC’s conversation was about because I had to hear another 10 minute internal monologue

it was fine

the book was good, I liked the characters and the time they were given to develop, I really felt connected to them. but if you're going to give this a sizzling on the ratings scale it needs more than a bunch of hand/blow jobs there was like 1 legit sex scene. I've listened to books that were WAY more graphic than this, Nicholas Bella now his books are pretty sizzling, this was just a cute soft love story.

Great narration and compelling story

Tom has been homeless, living in his car, and driving a taxi to afford school. He shows up to his off-campus housing broke, exhausted, and relieved to have a place to sleep. Unfortunately he has an irate roommate. Reese was promised a single after violence ( trigger warning for sexual abuse) in his dorm last year. He bring a series of hook-ups back to their room to scare Tom away. Tom has no place to go and is more turned on by Reese's exploits than Reese knows. This is not a light fluffy book. Both guys are dealing with their own issues and being together just complicates things. M/M HEA/HFN

Great story. Great narration.

This wasn't my usual sort of read. I tend to prefer a bit more mystery and suspense in my reads, but this book was well constructed and packed full of intense emotions.

The narrator also did an excellent job with the characters.

Angst and Healing

The narration for this audio version is done really well.
This story is full of angst since both main characters have a bunch of stuff that they are dealing with. Because of this they are both in atypical housing. At first they seem to almost repel each other. But they are also drawn together as well. Reese is the first to seem to reach out for a change in his life and this ultimately causes lots of trouble for their budding relationship. Tom has a lot to come to grips with but it was great to finally see him take action. There is a wonderful supportive cast to this story that help keep these two from bottoming out.

Not so much....

Would you try another book from Amy Jo Cousins and/or Cooper North?

Possibly

What could Amy Jo Cousins have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

Less oral sex and oral sex and oral sex and oral sex.....and more of a storyline.

Which character – as performed by Cooper North – was your favorite?

Tom

Do you think Off Campus needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

Only if the storyline is expanded upon more..and less oral sex.....

Any additional comments?

Overall not too bad. Narrator was great. Too much ORAL SEX....

A great story, which I wish was truer.

I wish guys like Tom would happen more often. I truly feel men are missing out being so homophobic. Only when you are dating your own sex can so much of being a man can truly be explored. Our society has a gift and we look at it as a curse. Typical human.

Very powerful, sweet, good narration

I started reading this book – intending to maybe only skim it – so that I could read books 6 and 7 which I’ve been asked to review. I thought I’d get some background and leave it at that. (Don’t ask why I hadn’t read it before now – I don’t know either!)

I couldn’t put it down!

I loved all of it from start to finish!

Tom’s father disgraced the family and Tom has been hiding from the paparazzi and broke and is struggling to make his own – legit – money to finish school so he can hold his head up high and make his way in the world on his own merits. He finally scrapes together enough cash to make the payments and finds his roommate in off campus housing is a gay kid with a huge chip on his shoulder.

Reese had been told that he’d be getting a single dorm room after his last dorm-mates were involved in doing something terrible to Reese. So he’s understandably wary of a roommate, especially another jock. Little does he know that he has nothing to fear from Tom.

Tom had previous experience in being “bi-curious” but still identifies as straight, until… he overhears his roomie having sex and can’t help but be turned on.

What starts out as a love/hate relationship between these guys slowly develops into a slow burn romance. Then… just as things are warming up between the two of them sexually – their friendship ends up straining the limits as both of them are in denial of their need to seek help for their hang-ups and the other is in no position to offer mental help advice.

Luckily they have friends like Cash and Steph who help them see the light and to keep them from disintegrating as a couple.

**

This book is full of pain, real people, funny lines, lots of angst and some seriously steamy times.

I just fell in love with Tom – even though sometimes I wanted to strangle him for his near-sightedness. He’s such a big hearted guy and the perfect anchor for the more high-strung and emotional Reese.

Reese – however – is the braver of the two – and though he hides his pain in ways that are unhealthy – he doesn’t let tragedy take him away from life.

I really appreciated that though this is a solidly HEA story – the couple faces real struggles and they don’t just magically disappear because one guy said I love you to the other.

Highly recommended.

4.5 of 5 stars

Audio
Cooper North is a new to me narrator. I really like his voice quality. He definitely knows the difference between "reading" and "performing". He's great with the emotion, dialog, physical scenes and pacing. I thought his take on Reese was PERFECT. This is absolutely the best way to enjoy this story and is highly recommended!
5 of 5 stars

Nice. But doesn't blow your hair back

Nice enough - doesn't blow your hair back, but has a good premise and a fine set of characters. The narration is good and the story moves at a good pace. All in all, worth a credit.