Book Review: Absolute Beginners by S.J Hooks

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Absolute Beginners
Author: S.J Hooks
Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Contemporary
Release Date: March 18th 2015
Review Source: Full Fathom Five | Netaglley

Professor Stephen Worthington's life makes perfect sense.

He teaches classes on Tuesdays and Fridays. He has dinners with his parents on the weekend. He goes to the gym with his comically crass stepbrother, Matt, a few days each week. And every night, he heads home at a reasonable hour, alone.

There’s only one thorn in Stephen’s perfectly organized side: Ms. Julia Wilde. Never has Stephen dealt with a more unruly student. She’s rude, provocative, infuriating—and she dresses in a way that is completely unbecoming for a lady. Stephen can’t wait for the semester to be over, and then he’ll never have to see her again.

That is, until Stephen finds himself out of the classroom and in Julia's apartment. Suddenly, the student/teacher roles are reversed, and the professor receives a much-needed lesson between the sheets. Stephen thought his life made sense, but after his tryst with Julia, he finds himself changed in more ways than one. Maybe he’s coming down with something.

Or maybe, something a little out of the ordinary is exactly what this stuffy professor needs to really live.

This novel is recommended for ages 18+ due to sexual content and mature subject matter.

They’re polar opposites. She’s black, he’s white. She’s a cat, he’s a dog.  He’s the teacher, and she’s his student. Julia likes thick eyeliner, rockin’ clothes, is very outgoing and has a mouth like a sailor. Stephen, on the other hand, always dresses’ to impress (even if he does look outdated sometimes), is embarrassingly shy around women, and is very behind on how to deal with women, in other words, he’s inexperienced.

It’s forbidden, but neither seems to care in each other’s presence. Julia wants him and Stephan can’t seem to resist the sizzling connecting between them, either, even if she does annoy the heck out of him and he can’t stand the way she dresses normally. But, he's attracted to her. And she doesn't laugh at his utter lack of experience when it comes to women and sex.

Stephen may just be one of my favourite male characters of all time. Yeah, I loved him that much! He's not what you would expect. These days there are so many bad boys and badass male characters that it was perfect being able to get lost in a book where the male wasn't like that. Stephen is prime and proper. A true gentleman. Not a commonly portrayed character. But darn, I really really loved him. Each blush which stained his cheeks or innocent reaction he had only made me fall head over heels for him.

Julia wasn't that common, either. Though she's possibly the exact opposite of Stephen, she is totally different in her own way. Excluding her questionable clothing choices, acquired taste in make-up styles, though, she was what I'd expect a college student who's looking for fun to be like. It was really interesting how the author took two opposites but made them work together.

I really liked this one. We got to see Stephan grow into the man he always should've been. He grows confidence, we see a slight clothing style change and overall he grows into this better, more in-charge character. But it did take until the end was nearing for Julia to become less of a mystery. It's not a bad thing that we had to wait, but has only made me eager for book two.

Fun fact: apparently Absolute Beginners started as Twilight Fan fiction "The Education of Professor Cullen". Cool!