Review: Consent by Nancy Ohlin

I received this book for free from Simon & Schuster in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

In this sexy and intriguing novel, an intense—and passionate—bond between a high school senior and her music teacher becomes a public scandal that threatens the reputation of both.

Bea has a secret.

Actually, she has more than one. There’s her dream for the future that she can’t tell anyone—not her father and not even her best friend, Plum.

And now there’s Dane Rossi. Dane is hot, he shares Bea’s love of piano, and he believes in her.

He’s also Bea’s teacher.

When their passion for music crosses into passion for each other, Bea finds herself falling completely for Dane. She’s never felt so wanted, so understood, so known to her core. But the risk of discovery carries unexpected surprises that could shake Bea entirely. Bea must piece together what is and isn’t true about Dane, herself, and the most intense relationship she’s ever experienced in this absorbing novel from Nancy Ohlin, the author of Beauty.

This book was a bit tough for me. It was a good book, and I knew what it was about going into it, but reading it made me feel a bit icky at times. I liked the MC and her best friend was pretty good too, but Dane just gave me the creeps. I thought that it was a well done story though, and of course it isn’t unheard of to have student/teacher relationships. Besides the relationship aspect though, it really goes into family issues as well and I really liked that.

Bea is a senior in high school and thinking about her future. She has a super smart best friend and she has these grand plans for Harvard. It’s not an unlikely dream either. They are both smart, and could both get in. Bea isn’t so sure though. Even though she has never told anyone, she dreams of a future in music. She’s a self taught pianist. A fantastic one at that. Only when she ends up with Dane as a teacher does she actually think she can live her dream. He makes her believe in herself. He also stirs up all sorts of feelings in her too. She is totally drawn to him and as he helps her with her piano playing and even setting up a time for her to play at Julliard, she begins to fall in love with him. She feels like he is the only one who really sees her. Really know her. Her brother is very distant, and her father is always so busy with work that she is barely a second thought. That and she doesn’t think that he would approve of her wanting to play piano. She is a bit naive, but she’s a teenage girl. She hasn’t experienced real life and she doesn’t always think rationally. I did like her, but sometimes wanted to scream at her to stop being so stupid.

Dane didn’t do anything for me. He’s supposed to be the hot teacher who plays piano like an angel, and is everything that Bea could wish for. Well, he’s a friggin teacher and he is totally all about Bea. Red flag!! HE SHOULD KNOW BETTER!! And he’s 10 years older than her. She’s not even an adult! Anyways, he tries to play it cool at first, but of course he can’t resist. Creepy ass dude!! He does some really, really stupid things and then things turn bad. I mean, what the hell did he think would happen. It’s not like he was super careful about trying to hide it. I mean, they were supposed to, but come on. It was probably so obvious to others. So anyways, Mr. Creepy Pants has all sorts of hidden history as well that we discover and that’s that. I didn’t like him and I couldn’t get behind the whole romance.

I’m not even going to get into the romance since it made me feel all shivery. And not in a good way. I could understand Bea having a crush because we all know we had that one hot teacher right? But we also knew that they were our teacher and that anything real would have been so not okay. But Dane, oh he was giving signals like he was a traffic light. Of course she is going to become more and more interested thinking that he actually wanted her back. She was stupid to actually act on it because she really should have known better, but once again, daddy issues and all that. Dane made her feel important and paid attention to her. The things that she really wanted.

What really made this story good for me though was seeing the change in the family dynamic. Bea was almost always at her best friends house because her family was so nice and they had family dinners and all of that. Home for her is lonely and it was surprising when her father took interest in her. Her mother died, her brother moved away, and her father is a very busy guy with work. It’s not that he doesn’t care though. As the book progressed we could see the change in her father and I really loved that. He really came around and he’s there when it matters. So underneath all of the ick of the student/teacher romance thing, this was a good story. There is much more to it than what the synopsis suggests and it was mostly enjoyable.

3.5 Hot Espressos

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Amy

I'm no good at this, but I'm a mom of one little girl who really thinks she is a princess. I love reading all sorts of books (horror being a favorite genre of mine), love meeting new people, drinking lots of coffee, and eating chocolate. If you want to know anything else about me, just ask.

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