Blog Tour: Teaching Willow (Session #1) by Paige James {Review + Giveaway}

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Title: TEACHING WILLOW: Session One by Paige James

Age group: Adult
Genre: Erotic Romance
Cover designer: Paige James

Release Date: March 25, 2014

Tour organized by: WordSmith Publicity

My name is Willow Masters. I’m a senior in college, I’m smart and I keep to myself. I haven’t had an “incident” in over ten years. What all of these facts have in common is that none of them made any difference when it came to Ebon Daniels.

He started out as my sister’s date. I was instantly infatuated, but had no plans to do anything about it. I even managed to keep my feelings hidden when he took over my Modernist Literature class for the semester. The problems didn’t start until my sister took pages from my book—literal pages from a book I was writing—and gave them to the one person never intended to see them. That’s when the lies started. That’s also when I saw an opportunity to make my only dream become a reality.

How could a lie get me all that I ever wanted and, only a few months later, cost me everything that has ever mattered?

It doesn’t seem possible, but it is. It’s possible, it’s true and it’s tragic. In my book, there is a happy ending, but I don’t know if my life will have the same outcome.

My name is Willow Masters and this is the story of how falling in love with my teacher nearly destroyed both of our lives.

And it still might.

My Review:

Teaching Willow reminded me of the movie The Wedding Singer. You know the part where Adam Sandler has just been dumped and is singing Love Stinks at someones wedding? Mainly the lyrics "He loves her, but she loves this guy right here, and he loves somebody else, you just can't win." Unrequited love is a bitch ain't it? Willow Masters is in love with her teacher Ebon Daniels. He's off limits for more than one reason though. Not only is there a "No Banging The Students" policy in place but he's also the current main squeeze to her twin sister Sage. 

The story jumps right into high gear when Sage shares one of Willow's deeply personal "stories" with Ebon, the exact same teacher she burns for. She was given an assignment in class to write something that shows an honest part of themselves and her particular story just so happens to be an explicitly erotic fantasy about Ebon. Willow is embarrassed to have her intimate sexual thoughts revealed and plays it off that she wrote the story for her sister based on her accounts of the brief relationship she had with Ebon. After breaking things off with Sage, Ebon still can't get Willow's words out of his head but he knows he can't act on his feelings for her because he's her teacher. In a desperate move, Willow takes on a Cyrano De Bergerac persona in order to live out her fantasy when Ebon comes calling for some post breakup sex... with Sage.

I'm not sure if it was due to the timing of when I read this book but I had a few minor qualms that kept me from falling ass over elbows for this story. I think based on my PMS cycle some books rub me the wrong way and there just isn't anything I can do to help it. My hands are kind of tied here though because if I divulge too much I run the risk of spoiling the story. There's a lot of drama built into the plot. A lot of potential for a huge blowup with webs woven by the characters and potential for feelings to get hurt. That's all I will say though. One of the main things I will say that bothered me, was how desperately Ebon wanted Willow but chose to warm his dick with her sister. I am just not one of those readers or people really, who is down with the whole "Love The One You're With" scenario. Ebon is a great guy don't get me wrong. He was smart, charming, sexy as FUCKING HELL and honest. He knew he what he was doing was wrong on so many levels and didn't hide that fact from himself. I did like that about him even though I'm all "Molly Morality" about his methods. Why can't people just wait for the person they are into to become available? It's not like Willow was going to be in school forever. Then again there wouldn't be a story here so I guess my argument is invalid.

Willow claims she loves Ebon but is so willing to deceive him in order to gain access to him physically and emotionally. I couldn't understand her still wanting to be with Ebon even though he's been pounding her sister. They may not have had anything outside of just sex but come on, this guy knows what your sister's Smoked Ham looks like and you aren't grossed out? My junk would have dried up like a water slide with the hose turned off. I'm not into banging my friends/relatives ex lovers but that's just me. Willow was a great character though with her shy quiet demeanor and poetic, loving spirit. I did like her and felt a little sorry for her even though she knew what she was doing. She's yet another character who didn't lie to themselves about the damage they were creating. She went to great lengths to get what she wanted and I can't wait to see how this plays out for her.

 Even though Sage was absolutely clueless and can be seen in some ways as oblivious and uncaring, especially about handing over an erotic story, written by HER SISTER to HER BOYFRIEND, I felt sorry for her in some strange way. Being used by someone is never fun, even if you can be perceived to be a raging bitch because you  had no clue your sister was into the guy you have been shagging. Now that I think about it these two are twins so maybe Sage did it on purpose. Maybe she purposefully snaked Ebon from Willow in a deranged form of sibling rivalry. All I know is, this is some juicy shit!

Now that I've bitched and blessed it, I'll tell you I did enjoy this book despite my issues. Assuming this was a debut for James she knocked it out of the park. Her writing was stellar and grammatically explicit during the very erotic sex scenes which was a huge bonus for me. I loved how she worded her dialogue especially when Ebon says shit like: 

"The first touch of her tongue is like a cattle prod to my balls"

To me that was the perfect way to describe the pleasure/pain of having a woman you are deeply and sexually into performing such an intense act on you. James took me into her characters heads and made me feel as though I was that person living those moments. Maybe that's why I feel so passionately about what bugged me. I loved the way she made me feel sorry for her characters one minute and the next had me aggravated with them and wanting to slap some sense into them. It's been a while since a book has drawn out such a response from me and made me think and I love it. Teaching Willow was sexy, fun, exciting and HOT! By the time I got started I realized I was almost finished, it hooked me so deeply into the story. I can't wait to see what happens next between these characters and the spider web of drama that has been woven. This is way better than a soap opera I tell you!

Quotes:

"It's then, when I experience your true hunger, that I know I'm lost. Lost to this moment, lost to this feeling. To you. I'm lost to you. ARC 48%

I feel worse than ever, knowing that when I came here tonight, it was merely to slake this insidious craving for her using her sister's body to do it. And what a heartless fucking asshole that makes me. ARC 87%

Giveaway:

$50 Gift Card + Swag

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Connect with the Author:
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Buy Links:

Teaching Willow: Session One is only .99 cents on all retailers!!