A Little Lesson

Reading, Writing, and Romance #1

by Pandora Pine

Facing a custody battle that threatens to rip his young son from his life, librarian Bronson McKinnon is hyper-vigilant, not wanting to give his ex-wife any ammunition to use against him in court.

Kindergarten teacher Nash Spencer is fresh off a bad break-up. Meeting the handsome single father on the first day of school is the last thing his battered heart needs, but he’s drawn to Bronson.

With the help of Bronson’s five year old, Tucker, the men start spending time together. Despite Bronson’s fears of his sexuality costing him custody of his son, he can’t help developing feelings for his son’s teacher. When Tucker shows up to school with bruises, Nash is pulled into the court case, and the custody battle turns into an all-out war.

Are Bronson’s and Nash’s feelings for each other strong enough to win the day or will their love become a casualty in Bronson’s fight to save his son?

Genres: M M Romance, Contemporary, Romance, LGBT, Abuse, Family, Gay

239 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 7, 2017

About the author

Sick of the slogging rat-race of her 9-5 job, Pandora Pine put pen to paper (literally!) to make her ambition of becoming a romance novelist a reality. She cut her teeth in the dog-eat-dog world of fanfiction, still dreaming of the day when she would be a published author. She lives in Massachusetts with her blabbermouth muse who’ s a fan of middle of the night plot twists.

In her spare time, Pandora fancies herself an amateur nature photographer. She enjoys mucking around in swamps, hiking through the woods and crawling around on her hands and knees in her backyard seeking out the perfect shot. Pandora is a fan of roadside seafood shacks and always thinks Mexican food is a good idea at the time.

Some of Pandora’s favorite things are chocolate, writing longhand with purple pens and handsome men falling in love with each other.

Don't miss Pandora’s seductive new novel coming soon to an e-reader near you.

Reviews

[☆ Todd · Rating 2 out of 5]

So, ummm, yeah. I was hoping for one type of story and got something entirely different.

I'm not the biggest fan of over-the-top and this story seemed to have its dials cranked up to 11 in nearly every area.

The insta-love was insanely fast, not only with I love you's arriving too quickly, but also talk of "the love of my life." In real life, your new beau would think you needed to up the dose on your meds. On his way out the door.

The dialogue was constantly worded in The. Most. Dramatic. way possible. Not purple prose, per se, but it did constantly set my teeth on edge.

The sexy bits felt... weird. I actually ended up skipping pretty much every sexy scene, because one second Bronson was heartbroken that he may lose his son, then in the very next sentence, he was All. About. Getting. Some. D. Duuuude, seriously, you're giving me emotional whiplash over here.

And, of course, this OTT tale wouldn't have been complete without the ex-wife being THE most crazy, selfish, bitchy, hate-filled C-word to ever breathe. I got that she was the villain, but sweet baby Jaaaaaysus.

Everything finally came to a head when severe bruising was found on 5 year old Tucker's back and thighs, which was only partially handled in what I felt was a realistic manner.

Bronson's *attorney* was able to assign temporary custody to Bronson's *boyfriend*? Not only did that scream conflict of interest, but also the book did not contain a single reference to a social worker. Uhhh, whut? From my experience, they are *always* the ones making decisions for the abused child. I was thoroughly confused.

I did absolutely love Tucker, who was written pretty realistically, but actually *not* over-the-top, like the rest of the story. He was a delight.

I also enjoyed the epilogue, but found it to be a bit too sickly sweet for my tastes. It happened on Christmas morning, because *of course* it did, but it was happy and shiny and full of permanence for them becoming an actual family, so I was able to overlook a few things there.

As a whole, this one only rated around 2.5 stars for me, so I'm not sure if I'll continue the series, especially if the other stories are similarly as OTT as this first book.

[Bitchie]

I might come back to this one, not sure. It has the requisite extremely evil, bitchy ex wife, and I'm just SO TIRED of the bitchy ex! From what I've read in reviews, this one is over the top bitchy, and I'm just not in the mood. It also annoyed me that daddy Bronson calls up his son's teacher, Nash, for consolation, after they had just ONE impromptu afternoon picking apples with Bronson's son. They aren't dating, and barely even qualify as friends at this point. Who just gets drunk and calls up his son's teacher when he's sad and worried?


Maybe later.

No rating, as I only read about 20%.

[Jenny Wood · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really, really, really wanted to like this one.
I did love Tucker and I liked Bronson and Nash together,they were incredibly cute, all three of them. ... and ya'll know how much I love a hot dad story!
BUT my main problem was the mom and boyfriend.
How in the world... can that mother do all that she did, say all that she did and act the way that she did and everyone just forgive her a split second later???? I mean, even IN COURT, the stuff she was saying? Then five minutes later she has a change of heart?
She let her kid get beaten... did everyone forget that? She put them through so much stuff, was set to ruin their lives, was a TERRIBLE mother, even Bronson and Nash said so... at one point they said "She hates being a mother so that must mean, she hates her child"....
Yeah, it sure looked that way, didn't it??
But nahhhh, she just had the wrong boyfriend and liked to drink so it's justifiable, right?
According to these guys, it sure is.
BLAH, I didn't like that at all.... 2 stars from me.

[Cee Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

♥¸.•´♥¸.•*´♥¨) ♥¸.•*¨♥
(¸.•´♥ (¸.•`♥ A Little Lesson earns 5 stars

OMG Pandora Pine has done it right again. I was freaking loving this book. And already, I cannot wait for Remy's and Knox's story!! And can I hate Alicia even more now? What a bitch!! So cold hearted and uncaring. I love fast paced love. But something was off and I am racing to get to the end to see what it was. Maybe Bronson's lack of manhood against Alicia? But the author wrote a real, raw look at how a father's love kept him tied to a noose and fighting for his son. Or how he was so weak against that woman. I was torn and hurt and fighting for my men to get their own Happy Ever After.

He was going to have to say goodbye to the man who had completely stolen his heart.

A vindictive wife was costing Bronson his happiness. Falling for his son's preschool teacher was both the best and worst thing that could happen for him. He did not mean to fall for Nash, it just happened. Being closeted for far too long, Bronson blamed himself for the demise of his marriage, so he continued to hide.

When they met, all Nash wanted was to be in the man's life. Bronson summed up his everything, and Tucker was the icing on the cake. One dark cloud in the form of Bronson's ex-wife was threatening to keep them apart. Through struggles, hurt and pain, so much twists and ebbs kept these two men from reaching that pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

One soul wrenching scene stole the show and I watched Bronson grow a backbone and fought for both Tucker and Nash. Even as I held my breath, heart breaking I had to laugh out loud when Tucker said: "I was crying 'cause I wanted my Daddy and my Nash an Ashton told me to shut the duck up..." If you want a Little Lesson in life, love, tolerance and forgiveness, one click Pandora's newest book. I guarantee you will fall in love with Tucker.

I voluntarily and honestly reviewed this book without bias or persuasion from the author.

[ButtonsMom2003 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another touching story from Pandora Pine.

Bronson McKinnon loves his son Tucker more than anything. He was in the closet for many years and used his now ex-wife to help keep his secret. He finally decided to come out and get a divorce when he could no longer tolerate the shameful way his wife treated their son.

Nash Spencer is Tucker's kindergarten teacher and he loves teaching his students. When he meets Bronson for the first time something seemed to spark when they shook hands but both of them thinks the other one is straight. After that misunderstanding clears up they begin to enjoy each other's company.

A Little Lesson is a wonderful story about love and family. It's not just about the love story between Bronson and Nash; it's also about the love between a father and his son. Ms. Pine has a way of telling heartfelt stories that tug on all of my emotions. There is a particularly heartbreaking section in this book that she tells with just the right words.

There are several secondary characters in A Little Lesson that I hope we'll be reading about soon.

An advanced copy of this book was provided to me but my review was voluntary and not influenced by the author.

[Donna · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you are prepared to suspend all reality when it comes to the law in child abuse cases... and if you are prepared to suspend all reality when it comes to years of neglect and verbal abuse from a parent that was never questioned by one single family member, in fear of losing Tucker? Then I suppose this story would work for you.

Don't get me wrong, Tucker is amazing and Ms. Pine did a wonderful job of writing him as an energetic, intelligent, and loving 5-year old! I must say that the OTT moments in this story were just that... OTT! *smh*

I am thinking that a bit more research would have gone a long way in improving this book because the story was excellent... the details and execution? Not so much. (I forgot to mention the need for two sets of quotation marks for each quote... it's just something I feel the need to do every time I read one of her books!)

Since I am a huge fan of this author, I am not going to let this small glitch stand between me and more of her storytelling... I have Dead Sea waiting for me to start! *grin*

[F. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a great read and heading to 5 stars until near the end when the Demon Bitch suddenly did a complete 180 and was forgiven!!! Everything was blamed on the current boyfriend, yet he had only been on the scene for approx 6 months - how could someone hate their life and child for 5+ years and then completely change???

4 stars

[Bree · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to give this more, I really did. I loved Tucker and Nash and Bronson together as a family. The evil ex being a horrible mother is a theme that’s a little over done wether it be m/f or m/m, but I could put that aside bc it was a sweet story. But it was the ending that brought me down. Not the epilogue, that was totally awesome and sweet. It was what happened at the end of the court hearing.


The instant forgiveness after such a vile act. The mother may not have physically struck Tucker, but she may have well as. She turned a willful blind eye. She treated her son like crap for THE ENTIRETY OF HIS LIFE! She tried to use Bronson’s sexuality as a weapon, she even did it in front of her child. I am a mother and I am sickened. But I am also sickened that someone could just let that go in the blink of an eye. If my husband and I divorced today and he behaved as Alicia did? I wouldn’t have spoken a word for him like Bronson did for her. Maybe that makes me a bad person for not being able to forgive and be willing to help someone. But if it was my child on the line? Suggesting she get help for an alcohol problem was good and decent, but I wouldn’t have been so willing to give her a chance to be near my child. Three months of in-treatment for substance abuse is not enough of a redemption when a child’s physical and emotional well-being is on the line.

I...I just can’t get over that.

[Ann · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this...I know I say this about most of Pandora's books, but I think this is my absolute favorite. Tucker is just so darned cute. This is a story of love and family and very well written. Bronson meets Nash, his son's teacher and sparks are flying. But Bronson also has an evil, homophobic, drunk ex wife, who regularly rears her ugly head.

Things are going well until Tucker ends up with bruises. The men must put their feelings aside and separate to ensure Tucker's happiness and safety, but they are unable to stay apart.

This is a wonderful story of love and family, with plenty of hot scenes and tender moments. I can not wait to read the next one! You wont be disappointed!

[Ruth Evans · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pandora Pine does it again what a beautiful book. The characters Bronson and Nash and little Tucker. This book will leave you feeling good but there is a lot of tension before you get there! Bronson always hide who he was and married after a mistake but finally he couldn't handle life so now he and Tucker live in a small apartment. Nash went through a hard break up but can't resist Bronson and Tucker. Can they find a life together. There are twists in their lives that will have you worried. I've read a few books from this author and one thing I can say is she always delivers I recommend this book.
I voluntarily reviewed an advanced readers copy of this book and I'm so glad I did it's amazing!

[Annika · Rating 2 out of 5]

Overall this was a cute story, but flawed.

What I liked
+ Tucker, he was just awesome, if not a bit too good to be true at times.
+ The story trope – is there anything better than a loving parent fighting for their child?
+ I liked the MCs interactions with each other and with Tucker

What I disliked
- Insta-love. Please, please let people get to know each other before professing their eternal and undying love. Insta-lust I have no problem with. But please let there be a deep and meaningful connection between the MCs.
- The ending of the trial. If that hadn’t been so extremely close to the end of the book I might’ve seriously considered to DNF it. I mean seriously???
You, as a loving father, basically excuses the mother for her alcoholism, neglect, mistreatment of your child and not to mention PHYSICAL ABUSE???? Hell no!! That part alone is worthy of an epic rant, but I’ll try to contain myself.
- And in less than 1 minute the mother has an extreme personality makeover? Suddenly she’s all hearts and flowers? Nope, not buying for a second what you are selling. Try with someone else.
- The writing felt a bit simplistic and flat and it took away from the story.

So in short I liked the book just fine, right up until the end where it all just went south - way south. It really ruins the whole book, so I suggest you move along for something better.

[Claudia · Rating 2 out of 5]

I finally found the book that spoilt insta-love for me. This one was too much. Especially when we're dealing with adults here. And the story had so much potential! I was here for the Kramer vrs. Kramer thing. The teacher gradually noticing things, getting slowly but steadily on the father's side, getting to know him, falling for him... There was no need to pull the I love you card two weeks into knowing each other.
But the kid. Tucker. I can't understand why the MCs spent time all alone while they could spend their time with Tucker! That kid was the best part of this book. I would've read 300 pages more of them playing with dinosaurs, making pizzas, eating nuggets and fries and watching Toy Story on a loop. I only cared for Tucker.

[Elithanathile · Rating 1 out of 5]

NOOOOOOOOO no no no!! This was NOT good at all!!

[Kristy Johnston · Rating 1 out of 5]

I have an affinity for books with gay teachers (Life Lessons, Foxe Tail, Love Lessons Learned, etc.). I even have a teacher shelf (and a library shelf). So when I rolled the Abuse category in my reading challenge and a book with a teacher and a librarian came up, I immediately chose this one. The story had potential but it just went wrong in the execution. It had a lot of tropes that I usually love if done well, the ex-wife with homophobia, the teacher with a crush on a single parent who obviously loves his child, legal action, etc. I didn’t notice any typos in my version though there was one instance of change of spacing for part of one chapter that was a little distracting.

The book just didn’t flow well. The transitions in dialogue from serious to sexy were abrupt and the transitions between sections were sometimes disjointed. Somewhere near the beginning I found myself in one of the MC’s head reminiscing about a conversation with the other MC instead of being in the moment reading the actual dialogue between them in context. Why? Why am I being told what Nash thinks about what he said to Bronson last night instead of actually experiencing one of the first important conversations in their fledgling relationship?

This book had a good amount of angst, mainly over the non-maternal ex-wife custody issues and yet when Bronson waits all day to open up the legal documents that he has been served with because he wants Nash to hold his hand while he reads them, like two seconds later, they’re porning over cupcakes and practically having sex on top of the petition for modification of child custody instead of commiserating and strategizing about what Bronson needs to do next. I was too busy cringing over the timing of the sexy to actually tell you if the sex scene was even hot or not.

“Well then call me pretty in pink.”

Then there was the dialogue. The five-year-old boy, with the exception of a few cutesy words (like “liberry”), was a little too well spoken and often sounded more like an adult than most of the adults in the book. Then suddenly this five-year-old boy became an AA cheerleader for another character because he saw something about rehab on Judge Judy. I won’t even go into that whole scenario because it was just an unbelievable, abrupt about face for that character especially in a public setting.

“Yay…!” Tucker stuck his fist in the air. “I know you can do it!”

There were too many clichés and cultural quotes or plays on them that just came across as cheesy. For example, the following is a statement made by a private investigator to a lawyer during a confrontation (funny I wrote something similar in a play for sixth grade English class):

“Ain’t no thing, chicken wing.”

This book would probably have been an excellent first draft, but it needed a good editor to guide it to a smooth, flowing finished product with more realistic dialogue.

[Antoinette · Rating 4 out of 5]

While I loved the storyline it took a little while, over half the book, to feel any chemistry between Bronson and Nash. I loved both men it's just I wasn't feeling the Insta love at first. Tucker was so adorable, he's who made the book for me especially in the early parts. I absolutely hated Alicia, she should never be allowed to be around Tucker without supervision again. She was more to blame for her predicament than anyone seeing that she pressured Bronson into having sex with her. She was a spoiled immature women who needed to get over herself. All in all I quite enjoyed this book. I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy of this book.

[Dan · Rating 2 out of 5]

This one wasn't bad, just not for me. I don't know if it's because it's early, but there was something missing between Bronson and Nash. I was a lot more interested in the custody case than the relationship. It also was incredibly hurried. Like, we're told time passes, but it qlmost seems like they meet and fall in love in two weeks (though the actual timeline is still pretty short).
The way Alicia acted was also off for me. Like at 80% she had a personality transplant with someone else, making her randomly go from "dislike her son" to "maybe a fit mom". I hated that. Parenthood isn't for everyone, no matter how cute the kid is. If Alicia isn't mother material, a change in circumstances won't change that. It's just setting Tucker (and any possible future children) for pain in the long run.
Also, the blurb is pretty spoilery. Just saying.

[Denise GremoryKohta · Rating 4 out of 5]

This gutted me.

I am a big fan of this author and have read several of her different works. While this one emotionally wrecked me, it's not one of my favorites. The flow didn't work for me.

[Brian Allerding · Rating 5 out of 5]

great book loved it. i cried over the abuse part in the book but glad the ending was happy for all.

[Lily · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[Marguerite Long · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very sweet.

[jules0623 · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars.

[Chelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 stars

I read this in just over an hour. I loved it I cried a lot though. Tucker was such an adorable kid I wanted to murder the person who hurt him.

[Isabella ~Mikku-chan~ · Rating 5 out of 5]

*~~*ARC kindly provided by the author to me in exchange for an honest review *~~*

I read several stories by Pandora Pine now and this was similar to the latest book in her Student Bodies series with including a child into the story but on so many level different.

The setting is a town in Massachusetts where kindergarden teacher Nash is meeting Bronson, the father of Tucker, a witty, smart charming boy of five years old.

It is really sweet how well Pandora Pine developed the relationship between Bronson and his son and between Nash and Tucker. The pieces are fitting well together and the genuine attraction and the deep feelings are believable even if there it is a fast event.

The focus in the book lies on the father-son-relationship and how the ex-wife Alice is trying to do everything to disturb the piece. It makes you angry how she is displayed in the book and you have little sympathy for her.

Bronson and Nash, as well as Tucker, soon capture your heart and it hard to see how they have to go such many troubles.

The sex scenes are hot, I like how well balanced both guys are. But it's not only the physical interaction, it's the deep bond you are fascinated with.

I really liked how the events went, how the character were displayed, especially Tucker showed a maturity I was impressed still he behaved like a five year old.

I can't wait to read the other books in the series, I can guess who's next. :3
I give this 4.5 out of 5 stars.

Review originally posted on my blog with added content Mikku-chan / A world full of words

[Dale · Rating 5 out of 5]

Where were these 3 R's when I was younger?

This was a very good series. It revolves around a group of friends and educators that love their jobs and the children in their lives and classrooms. It tells how great a person's love can be and how it can grow into a tight family when suddenly the welfare of a child is concerned. This series has lots of love, some naughty bits, and happy endings.

[Addicted2M/M · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 I loved Tucker, Bronson & Nash. Remington, Dr. Ben, and Bronson's parents, too. Few proofing errors, and the brief sex scenes were hot. But the ending was far to neatly wrapped up. Alicia hated that child his whole life. I did not buy her instant turn around, nor all being forgiven with stint in rehab. She may have deserved to see her son in the future, if she made a true turn around. 90 days in rehab is not enough to give her that right...and now I just outed myself as a judgemental bitch. But I'm not sorry.

[Angela · Rating 3 out of 5]

Liked the story, the majority of the characters were interesting, and was surprised that it all ended on such a positive note all things considered.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

review to come when I have WiFi