"Just Like This" by Cole McCade is the second book in the Albin Academy series. This series is so well-written that it's an absolute joy to read. I find myself hoping that the author is going to continue this series for a while!

In this second installment, Rian Falwell is an art instructor at Albin Academy. He is minding his own business one day when Damon Louis, the school coach comes to find him. It turns out that Rian and Damon have a student in common and that student  - Christopher Northcote - has been lying to both of them.

Rather than just ignoring the issue, Rian and Damon try to work together to figure out what is going on for Chris. He seems on the surface to be a good guy, a good student... he has friends and a roommate who likes him. But he's lying about where he is going and looking exhausting.

As Rian and Damon attempt to work together to solve the mystery of their mutual student, they begin to realize that they have a distinct push and pull with one another. These two are like magnets... get the right poles aligned and things spark to life but if the wrong poles are aligned they seem to be able to hurt one another without even trying.

The battle that these two instructors are going through to try and redeem their student mirrors the battles they are having within themselves. Damon is "looking for home". McCade touches on the issues that can come with being an adopted child and does so with an empathetic hand. Damon is indigenous but knows nothing about his parents or the nation that he descends from. This leaves him in a strange world of "not knowing" and feeling disconnected from his heritage.

On the other hand, Rian is from a wealthy family. His art has been promoted and shown in galleries and he has never wanted for anything. Well, he has wanted for a feeling of "worth" that doesn't come from simply having a padded bank account. When Rian took his job he basically cut himself off from his family and is attempting to create a life that he is able to support simply by working. The fact that his family name and wealth eased his path into the art world has left him wondering if he is even talented at all.

I don't think I've read anything before that manages so succinctly to capture the way that two people can be drawn together yet still have friction between them. McCade is such a poetic writer that his prose is the most descriptive. There are times when I re-read descriptions just because they "feel" beautiful.

McCade's Albin Academy is a school filled with diverse characters and I feel as though I'm going to enjoy every novel that is set in this world. I loved the fact that there were some subtle updates in this second installment about Fox and Summer who headed up the cast of the first novel.

Looking forward to more!

I enjoyed this second book set at Albin Academy featuring two very different heroes, with seemingly nothing in common, who unite in their quest to discover why a good high school student appears to be in jeopardy. Both Rian and Damon have issues in their past to overcome, and neither at first understands or trusts the attraction between them, but the art teacher and the football coach eventually realize how well they complement each other in all respects. I look forward to what comes next in this series.

This is book 2 in the Albin Academy and can be read as a standalone.
I am always excited to read Cole Mccade's work. This author has recently become one of my favorites and their writing style is simply fabulous.

This was a sweet, opposites attract, enemies to lovers romance between an art teacher and a football coach.
This is quite a light and engaging read and low on the angst.

The characters are real, relatable and well sketched out. This sweet and adorable romance was right up my alley and I was thoroughly entertained.
I definitely recommend this if you like a well written enemies to lovers

Just Like This is about an art teacher, Rian and a gym teacher, Damon who work a private boarding school. They have a mutual student who seems to be hiding something and the two teachers have to work together to find out what's plaguing this student and how to help while also clashing with each other over any and every little thing.

To me this story was a bit overwrought, i understand that flowery language is simply a staple of Cole Mccade's writing but I really did feel like the excessive descriptions and metaphors for the characters every little emotion was really frustrating and it made this story quite difficult to get into initially. Additionally I think that while the story was almost overly descriptive in the angsty emotional aspect, it was not at all descriptive in terms of the setting which in my opinion was a little bit disappointing because I was looking forward to the atmospheric prestigious private school setting. One more negative to the intense angsty and introspective nature of the story is that I felt like the two leads honestly didn't have that much chemistry really. The story took a long time to sell me on the supposed fiery spark between the two because most of the first 30 or so percent is intensely interior and the interactions between the characters didn't feel that interesting or substantial for them to be having all these big emotions about one another.

On a more positive note, the writing is quite beautiful if a bit distracting at times so if intense description and angst are your thing this really might work for you. I did enjoy some of the more lighthearted scenes between these teachers and their students, it was sweet to see how much they cared for them, and I enjoyed the brief look into Damon's backstory as an Indigenous adoptee who feels disconnected from his people and his culture due to being raised by his white family. I think this was the first time I've read about an indigenous hero in a romance so I definitely appreciated that alot. As the story went on I did begin to enjoy the couple more and I think the book excelled when the writing stopped being so intentionally purple prosey and focused more on character interaction. Damon and Rian were quite sweet together. Also the epilogue was so adorable and I loved it. On the whole I enjoyed it well enough in the end but it's definitely not a new favorite Cole McCade for me

3.5 stars

Cole Mccade is one of my absolute favorite romance authors and Just Like This was a sexy, sweet and just all around lovely MM romance. We return to Albin Academy but this time we’re focusing on the enemies to lovers trope between art teacher Rian Falwell and football coach Damon Louis. They have a mutual student who may loose his scholarship and the two team up to figure out what’s going on with him and fall for each other in the process. They both have insecurities about relationships and love in general, as well as family issues and the two have to break down each other’s walls to get through to each other. I don’t often comment on epilogues but this one was so adorably sweet that I had to give it a shout out. Can’t wait for more romances by MCcade in the future!

This book was everything I'd hoped for. Although it started out kind of slow for me it quickly sucked me in. I was thrilled to spend a quiet afternoon relaxing with this book.