WE STILL LIVE by Sara Dobie Bauer-Review Tour
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ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date December 9, 2019
Running from a scandal that ruined his life, Isaac Twain accepts a teaching position at Hambden University where, three months prior, Professor John Conlon stopped a campus nightmare by stepping in front of an active shooter.
When John and Isaac become faculty advisors for the school’s literary magazine, their professional relationship evolves. Despite the strict code of conduct forbidding faculty fraternization, they delve into a secret affair—until Simon arrives.
Isaac’s violent ex threatens not only their careers, but also John’s life. His PTSD triggered, John must come to terms with that bloody day on College Green while Isaac must accept the heartbreak his secrets have wrought.
***WE STILL LIVE is a standalone M/M friends-to-lovers romance featuring detailed adult content, graphic violence, hurt/comfort, and mental illness.***
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REVIEW: WE STILL LIVE by Sara Dobie Bauer is a contemporary, adult, stand alone M/M erotic, romance storyline focusing on university professors . Isaac Twain, and Professor Dr. John Conlon.
WARNING: Due to the content of the story line premise, there may be some triggers for more sensitive readers.
Told from dual third person perspectives (Isaac and John) WE STILL LIVE follows in the aftermath of a campus shooting at Hambden University. Professor Isaac Twain was living a nightmare of his own, and had no idea about what had happened at the university where he recently been hired as a member of the English department. Meeting fellow professor, and writer John Conlon gave Isaac Twain pause when he quickly discovered that John faced down the shooter in an attempt to protect the students he loved. But not all was well in John Conlon’s life, as he suffers with nightmares and PTSD in the wake of the shootings, and the department’s no fraternization policy was another slap to an already struggling couple. What ensues is the behind closed doors building relationship and love between John and Isaac, and the potential fall-out as their demons slowly begin to destroy all sense of security between our leading couple.
Isaac Twain has been a closeted gay man for most of his life but marriage to a woman he thought he could love proved more dangerous and heart breaking than he could have imagined. Moving to Ohio to escape his past, Isaac struggles with what was and his feelings for a man who has endured so much more. John Conlon struggles in the aftermath of the shooting at Hambden University. Hailed as the ‘hero’ John’s emotional balance continues to spiral out of control and the only saving grace is the man with whom he will fall in love, a love that must be kept hidden to protect their jobs.
The relationship between John and Isaac is one of immediate attraction but everyone suspects Isaac is straight but his need for John is palpable and strong. John must battle between head and heart knowing their future at the university hangs in the balance but to move towards a happily ever after, one or both will have to sacrifice in the end. The $ex scenes are passionate and intense, without the use of over the top, sexually graphic language and text.
There is a large ensemble cast of colorful, broken and energetic secondary and supporting characters including Isaac’s former lover Simon; John’s best friend Tommy Dewars; English department head Sonya Meeks, and several students whose lives have been affected by the campus shooting.
WE STILL LIVE is a heart breaking and emotional story line ripped from the head lines of the daily news. Sara Dobie Bauer pulls together the haunting and frightening issues in the aftermath of so much pain but there will never be an answer to the who, how and why. The premise is sensitive and impassioned; the romance is steamy and seductive; the characters are numb, shattered and struggling to move forward.
Copy supplied for review
Reviewed by Sandy
The kid pushed his hair out of the way and looked up, eyes finding Isaac and flashing a moment of panicked nonrecognition before seeing Tommy.
“Um.” Isaac pointed toward the new arrival.
Tommy turned and shouted, “John! My man!”
Not a student, then.
Tommy wrapped John in a hug that actually lifted his feet off the ground. Isaac imagined it wouldn’t be difficult. The new guy might have been average height, but he was gangly, skin and bones.
Tommy ruffled his hair. “Have you lost weight?”
John grumbled and scratched his face with his middle finger. “What are you freeloaders doing in my house?” His voice was surprisingly resonant for someone Isaac considered “pretty.” At John’s pronouncement, crows of approval rang from every direction.
“Come meet Isaac,” Tommy said.
John wiped his palms on his jeans before reaching out to shake, and Isaac’s large hand dwarfed his.
“Isaac Twain is the newest addition to our special corner of Hambden hell. Isaac, this is John Conlon.”
John brushed more hair out of his face. “Nice to—”
“John Conlon?”
John and Tommy froze.
Isaac jerked his thumb over his shoulder. “The books on the shelf. Those are yours?”
John’s face, immobile in what looked like dread a moment before, melted into relief, tinged with a bit of blush. “Oh, yeah. You’ve read?”
“No, but I should. You’ve published a lot of books. You must be good.”
John’s nose wrinkled, and he looked away.
Tommy shook him by the shoulders. “John is an amazing writer. He had a story published in The New Yorker when he was, like, five. Are you working on anything right now?”
John glanced at the bookshelf. “Not lately.”
“You need a drink,” Tommy said.
John’s eyes widened on a big breath. “God, yes, I do.”
“Nice to meet you,” Isaac said, but John just nodded quickly, smile thin, before allowing himself to be herded farther into the house toward the sound of quiet laughter and clinking bottles.
Isaac felt it then—an outsider’s emptiness. He became a nervous-looking coat rack in the corner, a terrified tree waiting for the ax. As the party doubled in auditory volume, he bemoaned his spilled wine. Was it okay for him to leave? It wasn’t like he was supposed to make a speech. He was only there because he figured it was the easiest way to meet everyone before the first official faculty meeting, but he’d been standing around too long. He wanted to run.
Out of curiosity, he reopened John’s book from earlier and read the front flap. It was a coming-of-age story about a gay kid in the Midwest. He flipped to the back, and a picture of John stared back at him. He’d assumed the guy was tired when they first met, but no; apparently, John had perpetual bedroom eyes, and his hair was always an artful mess. He skimmed…creative writing professor at Hambden University…gay rights activist…Converse-wearer and “old-people music” enthusiast.
All arrows pointed to John’s probable sexual preference for men. A spark of interest flickered but quickly went out. True, John Conlon was what most people would consider beautiful, but he wasn’t Isaac’s type. John was the kind of man butch guys fought over in gay clubs, but he was too small for Isaac, too fragile-looking, girly. After all he’d been through, the last thing Isaac wanted was someone feminine.
A thin figure ducked into the library and literally hid against the doorframe. He took a long drink of something brown and leaned his head back. “It’s not good when you want to hide in your own house.”
“Library is the best place for it,” Isaac said.
John kicked away from the wall. “Tommy mentioned you just moved here? I’ve been in Lothos forever, so if you need anything…” He examined Isaac from his brown boat shoes to the top of his blond head. John’s large eyes, dark green, seemed bottomless—drowning pools of intellect and soul—only slightly overshadowed by his thick eyebrows.
Sara Dobie Bauer is a bestselling author, model, and mental health / LGBTQ advocate with a creative writing degree from Ohio University. She lives with her hottie husband and two precious pups in Northeast Ohio, although she’d really like to live in a Tim Burton film. She is author of the paranormal rom-com Bite Somebody series and Escape Trilogy.
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