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Con Riley

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Charles: Learning to Love Kindle Edition

by Con Riley (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

4.5 940 ratings

Book 1 of 5: Learning to Love

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Opposites attract in this low-angst romance filled with British snark and humour.

Life should be a breeze for a playboy like Charles Heppel. As the third son of an earl, he lives for the moment, partying and playing. Settling down isn’t for him. Not when London is full of beautiful men who he hasn’t one-and-done yet.

To escape his family’s nagging, Charles applies for a temp job that matches his playful skill set. A role in a Cornish classroom could be his until the summer, if Charles meets two conditions: he must move in with the headmaster’s best friend, and teach him to be happy.

Living with Hugo should be awkward. Charles is a free spirit, but Hugo’s a man of faith, with morals. A man who almost took holy orders before disaster changed his direction. Only far from being a chore, Charles finds that making Hugo happy soon becomes his passion.

Together, they share physical and emotional first times. Ones that change Charles, touching his soul. He wants Hugo for longer than they have left, but learning to love with his heart, not just his body, will take a leap of faith from Charles — in himself as well as Hugo.

New from Con Riley, Charles: Learning to Love is the first novel in a series based at Glynn Harber, a very special boarding school set in England’s glorious Cornwall.

♥ This shared-world series starts with Charles and Hugo, but each book follows a different couple in their own standalone novel, with a fulfilling happily ever after. Want to hear more from Charles? He stole the show in His Haven. ♥

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0918MBSK9
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Figment Ink (July 22, 2021)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ July 22, 2021
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 3598 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 346 pages

Best Sellers Rank: #157,041 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #4,948 in Gay Romance
- #6,851 in LGBTQ+ Romance (Books)
- #25,425 in Romance (Kindle Store)

Customer Reviews:
4.5 940 ratings

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Con Riley

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Con Riley lives on the wild and rugged Devonshire coast, with her head in the clouds, and her feet in the Atlantic Ocean.

Injury curtailed her enjoyment of outdoor pursuits, so writing fiction now fills her free time. Love, loss, and redemption shape her romance stories, and her characters are flawed in ways that makes them live and breathe.

When not people watching, or wrangling her own boy band of teen sons, she spends time staring at the sea from her kitchen window. If you see her, don't disturb her—she’s probably thinking up new plots.

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4.5 out of 5

940 global ratings

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Amanda Brooks

Learning to love ❤️

Reviewed in the United States on January 11, 2024

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Charles, the character, is such a joy! Charles, the book, is too. Both are heartfelt and charming. I wish Charles the character were real so I could hug him and thank him for how sweet he is with children and how loyal he is to Hugo, Keir, Luke, and George. And for everything he went through and goes through because of his disability. And Hugo would get a hug too for his quiet strength, how he listens and sees, and for all he experienced that still haunts him. I love that Charles, and Glynn Harbor, are advocates of play for children—I was delighted by the mention of Vygotsky. Charles and Hugo have a beautiful relationship—each helping the other to see their own value and to find their place, their purpose. I love how even though Charles has been hurt by the things people have said to him because of his issues, he doesn’t let that deter him from going after what he wants. And I love his faith in the importance of joy and play.

I love this series. I haven’t read it in order, even though I can see that it would be a little richer an experience if I had, and I still love it.

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Maijie G

Healing and True Love

Reviewed in the United States on July 22, 2021

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Like most of the books I've read recently, it was the blurb that had me interested in this title. Having no prior knowledge of His Haven, I came into this book blind and have no regrets giving this a go.

The story revolves around Charles and Hugo. Two wounded men who throughout the book slowly heals and in the end find their happiness in each other.

Charles Keppel is a free-spirited man, quite open and easy with his affections and is not shy from enjoying sex. Beneath this care-free part of himself is a man who is deeply hurting from the lack of support and understanding from his family in his chosen profession despite having conquered insurmountable odds regarding his condition of dyslexia and low working memory. He loves teaching children that have difficulties in learning and he excels in it yet his family seem to be oblivious to it.

Hugo is a padre or chaplain if you will who has been injured having had the group he is in be caught in a horrible incident that has lost lives and caused huge injuries to a lot of people. Having the psychological trauma of his experience, couple that with him questioning his place and purpose in life, Hugo had very little to smile about.

Charles and Hugo meeting in the confessional is both a hilarious and heart-breaking first time meeting. The dialogue and banter shared in that section is witty, funny, real and quite on point. The chemistry these two characters have is undeniable and yet there is careful thought and care in the way it has been executed in this story making it sweeter, grounded and true for the characters involved.

Some religious elements are touched upon in this book so people who are adverse to such kind of things should bear that in mind if you do decide to pick up this. Faith and religion are fundamental to the main characters more so in Hugo's case as he was close to being ordained. This has been handled quite nicely in a way that is not quite preachy as I would've thought it would be.

Overall, Charles is a wonderfully written story with some really compelling and likeable characters that tackles the theme of healing and finding one's true love nicely. I recommend this book and give this a 4 stars out of five.

I received an ARC of this book via GRR and I have chosen to publish my fair and honest review.

12 people found this helpful

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Sweet Reads and Treats - Mere

Loved this emotional journey

Reviewed in the United States on December 19, 2022

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This is a story about finding your way in life when it isn’t clear and falling in love when you weren’t looking for it. I loved that Charles and Hugo had a right place, right time meet-cute. It was so sweet and funny. This story definitely has some good hurt comfort vibes and enough angst to really get you into your feelings. I loved it so much. Told from Charles’s POV, we get immersed in his insecurities. As the third son of an Earl with profound dyslexia, he struggles to do things in life others take for granted. However, Charles is a sunshine character whose love of children and nurturing them is his calling. Hugo is trying to find his way in life and needs a bit of Charles sunshine.

Charles finds himself applying for a temp position at a school to escape the nagging of his elder brother. He is offered the position with the caveat that he will move in with Hugo, the man he met after his interview. Life has not been kind to Hugo and he smiled for the first time in ages after spending time with Charles. Together, they form a friendship, give into their mutual attraction, and Charles begins to see what the future could look like if he gives up his playboy ways. But with the end of term approaching, they both have to put themselves out on the edge and decide if they will jump.

I loved the give and take of this sweet love story. They each need the other so much it made me get misty. Charles has a deep capacity to feel things and after being judged and found wanting for much of his life, he struggles to see himself as worthy. Hugo is the first person who he felt really understood him and I absolutely loved their journey together to their HEA. It was everything I wanted it to be. If you love an emotional love story about finding your way when you are a bit lost, then this is the book for you.

2 people found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

cc

Beautiful story!

Reviewed in Canada on August 3, 2021

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Every Con Riley book is so much more than a plot and characters. They are tributes to perseverance, to courage, to taking a risk and finding love. Charles: Learning to Love beautifully captures the human spirit and most definitely is a book worth reading.

Humberto Cadena 13

Love it!

Reviewed in Mexico on July 25, 2021

Verified Purchase

It's an amazing story of resilience, forgiveness, and hope.
Sweet, adorable and romantic, it's full of wonderful characters waiting for their chance at forever love.

nat

If you want dry eyes ..don't read this book .

Reviewed in Germany on August 1, 2021

Verified Purchase

Just read it ! it let's you think , dream , hope for a love like theirs and cry.. love it and will read again.

Maria

5 million stars - 100% recommended

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 14, 2021

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I don't even know where to start with this review. My first book by this author, and watch me go and get everything else before this!!

What do we have here?

Beautiful writing? check
Perfectly complex and beautifully flawed characters? check
Stunning setting full of great secondary characters? check
Feelings and humour and serious matters all intertwined to give us an amazing story with a gorgeous HEA? check, check and check

Charles' story had me in tears. My only tiny bit of criticism about this book is that Charles sometimes read as a younger character. Definitely younger than his very late 20's. Perhaps it was his outlook in life, mixed with his love of "maggots" and his dyslexia. But his inner voice resonnated so much with me anyway.

I loved his love for live, his love for the children, his love for his friend (I need to read Kier's story like right now) eventually his loyalty to his family. I loved his understanding of Hugo's faith and how he simply fell in love.
Something that annoys me about romance books sometimes is the lack of communication between the main characters. However when Nathan appeared, I totally understood Charles' point of view and he did everything that I would have ever done. At no point I found myself thinking "don't be silly, you know better, go and talk to Hugo". No. Despite knowing deep inside me that Nathan was just a friend, I totally stood with Charles here.

And Hugo... You know, something else great about this book is that I never felt like I was missing Hugo's POV. We see his initial pain, both mental and physical, so well through Charles' eyes. We see his faith, we see him finding a new calling and finding his feet. We see his happiness slowly growing into a love that he had never experienced before. And when Hugo asks Charles at the end of the book whether he knows what a sacrament is, well, imagine the waterworks...

And the secondary characters? Tor: Freaking adorable "maggot". So happy that he got his happy ending too. George and Fliss, although very very secondary, such an important part of the development of the "what could have been". The first Charles and Huw, and the folley and their letters. Just stunning.

One person found this helpful

Sue Woodfield

Charles & Hugo

Reviewed in Australia on April 27, 2024

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I loved this story so much. It had me laughing and crying but made me want to give these men such a hug. Such insightful writing about how differently dyslexia, war wounds and missing people affect us .
I absolutely can recommend this as a read that will make you think and not jump to conclusions about what you think is governing people’s actions as with Charles’ brother.
Treat yourself and pick this book! I look forward to the others in the series.

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