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Rocking the Boat

(CalPac Crew #1)

C. Koehler (Goodreads Author)

3.66 · Rating details · 362 ratings · 65 reviews

Nick Bedford coaches the men’s rowing team at California Pacific College, a small liberal arts school in Sacramento. He’s quiet, dedicated—and closeted. He struggles with professional ethics and NCAA rules as he denies his attraction for Morgan Estrada, one of his rowers. While they may not be far apart in age, the difference between coach and athlete leads Nick to worry a ...more

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Published September 28th 2020 by NineStar Press (first published February 28th 2011)

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Mar 15, 2011 Ami rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: mm-romance-or-erotica

First of all, I know NOTHING about rowing, so this book is pretty intriguing for that alone. Mr. Koehler seems to do rowing as well so he knows a lot about the sport. The way he details on the practice and the race is good without being too technical. It seems like a good team-sport and I surely wish there are more movies about rowing.

I think this book presents a good issue of coach-athlete relationship. The portrayal of Nick Bedford, the coach (who is also 8 years older), who is trying to do it ...more

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Mar 08, 2011 Ellis Carrington rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: gang-bang-to-read

This was a refreshingly sweet love story. No BDSM, no vampires, just two guys at a college who had the hots for each other and fall in love despite the fact that maybe, technically, they probably shouldn't. That said, I didn't feel like I was reading two hundred pages of skipping though daisies. There was enough tension to keep me reading. The rowing angle was interesting and unique, and Koehler's love of the sport really shows though. Fun AND educational! Perv that I am, I have to admit that my ...more

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Apr 11, 2011 MsMiz (Tina) rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: glbt-all, pdf

2.5 - I do not think this was the book for me. I especially do not think I should have read it right after I read some other books where I felt the MCs were making really stupid, unreasonable teenage like decisions. That was this book. We have a coach of a rowing team. We have a rowing athlete. We have lust between them. So basically for the first 100 pages we get the coach picking daisies saying, I should not want him, I want him, I should not want him, I want him. Should I go on for 100 pages? ...more

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Feb 15, 2011 Rachel Emily rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: contemporary-m-m, romance-m-m, sports-m-m, desert-island-keepers, high-school-or-college-m-m

LOVED this book! Great characters, great believable conflict, and a very strong overall read. Obviously the author knows a lot about crew, because I found all the attention to detail fascinating and spot on. I really, really enjoyed this...can't believe it's his first published novel! I'm definitely looking forward to more from Christopher Koehler...hopefully with some of the characters that were introduced in this book. Highly recommended! ...more

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Mar 28, 2011 Serena Yates rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: gay

This was a great combination between a pretty realistic love story between two very normal guys and a slightly exotic setting. The world of rowing isn't one that I'm very familiar with, and I liked all the little details I learned about that sport while I was reading about Nick and Morgan.

Nick is the older of the two, a graduate student and a coach, and he knows he's in trouble if anyone finds out he's falling for his younger colleague. Since they are both students I didn't have any issues with ...more

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Sep 29, 2020 CrabbyPatty rated it liked it

Shelves: netgalley, mm-athletes-sports, sinfullygoodblog, 2020-reads, mm-comingout-ofy, age-gap, stars-3-anda-half, ninestar-press

In this contemporary M/M sports romance set in the world of collegiate rowing, the author does a great job of providing readers with an understanding of the sport and the hard work it takes for the coxswain (think "onboard coach") to perfectly synchronize eight rowers in a 60' shell and turn muscle into motion.

Rowers have been called the world's best conditioned athletes and in Rocking the Boat we are introduced to student / rower Morgan and graduate student / Coach Nick Bedford and all the str In this contemporary M/M sports romance set in the world of collegiate rowing, the author does a great job of providing readers with an understanding of the sport and the hard work it takes for the coxswain (think "onboard coach") to perfectly synchronize eight rowers in a 60' shell and turn muscle into motion.

Rowers have been called the world's best conditioned athletes and in Rocking the Boat we are introduced to student / rower Morgan and graduate student / Coach Nick Bedford and all the streneous work it takes to perfect their bodies and skills. And once the two men begin a relationship, the author gives us some very sexy, sensual scenes featuring those perfect bodies. The heat level of this book is nicely toasty!

On the way to their relationship, there is plenty of angst, worry and backtracking, covered in great detail. When Morgan spots Nick at a gay bar with his BFF Drew, Nick panics, saying he is not gay. He sets up Morgan and Drew on a bad date, is unreasonably jealous of Morgan, and vacilates between wanting a relationship with Morgan but worrying about repercussions of a coach dating a student.

There is much made of the difference in their ages (28 vs. 21) but on-page Nick reads less mature most of the time. Or maybe it's that Nick comes across as being very un-self-aware. He takes his anger at Morgan out on the rowing team without realizing his actions. He stresses communication is crucial for everyone on the team, yet he doesn't communicate to his rowers, and fails to communicate with Morgan personally as well.

The book caught my interest at the start with the rowing crew, and the sparks of interest between Morgan and Nick. The middle slows as Nick struggles to finally enter a relationship with Morgan, but in the midst of all this, there is some pretty exciting racing action. The author really excels in giving us the drama and excitement of rowing.

If rowing captured your interest as well, I would strongly suggest watching the excellent PBS American Experience documentary "The Boys of '36" about the University of Washington rowing crew that captured the gold medal against Hitler's elite German rowers.

Overall, I'm giving "Rocking the Boat" 3.5 stars because although there were some elements that just didn't work for me, I like the general setting of the series, the amazing rowing and the also pretty amazing sex scenes. This is the first of four books in the CalPac Crew series and I will look forward to reading more in this series.

I received an ARC from the Publisher, via NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.

Visit my blog, Sinfully Good Gay Book Reviews
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Jan 18, 2013 Shannon rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Recommended to Shannon by: Susan A

Shelves: aa-recommend

This was a bit choppy and slow going to begin with but it eventually picked up and I ended up really enjoying these two. We had to wait quite a while for the smexing but it was delicious if not a bit vanilla for my tastes. :)

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Sep 28, 2020 Serena Yates rated it liked it

Shelves: gay, read-2020

'Rocking the Boat' is was a great combination of a pretty realistic love story between two very normal guys and a somewhat unusual setting. The world of rowing isn't one that I'm very familiar with, and I liked all the little details I learned about that sport while I was reading about Nick and Morgan.

Please find my full review on Rainbow Book Reviews.
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May 07, 2014 Amber rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: genre-m-m-contemporary

This came really close to a DNF for me. I wanted to like this but the characters just grated on me and seemed way to much like teenagers instead the adults they were. Every time Nick couldn't decide what to do or made an ass out of himself he was running to Drew. His plan to get Morgan out of his mind by (view spoiler) is not something I think an adult would come up with. I also wasn't impressed with how he made the trouble he would be in with the various ...more

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Mar 02, 2011 Anke rated it really liked it · review of another edition

This was a nice read. Although I learned more about rowing than I ever wanted and the romance part was rather slow building, I liked both, Nick and Morgan enough to want to read on. Normally I'm not a fan of shoving the MCs of the next book into my face at the end of the current one, but I liked Drew and am curious of his story, so in this case for me it worked. ...more

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Jun 14, 2011 Td rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: light-and-easy, in-the-closet, athletes-sports

This was refreshing. Sweet, light, playful with a very real feel to it and just enough tension, conflict and dumb-ass moments to balance things out. There was a bit of erratic head hopping that was distracting at times, not too bad, enough for me to notice and back up. As much as I enjoyed Nick and Morgan's story, it was Drew that stole my heart, I hope he gets a story of his own. ...more

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Oct 31, 2020 Neil Plakcy rated it liked it

There's lots of eye candy in Rocking the Boat. Rowers by definition must be tall and muscular, and so it's not surprising that both the coach and the star rower in this book fit that bill. There's a lot of sizzling sexual tension, which is understandable because for the bulk of the book, the two protagonists are in an uncomfortable situation. The Me Too movement has brought us to the point where when there is an unequal power base in a relationship, it makes us uneasy.

Even if both parties are w ...more

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Sep 07, 2020 Nadia rated it liked it

This was a romance story of Nick and Morgan. Nick who was the men's rowing teams coach had an interest for one of his students on the rowing team (Morgan). Their love affair was steamy and at times cute. I questioned the fact that one of them was an authority figure in the love story/affair. It seemed to be secretive at the beginning and that was not fair to Morgan. I thought at times the story dragged on for a bit. It was a nice ending to the story. Overall, it was an okay book.

I received this ...more

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Nov 26, 2011 T.A. Webb rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Nick Bedford is one busy man. He is the coach of the California Pacific College rowing team, is in grad school, teaches and works off season in construction just to get by. Approaching 30, he is still a very fit man, and could still row on one of the teams he coaches. And he is gay and in the closet. And more and more, he finds himself thinking about one of the members of his team.

Morgan Estrada is on scholarship at CalPac, majoring in Comp Lit and rows for Coach Bedford on the men's 8's. Part Nick Bedford is one busy man. He is the coach of the California Pacific College rowing team, is in grad school, teaches and works off season in construction just to get by. Approaching 30, he is still a very fit man, and could still row on one of the teams he coaches. And he is gay and in the closet. And more and more, he finds himself thinking about one of the members of his team.

Morgan Estrada is on scholarship at CalPac, majoring in Comp Lit and rows for Coach Bedford on the men's 8's. Part of the reason he keeps rowing? He has a bit of a crush on his coach. While he is not out of the closet completely, he isn't in completely either. But when he sees a man he likes, he goes after him.

There are two months before the biggest competition of the year for the CalPac team, and Nick isn't going to allow any distractions to get in the way of pushing his team to their limits, and winning. And while there is one huge distraction is his way - tall, handsome Morgan - his professional ethics will not allow him to act on his attraction. And Morgan might not even be gay. And he doesn't have time for this.

When Morgan sets his sights on Nick, will he set them both up for heartbreak? Or is love possible?

This well written, beautifully detailed and very satisfying tale of love between two men who, by all rights, should not be together is handled with a gentle hand by Christopher Koehler. He has taken a subject that has been covered by many different writers in many different ways - the relationship between a coach and an athlete that turns romantic - and brings a new insight into the struggle between what the heart wants and what the right thing to do may be. In many ways, it reminds me of "The Front Runner", but Patricia Nell Warren; the thoughtful slow build of a relationship between two men who find themselves in love but have to ask themselves, is it the right thing to do.

Mr. Koehler has created a wealth of interesting and vital characters here. Nick and Morgan are wonderfully complex, and as they struggle with their attraction to each other and the not knowing - if each other is gay, if it's the right thing to do - they show more and more shades of their personalities. And show very human flaws. The secondary characters, such as Drew, bring bright colors to the canvas and make these two more and more human and believable.

There is great tension is this story. The rules governing student athletes and their coaches are in place for a reason, as is shown with so much relevance in the situations currently with Penn State and Syracuse occupying so much of the news. As Nick and Morgan are forced to ask themselves, should they enter into a relationship that is consensual and between two adults, the reader is forced to examine those questions also. If it is driven by the athlete, should the rules apply so strictly. Or is, in fact, the power imbalance so black and white that the student, and indeed the coach, should be protected at all costs? It can be argued both ways, and there is no easy answer.

And the tension between being "out" and being closeted. Athletes perhaps find it the hardest to be out without consequences, rightly or wrongly. Nick's struggle with to be out to his crew causes him great pain, but also puts great strain on his relationship with Morgan. Morgan has had an easier path being out with his family, but Nick has different and more complex issues to take into consideration. Again, the reader is forced to look inside and ask hard questions for himself.

And that is one of the great strengths of this book. There are no easy answers. Nick and Morgan struggle and accept and fight and look around for answers and make huge mistakes and cause pain to each other. But that is how life works. It is messy and a struggle and there are great highs and terrible lows and we just ride the wonderful roller coaster and take a deep breath and make our way through. We hope we make the right choices and don't cause too much damage along the way. Just like in real life.

Because at the end of the day, the wonderful thing about this book is its believability. Nick and Morgan are two guys I have met in my life. They struggle, work, play, want, love, make mistakes, cry, laugh, and make me want to know them and, most of all, care about them.

I liked these guys. And I like what Mr. Koehler has crafted here - a fine story of two men who find each other and create something good together.

Well done.

Tom ...more

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Feb 10, 2011 Nikyta rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Recommended to Nikyta by: Nightcolors

Shelves: m-m, contemporary, dreamspinner-press, separated-for-a-bit, adbp, deception-betrayal-lies-omissions, series-serial, bdsm-kink, sports, teacher-student

When I first saw this cover, I immediately knew it was something I'd want to read. One, it's drawn and I love drawn covers but two, the title and the paddle made me think it'd be something unique, that hasn't been written yet and I was right about that.

The story revolves around Nick, a men's rowing coach, and the struggle of falling for one of his rowers, Morgan. He struggles with the ethics of wanting Morgan and the angst of feeling like he's robbing the cradle. Morgan, however, feels Nick is When I first saw this cover, I immediately knew it was something I'd want to read. One, it's drawn and I love drawn covers but two, the title and the paddle made me think it'd be something unique, that hasn't been written yet and I was right about that.

The story revolves around Nick, a men's rowing coach, and the struggle of falling for one of his rowers, Morgan. He struggles with the ethics of wanting Morgan and the angst of feeling like he's robbing the cradle. Morgan, however, feels Nick is over thinking things and has his sights set on getting Nick whether Nick wants it or not. And what Morgan wants, Morgan gets. After Nick makes a stupid mistake, they both get what they both want and start a relationship. Nick still has his fears about dating a rower and when someone makes their relationship known to the school board, Nick's fears come true and they have to work past the issue with a little help from Nick's friend, Drew.

The tension between Morgan and Nick is definitely something fascinating. At times, the heat scorched the pages and made the covert glances, leers and tiny touches all the more real. These two were definitely fun to read about and they just seem to compliment each other. Nick, sometimes, was a bit self-conscious about things and he made a few stupid mistakes that I just wanted to smack him for. Morgan, though, he knows how to handle Nick at his stupidest and made sure Nick knew exactly when he was being an idiot and essentially punished him for it. It was very amusing.

I loved their relationship because of the tension, which lasted even beyond the point of getting together since they had to keep their relationship a secret from the crew. What fascinated me, aside from the relationship, was the rowing. It's so detailed and I absolutely loved that. I adore reading about things I don't know and being able to explore the makings of rowing, how it's done and how the men do it as well as the trials and pain they go through was something special to me. It was eye opening, too, because who'd have thought there was pain in rowing? Another thing that was interesting was the tiny mentions of what muscles were used. I enjoyed that very much. The side characters were extremely amusing and I loved the roles they played in the book.

In the beginning, the writing was a bit rough, sometimes stunted and I wasn't sure if I was going to like it or not (view spoiler) but the more and more I read, the more I fell in love with this couple and what they go through. Koehler did a pretty good job of answering most questions I had although I still have one (view spoiler). For anyone wondering, I put this book under my bdsm-kink shelf only because it fits under the 'kink' label. It's very mild and only has some tame bondage and use of a blindfold. So, it's nothing major.

I felt like I had to explain that because I know a lot of people will skip right over this book after reading that label but I'm advising you NOT to skip over it. It's a great book and the series is proving to be an exceptional one and since I've already read Tipping the Balance, I can positively say the series gets better.

Overall, I definitely enjoyed this book and I'm looking forward to reading more of this series and the people introduced in it. Recommended. ...more

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Feb 17, 2011 S.J.D. Peterson rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: m-m-romance, reviewed

First of all I know nothing about rowing and I tended to get lost in the beginning with all the new descriptions and foreign terms, but eventually I got it and I have to admit that the portrait of hot men rowing has been the subject of a few fantasies since reading this book. This was a great love story between Morgan and his rowing coach Nick. While technically what Nick did could be deemed wrong, he was grad student himself and it gave a great twist to the story. He knew it was wrong, his attr ...more

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Jun 02, 2011 Kelley rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Rocking the boat is a nice read. I really enjoyed the story and the realistic portrayal of a relationship. The whole arc of having a coach and one of his athletes pursue a relationship was tastefully done and there was no creep factor at all. In fact, it felt like Nick was just an older college guy who happened to coach and so the 8 yr age gap didn't really mean anything. Like other reviewers I know absolutely nothing about rowing other than the little bit I've seen of it in movies. I love books ...more

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Apr 18, 2011 Meggie rated it liked it · review of another edition

The story as whole was interesting, but the couple just didn't have this HOT vibe which is usually felt while reading about really HOT couples. Both Nick and Morgan danced around each other with that shyness true whole book and it was just to much or for me, simple blah.... I know all man are not macho type, but two same types of characters, both being sweet, nice, dumb stuck in love with each other was just not attractive couple for me. The type of writing was to Vanilla or to young. I got this ...more

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Feb 03, 2013 Vivian rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: romance-contemp

The lure of perfect bodies in motion.

That's a good reason to be a sports' fan. Now as a coach that can be a bit tricky, especially if its' the bodies under your tutelage. A bit of an angsty tale of one coach trying to avoid the inevitable pull of one of his crew. But it's pretty hard to ignore all those fine muscles pulling with each perfect stroke. Morgan's caught in the dilemma of wanting what he thinks isn't playing on his field or available; Nick knows he shouldn't be playing at all, but for ...more

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Sep 24, 2015 Fff rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: contemporary, mm-romance

First book I read by this author. At the beginning I was a little disoriented by all the vocabulary relating to the rowing, but little by little the story was put in place and I enjoyed my reading. The characters and the story are interesting, I liked also how their relationship evolves. Some secondary characters are also to follow because I think soon we’ll find them in the other books in this series.

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Sep 17, 2011 Alina rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Awesome book!
As many others here I know nothing about rowing too, but I felt myself enthralled in the crew almast as much as I was into Nick and Morgan's relationship.
I liked the characters, although sometimes I wanted to smack them upside the head for the stupid things they'd done, but their flaws just made them more real to me :) ...more

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Oct 01, 2011 Jess Candela rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: m-m, read-in-2011

Before I read it I knew next-to-nothing about rowing. After reading it, I not only felt more knowledgeable, I checked out local rowing sites, eager to see about maybe learning to do it myself. I didn't follow through (yet?) but it definitely sparked an interest. And it had great characters, lots of humor, and good tension and resolution. What's not to love? ...more

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Jan 15, 2012 Dee rated it really liked it · review of another edition

I really enjoyed this - you could tell the author had experience with rowing (I had to admit to being a tad concerned, but shouldn't have worried). Am interested to see what happens in the next book ...more

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Sep 27, 2020 Veronica of V's Reads rated it really liked it

Coach Nick Bedford is happy with is life. He's in a graduate program for exercise science and he's the head coach of the men's crew team at California Pacific University. In his late 20s this is a decent living. He tried finance and didn't like it, and he's much happier helping his athletes find their best skills and abilities. He'd like a steady boyfriend, but he's also pretty securely in the closet with his job, so it's not a hardship that he doesn't have a significant other.

What is particular Coach Nick Bedford is happy with is life. He's in a graduate program for exercise science and he's the head coach of the men's crew team at California Pacific University. In his late 20s this is a decent living. He tried finance and didn't like it, and he's much happier helping his athletes find their best skills and abilities. He'd like a steady boyfriend, but he's also pretty securely in the closet with his job, so it's not a hardship that he doesn't have a significant other.

What is particularly grating, however, is his keen awareness of one of his athletes, Morgan Estrada. Morgan is just 21 and a junior at Cal Pacific. He's tall and lean, like all the rowers on the team, and the attraction Nick is feeling is definitely more than he truly wants to acknowledge. There are lots of regulations barring sexual relations between coaches and athletes, so Nick knows that his attraction to Morgan is absolutely out of bounds. Beside that, Nick doesn't want to come out and perhaps face accusations of macking on his rowers. And, he doesn't even know if Morgan is gay--he is not out with the team either. Nick highly suspects that the coxswain, Stuart, is gay but no one really discusses these personal details openly.

The more Nick notices Morgan, the more Morgan picks up on it. Morgan has had a low-key attraction for Coach Bedford since his freshman year, but always thought it would be unrequited. And, how cliche, to crush on his coach, right? Morgan doesn't see his infatuation as a problem; he's a grown man now, and Coach has never been inappropriate. In fact, Coach Bedford had been the epitome of honorable, conscientious and driven. His devotion to the team had inspired to step up his training and make the varsity team as a sophomore. Now, when it seems like Coach might be less than straight, and possibly interested, Morgan wants to test those waters as soon as possible. He's frustrated when Nick lies about his attraction--and makes an unreasonable request of his own best friend to act as a decoy to Morgan.

This is a bit of a taboo romance due to the coach-athlete connection. That said, these two do dance around their mutual attraction for a bit. Nick's bestie, Drew, is a great foil and sounding board as Nick moves through the season with all this personal conflict. I loved how Drew let Nick have it after being conned into asking Morgan out--and the aftermath of that scenario follows Nick for a good third of the book. Stuart is quick to tear into his coach, too, because he's had a crush on Morgan for years, and as a close friend to Morgan, saw how Nick hurt him by setting him up with Drew. The fact is, these guys really do see a future with one another, their connection, once it happens, is not simply lust-slaking. It's instead world-changing for them, and it's hard to keep that a secret. And the added conflict of a rower discovering their secret nearly capsizes their budding romance.

There is a fair amount of angst here, mostly for Nick who truly bears all the responsibility and consequences that will undoubtedly ensue should Nick and Morgan go public. There is a reckoning, and believable reconciliation. And. the end is happy, with a glimpse at the next couple to be featured in this series. Nice sexytimes, but they don't take over the story. ...more

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Sep 05, 2020 Justin Chen rated it it was ok

Shelves: netgalley

2 stars

C Koehler is evidently knowledgeable, and passionate about college rowing. and scenes surrounding the training and competition are easily the best aspect of Rocking the Boat. It is also a setting rarely used in a M/M romance, and one can't deny, from a shallow, aesthetic-driven perspective, it is a rather ripe choice to conjure up some steamy, sexy time.

While Rocking the Boat. delivers on the sex, it falters quite a bit on its story and character development. The crux of the novella relie 2 stars

C Koehler is evidently knowledgeable, and passionate about college rowing. and scenes surrounding the training and competition are easily the best aspect of Rocking the Boat. It is also a setting rarely used in a M/M romance, and one can't deny, from a shallow, aesthetic-driven perspective, it is a rather ripe choice to conjure up some steamy, sexy time.

While Rocking the Boat. delivers on the sex, it falters quite a bit on its story and character development. The crux of the novella relies on a character decision so absurd and illogical (having you best friend fake dating your crush to alleviate him from your mind), that the remaining narrative never fully recover from it. It depreciates the protagonist Nick, who has been written a little too naive, leaning into incredibly dumb territory (yes, going out in public with a boyfriend means the potential of being spotted, that shouldn't come as a sudden realization). The story is also quite constrained in its scope, with setting/scenario narrowly focused on rowing and relationship gossip, characters don't read like well-rounded adult individuals, but emotionally-obsessed teens where a phone call or text ruins one's life forever. Being melodramatic and angst is a valid stylistic choice, but when it is paired with the almost documentary style precision of the rowing portion, the clash between realism and comic book characters ended up subtracting the impact on both ends.

Lastly, seeing this was originally written in 2011, some of the word choice may seems problematic under today's climate; when characters are emotionally vulnerable, they are often described with phrases like "being like a girl" or "acting girly"—which on repeating occurrence, starts to sound extremely sexist. Hope this is something can be revisited prior to the re-release.

Rocking the Boat does have some highlights, but they are being dragged down by questionable plot choice and dated writing style. In it's current state, it reads a little more like a personal fantasy, rather than a fully fleshed-out publication.

***This ARC was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Much appreciated!*** ...more

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Oct 22, 2020 Natalia. B rated it did not like it

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Thanks Netgally.

Finally I finished this book it took me a while but I did it.

So in this story we meet Nick, the couch of a the rowing team in the college of California, and no one in his work knows he is gay which is OK, until que meet Morgan, one of his students, and the chemistry between is inevitable, but the relationship between coach and athlete is forbidden.

So...if I'm honest I didn't li ...more

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Jan 12, 2021 LIGHTSONG13 rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: pure-fuckery-and-complete-bullshit, 0-mm-horrible-author-blacklisted

(view spoiler) ...more

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Sep 22, 2020 Jeff rated it really liked it

This is one of those slow burn M/M romances, where you either enjoy getting lost in the framing device-- in this case a college rowing team... or you want to rush through to find the romance. Nick is a grad student at one school, and a rowing coach at another. He unexpectedly finds himself attracted to Morgan, one of his team's best athletes. Matters of ethics and the heart go to battle.

Should he or shouldn't he? Should they or shouldn't they? Ethically, of course, they shouldn't-- but where rom ...more

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Sep 30, 2020 Shirley rated it liked it

3.5 - 4

I’m not going to call Rocking the Boat a total loss, but I found myself pushing to get through it. So what was my issue? Mainly Nick. He was supposed to be the “older wiser” person in this relationship, but he failed miserably. At least in my opinion. Morgan made some mistakes, but he had his youth that kept me from getting as aggravated with him as I probably should have been.

So, maybe I’m being a little harsh and I could have forgiven Nick for giving into his attraction to Morgan, but ...more

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Oct 09, 2020 thebloggerandthegeek rated it did not like it

I actually stopped reading at 43% because I just couldn't continue. I did like the rowing aspect of the book, the author is very knowledgeable but, besides this, I did not enjoy anything else.

Nick and Morgan's spend most of the book [at least, until 43%] salivating for each other's bodies - that's all. It was physical attraction and nothing else which sucked the joy out of this book. I didn't really like Nick, he was an ass [like, who pushes his best friend towards the guy they like just to all ...more

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