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Going for the Gold #1
Personal Best 1: A Going for the Gold Novel
Mike Gauliet could be a world class swimmer if he took care of himself better. He's too good to let go, so his team coach calls in a private trainer, up-and-coming hardass Jessy Turner. Jessy locks Mike down, putting him on a strict regimen of diet and exercise that Mike resents a lot until he finds himself becoming a better swimmer for it. Jessy finds Mike all but irresistible, but he stays away to begin with, making decisions based on what's best for Mike's career. The two of them resist their attraction to each other for as long as they can, but sooner or later they have to give into the heat between them. When things go wrong, though, can they, and their sports careers, survive the strain? CB Potts, author of Tuesday's Rubies, says, "(Sean) Michael is to be commended. Fans of sports smut, such as myself, are sure to be pleased with the mix of athleticism and eroticism, and romance fans will love the emotional heights and depths the couple journey through." Pick up this hot, athletic romance today! And look for Personal Best II, a Going for the Gold novel, on shelves next to Personal Best!
212 pages, Paperback
First published October 15, 2004
38 people are currently reading
194 people want to read
About the author
Sean Michael
652 books1,209 followersOften referred to as "Space Cowboy" and "Gangsta of Love" while still striving for the moniker of "Maurice," Sean Michael spends his days surfing, smutting, organizing his immense gourd collection and fantasizing about one day retiring on a small secluded island peopled entirely by horseshoe crabs. While collecting vast amounts of vintage gay pulp novels and mood rings, Sean whiles away the hours between dropping the f-bomb and persuing the kama sutra by channeling the long lost spirit of John Wayne and singing along with the soundtrack to "Chicago."
A long-time writer of complicated haiku, currently Sean is attempting to learn the advanced arts of plate spinning and soap carving sex toys.
Barring any of that? He'll stick with writing his stories, thanks, and rubbing pretty bodies together to see if they spark.
A long-time writer of complicated haiku, currently Sean is attempting to learn the advanced arts of plate spinning and soap carving sex toys.
Barring any of that? He'll stick with writing his stories, thanks, and rubbing pretty bodies together to see if they spark.
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
November 12, 2009
Wow... where to start....
Let's start with a basic plot summary. Jessy is a swim coach and is called by another coach about a possible job opportunity. That opportunity turns out to be Mike Gauliet. A natural swimmer whose parents were legends before they died. Jessy has Mike move in with him, and coaches Mike to reach his full potential.
Next let's go over the names. It was really annoying to have Michael switching up names for Jessy. One minute he's called Jessy and the next minute he's being called Coach. It was also confusing during the scenes where there were more than one coach. I kept having to reread to figure out who was talking.
Now let's talk about Michael's grammar. I really think this guy needs to go back to high school and learn the basics of writing. "Jessy didn't, hand working him, mouth stealing his breath." That is NOT a sentence! Neither is "He never had, but he wanted, he would let Jessy in."
Okay, let's move on to the sex/plot ratio. Way out of proportion. Now, I know a lot of people like their romance novels crammed with sex, but I like to have some plot sprinkled in there. It started out decently, with a good strong plot, but then the M/Cs get together and the plot is pretty much forgotten. It just turns into sex, sex, sex with about two or three scenes of plot thrown in as an afterthought.
Overall? I do not recommend this book unless you're looking for crappy smut. If you're like me and poor grammar and punctuation make you wanna get out a red pen, I'd stay far, far away from this novel. Ugh. Someone get this guy an editor. =[
Let's start with a basic plot summary. Jessy is a swim coach and is called by another coach about a possible job opportunity. That opportunity turns out to be Mike Gauliet. A natural swimmer whose parents were legends before they died. Jessy has Mike move in with him, and coaches Mike to reach his full potential.
Next let's go over the names. It was really annoying to have Michael switching up names for Jessy. One minute he's called Jessy and the next minute he's being called Coach. It was also confusing during the scenes where there were more than one coach. I kept having to reread to figure out who was talking.
Now let's talk about Michael's grammar. I really think this guy needs to go back to high school and learn the basics of writing. "Jessy didn't, hand working him, mouth stealing his breath." That is NOT a sentence! Neither is "He never had, but he wanted, he would let Jessy in."
Okay, let's move on to the sex/plot ratio. Way out of proportion. Now, I know a lot of people like their romance novels crammed with sex, but I like to have some plot sprinkled in there. It started out decently, with a good strong plot, but then the M/Cs get together and the plot is pretty much forgotten. It just turns into sex, sex, sex with about two or three scenes of plot thrown in as an afterthought.
Overall? I do not recommend this book unless you're looking for crappy smut. If you're like me and poor grammar and punctuation make you wanna get out a red pen, I'd stay far, far away from this novel. Ugh. Someone get this guy an editor. =[
December 18, 2008
Loved this story. Sean Michael writes my kind of romantic, sweet, yet angsty stories!
Jessy is an amazing swim coach. He is known as a hard ass, but he gets results. When he sees Mike swimming one day at the University pool, the team coach offers Jessy the chance to train him full time. When Jessy and Mike meet, sparks fly. Mike is still fairly young, so Jessy wants to keep things professional, however the more time they spend together, the harder that becomes.
A horrible misunderstanding threatens to tear apart their new friendship as well as Mike's swimming career. Can the two of them work it out so Mike and Jessy can be at the top of their game... in the pool and out?
This story is really really hot. Sean Michael can write some sex! Whew!! Mike is young, so Jessy being more experienced did something for me. There was some "alternative" forms of sex play, but nothing scary or weird. I really enjoyed this sweet AND very steamy novel. I highly recommend it!
xo
Jessy is an amazing swim coach. He is known as a hard ass, but he gets results. When he sees Mike swimming one day at the University pool, the team coach offers Jessy the chance to train him full time. When Jessy and Mike meet, sparks fly. Mike is still fairly young, so Jessy wants to keep things professional, however the more time they spend together, the harder that becomes.
A horrible misunderstanding threatens to tear apart their new friendship as well as Mike's swimming career. Can the two of them work it out so Mike and Jessy can be at the top of their game... in the pool and out?
This story is really really hot. Sean Michael can write some sex! Whew!! Mike is young, so Jessy being more experienced did something for me. There was some "alternative" forms of sex play, but nothing scary or weird. I really enjoyed this sweet AND very steamy novel. I highly recommend it!
xo
June 4, 2018
Personal Best by Sean Michael
4 Stars
Personal Best is book one in the Going for Gold series, this book could be read as a standalone by itself, but it does finish with a slight HFN note with no cliffhanger. Like a lot of books we get from Sean Michael, this book is a mix of sweet romance and smutty dirty sex. I enjoyed reading this story and was pleasantly surprised by the BDSM-lite type aspects that were thrown into this storyline. There was nothing really hardcore, just some hot and dirty scenes between the two men, and wow, does Sean Michael know how to write some of the best and hottest sex in books.
Jessy is a hard-handed swim coach who is given the opportunity to take on swimmer Mike for some 1-on-1 training to get Mike up to where he needs to be performing at swim meets in the hopes he can win enough to make it into the Olympics. Mike is all about the water, he lives and breathes swimming, and when he’s not in the water, he bounces non-stop off the walls and just can’t seem to stay still. And while it’s not explicitly written out, Mike is definitely on the submissive side and really needs someone to give him rules, direction, and structure in life and that’s where Jessy comes in.
I almost felt like I should have been conflicted about this storyline between an older coach and his impressionable younger student, but the way the author writes these characters you cannot help but be intrigued by the perfect dynamic between these two guys. Mike is deliciously needy when it comes to wanting physical contact, and Jessy has the perfect dominating personality to give Mike exactly what he needs in and out of the bedroom. But with some bad decisions and a misunderstanding, everything they are working towards still might not be enough for them to make it through it all together.
There are a lot of Steamy scenes in this book mixed into the storyline and I enjoyed reading them all and liked the progression of the characters' relationship together. I really absolutely hated what happened at around 65-70% in this book, and I wish we would have gotten a little more explanation to that part of the story and how that all played out, but I understand the author's intent in adding it in for a little more depth to the storyline. Overall, I liked this book and look forward to reading book two, to see what happens next in their story.
*** Copy provided to Bayou Book Junkie by Dreamspinner Press for my reading pleasure, a review wasn't a requirement. ***
4 Stars
Personal Best is book one in the Going for Gold series, this book could be read as a standalone by itself, but it does finish with a slight HFN note with no cliffhanger. Like a lot of books we get from Sean Michael, this book is a mix of sweet romance and smutty dirty sex. I enjoyed reading this story and was pleasantly surprised by the BDSM-lite type aspects that were thrown into this storyline. There was nothing really hardcore, just some hot and dirty scenes between the two men, and wow, does Sean Michael know how to write some of the best and hottest sex in books.
Jessy is a hard-handed swim coach who is given the opportunity to take on swimmer Mike for some 1-on-1 training to get Mike up to where he needs to be performing at swim meets in the hopes he can win enough to make it into the Olympics. Mike is all about the water, he lives and breathes swimming, and when he’s not in the water, he bounces non-stop off the walls and just can’t seem to stay still. And while it’s not explicitly written out, Mike is definitely on the submissive side and really needs someone to give him rules, direction, and structure in life and that’s where Jessy comes in.
I almost felt like I should have been conflicted about this storyline between an older coach and his impressionable younger student, but the way the author writes these characters you cannot help but be intrigued by the perfect dynamic between these two guys. Mike is deliciously needy when it comes to wanting physical contact, and Jessy has the perfect dominating personality to give Mike exactly what he needs in and out of the bedroom. But with some bad decisions and a misunderstanding, everything they are working towards still might not be enough for them to make it through it all together.
There are a lot of Steamy scenes in this book mixed into the storyline and I enjoyed reading them all and liked the progression of the characters' relationship together. I really absolutely hated what happened at around 65-70% in this book, and I wish we would have gotten a little more explanation to that part of the story and how that all played out, but I understand the author's intent in adding it in for a little more depth to the storyline. Overall, I liked this book and look forward to reading book two, to see what happens next in their story.
*** Copy provided to Bayou Book Junkie by Dreamspinner Press for my reading pleasure, a review wasn't a requirement. ***
July 18, 2018
A Joyfully Jay review.
3.75 stars
This is a very sexy and sweet sports romance. It might be a little over-the-top sexytimes-wise, especially in light of the current college-athlete sexual abuse scandals. I think the fine line is trod with Jessy being a private coach, not working on the behalf of a college. Instead, he’s paid from an endorsement fund in lieu of direct payment, it seems. Jessy and Mike become each other’s complete world, with brief time-outs for Mike to compete. His race times are steadily improving, and he’s on track to score some major team points for his college.
But, will Mike be able to keep to Jessy’s Spartan regimen? He does try his best, giving up comfort foods like soda, pizza, candy, etc, and sees vast improvement in his mood. And, these two are growing ever closer emotionally. So, the big conflict comes right out of nowhere, but I think it worked for me. To this point, it had all been too calm, especially as Jessy gets no pushback about having a sexual relationship with his athlete. I did suspect the cause of what had happened, but the real resolution is Mike and Jessy rebuilding trust between them. How that manifested, well, it was crystal clear from the start that Mike’s studies are taking a deep backseat to his training; expect at least 75% of this romance to be devoted to the love story. In the end, Mike and Jessy are a solid couple, with a bit of kink to their older-younger relationship. Jessy is all about making Mike reach his potential and satisfying his sexual drive. It was kinda funny how Jessy jokes that he feels like a teen again, as randy as he feels around Mike.
Read Veronica’s review in its entirety here.
3.75 stars
This is a very sexy and sweet sports romance. It might be a little over-the-top sexytimes-wise, especially in light of the current college-athlete sexual abuse scandals. I think the fine line is trod with Jessy being a private coach, not working on the behalf of a college. Instead, he’s paid from an endorsement fund in lieu of direct payment, it seems. Jessy and Mike become each other’s complete world, with brief time-outs for Mike to compete. His race times are steadily improving, and he’s on track to score some major team points for his college.
But, will Mike be able to keep to Jessy’s Spartan regimen? He does try his best, giving up comfort foods like soda, pizza, candy, etc, and sees vast improvement in his mood. And, these two are growing ever closer emotionally. So, the big conflict comes right out of nowhere, but I think it worked for me. To this point, it had all been too calm, especially as Jessy gets no pushback about having a sexual relationship with his athlete. I did suspect the cause of what had happened, but the real resolution is Mike and Jessy rebuilding trust between them. How that manifested, well, it was crystal clear from the start that Mike’s studies are taking a deep backseat to his training; expect at least 75% of this romance to be devoted to the love story. In the end, Mike and Jessy are a solid couple, with a bit of kink to their older-younger relationship. Jessy is all about making Mike reach his potential and satisfying his sexual drive. It was kinda funny how Jessy jokes that he feels like a teen again, as randy as he feels around Mike.
Read Veronica’s review in its entirety here.
May 9, 2020
There is something almost magical about the relationship between an athlete and their coach, at least for me, and Sean Michaels has managed to capture this special aspect of intensely close cooperation when telling the story of Mike and Jessy. It takes a lot of talent and determination to be an athlete, especially one with Olympic ambitions, but it also takes quite some skill and patience to be a good coach. There are quite a few examples of real-world athletes who have ended up in a super-close relationship with their coaches, some of them even becoming lovers – and I am talking about consenting adults here, just to be clear. While Mike and Jessy are fictional characters, the elements that enable them to be successful, like their complementary personalities, are very real. By the time Sean Michael adds romance, love, lots of sex, and some kink, this first book in the ‘Personal Best’ series is very hot, easy to read, and as enjoyable for me as when I read the first edition many years ago.
Please find my full review on Rainbow Book Reviews.
Please find my full review on Rainbow Book Reviews.
maybe
March 6, 2019Price drop at the zon.com right now: https://smile.amazon.com/Personal-Bes...
May 22, 2019
I’ve read this author before. This is a mm contemporary story about a young swimmer and his coach. No real connection with the main characters. I love this author’s work but not this series for me.
September 9, 2018
Full review available at: https://optimumm.blog/2018/06/08/revi...
Personal Best is the first book in the Personal Best series by Sean Michael. I liked this book. When I was growing up, I was on a swim team in elementary school. I was always envious of the kids that could dive into the water and keep their goggles in place. Mine always rolled down and so I would have to do the swim meets without goggles to protect my eyes. I can remember how much my eyes would sting from the chlorine that was added to the water by the end of the meet and being a natural blonde my hair was always tinged green. But I loved being part of the team and learning how to do the flip kicks off of the walls and how to do all of the different strokes properly. I kind of wish that I had kept doing it, but I didn’t have the natural talent to compete. Maybe if I had Mike’s natural talent and a private trainer like Jessy, I would have stuck with it. This book had a great plot and plenty of sex scenes to go with it. If you are looking for a book that is plot heavy with only a little bit of heat than this book isn’t for you. However, if you like your books on the explicit side with just enough plot to link the steamy scenes together than this book is for you.
I liked Mike. He has natural ability and a great attitude to go with it. His parents were also Olympic swimmers, but he lost them in a boating accident when he was young and went to live with his aunt. He’s now in college on a full scholarship. He’s been swimming for as long as he can remember. He has a lot of excess energy, and he uses swimming as an outlet for it and when he can’t sleep. His swim team coach can see his potential and calls his friend Jessy Turner, an up and coming hardass private trainer. Jessy restructures Mike’s life and cuts down on his classes so that he can focus on his swimming. He also puts him on a strict regimen of diet and exercise that Mike resents until he realizes that the changes are making him a better swimmer. I would have issues if somebody took away my chocolate, caffeine, and junk food also.
I also liked Jessy. He has a no-nonsense attitude that hides how much it hurts when his students end up leaving him. He finds Mike irresistible but tries to keep his distance and remain professional by focusing all of his attention on what’s best for Mike and his career. The two of them try and resist their attraction to each other, but it really is a losing battle. They just have way too much chemistry to stay apart and living together doesn’t help the situation any.
When a party leads to a misunderstanding, will their relationship and their sports careers survive the strain? You’re going to have to read the book to find out. At the end of the book is a preview of the next book in the series and it sounds really good.
I can’t wait for it to come out so that I can read it.
***The ARC was provided by Dreamspinner Press. My review is an honest opinion of the book ***
Personal Best is the first book in the Personal Best series by Sean Michael. I liked this book. When I was growing up, I was on a swim team in elementary school. I was always envious of the kids that could dive into the water and keep their goggles in place. Mine always rolled down and so I would have to do the swim meets without goggles to protect my eyes. I can remember how much my eyes would sting from the chlorine that was added to the water by the end of the meet and being a natural blonde my hair was always tinged green. But I loved being part of the team and learning how to do the flip kicks off of the walls and how to do all of the different strokes properly. I kind of wish that I had kept doing it, but I didn’t have the natural talent to compete. Maybe if I had Mike’s natural talent and a private trainer like Jessy, I would have stuck with it. This book had a great plot and plenty of sex scenes to go with it. If you are looking for a book that is plot heavy with only a little bit of heat than this book isn’t for you. However, if you like your books on the explicit side with just enough plot to link the steamy scenes together than this book is for you.
I liked Mike. He has natural ability and a great attitude to go with it. His parents were also Olympic swimmers, but he lost them in a boating accident when he was young and went to live with his aunt. He’s now in college on a full scholarship. He’s been swimming for as long as he can remember. He has a lot of excess energy, and he uses swimming as an outlet for it and when he can’t sleep. His swim team coach can see his potential and calls his friend Jessy Turner, an up and coming hardass private trainer. Jessy restructures Mike’s life and cuts down on his classes so that he can focus on his swimming. He also puts him on a strict regimen of diet and exercise that Mike resents until he realizes that the changes are making him a better swimmer. I would have issues if somebody took away my chocolate, caffeine, and junk food also.
I also liked Jessy. He has a no-nonsense attitude that hides how much it hurts when his students end up leaving him. He finds Mike irresistible but tries to keep his distance and remain professional by focusing all of his attention on what’s best for Mike and his career. The two of them try and resist their attraction to each other, but it really is a losing battle. They just have way too much chemistry to stay apart and living together doesn’t help the situation any.
When a party leads to a misunderstanding, will their relationship and their sports careers survive the strain? You’re going to have to read the book to find out. At the end of the book is a preview of the next book in the series and it sounds really good.
I can’t wait for it to come out so that I can read it.
***The ARC was provided by Dreamspinner Press. My review is an honest opinion of the book ***
January 20, 2011
Phew! It was brutal for me to read this. I had to push myself to finish reading it. The only reason I'm not giving this 1 star is because it got a little better for me towards the very end.
I picked this book back up at around the half way mark. It's been over a year since I read the first half so I don't remember much about it. Regardless, I'm pretty sure the whole book in general is just sex. Sex, sex, sex. And quite vocal sex at that. Lol
I'd say about 80% of the book is sex. Not that there's anything wrong with that, it's just not my cup of tea anymore. I like my books with more plot than sex and unfortunately this isn't one of those.
Still, I did like the characters. Mike and Jessy are pretty likable ones even if they like to express their love and ownership a lot. What plot there is, I really liked. I'm partial to swimming and diving because I used to do both which is what interested me about this series in the first place. I would have really loved this story if there was less sex and more details.
Overall, it's not a bad book if you don't mind a majority of sex, otherwise, I'd advise you skip it.
I picked this book back up at around the half way mark. It's been over a year since I read the first half so I don't remember much about it. Regardless, I'm pretty sure the whole book in general is just sex. Sex, sex, sex. And quite vocal sex at that. Lol
I'd say about 80% of the book is sex. Not that there's anything wrong with that, it's just not my cup of tea anymore. I like my books with more plot than sex and unfortunately this isn't one of those.
Still, I did like the characters. Mike and Jessy are pretty likable ones even if they like to express their love and ownership a lot. What plot there is, I really liked. I'm partial to swimming and diving because I used to do both which is what interested me about this series in the first place. I would have really loved this story if there was less sex and more details.
Overall, it's not a bad book if you don't mind a majority of sex, otherwise, I'd advise you skip it.
May 9, 2020
There is something almost magical about the relationship between an athlete and their coach, at least for me, and Sean Michaels has managed to capture this special aspect of intensely close cooperation when telling the story of Mike and Jessy. It takes a lot of talent and determination to be an athlete, especially one with Olympic ambitions, but it also takes quite some skill and patience to be a good coach. There are quite a few examples of real-world athletes who have ended up in a super-close relationship with their coaches, some of them even becoming lovers – and I am talking about consenting adults here, just to be clear. While Mike and Jessy are fictional characters, the elements that enable them to be successful, like their complementary personalities, are very real. By the time Sean Michael adds romance, love, lots of sex, and some kink, this first book in the ‘Personal Best’ series is very hot, easy to read, and as enjoyable for me as when I read the first edition many years ago.
Please find my full review of the third edition on Rainbow Book Reviews.
Please find my full review of the third edition on Rainbow Book Reviews.
March 28, 2019
This is a nice feel-good book. Lots and lots of sex. Pretty hot and interesting sex, for the most part, though it gets a bit repetitive around the middle there. But I liked that there where BDSM elements without going for the D/s motive. Also: breath play! All very happy, randy and sex positive.
The plot is more of a side-project. It tends to run past very fast to make room for more sexy times, but the characters are very likeable, and Mike is just a super cute, energetic puppy. I loved him, even if both characters are a bit one-dimensional. But I thought it kinda worked with the setting. They are professional athletes, the sport is everything, I can buy that.
It's pretty drama free until a big blowup in the last third that gets resolved reasonably fast. And even though it's a three part series there is no cliffhanger or any unresolved issues. Can be read without having to read the other parts.
The plot is more of a side-project. It tends to run past very fast to make room for more sexy times, but the characters are very likeable, and Mike is just a super cute, energetic puppy. I loved him, even if both characters are a bit one-dimensional. But I thought it kinda worked with the setting. They are professional athletes, the sport is everything, I can buy that.
It's pretty drama free until a big blowup in the last third that gets resolved reasonably fast. And even though it's a three part series there is no cliffhanger or any unresolved issues. Can be read without having to read the other parts.
August 23, 2018
This book was short, but a slog. There were way too many sex scenes, to the point that I began skimming. The plot consisted of Mike swimming, and Mike and Jessy eating or talking about eating. It kind of felt like every other Sean Michael book I've read. I know it's a reprint of a book he published in 2004, but I was hoping for something different.
March 17, 2019
I might have enjoyed this more if Mike was just a few years older. It felt like Jessy was taking advantage of him. Also, I skipped a lot of pages after the 25% mark. It seemed like just a few storyline paragraphs were sandwiched between sex scenes and repetitious dialogue.
April 14, 2019
Personal Best: by Sean Michael
Great story sometimes the language spoilt it but I loved the Mike and Jessy moved together. The love they shared was magical well worth the read, looking forward to reading more.
Great story sometimes the language spoilt it but I loved the Mike and Jessy moved together. The love they shared was magical well worth the read, looking forward to reading more.
April 11, 2022
DNFing it at 30%. This is mostly erotica, no build up to the relationship and somehow a BJ has the same risks than penetrative sex without a condom. That's when I tapped out.
April 1, 2019
very smutty.
June 5, 2018
This was a decent read by Sean Michael but not one of my favorites. I have come to expect more from Sean Michael after all the books that I have read by him.
This is a book about a guy named Mike having one thing that he truly loves. Swimming. He has done so for years and is really good at it. It started out as a way to tire himself out as a kid after his parents was killed and he moved in with his aunt and uncle. Therhing about Mike is he has a lot of energy and it burst through him so much so that when he finally does crash, he is out.
The fact that Mike is a great swimmer has not gone unnoticed either. A new coach approachs Mike and offers to coach him and help him reach his goals of Nationals and hopefully even farther. The new coach’s name is Jessy. Jessy is not an easy coach because he has rules and he means for all those rules to be followed to the T. This includes Mike having to give up Dr Pepper and all other caffeine. He also has to give up sweets, no sex a week before a competition, he has to the exact schedule he has for training and he has to drop down to two classes in college.
Mike accepts even though he is not happy about everything. One other rule Mike has to abide by is he had to move in with Jessy. That was not something that was easy for Mike because he has a hard time sleeping in a new place. When Jessy realizes this Jessy offers to help Mike out. This leads to things becoming difficult for Jessy because he is definitely attracted to the younger man. Mike does not try to hide his attraction to Jessy. But both men try their best to not act on their attraction.
This all changes on Halloween which also happens to be Mikes birthday. This is when things change between Mike and Jessy. This is when both men decide even though it is probably not the smartest thing to do, they give in to their attraction. From this point on, they are no longer just coach and student they are lovers.
From this point in the book I made it to a little over half way through the book before I lost the whole story concept to this book. It is as if the story turns into nothing but non stop sex. Now don’t get me wrong, I love a book with good sexy scenes in it but it was as if that is all this book was from that point on. I lost the whole story behind all the sex. For that reason I gave his book a theee rating. I will continue to read books by Sean Michael in the future.
Was given this galley copy for free for an open and honest review
This is a book about a guy named Mike having one thing that he truly loves. Swimming. He has done so for years and is really good at it. It started out as a way to tire himself out as a kid after his parents was killed and he moved in with his aunt and uncle. Therhing about Mike is he has a lot of energy and it burst through him so much so that when he finally does crash, he is out.
The fact that Mike is a great swimmer has not gone unnoticed either. A new coach approachs Mike and offers to coach him and help him reach his goals of Nationals and hopefully even farther. The new coach’s name is Jessy. Jessy is not an easy coach because he has rules and he means for all those rules to be followed to the T. This includes Mike having to give up Dr Pepper and all other caffeine. He also has to give up sweets, no sex a week before a competition, he has to the exact schedule he has for training and he has to drop down to two classes in college.
Mike accepts even though he is not happy about everything. One other rule Mike has to abide by is he had to move in with Jessy. That was not something that was easy for Mike because he has a hard time sleeping in a new place. When Jessy realizes this Jessy offers to help Mike out. This leads to things becoming difficult for Jessy because he is definitely attracted to the younger man. Mike does not try to hide his attraction to Jessy. But both men try their best to not act on their attraction.
This all changes on Halloween which also happens to be Mikes birthday. This is when things change between Mike and Jessy. This is when both men decide even though it is probably not the smartest thing to do, they give in to their attraction. From this point on, they are no longer just coach and student they are lovers.
From this point in the book I made it to a little over half way through the book before I lost the whole story concept to this book. It is as if the story turns into nothing but non stop sex. Now don’t get me wrong, I love a book with good sexy scenes in it but it was as if that is all this book was from that point on. I lost the whole story behind all the sex. For that reason I gave his book a theee rating. I will continue to read books by Sean Michael in the future.
Was given this galley copy for free for an open and honest review
April 19, 2011
Other reviewers have said it already but I have to agree. The ratio of sex to plot is off here. Of course this is erotica or stroke fiction or one handed reading but still, a bit more creativity was called for.
The story starts off well enough but there's precious little to keep it fresh and interesting. The sex gets repetetive and even introducing some erotic strangulation and some lite bondage doesn't really tittilate all the way to the end of the book.
The story needed a few more fresh ideas. Perhaps some dramtatic tension, and some character development beyond the first few broad brush strokes would have made for a more interesting novel. The main characters were merely two-dimensional and the supporting cast was even less developed.
Again, everyone has their own tastes and they're certainly entitled to them. Some folks may even find this the perfect novel but I like my erotic novels to have more plotline and character development than a trashy First-Hand magazine story.
The story starts off well enough but there's precious little to keep it fresh and interesting. The sex gets repetetive and even introducing some erotic strangulation and some lite bondage doesn't really tittilate all the way to the end of the book.
The story needed a few more fresh ideas. Perhaps some dramtatic tension, and some character development beyond the first few broad brush strokes would have made for a more interesting novel. The main characters were merely two-dimensional and the supporting cast was even less developed.
Again, everyone has their own tastes and they're certainly entitled to them. Some folks may even find this the perfect novel but I like my erotic novels to have more plotline and character development than a trashy First-Hand magazine story.
September 20, 2012
3.5
I did like this book but the ratio of sex vs plot was way off.
August 18, 2011
3.5 stars
August 7, 2012
Probably more of 3.5. A little more story and a little less sex and it would have been a solid 4. Still a perfect book while watching the Olympics.
May 2, 2019
A note on the premise. ..I think it would be tough to defend this against a sexual misconduct charge...a teenager, albeit over the age of consenr, over whom you have power as a coach. Yeah. not cool.
But, I suppose I'm complicit here because I continued reading.
But, I suppose I'm complicit here because I continued reading.
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