REVIEW: 'Training Season' by Leta Blake
Title: Training Season
Series: Training Season #1
Author: Leta Blake
Published: December 3, 2013
Publisher: Self-Published
Cover Artist: Dar Albert/Wicked Smart Designs
Genre: Contemporary Romance; Erotic Romance
Length: 288 Pages
Tags: Gay; M/M; Angst; Athlete/Sport: Figure Skater; Olympics; BDSM; Comfort/Hurt; Disorder: Eating; HFN; Kink: Bondage, Breathplay, Edging, Orgasm Denial, Spanking
About Training Season
Unquestionably talented figure skater Matty Marcus is willing to sacrifice everything for his Olympic dream, but his lack of discipline cost him the gold once before. Now the pressure’s on. He needs a coach who can keep him in line, but top coaches don't come cheap, and Matty can't afford to stay in the game no matter how badly he wants to win.
When a lucrative house-sitting gig brings him to rural Montana, Matty does his best to maintain his training regimen. Local residents turn out to be surprisingly tolerant of his flamboyant style, especially handsome young rancher Rob Lovely, who proves to be much more than a cowboy stereotype. Just as Matty requires a firm hand to perform his best on the ice, Rob shows him how strong he can be when he relinquishes control in the bedroom. With new-found self-assurance, he drives himself harder to go straight to the top.
But competition has a timetable, and to achieve his Olympic dream, Matty will have to join his new coach in New York City, leaving Rob behind. Now he must face the ultimate test. Has he truly learned how to win—on and off the ice—during his training season?
5 HEART READ
REVIEW:
If you’re watching the Olympics, wondering what groundwork is laid to execute those exquisite skating routines, Leta Blake’s Training Season gives us the very low down.
Without being sentimental about the sport, she depicts one man’s journey through soaring highs and excruciating lows.
In book one of the Training Season series, Matty Marcus, on the mend from a bad Olympic performance and subsequent injury, is sponsored for six months by wealthy benefactors in exchange for house-sitting and caring for their two horses in Montana. Determined to exercise back into shape, in order to woo the best Olympic coach, Matty never expects to find love.
Rancher Rob Lovely, a self-proclaimed “simple man,” can’t believe he has attracted the beautiful make-up-wearing, glittery Matty. Rob is equally attracted to Matty’s capacity to give his all in every endeavor. Besides, Matty is very kind to Rob’s son, Ben, an amateur skater, which Rob sees as the true test of character.
Matty is the type of man who says, “’I didn’t mean to scream like that. It wasn’t very ladylike of me.”’ Unfortunately, Matty’s flamboyance has made him the target of judges.
Their scorn has bitten deeply into his self-respect, but he’s not about to give in. Instead, he’s so over-controlled, from cleaning to food intake, that it’s a relief when Rob tells him, “‘I’ll take care of you. Let me decide what you need.’”
The men’s chemistry, Matty’s submission and Rob’s calm, healing dominance are portrayed more tenderly than most traditional romances.
For example, when Rob restrains Matty, he does so by swaddling him in a blanket. Readers know this is the first time Matty has allowed anyone to protect him.
But, as Matty explains, he already has a boyfriend. “‘It’s a pretty intense relationship… His name is Figure Skating.’” As a reader I felt as trapped as this couple, too in love with them to stop reading, yet anticipating Rob’s pain, when Matty’s first love will call him back.
Leta helps readers tolerate subjects like planned food deprivation with humor and truth. On the one hand, Rob tells Matty, “’Unlike scent, which finds your nose without any effort on your part, you must use this ingenious utensil to bring the soup to your mouth in order to taste it.’”
On the other hand, though Matty thinks, “It was so good he wanted to fill a bathtub with it and get a straw,” he resists. Blake explains, “Any time he ate anything off his diet, he felt guilty. Like he was letting not only himself down, but other people, too, because if he didn’t skate well, they suffered. Not just his immediate family, but his friends, his coaches-everyone he knew.” How can one human survive such pressure?
Matty must face tough truths. “’You can’t win if you’re not willing to lose, Matty,’” he tells himself, recalling what Rob had said to him. “’Remember that you’re brave enough to hurt. Don’t let yourself give less than you’re capable of giving.’”
And while Rob may seem to be rescuing Matty, with his calm demeanor, if Matty always gives his best, can Rob do less?
Written in four parts, Training Season covers all its elements to perfection. We feel drawn into the men’s dilemma’s, believe in the ways their personalities push past safety boundaries, laugh at their antics, and sob at their failures.
Ultimately Matty Marcus is much like Leta Blake, herself, putting her all into this book, letting us soar, flipping our tummies and twisting our hearts as she paints courage in many colors, each person depicting his or her dignity in different ways.
Training Season is an excellent complement to the Olympic games, and was a 2014 Goodreads Nominee for Best Book of the Year, Best BDSM, Best Athletes/Coaches, Best Kink/Fetish and Best Cover Art, give it a read and find out why.
A copy of Training Season was provided to Kimmers’ Erotic Book Banter, by Leta Blake, at no cost and with no expectations in return. We offer our fair and honest opinion on behalf of our readers.
Meet the Authors
Author of the bestselling book Smoky Mountain Dreams and the fan favorite Training Season, Leta Blake's educational and professional background is in psychology and finance, respectively. However, her passion has always been for writing. She enjoys crafting romance stories and exploring the psyches of made up people. At home in the Southern U.S., Leta works hard at achieving balance between her day job, her writing, and her family.
For more from Leta be sure and visit her website!
