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REVIEW: 'Training Complex' by Leta Blake


Title: Training Complex

Series: Training Season #2

Author: Leta Blake

Published: May 10, 2015

Publisher: Self-Published

Cover Artist: Dar Albert/Wicked Smart Designs

Genre: Contemporary Romance; Erotic Romance

Length: 362 Pages

Tags: Gay; M/M; Angst; Athlete/Sport: Figure Skater; Olympics; BDSM; Comfort/Hurt; Disorder: Eating; Established Couple; HEA; Kink: Bondage, Breathplay, Chastity, Edging, Genital Torture, Object Penetration, Orgasm Denial; Sex Toys, Spanking, Whipping/Caning

About Training Complex

Buckle up – Matty’s back!

Figure skater Matty Marcus didn’t capture Olympic gold, but he won rancher Rob Lovely’s heart.

After Rob sold his ranch and Matty hung up his skates, they started a new life together in New York City. Now Matty has taken on a fresh challenge as a figure skating coach, and Rob’s second career as a physical therapist should be everything he’s dreamed of. But in the brutal heat of their third summer in the city, Rob yearns for the wide-open country, and the intensity of city life awakens Matty’s demons.

Matty asks for increasingly intense BDSM scenes, and his disordered eating and erratic behavior ramp up the stakes. Rob struggles to stay in control, and after a well-intentioned anniversary gift goes awry, he still thinks he can handle the fallout. But the concrete jungle is closing in and his coping skills are unraveling.

Their love is deep, but Rob will have to admit the truth about what he really wants before they both tumble into chaos.

4 HEART READ

REVIEW:

In Training Complex Leta Blake accomplishes what few authors attempt. She chronicles a couple’s difficulties transitioning from “happily ever after” to “realistically ever after.”

Let me start with a caveat. Training Season, the first in Blake’s series by the same name, is spectacular. It’s a soaring, gentle tale of compassion, tough love, and the strength it takes to succeed and fail, both in career and love. Readers will cheat themselves if they don’t read it first.

Matty Marcus, Olympic skater, has retired from competitive figure skating, moving to New York to be assistant coach to the demeaning woman who once trained him. The situation resurrects Matty’s old struggle, the belief he hasn’t lived up to his potential, as an athlete, coach, or even as a mate.

“’I just want to be the best at something. Anything really. And let’s be honest, I’m not the best in the city at anything, Rob. Not skating, or coaching, or being beautiful,’” he tells his partner. Matty’s one illusion of control is limiting his food intake.

Rob Lovely, is terribly worried about Matty’s mental state, but hopes their BDSM scenes can solve Matty’s problems. “Matty’s eating disorder had its claws in, and the only thing that kept it from winning was a calm refusal to back down in the face of it. It was never easy. But Rob would win, and if he kept winning, maybe they could keep this thing at bay until they could afford to get professional help,” Blake tells readers.

Of course, it’s a recipe for disaster. Matty, wanting Rob to punish him for misperceived failures, asks for increasingly intense scenes. Desperately missing the open space Montana gave him to re-fuel, Rob is too off-centered to see their way out. And, as a Dom, he blames himself.

Ultimately, Blake shows why people can only change themselves. Yet she also demonstrates how love is a crucial part of the process, how support and gentleness, toughness and sacrifice can motivate growth.

I fell in love with Matty and Rob in Training Season. Training Complex adds depth as both men face demons. Their scenes are brilliant psychological play and I marveled at Blake’s creativity in setting them up. It is also a great follow up novel as we learn much more about Rob’s internal process.

Finally, Training Complex examines the devil called “perfectionism,” the pursuit of empty external accolades. Instead, Blake suggests, true happiness comes from acceptance, even of life’s suffering. “’Remember the key to everything in this life is this: when you resist you’re fucked. So don’t resist,’” Rob reminds Matty.

And I didn’t. I happily reread Training Season and Training Complex in anticipation of the Olympic games.

Both books are delightfully insightful and will definitely enhance your appreciation of what our fine athletes must endure, the strength it takes to compete, and the joys of allowing our bodies to sing for us.

A copy of Training Complex 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!

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