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?
I am a huge figure skating fan, so when I saw this book come
up on NetGalley, I jumped on it. It didn’t take me too long to figure out the
main character, Matty, is inspired by Johnny Weir--one of my all time favorite
male skaters. It made me love the book a little bit more, actually. As soon as
I finished reading, I hit up YouTube to re-watch some of Johnny’s best
performances. No man has ever matched his artistry on the ice. But Matty isn’t
Johnny, and this is fiction, so enough waxing poetic about J.W.
When the book opens, Matty is at a turning point in his
career. Just coming of a disastrous performance at the Olympics and a rough
injury, he retreats to Montana to get his head back on straight and focus on
his comeback. Rob is the hot rancher next door, who in addition to being “practically
perfect in every way” is also gay. I
found the character of Matty to be well-rounded and full of depth and flaws. And
while I liked Rob, he never felt real to me. He was too good, too sweet. It
made the scenes where he plays the Dom unrealistic.
Yes, I did say Dom. Nowhere in this book description does it
mention this is a BDSM relationship. Not that I mind reading about BDSM, but
there were two things that Rob did that made me squeamish, and readers should
be warned (The corn maze and the bathroom. That’s all I’ll say.). Other than
those two things, I found the romance sweet and sensual. My favorite scene was
one where Rob threw Matty into his jumps. I felt like I was there in this
beautiful place, watching this beautiful love story play out.
The supporting characters were well-written. Elliot was a
party boy with a heart. Bill and Angus were fabulous comic relief. Matty’s
family were way more supportive than mine would have ever been. Even Rob’s
ex-wife Anja was cool. In general, I’m not a fan of overly precocious children,
so there were a few scenes where Rob’s son Ben bugged me, but he grew on me.
The best part of this book is the lesson it teaches about
the balance of dreams and reality. It’s something I think we all have to deal
with at some point in our lives. Watching Matty learn it is rough, but
necessary.
Overall, I give TRAINING SEASON...
Plot - 4/2
bookmarks
Character development
- 4 bookmarks (Again, Rob needed to be a little more human, but Matty was
fab!)
Love story - 5
bookmarks
Sex Scenes - 4
bookmarks
Dream cast (otherwise known as who I
pictured while reading) - Johnny Weir, of course (Matty), Alan Ritchson
(Rob), Kevin McHale (Elliot), Michael Fassbender (Bill), Diana Argon (Anja)
