Late year buzz book this Training Season" is. And for good reason. It seriously delivered the goods - well developed characters, angst for those who crave the ordeal (aka me), hot kinky sex, solid plot and strong story telling.

My mind might short circuit during this review, so bear with me. I was going to go one way with this review but eh, I'm just going to barrel through. This book made my body want to cry but I couldn't. I thought I disliked certain aspects but looking at the story as a whole, I didn't. There were some minor hesitations hence why I am rating this 4.5 stars.

If ever there was a theme song for this book, it "Edge of Glory" by Lady Gaga. I've been singing it to myself while reading this book because it is just the perfect song.



A figure skater and a rancher? As a romantic couple? Huh? What? That's like choosing two random things like say a strawberry and a lamp to get together and make a romance. Because they have nothing in common. I read the blurb, thought to myself how in the hell is this going to work? But it DID! Who knows maybe strawberry covered lamps might be the recipe du jour in the future (probably not but rock with me).

Was this an epic love story? Mmm...not for me but it might be for some. I'm not rehashing the blurb or summarizing the plot because at this point, you've probably read tons of reviews. They are all great and showcase something different that stood out.

You have two opposites that on paper do not go together but in this story, they make it work. A flamboyant ice skater with Olympics dreams and a ruggedly handsome rancher who's actually gay and not in the closet. And while I love good GFY I am happy this was not the case in this story.

So let me just get to the stars of this program, huh?

Matty Marcus: You are one fine mess. I hope you know that!

I didn't like him that much in the beginning. And as I kept reading I think the reason why was because I possess a lot of similar qualities. Matty is one determined, selfish, lovable, neurotic, damaged, ball of glitter.



Matty after reading this book, I would not change one thing. You were who you were throughout it ALL and that should be appreciated! I might like you some, you know Bill's type of like for Angus. ;D

Rob Lovely:



No really...you are one of my fave heroes. You are fucking...I- *smh*



He possessed the qualities I love in a Dom. He knew what his sub needed to the bitter end, he was patient, not a macho alpha a-hole. He was...ROB I MOTHERFUCKING LOVE YOU!!! YOU ARE FUCKING-I-CAN'T PROCESS THE WORDS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



I think I loved Rob pretty quickly even his porn star name. Matty it took some time. He was not obnoxious. I just had to learn to appreciate his specialness. He is special. And while I could gush about the kink (alright maybe a little: bondage, CBT, breath play, natural D/s for the motherfucking WIN!) I hesitated with the initial breath play incident, because I didn't think their trust level was at that point in their relationship. I didn't need them signing a contract. Maybe if I had one more scene with them working to the edge play. It was a hot scene, totally agree. And maybe if they did this a chapter later, I wouldn't even nitpick about it.

And Ben. He's a great kid but in the beginning he came off older than his age. Other than these two niggles, I had no problem with how the story ended. At one point, I actually *gulps* didn't want the two to reconcile. They made me that neurotic. (Don't worry I got over it quick) Everything had its purpose, everything fit even when I though there's no way anything happy can come out of this pairing.

*happy sigh*

So in conclusion:



















equals

Congratulations, "Training Season", you've skated your way onto my 2013 favorites list.

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Thank you once more to my GR Secret Santa!! You are a prince (or princess) among men!







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*fist pump* I absolutely ADORED this book! Where do I even start? Ok, first off, I'm a pretty big figure skating fan, so my interest was peaked just from the blurb. Ice Castles was a favorite movie as a child, I rocked a Dorothy Hamill haircut during the 1976 Olympics, The Cutting Edge came out right after I graduated from college and I was living in an apartment with 3 other women and we wore out our VHS copy of that movie together over late nights with pizza and beer and one of my absolute favorite gay soap couples was Roman and Deniz, a gay figure skating pair from Germany. So, yep, pretty psyched!

[b:Training Season|18781329|Training Season|Leta Blake|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1384216250s/18781329.jpg|26690961] is a beautiful romance set in the gorgeous open skies of Montana country. Matty Marcus, disgraced Olympic figure skater, is sent to Whitefish, Montana to re-train for the next Olympic games and basically get his head back together after a devastating and publicly humiliating loss at the last Olympics. This is his last chance, given his advanced age of 22. There he meets and quickly falls in love (against his better judgment) with 30 year old rancher Rob Lovely (best name EVER??) a charming, delightful soul with a bright, happy 12 year old son named Ben, who is interested in figure skating himself and also happens to contains some god-given talent. Both Matty and Rob proceed with their relationship knowing that Matty will leave after his 6 month stay in Montana and continue with his skating career and participate in the next Olympics which is still 2 years away. The fact that Rob shares custody with Ben's mother makes it impossible to even consider Rob going with Matty, even if he wanted to. So, we know early on there is gonna be some heartbreak. *sob*

Pretty basic boy meets boy, boy falls in love with boy, boys must separate for the greater good of both their career aspirations and their families, right? Um WRONG! What stood out in this book and what it did to make my fuck yeah, 5 stars shelf, was the passion between these two and how author [a:Leta Blake|6425833|Leta Blake|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/authors/1340838945p2/6425833.jpg] turned some of the dirtiest, kinkiest BDSM sex acts into the hottest, most loving scenes I have ever read. I'm talking screen melting here folks! Because I am so anal about spoilers, and because I really believe you will enjoy the story more if you go into reading this without knowing some of these scenes before hand, I'm not going to list them here, but I will let you know that a few of them I actually would run, screaming from in a normal reading situation. Full-on gross-out mode! But not here. It was fucking HOT. AS. HELL. *fans self* And this just put that fuck yeah, 5 stars cherry on this delicious sundae.

I'm HIGHLY RECOMMENDING this one to any and all fans of M/M romance. It was that good.

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