What they want most may be the one thing out of their reach.
Canadian rock climber Spencer Woolery has been training for the Olympics since before climbing was an Olympic sport. Dedication, determination, and strict adherence to a rigorous training regimen have gotten him to the summer games, but are they enough to elevate him to the podium? He’ll do whatever it takes to give himself the best shot, unlike American Flynn Loren, a.k.a. Flyin’ Flynn, who seems to succeed without making any effort at all.
Flynn loves climbing, but he hates being a professional climber. He’d rather be climbing real rock—outside in the sun having fun with his friends—than stuck indoors sweating over times and points and strategies. And he’d rather win Spencer’s heart than a medal, but that prize continues to elude him.
Against the backdrop of Olympic Village in Tokyo, Flynn and Spencer compete against each other and eighteen other men to see who’ll take home a medal and who’ll win something even greater than gold.
Note: this book takes place in an alternative universe where the Tokyo Olympics happened in the summer of 2020 as planned.
“JUST A LITTLE,” Flynn prompted. He’d gotten his horse to water, but he couldn’t make him drink. “One tiny taste of mine.” He held out one of his mochi ice cream balls in an effort to tempt Spencer into trying it. Everyone else had bought a treat, even Mika who weighed about ninety-four pounds. Flynn didn’t know how much Spencer weighed, but whatever it was, it was perfect. Shame that professional comps had a shirts-on rule.
“You make bad influence,” Mika said with a wag of her finger. “He eat what coach say eat.”
“But he promised.” Flynn tried making puppy dog eyes at Spencer, and it actually worked. Spencer reached across the table and took the entire mochi ball from him. Good thing he’d bought two. He took a bite of the one he had left. “Ahhh. Cold.” And hard. He’d practically snapped a tooth off.
Mika giggled. “Ice cream.”
“Yeah, ice cream. I get it. We like ours a little softer back home.”
READ MORE“The coating keeps it colder, probably.” Spencer had nibbled into his ball without breaking anything or screaming loudly enough to attract the attention of everyone in the store. “It’s good. The covering’s sort of… weird. Too chewy.”
“You’ve got some—” Flynn brushed at his own mouth to indicate where some of the starch from the coating had come off on Spencer, and Spencer licked around his lips in a circle that was about all Flynn could take without jumping him. He got out his phone and snapped a photo of Spencer with a mouth full of ice cream ball.
“Where are you posting that?”
“Instagram. Hashtag balls-are-amazing.”
Spencer rolled his eyes. “Then you’re answering the text I get from my coach in the middle of the night when he sees it.”
“Let’s make it worth it then.” He turned his phone around to get himself in the shot too and posted that picture with the hashtag breakfast-of-champions.
COLLAPSEJoan on Amazon wrote:As always this author delivers incredibly realistic characters. I love that both Spencer and Flynn showed very different attitudes toward competition. The relationship between the two competitors had such depth to it. Having the backstory really helped draw that out and give the readers more perspective. Tanya Chris’ world-building was intricate and vivid. It felt very much like I was right there.
It was a captivating story that hit its mark. I fell in love with the characters and I enjoyed the unique take. I also appreciate how the author wrote rock climbing so that I could follow along with it, as I have no experience in that sport.
Macbandit on Amazon wrote:Once again Tanya Chris has delivered a wonderful love story that takes place at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. This is a love story between Spencer and Flynn that has been in the making since they first met years ago when Flynn was 17 years old and Spencer 19. Their chosen career path made them competitors and the opportunity to finally get together and express how they felt was the journey the reader was taken on in this story. The friendly competition and team sportsmanship were demonstrated between the individual climbers and you could tell it was a tight knit community. Add in the disapproving coach and snotty teammate and you have the impediments to their love story. But love is love and the Olympic competition must go on with surprising results. Spencer and Flynn get their HEA and I loved how the story ended. Definitely a must read!
This author has to be one of the most versatile writers. This is the first I’ve read of her mostly vanilla contemporary mm romances. I love her dark sexy romances the best but I have to say she knows how to put plenty of emotion and lovable characters into this story. These two climbers, Spencer and Flynn, have had an attraction to each other since they met when they were teenagers. It isn’t until the Olympics that they act on that attraction. I really enjoyed that while there is competition between the climbers there is mostly respect and friendship. I like the way she also points out even the great athletes have doubts about what they are doing. I highly recommend this author. I have never read a book of hers that I didn’t enjoy.