~ Aiming High ~ Excerpt + Review

Aiming High

by Tanya Chris
Published by Tanya Chris Publishing (self-published)

M/M Sports Romance, 58K words

Available 7/14/20 from Amazon in ebook and paperback. Eligible for Kindle Unlimited.

Universal Amazon link: http://mybook.to/aiminghigh

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/54267020-aiming-high

Blurb:

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.

Excerpt:

“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.”

“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.

About the Author

Tanya Chris writes feminist-friendly romance in a variety of sub-genres and pairings--most especially M/M. Born on the West Coast and raised on the East Coast, she's fact-based but thirsty for justice, and her books often include an examination of a current social issue, even when they're set in the past. As a lifelong genre-hopping reader herself, she admires character-driven work with a message, regardless of the form it takes.

 

Tanya is an avid rock climber, a long-distance runner, and a participant in her local community theater where she has tackled most roles, including playwright, actor, director, producer, and stage manager. Her travels, both for climbing trips and for cultural exploration, have brought her to places as fascinating as Egypt and as beautiful as the Dolomites, though there's no place like home.

 

Tanya is best known to readers for having written Aftercare and to writers for the quote "Writer culture is researching what degree is needed to be a paleontologist so your shapeshifting vampire dinosaur erotica will be authentic." Her website features dozens of free stories, including the aforementioned (and highly authentic) shapeshifting vampire dinosaur erotica.

http://www.tanyachris.com
Twitter: @tanyachrs
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tanyachrispublishing/
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/15067939.Tanya_Chris

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/tanya-chris

New to Tanya Chris? Start here: https://tinyurl.com/tanyachrisquiz

My review: 

I started reading this book with the thought 'I'm gonna love the shit out of this story' , then somewhere at halfway through I lost my high interest. I read it, because I enjoyed it, but sadly it wasn't nowhere as interesting (and hot) as I thought it would be. 

Loved the story, it was really interesting and unique, I loved reading about this Olympic and the climbing competitions. The characters were lovely, and I liked the side characters too - I love those stories where the friends got this many pages, and where they're supporting the main characters this much. 

Spencer and Flynn were both adorable, but I think their personalities were much younger then their real age. I enjoyed the development of their relationship, they were really cute and those dates were really lovely. Meet-cute story. 

But. Somehow this isnt't how I imagine an Olympic - they weren't cautious enough and had too many free time for doing nothing. 

The main thing you concentrate on in this book while reading it, is the end of the games, who would be on the top 3, who would win the gold. And let me tell you, that wasn't the ending I thought about. At all! It was too simple. But anyway, it was interesting and loved reading it. 

So while I loved it, I needed more deep emotions and I think they nedded more erotica too. It was a light romance. 

Tanya Chris did an amazing job with this book, she wrote the climbing scenes really good, the character and story development were good, it was easy to read with lovely characters. The book was great, but not what I wanted from it at the moment.