Professional football player Sullivan "Van" Archer is outgoing, sensational, and definitely straight. Or at least that's what he needs everyone to think in order to keep his position. The truth is that there are some thick walls around his closet that he hopes will never come down. After Van suffers and injury that results in a recommendation to take yoga classes, Van finds himself in the class of Tobias Bennett--one of Van's one-night stands that he hoped he wouldn't cross paths with ever again. Tobias is quiet, still recovering from an abusive relationship, and has very little patience for Van's attitude. But there is something between them that neither of them can easily shake, and it's clear they will need to figure out what it is if they're going to figure out what to do about it.

It can be easy to forget that each of our actions has an impact and that sometimes those impacts are not intended. And sometimes we cannot foresee how things just might come back around to haunt us. But ignoring people and feelings is not a way of resolving them, and finding resolution may mean needing to let down the walls that one has put up for protection. After all, if you close yourself off to possibilities, are you truly living? This book does an excellent job of addressing these questions and issues as we follow these two young men down a road of new experiences, taking chances, and letting go.

This is the second book in the series, but it is not necessary to read the first book to follow, understand, and enjoy the story. ( )

After enjoying the intense feelings and passion in ‘Match Point’, I was looking forward to another pairing of two men too stubborn to recognize they are made for each other. This time one is quiet and withdrawn and shying away from future relationships based on a bad experience with a domineering man. The other part of the future couple is a professional football player who is as loud and brash as he is deeply in the closet. Talk about opposites! While quite different than the first book in terms of plot and tone of the story, the emotions and issues between quiet Toby and pushy Van are just as intense as those found in Finn and Dexter’s story.

Toby and Van’s relationship starts in a rather unusual way. Neither of them expects a hookup: Toby is too scared of strangers to normally attempt something like that, and Van is too well known to be seen in a gay club, so he has the club manager bring the men he is interested in to him instead. Once they meet neither is opposed to some quick, dirty interaction, and both expect never to see the other man again.

Fate has other plans.

The next time they run into each other, Van has been told to take some yoga to help him heal from a hamstring injury, and Toby is shocked to find out whom he will be working with. Both are shocked, but for different reasons, and both quickly realize their short encounter may have been only the beginning of something between them neither of them wants to acknowledge was more than lust. But, as Van’s health improves and they get attached to each other, they discover a compatibility beyond the physical – and that is when the real problems start.

Just like the first story in the series, the two main characters “speak” in alternate first person, and it enabled me to get really close to each of their thought processes and feelings. Sometimes that was painful, since I was really close to Toby’s fears of being overwhelmed and dominated again as well as his reaction to the a**hole ex making an ugly reappearance. Van’s dilemma between personal happiness and his success and fame as a professional football player wasn’t an easy situation to deal with either. Seeing them both struggle up-close-and-personal made reading this book quite an experience.

If you like stories about opposites who attract, if you want to watch two men go from one casual hookup to a deeply passionate relationship, and if you’re looking for a read that is as frustrating as it is emotional and has lots of character growth on both sides, then you will probably like this novel.


NOTE: This book was provided by Dreamspinner Press for the purpose of a review on Rainbow Book Reviews. ( )