Medley: A Friends-to-Lovers M/M Sports Romance

It's been a while since I've been so frustrated with a romantic couple and still wanted to see them together. But that was the case with Bas and Jacob. Both of these guys have pasts that affect how they look at relationships as well as how they look at themselves. Jacob is only 19, so his insecurities are right there at the surface while Bas has buried his deep enough that he doesn't have to look too closely. As these two tiptoe around each other with an almost constant push and pull, they nearly drove me to distraction. I kind of wished for someone to just lock them in a room together and refuse to let them out until they figured it out. Needless to say, that didn't happen, and the result is drama, drama, drama for this pair. Oddly enough, even when these guys irritated me, I liked them. I certainly didn't always like their decisions or actions, but I liked them, and I liked the chemistry between them. Of course, I liked them as secondary characters in the first book in the series, so it was easy to start this one with those feelings. This book does pick up where book 1 left off, and while the focus is one a different couple, the story continues. Nick J Russo is also back to voice the characters for this second book, and as expected, he does it wonderfully. From 19-year-old Jacob's insecurities to the more jaded Bas and his gruff attitude about relationships, Russo gives us all the emotion of the story. What it comes down to is this couple may have driven me crazy, but it was so worth it in the end.

One thing I love as much as enemies to lovers is friends to lovers! What Bas and Jacob have is something special. They just gravitate toward each other even before they admitted to having budding feelings for the other. Jacob is young and worried about his family at home and trying to be the swimmer the world believes him to be while he wims in the Olympics, so he's struggling. Bas, with another chance at the gold that evaded him years before because of something in his past, that he doesn't intend to repeat tries to protect Jacob from his feelings and pushes him away. But later, he learns that pushing him away isn't protecting him, and this isn't like it was in the past. Bas and Jacob are meant to be, and they finally give themselves the chance to take a shot and prove that. I loved and could not put this book down! So happy Bas and Jacob took a chance on each other and now get to embark on a new adventure in their story.