A winner for sure!

Strong Side is the perfect book when you want something quick, low angst, and a great listen. Add in some hot college athletes, and a great narrator and there's nothing that should keep you from picking this book up.

Jason Hawkins a.k.a Hawk is on his last chance of making his dream come true - a pro football career. First practice of the season and his is hopeful - until the man that he just set his hopes on freezes on the field for no apparent reason.

A few years ago Derek was badly tackled on the field and ended up paralysed for a few months. Intensive therapy and an iron will have him back in the game and on the field, but he can't help to freeze up when he sees a tackle coming.

Hawk decides to try to help Derek to overcome his fears. And so the private practices begin. A friendship forms quickly between them and slowly something more grows out of it. Something neither of them really expected. The Sexual tension between them though – it can light ice on fire.

This book drew me in from the start, I believed in the characters, their story. I felt for their struggles. I connected. I loved that nothing was overly dramatic or blown out of proportions, no huge fights or misunderstandings. It wasn't all smooth sailings and dancing on roses, because sexual realisation and coming out does bring tension. And in this case it was handled beautifully.

Christopher Boucher is a new narrator to me, which can be tricky. In this case though, it worked perfectly. I loved his narration, sorry performance, of this book. It was everything that it should be. The feelings and emotions that he added, along with different voices for the characters. I know after this book, I will keep an eye out for more of his works.

Strong Side was a sweet love story about two young men finding their way, finding love. A story of acceptance, coming out and self-discovery. Recommended to college athletes fans - and everyone looking for something sweet to read or listen to.

A copy of this book was generously provided by the author in exchange for an honest review for Love Bytes

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1 person found this helpful

Even better in audio!

Chistopher Boucher continues to impress me with his range, character voices, and his timing. The narration made a good story even better.

**~~**~~**~~**~~**

Lovely football sports romance with dual POV, some heat, and a sweet HEA.

I liked the backstory and the thread of angst that's woven throughout the story works well. The sexy times are not too explicit and just hot enough.

All in all it was a really enjoyable listen.

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1 person found this helpful

a straightforward no frills story

There are absolutely no extraneous words in this story. I honestly could have used more from the secondary characters to give the plot framework more emotional impact and flesh out the setting....but it was good. The author knows the formula and has a tight, controlled writing style.

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Very enjoyable book

I can't tell you how I found this book, but I sure am glad I did. I really enjoyed the story, and the narrator really did a great job. I look forward to more books by Alison Hendricks and more books narrated by Christopher Boucher.

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3 people found this helpful

Feel good story

I love romance novels that feature bi-awakening main characters....and even moreso when they feature awesome come backs. Both the author Alison Hendricks and the performer Christopher Boucher are new to me, thanks to me enjoying this title so much I will definitely keep my eye out for more of their works.

4 starz - worthy of a repeat listen

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Love it!!!

The storyline was great! Love M/M sports stories. Hope you will continue. Maybe an interracial story next time.

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Quintessential sports romance

I sort of bought Strong Side on a whim when I was searching desperately for an audiobook to listen to. I love sports romances in theory, but in practice they usually leave me a little disappointed. For one thing, there's rarely very much in there about actual sports, and the fact that they're athletes is mainly used to explain why they have such nice bodies. I'm also skeptical about "falling for your straight friend" stories, especially as a gay man myself, because nobody is really "gay for you" and to be honest I find that trope a little hackneyed if not borderline offensive.

So I was surprised as anyone to find myself really loving this book. Not only was sports--like, the guys actually playing the sport--a big part of the plot (especially at the beginning and the end, and never overly technical), but the romance came about naturally and the "straight" guy's transformation and reactions were entirely believable, at least to me. It was also well written, the characters were likable, and the plot itself took several turns I wasn't expecting, despite the book fitting into so many cliché categories.

It's definitely worth a listen. The narrator, Christopher Boucher, is one I've never heard before and who hasn't actually narrated all that many audiobooks (I think only six, all from the same year). But he's really wonderful; his different voices for Derek and Jason were spot on. And to my relief, the pacing was good; I don't know whether it's an issue with the preview or just my perception is off somehow, but when I listened to the audio sample, it seemed like it was rushed and unnatural, but I think someone somewhere might have kicked the sample into a faster speed. Boucher sounds perfectly normal in the actual narration.

I rarely give an audiobook five stars across the board, so my recommendation is to buy and listen to this book--I don't think you'll regret it! Just don't go into it thinking you know what's going to happen, because you may not be right (at least, I wasn't).

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Fun OFY Football romance

Derek was injured in high school playing football after he was outed to his team, he’s physically fit but mentally struggling with some of the aspects of the game. He needs football for his scholarship so he’s motivated to get past his insecurities. He’s also learned his lesson, and is staying in the closet.

Jason is a straight guy. Star quarterback. Determined to win. Dedicated to the game. And miserable. When he sees Derek struggling, he sees in him a great player and agrees to help him get over his challenges with a lot of practice. Derek – in turn – ends up helping Jason with his school work. They quickly become inseperable and best friends – which is both amazing and awful – since Derek has a massive crush on Jason.

After a particularly lingering tackle one day, Jason begins to question his attraction to Derek. Is it more than just friends? If he acts on it what will happen? Derek wonders, too – will he lose his best friend? Will he be putting himself at risk on the field again? Will he lose his scholarship?

**

Sometimes you get so lucky with these free Kindle Unlimited books! This is a new author and a freebie and WOW – what an amazing book!

The writing is crisp, evocative and erotic. There is very little “telling” and yet we get a nice, slow, BELIEVABLE and gradual move from straight guy to gay lover.

Derek really read as authentic to me – both in his fears on the field and with Jason romantically. If there are any areas where the story frayed a bit it is with Jason’s father. He’s portrayed, at first, as this quasi-alcoholic hard ass, and then that story line is kind of dropped and he becomes a slight annoyance and then an ally.

But for that one piece, this is a great story of GFY, friends to lovers, college aged, football loving, sweet and romantic yumminess!

Highly recommended and I can’t wait for the next in the series!

4.5 of 5 stars

Audio

Christopher Boucher does a FANTASTIC job with this. He handles the myriad voices well, and I loved the accents he chose for the characters. There is a lot of emotion and humor and drama and he manages those all very well. Highly recommeneded!

5 of 5 stars

Overall 5 of 5 stars

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3 people found this helpful

Strong Side

This book is FANTASTIC.

• Football Players
• Coming out, discovering new feelings
• Best friends to Lovers
• Did I mention Football players…

I really liked everything about this book. Even though I’m not really a fan of football in real life. You can really admire the amount of work that went into this book, because you will learn about all things football. Including what two college age guys have to go through during practices and being on the field and especially after they make a connection and come out to family and friends.
I think this is one of my more favorite MM Sports books I’ve read over the past few years. I read this one a few years back and once I saw it was being put into Audio I had to snag myself a copy. The author did a great job picking the narrator Christopher Boucher. He really did an amazing job with these two characters, I was impressed by his narrating skills on this one. All I could see in my head while listening to this one is two “All American Home Grown Down to Earth Real Life Football Players” <<If that’s even a thing, and makes any sense to anyone else but me>> I really just think he did great capturing their personalities and character emotions at all the right times in the voices he gave them.

Jason “Hawk” is the Quarterback at Eastshore. His only focus is football and not much else. When Derek Griffin shows up to the team they form an instant friendship, Jason wants to help Derek get better at football and overcome his fears on the field. Derek is recovering from an incident from being “outed” by his previous team several years before. Learning about what happened to him during that experience will definitely tug at your heart. Sometimes it’s really hard reading/hearing about people getting hurt purposely, for no other reason than the others being hateful, horrible humans. Jason and Derek become fast and strong friends and once Jason realizes he can’t really live without being close to Derek, things between them get even more interesting. Jason and Derek together are H.O.T. Two football players together can make some seriously steamy, sexy scenes in a book and this author definitely has a way with words. I really do have to say that I appreciate how the author kept Jason as a “bisexual” man and didn’t push for the “I’m only gay for you” scenario that happens quite a bit books. We get to see Jason really thinking about his true feelings and how he still feels about other people in general as well as his stronger feelings for Derek. I was a little nervous when it came to Jason’s dad learning about the two of them towards the end, but was really glad that there wasn’t an extra issue/drama thrown in there. I’m not sure I could have handled that after my nerves were already frayed with what happens with Jason. Overall a really enjoyable experience reading as well as listening to this book. I don’t think anyone will be disappointed with picking this one up no matter what version they go for.

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2 people found this helpful

really a great find

glad I stumbled across this little gem wish it was longer though. I'll have to look up the author see if she have any other good works

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