Max Vos Presents: http://www.audible.com/pd/Fiction/My-Hero-Audiobook/B0147LP8RC
Blurb
This is a gay male romance with explicit sexual situations between men.
When he was 16 years old, Rich Miller saved a young man from drowning at his local pool. Little did he know that years later, as a senior in college and Olympic diving hopeful, Rich would meet up once again with Johnny Milloway, now a big football player – and when Rich says big, he really means “bear”. The shy jock remembers his saviour, and the two men become friends.
Johnny isn’t put off by the fact that Rich is gay. In fact, the more time he spends with Rich, the more curious he becomes. Johnny wants to know all kinds of things – what it’s like to kiss a guy, for instance. Only it doesn’t stop there…
Rich finds it difficult to believe that this relationship can go anywhere. Johnny is straight, and Rich isn’t prepared to deal with the heartache he knows will come his way in the future. He has enough on his plate as it is – the worlds are just around the corner. His father would rather watch a football game than spend time watching his son dive. What he doesn’t count on is Johnny, who can be very determined. And having Johnny in his life proves to be a catalyst for some pretty earth-shattering changes.
Review
Rich, out and proud diver, rescued Johnny, straight football hero, once when they were kids – hence the name, My Hero. They meet again later in life, at college and become friends.
Johnny has a heart of gold and makes sure that everyone in his life treats Rich with respect. He doesn’t care that he’s gay and makes no bones about it with his friends. (This is especially important in the South, where the story takes place. Where football reins supreme.)
Over time, their friendship develops into something more sexual. Little forays into physicality that eventually lead to the them dating seriously.
Johnny, as you’d expect, has a bit of a hard time accepting that he might be gay (or bisexual) and the couple almost splits for good. But… with some fairly big leaps… Johnny repairs his relationship with Rich AND Rich repairs his relationship with his dad AND Rich ends up going to Worlds for a diving championship AND there is very little fall out surrounding the big gay reveal.
**
In general, you do have to take this story with a grain of salt. It’s a romance, first and foremost, and some things that happen are a little to “easy” to be believed, but touching nonetheless.
I loved the chemistry between Johnny and Rich, because though Johnny is the bigger guy, Rich has all the experience, so it’s a nice twist.
The boys are downright raunchy at times and very age-appropriate (ie sex on the brain all the time, food sex, marathon sex, sex on the dive platform… you get the idea!) but it’s all really fun.
The angst and drama aside, the bulk of this story is a fairly light-hearted, GFY/OFY sort of exploration of the self and though we get a very good HFN/possible HEA, you do have to use your imagination and hope to see them as a long term couple.
Audio
Jared Bradford is a new narrator for me. He does a fair job of trying to give everyone a unique voice and his attempts to make a southern girl voice are admirable if not entirely believable. I think that the audiobook was a good addition to the overall experience and if it wasn’t my favorite narration experience, it was definitely worth the listen.
4 of 5 hearts
