Creepy

The Summer Games Out of Bounds

A young olympic gymnast and a coach come to together to train for the final weeks leading up to the Olympics. Brie is immature, indignant and lacks respect for the authority of her coach. Erik a hot playboy and is cold as ice.

The plot of this book is fairly disturbing, especially considering the recent events of Dr. Lassar of being found guilty of sexually abusing hundreds of gymnasts.

IMO Erik crosses the line from alpha male to sexual abuser. He is clearly in a position of power with the immature student/gymnast and his actions are pretty creepy. He is constantly telling her he is trying to control her, messing with her head and treating her like garbage in front of other people. The creepiness begins early in the plot as the 30 year coach initiates a conversation about sex with his 20 year old athlete. Erik clearly sees her as a "girl", (as he constantly reminds her) and his other love interests as woman, yet he continues to engage in sexual activity with her. The most disturbing scene unfolds when Erik prescribes yoga as a means for Brie to gain better trust in her body. The yoga session ends with the coach leading his athlete into sex. Erik's rationalization that this session would help Brie become a better gymnast was way too reminiscent of how Dr. Lassar's justified his abuse to his gymnasts.


I think the author was intending to be sexy and edgy, but the product is just down right creepy. I hope none of the abused Olympic gymnasts ever stumble upon this book.

9 people found this helpful

All-round dissapointment

I usually like the books of this Author, but this one sorely missed the target. Let us get the performance out of the way: I did not like the female narrator at all, that's why I gave only 2 stars, but it was a matter of personal taste.
The story however, was a total NO-NO. The first problem were the characters. I hated the heroine from the beginning for being disrespectful, spoiled and full of herself. She then developed into stupid and immature to the point of behaving like a spoiled child, and not just in her personal life, but her professional life as well, that she was supposedly so good at. Putting your silly personal feelings before your very likely Olympic championship is just beyond stupid, especially that it was not just about fame, but changing her family's life from hardship and poverty. And then, the hero. In the beginning, he was a womanizer, but I could have forgiven him, because he seemed to be trying his best to grow up to his unexpected task with a good portion of performance anxiety that spilled over and affected his behavior. However, he soon became mean, cold and abusive. This is where I lost track of the love story and began to boil. I finished the book because I finish all books, but from about 10% I was irritated, which only grew throughout the story. I don't like when main characters quarrel just for the sake of quarreling. I don't like abuse, and when the main characters share each other with other sexual partners. Later, I didn't understand how after 2/3 of the book of cold sex they suddenly had feelings for each other. She professed her love to him without ever hearing him joke or having a laugh with him! I could go on with my negative criticism and examples, but I already have included too many spoilers. Sorry for that.

2 people found this helpful

Just ok.

I didn't hate it, but overall I was underwhelmed. Mostly I just found it to be pretty unbelievable. The characters went from hating each other to love with very little relationship development. There was a lot of game playing and lusty teasing but then all of a sudden they were in love? I just didn't buy it. And there were a few cringeworthy moments that definitely didn't make me think love it was more like she was way more invested and he was just using her a lot of the times. I did think the narration was good however and I was able to listen all the way through even though I found myself considering stopping a few times.

2 people found this helpful

Great story!

Enjoyed the story and performances; however the immaturity of the heroine was hard to endure.

1 person found this helpful

Awful

I should have listened to the other reviews this book was disappointing and I couldn’t finish it. The performance was fine and I love the first book in the series. I also loved Scoring Wilder which was from the same theme and could be considered a prequel to the whole series. This book however were nothing like the first two. The characters were both immature despite the heroine being immature I could have look that considering she was younger. I however can’t stand the hero actions he’s supposed to be her coach but the way he treats her is horrible in my opinion because he has the hots for her he ignores her on end and when she reacts back to this he uses his abuse of power to push her even farther trying to assort that he’s the one in charge. I’m sorry this is a spoiler so stop now if you don’t want to know more… but he chooses individual training to help each of his Olympian’s improve but with the brea he chooses yoga and throws in another women the yoga ends up being a sexual act with the three of them instead of being a training to help her gymnastics. It’s as if he care little for her feelings and clearly cares very little what this could do to his career and they don’t take the time to get to know another issues until much farther in book too busy picking at one another. I’m sorry that’s not love and the majority of the book was a huge turn off. The first book and scoring wilder I give thumbs up reviews the characters respect one another and they also work hard for their goal not will to let anything get in the way not even their feelings but in those two book the hero is very supportive and encouraging trying to protect the one they love from the very beginning not in this book it’s about who’s the boss, who’s in charge and very abusive in my opinion. I will most definitely read reviews before buying more from this author.

Great potential but not for me

3.5
This book had great potential, but I felt it was very drawn out. Each action seemed to have a lot of adverbs, and though I like description, knowing exact turns and movements is a little overkill for me and I felt like I was losing the story.
Also, the cat and mouse game between Erik and Bree was interesting but I felt that too was drawn out. It felt like they were losing maturity every time they changed their minds. And yes I am taking into consideration that Bree is only 20, while Erik is 28/29.
One character was really built up and barely used, I thought they would end up being part of the drama, but they weren’t.
The narrators didn’t do it for me. Bree’s reader was over enthusiastic, while sounding very young and not having a lot of range making the side characters sound all the same. Erik’s reader didn’t have a lot of passion and sounded a bit like he was trying to be William Shatner. Just above monotone for me.
I loved the idea of this book, and it truly had great potential and I hate that I can’t rate this HEA higher but in the end it just wasn’t for me. There wasn’t a ton of romance and the characters just didn’t click.

Forbidden love, gymnastics, Olympics, sports, Coach/Student, age gap.

Torn

My overall impression of this book leaves me torn.

Had I read this book in my mid 20’s when I was in the throes of being wild after growing up with strict parents and my very sheltered childhood, I would have related to this storyline so much. The impropriety of the relationship between coach and athlete would have seemed very exciting. The female lead’s desire to be independent and seemingly in control of situations she probably shouldn’t be in would have seemed very relatable.

However listening to this audiobook now in my late 30’s with a daughter of my own to look after leaves me a little disturbed about many aspects of the story. The power dynamic, the age difference, the mental games and manipulation of someone much less experience had me wondering if I should even finish the book.

In the end I did finish listening to the book, and even with their HEA I was still left feeling torn, introspective, and a little hypocritical. Which may be signs that the book was better than I want to accept because it stirred up so many opposing feelings?

Darker than others by author

I enjoyed this story. It was not light hearted like her other novels. So be prepared.


Spoiler:
Others have mentioned the yoga scene. It was hot. But I too am not sure if it enhanced the story. My thoughts waiver between Erik thinking she would enjoy it to him being just plain selfish - I’m not sure which best describes it.

It is kind of long but kept my interest.

unlikable main characters

This is the story for you if you like a lot of reactionary, over the top, unnecessary drama in the name of passion. Probably a lot of teens would love this. Despite my annoyance with the immature and unhealthy antics of the main couple the plot moved at a good pace and was interesting enough that I had no problem sticking it out. At one point I did wonder if the author had ever seen a braless woman. I mean how can we accept the premise that the couple had this intense attraction to each other and also believe Eric was oblivious to the fact she was braless? I don't care how baggy the shirt or how small the boobs, unless your chest is concave, gravity will ensure your shirt hangs off your breasts. It's going to be obvious. just saying

Steamy and fun

I think everyone read someone’s review and then just copied it without reading the book. While the player coach relationship is borderline taboo, they are both adults. It’s not like she’s 16 and he’s taking advantage of her. Clearly they had attraction to each other, and it was completely mutual consent between adults. Anyway, I did find the main character whiny, needy, and frustrating, but hey, that’s dramatic romance for You! Overall it was an entertaining read.