Review tour: Distant Swimmer by Jacob Cheyenne

Buy Links: Amazon US | Amazon UK | JMS Books

Publisher: JMS Books

Length: 40,450 words

Blurb

Shy and scholarly, long-distance swimmer Ryan Zwick thinks he’s the only gay member of the college swim team. He keeps his head down in the showers, and his head in the books the rest of the time.

But when a sporty new transfer student joins the team, Ryan feels a surge of hope. Sexually inexperienced and looking for love, fellow swimmer Blake Gossens is everything Ryan wants in a boyfriend. But what is Blake’s game, exactly? And just how straight is he?

Blake seems to be more interested in Ryan’s best friend, Marissa, leaving Ryan to go back to secretly checking out his teammates in the pool. But Ryan keeps getting mysterious messages in his dating app from a stranger who seems to know a lot about him. Could this messenger be Blake? Or someone else?

When bad weather hits unexpectedly, Ryan is forced to confront his real feelings toward Blake, while opening up to the stranger by his side, eventually giving in to his wildest fantasies -- and his heart.

  


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Author Bio


Jacob Cheyenne is an author of M/M Romantic Fiction. His characters and stories are often inspired by real historical events, figures and scenes from classical art, or from old black and white portraits he collects in antique stores. His debut novella “Hanukkah Gifts” focuses on the turmoil between two young Jewish men with very different ideas about how to reconcile their faith and sexuality.

When not writing, the author loves swimming, hearing live music, reading fat books on empty beaches, and drinking anything coconut-flavored. When not traveling, he lives and works in the bustling heart of New York City.

Website: https://www.jacobcheyenne.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JacobCheyenneXX
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JacobCheyenneBooks/

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This review is a little hard to write. Don't get me wrong. I absolutely LOVED Distant Swimmer. What's difficult for me to describe is why I loved it. I mean, this book should be on the New York Times Best Seller list. It's just that good.

Maybe it's because the characters are college athletes. There are tons of books out there featuring professional and high school athletes, but this is the first one I've read that dealt this college athletes, and it's incredibly realistic. I have attended many swim meets and can attest to its authenticity.

Distant Swimmer takes us into the world of college athletics in the form of a swim team. We delve into the lives of the teammates as they balance schoolwork, fitness training, practice and swim meets. The interpersonal dynamics of the teammates are exactly what you would expect from a close-knit team. This part is extremely well-written.

One of the characters, Ryan is the only gay man on the team consisting of himself, Erik, a striking Scandinavian student, Hunter, Zach, Kyle Jay, Darian, Owen, AJ, the brothers Theo and Mason, and finally newcomer Blake. Or is he?

I really like the way the characters are developed right from the beginning. They are so real that they don't really need character development. They're already there. I also like the way the athletes support each other in their races, just as a team should.

I really enjoyed Distant Swimmer and will most definitely read it again. I'd love to see a sequel with more of *spoiler alert* Ryan and Erik, Marissa and Hunter.

5 out of 5 stars, and a definite must read for anyone looking for an awesome, heartwarming story.