My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I’ve been looking forward to reading this book in its entirety for a long time, having gotten a sneak-peek at the first part of it a while back. I couldn’t wait to discover how things turned out between Luca and Christopher.
I’m pleased to say that the rest of the book was everything I wished for and more. Luca and Christopher are both solid, sympathetic, and flawed characters. They both make mistakes, they both react badly to things, not everything is sunshine and roses and that is absolutely perfect. The subject of closeted athletes is not a new one in m/m romance by any stretch of the imagination, but the way P.D. Singer comes at it makes it fresh for a couple reasons.
First, because cycling. I mean, how many of us who don’t do that particular sport know the first damn thing about it? P.D. has this knack (one I would love to acquire) of taking a subject the reading audience won’t be familiar with (she’s done it before with forestry and rock-climbing and archery) and making us understand it without feeling like we’re getting an info-dump. She works it in very organically, and I love that. I was reading from the POV of a character who knew the sport intimately, and I managed to make out most of what he was talking about without being jerked out of the flow of the story. It’s really superbly done.
Second, because realism. Most athlete/sports stories I’ve read deal with relatively safe sports. Cycling is not one of those, and P.D. tackles that head-on. There are a couple moments when you’re just like, “Whoa. This shit is real.” Most of us don’t expect to see serious danger in our sports, so it really grabs you and jolts you out of any sense of complacency about a pretty, neatly-tied-up ending. Which is not to say the characters don’t get their HEA. They do, but they also have some very serious losses along the way.
Another great thing about this book is the MC’s voice in the narration. There are some LOL moments when a witty line slips in so subtly you almost miss it, and I always love that.
So, definitely a book I would recommend. I enjoyed it enormously.
You can buy Spokes from Rocky Ridge Books, Amazon, Kobo, Barnes and Noble, and All Romance eBooks
The fiction of Amelia C. Gormley 