Reviewed by Dan
TITLE: Nothing Ventured
AUTHOR: Jay Northcote
PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press
LENGTH: 142 Pages
BLURB:
When Aiden agrees to run the Mad Mucker—a twelve-mile muddy slog over an obstacle course—he’s expecting it to be a bit of a laugh. The training will be tough, but Aiden could use the motivation to regain some fitness.
Matt is the sexy cousin of one of Aiden’s coworkers and a last-minute addition to the team. When he agrees to train with Aiden, Aiden suddenly finds the prospect of regular workouts a lot more appealing.
Soon attraction flares, and they embark on an intense physical relationship. Matt doesn’t want to fall in love with a man, and Aiden doesn’t want to fall in love at all, but despite their insistence on no strings, they grow closer. As the day of the race approaches, time is running out for them to work out how they feel about each other.
REVIEW:
Running….a big hairy former rugby player….and a sexy trainer. A definite recipe for success in my opinion! By the second paragraph and the line “he unstuck his face from the patch of drool on his pillow and checked he was alone”, I was smiling and knew I was going to really like the book.
We meet Aiden the morning after. He vaguely recalls way too many shots of tequila but not much else, except that he might have agreed to something stupid. Doing shots with his friend Liv is never smart, but this time he has agreed to do the Mad Mucker, 12 miles of running, climbing, crawling and slithering through mud, intermixed with monkey bars, log carrying and plunges into pits of water and ice!
Then he meets the “team” at the pub to discuss signing up. Imagine his surprise when the hot guy he was checking out on a bicycle outside turns out not only to be Liv’s cousin, but on the team. Then when the hottie, Matt, agrees to be his trainer, we know he is in for some sparks. Only problem, Matt is straight and has just broken up with his girlfriend in Australia prior to moving home to the UK.
What follows is a fun romp describing their training and their confused feelings for each other. Feelings? What are those? Aidan has fought for years against feelings. One night stand, no strings attached. That’s Aidan’s motto. Will his motto change? How can avoid the messiness of falling for a straight man? Does he live through the training and the Mad Mucker? All answers you’ll have to get yourself by reading the book!
I really liked the writer’s writing style and thoroughly enjoyed the story. I recommend this book and can’t wait to get my hands on some of her other works.
RATING: 
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