Reviewed by Larissa

TITLE: oceans that swim

SERIES: Kings of Airlie Book 1

AUTHOR: Casey Cox

PUBLISHER: self-published

RELEASE DATE: February 21, 2022

LENGTH: 317 pages

BLURB: 

This season, I’ve got a lot to prove…

Terry King may have been born into kitesurfing royalty, but he’s been overlooked and overshadowed his entire life. Unlike his fame-starved father, Trenton ‘King of the Air’ King, or his two attention-grabbing older brothers, Terry doesn’t compete for fame, money, or power. He’s got much more ambitious goals than that.

Terry has his sights set on reuniting his dysfunctional family and finally landing his forever crush: Richie Brown. A six-foot-four, anxiety-riddled, ginger teddy bear who writes heart-melting poetry. Also, the one and only person who’s ever truly seen Terry.

Richie grew up next door to the King brothers in the sleepy coastal town of Airlie Beach, Australia. His childhood was marred by a tragedy that continues to invade every corner of his life twenty years later. Richie gave up on love a long time ago…until something unexpected happened the night of Terry’s victory last season.

Richie knows better than anyone why Terry King is strictly off-limits. They grew up together. They’re practically family. Richie’s seven years older. Terry is his best mate’s younger brother…

But then there’s the biggest reason of all. A closely guarded secret Richie’s never revealed to a single soul.

Terry is determined to defend his world title and turn his dreams into reality. But when life throws a spanner into his season, and with the King family remaining as stubbornly dysfunctional as ever––will Terry be able to get Richie to see him as more than just the kid he grew up with?

Kings of Airlie is an exhilarating, action-packed MM sports romance trilogy about love, brotherhood, and resilience––with a powerful message that dreams don’t die, they just sometimes change.

Each book in the series features a new couple and a happily ever after. With continuing family and competition plots, the books do need to be read in order.

REVIEW:

Casey Cox’s latest series, the Kings of Airlie trilogy, focuses on the King family — uber-successful kitesurfers from Airlie Beach, Australia, who are considered royalty within the circuit.  They are truly kings of the kitesurfing sport.  The first book, oceans that swim (intentionally all lowercase as explained in the book), lays the groundwork for the series with particular focus on the youngest King brother, Terry, and childhood friend of the family, Richie Brown.  The trilogy contains a continuing storyline so you must read these books in order even though a different couple is featured in each.   

Mr. Cox spins out an unusual story based on a unique premise.  Most of us probably know nothing about kitesurfing.  Even Mr. Cox states he knew “diddly squat” about it prior to writing the book, a self-deprecating admission that made me chuckle.  You do not need to know anything about kitesurfing to enjoy this book, although I enjoyed learning about it and the intense competition in that insular sporting world.  The subject matter choice really makes oceans that swim stand out. 

The storyline revolves around the Kings – kitesurfing legend Trenton ‘King of the Air’ King (aka “Papa Bear”), his three kitesurfing sons, Travis, Troy and Terrence (“Terry”), and their family dynamic with the boys’ Mom, who is estranged from the family, and their Uncle Tim. The three boys compete from year to year under intense scrutiny and have reached megastar status due to their Kings of Airlie reality TV show.  The press constantly digs for juicy news bites and scandals and is not beneath making them up, although Travis and Troy regularly provide fodder through their promiscuous behavior (Trav) and aggressiveness and fighting (Troy).  Terry is “boring” to the media, so instead, they continually dredge up a “DNA” rumor that postulates that Terry is not Papa Bear King’s son.  The Kings are not the only ones in the media’s crosshairs, though.  Richie frequently gets dragged into the fray as well.

Richie has been the King family’s backyard neighbor since they were kids, and he is best friends with the eldest King brother, Travis.  Richie is seven years older than Terry.  He’s been Terry’s biggest kitesurfing supporter, spending many mornings at the frigid ocean before the crack of dawn to train with Terry since Terry was about ten years old.  Terry’s always been overlooked by his father, but despite being belittled and denigrated, Terry displays a surprising backbone and resiliency.  

Terry hires Richie as his manager for his first year on the kitesurfing tour, much to his father’s shock and barely contained fury, and then proves him and all the other doubters and haters wrong when he achieves the nearly impossible feat of winning the world championships as an unseeded rookie who came into the competition on a wildcard entry. Now Terry’s back to defend his title, but he’s placed a huge amount of pressure on himself in his need to get his father’s respect and to hopefully repair his fractured, dysfunctional family.

Richie’s parents were murdered when he was nine, twenty years ago, and Richie saw the whole thing.  He now has c-PTSD and bleeds anxiety from every pore. The murder was never solved (the story explains why) so the press and a trio of particularly nosy podcasters routinely dredge up the story and circulate rumors.  

My heart broke for Richie and the constant strain he’s under. He’s an extremely endearing character with so much love for the three King brothers.  But his chronic generalized anxiety is debilitating and compounding it is the stress from his connection to the Kings, his investment in Terry’s kitesurfing career, and his childhood trauma rearing its ugly head on a fairly regular basis. Richie is barely holding it together.  

oceans that swim is the weightiest story I’ve read from Mr. Cox.  It’s well-written and absorbing with a complex storyline.  Mr. Cox’s worldbuilding is top-notch.  He vividly creates the sights and sounds of the various beach locations like France, Sri Lanka and Airlie Beach, Australia. When Terry is kitesurfing, you experience the water, waves, wind and weather right along with him as he executes crazy-difficult, spectacular-looking maneuvers that Mr. Cox describes in detail.  He also does an excellent job with his character development, particularly of Richie and Terry.

I feel the story gets a bit away from him, though, in two areas.  First, the story’s pacing is uneven.  It mostly progresses with good momentum, but at times, it becomes laden with a lot of dialogue for extended periods of time, which takes the reader out of the moment.  Second, the story itself attempts to cover too much ground, making it impossible to handle all of the various plot points the way they need to be.  For example, Mr. Cox addresses Richie and Terry’s exploration of their sexualities.  At the same time, he also presents sensitive handling of Terry’s virginity and develops Richie and Terry’s friends to lovers, best friend’s brother, age-gap romance.  Mr. Cox handled these things well.

However, in addition to these substantial subjects, Mr. Cox also lays down threads of storylines including Richie’s tragic backstory, Papa Bear’s verbal and physical abuse, the DNA scandal, Terry’s dyslexia, the reality TV show, death threats, family dysfunction, Uncle Tim’s presence and its significance, the kitesurfing competition, the brothers’ dynamic, Richie’s BFF relationship with Trav … it’s just a LOT.  Having all of these different elements converge, and then channeling them through the whirling dervish of anxiety that is Richie, felt like watching a train wreck in slow motion and not being able to look away.

Overarchingly, though, oceans that swim provides an intriguing read that I enjoyed and recommend.  It definitely left me eager to find out what happens next, so I will certainly be back for the next book.

RATING: 

BUY LINK: 

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