Dane is afraid to be himself.  It's costing him everything he wants, and, its killing him slowly.  Can he reach out and grab the stars?  Alex is the one that got away. What would happen if he held on tight?

Alex will do what it takes for his team to grab the gold.  The pain is second nature at this point. Then he has to work with Dane again, and the sparks between them ignite.  The plan is to stay away. But his heart is whispering to move closer......

This story caught me by surprise.  There is so much actual story for both characters.  I was sucked in so fast.  Then I could not put it down until it was over.  Each page was so good, and I could not help myself.  I give this a 3/5 Kitty's Paws UP!

***This copy was provided for a review with honest feedback.

Captain is not a title Alejandro “Alex” Cantu takes lightly. Elected by his teammates to helm the US Men’s Swim Team, he proudly accepts the role, despite juggling endless training, team administrative work, and helping out on the family farm. And despite his ex-lover, Dane Ellis—swimming’s biggest star—also making the Olympic Team. Dane has been a pawn in his celebrity parents’ empire from crib to pool, flashing his camera-ready smile on demand and staying deeply in the closet. Only once did he drop the act—the summer he fell in love with Alex. Ten years later, Dane longs to cut his parents’ strings, drop his too-bright smile, and beg Alex for another chance. Alex, though, isn’t ready to forgive and forget, and Dane is a distraction he doesn’t need on his team, until an injury forces Alex to accept Dane as his medley relay anchor. Working together, their passion reignites. When Dane’s parents threaten reprisal and Alex is accused of doping, the two must risk everything to prove Alex’s innocence, to love one another, and to win back their spots on the team, together.

Review:

Dear Layla Reyne,

I like watching Olympic swimming a lot and I enjoyed the first book in your series about FBI agents, so this book had all the potential to be a winning combination for me.  Alex and Dane fell in love when they were sixteen years old, however Dane left Alex rather than come out to his parents.

Ten years later they both made it in the sport and made the Olympic team again. As blurb tells you Alex is elected as a captain and Dane is one of the best players in the world. Could they work together for the good of the team? Will their romance resurface?

Let me be blunt, in the first twenty five – thirty percent of this book there was absolutely no way I would have thought that either of these guys was 26 years old. Immature behavior was on full display from both of them while they were supposed to train for the soon coming Olympics. I actually did not begrudge Alex the right to be upset over what happened between them ten years ago, but the degree to which the newly elected captain took it? You would begrudge your team mate who is the best swimmer in that stroke the place on the relay team? Seriously? That’s only one stunt he pulled and Dane was not too far from Alex in the immature behavior department for me.

At thirty percent of the book or so these guys decided to remember that they are Olympic swimmers and seemed to try to behave like ones, most of the time anyway. Despite what I wrote in the previous paragraph, I actually liked both of them. I did not feel like their behavior made sense from the 26 year olds adult males, but the author somehow still managed to elicit sympathy from me.

Dane’s parents were horrible, cartoonish villains if you will ask me. I do not call them cartoonish because they were awful. I do know that parents who are horrible to their LGBT kids are a plenty in real life still sadly. No, I rolled my eyes at their absolute boldness and entitlement to control Dane’s life and *his money*.

I never hold against any character their unwillingness to come out and I did not hold it against Dane. I probably said it before that if our society ever becomes a wonderful place where all people will feel safe to come out, I will be so happy. However as a straight woman even if that utopia ever happens it still won’t be my place to make any judgments about that. So, the fact that Dane was scared to come out did work for me, what *didn’t work* was the fact that at 26 years old he did nothing to assert the financial independence from his parents. It is not that I think that 26 year old cannot be controlled by evil parents or anybody else who is skilled enough to control the other person in many ways. No, I get that it is possible, but the author did not establish to my satisfaction why exactly Dane did not feel like he could tell his parents to take a hike instead of being in charge of his endorsements and generally run his life.

So this bothered me because I was not convinced that Dane could not just tell his parents bye bye much earlier than he did.

I actually liked some stuff in this book. I liked that even though we do not see Olympics just yet, we see training being shown. I liked the main characters together they were sweet and hot.

Grade: C

Changing Lanes is the kind of book I like having with me at work. It's not overly taxing, quickly read and engaging enough to be readable but not something that I'm tempted to read when I'm suppose to be working.

Changing Lanes was a mostly decent read. I did have issues with it, but I have to admit that it did have it's charms...mostly in terms of the setting. Although I am originally from New Jersey I have no idea whether there is a Paris there. Nonetheless, over the past year or so I've traveled through several small towns on the New Jersey/Pennsylvania boarder that fit the Paris, New Jersey description...towns that I had no idea actually existed in New Jersey. The storyline was decent enough as well. Not exciting or even all that unique but certainly engaging enough.

I was not a big fan of the characters though. Something just felt contrived when it came to them. They did not seem to be very well rounded out characters, in fact, the minor characters seemed like mere caricatures and the major characters just seemed unbelievable. They all seemed to change in way too short of a time frame. I don't know, after the setting and plot being executed so decently, it was such a let down to have such boring characters. 

In general though, I think the plot drives the book well enough that makes the characters almost forgivable. Almost. It's a good read when you just need something light to read or a companion for a heavier tome. 

I have these 7 books to read and review and I just don't seem to have enough hours in my day.  I'm pretty sure I don't get the full 24 that everyone else seems to get. 

One of these is in audio format so that will be a quick-ish one, one I've already started and the other 5 range in timescales of 8 to 21 days left until review deadline.

If I'm not around for the next while, you'll know where I am...I won't be reading -- I'll be shopping for boxes of time. :D

We had a 7 hour power outage last night from 6pm to 1am so I got a little bit of kindle reading done.  Thank God I had enough charge to last me.  No heat, no electricity, no internet, no telly, no telephone, no hot food or drinks...nothing except pitch black darkness and dropping temperatures.  Didn't realise how much we depended on the juice coming into the house.  On a dark country lane with no street lights and the few houses round about also in darkness is creepy as all get out when it's blustery and wet outside and a cloudy night with no moonlight.

Four of us plus the dog and the cat all in the same room trying to keep warm and listening to the wind and rain outside.  Started off like a little adventure, trying to keep occupied with nothing but the light from the kindle a wind up torch that cast a beam for about 15 seconds between each wind up and a couple of scented tea-lights but the novelty soon wore off. We took it in turns to run the battery down on our laptops while we crowded round each 15 inch screen to watch rubbish dvd's of movies we'd all seen countless times.

When the apocalypse comes we will be sorely under-prepared here, if last night is anything to go by.