Review: Striker by KyAnn Waters

Sports writer Max Myers just discovered he lives next door to the hottest soccer player to hit the field. If he scores a coveted interview with the reclusive striker for the Denver Blaze, he could take himself from sports blogger to mainstream sports authority.

Riley Grayson has no interest in interviews or in outing his private life to the public. He wants to be known for the scoring he does on the field and not in the sack. But Max is a temptation he can’t resist. Taking a chance, Riley and Max discover they have more in common than passion for soccer and hot sex between the sheets. 

Just as they begin to trust each other outside the bedroom, Max is put in a no-win situation: write an article about Riley exposing accusations of drug use, or risk destroying his own credibility. If he does, he’ll lose Riley. If he doesn’t, he’ll lose everything he’s worked hard to achieve. 

Max had just moved into his new condo in Colorado when he meets his new neighbor, Soccer star Riley Grayson. He’s instantly attracted to this man but has no idea what Riley’s sexual orientation is due to the fact that Riley is an incredibly private person. Not only is Max attracted but his mind starts heading into professional mode thinking that he can possibly get an exclusive interview from Riley – something that’s not been done before.

Riley is a very private man. He is an ace soccer player and that’s what he wants to be known for – not the gay soccer player. He’s more than positive that if he comes out that that’s exactly what will happen. When he meets Max he’s pretty firm about not ever giving him an interview but that doesn’t stop him from making a move on the sportswriter.

The men start up a relationship immediately and find that it may be moving quickly but it just feels right to them. All is happy happy until Riley’s urine test comes up positive for drug use. Riley and Max – as well as Riley’s team – knows that the test is a false positive but until that is proven Riley is benched. Not only that but Max’s boss insists that he write an article on Riley which Max does not want to do. The men find themselves caught in a catch 22 and aren’t sure how to get out of it.

This was a pretty short book but I thought it had a lot going for it. I loved that the men hit it off so well right off the bat and were so comfortable with each other that Max practically moved in with Riley. Though we weren’t shown too much of those initial weeks together it was enough to show how good their relationship had become.

When the drug accusations surfaced Max knew that Riley hadn’t been doping since he’d be basically living with the guy and knows how well he takes care of himself both with exercise and eating right. I love how Max supports Riley and goes along with him on many different levels but Riley isn’t quite as supportive of Max and it made me sad. He trusts Max…to a point when it comes to Max’s career but when Max tells him that it’s write the article on him or lose his job Riley still doesn’t trust Max to do the right thing.

It really showed a boat load of patience on Max’s part to deal with Riley and the ensuing heartache that Riley caused. Riley was so mired in appearance for the games sake that he had really always put his personal life on the back burner. He had to really come to terms with who he was and what he wanted his life to look like when the shit hit the fan. I almost thought when it was time for Riley to grovel he just didn’t grovel enough but I was quite happy when the book ended on a HEA and we all know how much I love my happy endings. lol A good book and definitely worth reading.

Rating: 4 out of 5

KyAnn Waters
Carina Press

This book will release on 1/9/11.

Related Posts