Not reviewing because the book has been removed from the Riptide Publishing website and the rights reverted to the author.

Did not read. Will not be reviewing due to rights reversion back to the author

It's not the book or the author. It's because what has been happening lately in the Romance community that I'm sure that I won't be reviewing this title. I'm disappointed.

Solid 3.5 stars. I loved the first entry in the series, Changing Lanes, so much and was thrilled to see Bas and Jacob's story was next. Really enjoyed the progression of their story from their POV after glimpses of it in book one.

I picked up this book because I really enjoyed the first book, Relay. I was pretty excited for this book but this book fell flat for me. 

The book follows olympian swimmers, Jacob who is 19 years old and new to the team, and Seb who is a tattoo artist. And... well, honestly nothing really happens. It was really boring and dull. I didn't find the characters engaging, there weren't any stakes to make the book at least a little interesting, and it felt like nothing happened.

What felt weird about the book was the the romance took almost a backseat. The characters knew each other before the book began and I feel like that was an excuse on the authors part to not really build up chemistry. And it didn't really feel like there was any chemistry between them. 

There was some biphobia in it. Jacob dates a girl named Leah but she breaks up with him when she finds out he's bi. And that's kind of when the connection between him and Seb begin, relating to biphobic partners they'd had. Although, one thing in discussing that that didn't sit well with me was when it talked about it being 'men and women' for him, he also mentioned non-binary and trans people, but mentioned binary trans people as if they were divorced from men and women. It was odd to me that it was included. 

I also wasn't at all invested into the relationship. I don't understand why they were together at all.  

Overall, this book was just really dull.

This is the second book in the Changing Lanes series. This one centers on Sebastian and Jacob. Seb is a California boy, loves to party, bisexual, inks his own tattoos and is on the Olympic swim team. Attracted to Jacob, knowing he can't or won't give in to the feelings he has.

Jacob, referred to as “pup”, is the rookie, the newest and youngest of the Olympic swim team. Fake ID, unsure of himself, bisexual, very shy, but definitely attracted to Seb.

Seb made a mistake at the last Olympics, one that cost his team a gold medal. Determined not to make the same mistake again, he continually pushes Jacob away. He justifies his actions by telling himself that the pup is to young, to inexperienced, really any excuse he can come up with to put distance between them. He needs to protect himself and Jacob.

Jacob doesn't want to disappoint his team either but his insecurities are getting the best of him. He wants Seb badly, not understanding why he's being pulled close one minute then abandoned the next.

This was a lovely, hot book, all of the swim team played an important roll in bringing it to a satisfying conclusion. I liked the the extra glimpses of Alex and Dane from the first book. Seb and Jacob are special characters I enjoyed getting to know.

I loved the first book in this series and this sequel did not disappoint. A great plot, dramatic events, swimming and a whole lot of relationship drama make this a wonderful story. I love the look into the same universe but from another swim teammate’s perspective. Learning about Jacob and Bas’s story and romance was a wild and lovely ride. I loved the passion and romance between them. I hope to see more stories in this universe because I love all these characters and stories!

This was drama lama drama.

This one starts during the events at the end of book one but covers things we didn't see on page there. Specifically Bas giving Jacob his tattoo. It quickly catches up to where book one ended and the team heads to Spain for the Olympics.

Bas has it in his mind he's not good enough for Jacob because of things he did to his last boyfriend. The entire romance aspect was this up and down, back and forth drama that made me nuts. They hook up, Bas pushes Jacob away cuz he's not good enough for him. They hook up, Bas pushes Jacob away cuz he's not good enough for him. They hook up.......(you get the gist). The whole "I'm not good enough for you" plot never works for me. I hate it. Also, the majority of this drama could have been avoided if they'd have just sat down and talked to each other. Bas was too old for this nonsense and while Jacob was much younger, he was supposed to be very mature for his age due to his family situation.

Also, Dane's parents had to make an appearance to add some extra, over the top, evil villain stuff.

On the plus side their chemistry was smoking hot. They burned up the pages. Unfortunately those scenes were not enough to save this for me.

So...not necessarily a bad book but just really not my jam.



**ARC provided by publisher through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review**

Medley was a decent second addition to the Changing Lanes series, though I didn’t think it was quite as good as the first. While the supporting cast are very likable and it was nice to have scenes with Dane and Alex again, the biggest issue is that I didn’t find Bas to be a very compelling character. The reason he keeps pushing Jacob away is because he’s a commitment-phobe due to the last three generations of men in his family being cheaters and runaways, his own father having abandoned he and his mom, leaving her to raise Bas on her own. Unfortunately, this reveal comes quite late in the story and is hardly addressed at all. If some of his abandonment issues had been addressed early-on and more in depth, perhaps through flashbacks or a conversation with Alex about how his father’s leaving had left him hurt and scarred, then perhaps it would have been more substantial each time he pushed Jacob away. Instead, he came across as cryptically dramatic for no apparent reason. And the drama almost overshadowed the fact that the team was actually competing at the Olympic Games.

Add to that lots of flirting with exes and friends and an unwanted visit from Dane's horrible parents, and the drama just keeps on coming. If you love drama and hot athletes in swimwear, you'll enjoy Medley. I definitely don’t think fans of Layla Reyne will be disappointed in the second book of the Changing Lanes Series.

Nina's review 

Feb 25, 2018  ·  edit


really liked it


3.5 stars 

In Relay you could already tell that there was something going on between veteran Bas and newbie Jacob so it's not surprising that the stories overlap a little in the beginning. However that part of the book turned out a little awkward. You could tell that the author didn't want to repeat herself too much but that she also didn't want to leave anything of Bas and Jacob's story out. It just all read a little weird and choppy and it took some time for me to get into the book for me. 

But once the book got into it's own story I enjoyed it a lot. I especially had a soft spot for dorky Jacob who is both so excited and overwhelmed by his first Olympics. He and Bas gravitate towards each other from the beginning and while all the drama stems solely from Bas and from what happened to him at the last Olympics I couldn't help but like him too. 

In the end I enjoyed this book just as much as the first book. Alex and Dane from book 1 play a huge role too of course so that was nice to see too.

I was impatient for ’Medley’—Sebastian’s and Jacob’s story—after the excitement I had for Layla Reyne’s ‘Relay’. The play for the ultimate olympics glory, the seething emotions and the drama that lay behind it, the tears and sweat and the extremes of emotions? I loved it all.

But for better or worse, ‘Medley’ ravaged me and not in a good way. The presence of bisexual protagonists in the books I read don’t bother me and even though the acceptance or the rejection of it is a major theme in the book, I typically hold my romantic protagonists to a more basic standard: a bloody arse of a character (regardless of sexuality) isn’t likeable; worse yet, if the bastard in question is a protagonist in romance whom I’m supposed to cheer on.

That said, I struggled hard with liking Sebastian Stewart and by the end, still steadfastly believed that Jacob Burrows deserved anyone else but him.

In the blurb, Reyne hinted at a catastrophic meet 4 years ago involving Bas going off the rails and a backstory that no one would like. What I seemed to have witnessed first hand however, was one man’s strong denial, insecurity and debilitating fear of being left behind that cut a large swath of destruction through people. I felt as much for Bas’s ex as I did for Jacob, 2 individuals who’d only wanted to be happy with Bas, yet were only taken for the run around and annihilated and humiliated emotionally by him instead. As victims or collateral damage, so to speak, of Bas’s commitment-phobic stance, I hated that they’d both paid the emotional price for his stupidity and his stubbornness for using his own past to lash out against those who cared about him. That it had to take Jacob to hit rock bottom for Bas to finally conduct some form of self-examination brought him even lower in my esteem when I thought it couldn’t get any lower.

In fact, I didn’t feel as though Bas had redeemed himself in anyway—an apology, sudden promises, staying the night after sex counted very little in my opinion—when this supposed atonement simply didn’t match the trail of destruction and the heartache he’d left in his wake. For that reason, I also didn’t like Julio painted as the scorned, jilted lover (even though he was) and his resentment did seem justified when he’d been the one whom Bas kicked out of his life in the worse way possible because the latter simply couldn’t handle commitment.

Apart from the rambling rant about characters, I actually did find Layla Reyne’s writing thrilling. Her swimming scenes were brilliantly fashioned and I loved her portrayal of Jacob and how easy it was to find him a sympathetic character whom I identified with immediately. Catching up with Alex and Dane proved also to be a brief respite from the ongoing drama and waves that Bas caused and in the end, I couldn’t help but latch onto the team’s grounding presence when the hooky drama surrounding Bas became too much.

3* Somehow I expected more of this after the glimpses of Jacob and Bas in Relay. Just a bit...low key, tbh.

This book can be read as a standalone, but as the leads from book 1 feature, loved up, and so does their lingering...drama...(the latter only briefly, thankfully), it's best to read them in order. Dane and Alex are closer, united and confident together, both personally and for the media, and I was glad to see that they seemed to have grown up a bit. I was also glad to see certain characters get the comeuppance that had been missing from book 1.

This one features the Pup, i.e., the rookie, Jacob, and Bas, who's likely at his last Olympic games. It was clear from book 1 that there was something pretty strong between them, and I had high expectations of this tale. Unfortunately igt ended up being only OK, though I had hopes it might be building up to something pretty big, but then the reason for Bas not wanting a relationship was revealed, and it all felt rather...'Really? That's your reason??' And I'm not the only one who felt this way, as his mother did, too, and to me, she debunked things for Bas in a really logical way, but then the same convo ensued with Bas and his friends, and it was only then that finally, Bas saw the light. It just felt too insipid a reason for not wanting a relationship, and Bas was too young to be so allegedly jaded - I didn't really get a hint of any hugely impacting experience that might have made his thought pattern believable. So, I didn't really buy his stance, I'm afraid.

What I didn't like about the tale is that the author sort of went there, but didn't go there, with bisexuality, which is receiving a fair bit of attention in LGBT circles and books. Bi-erasure is a thing that has bisexuals up in arms, with the talk of cake and eating it and wanting a bigger slice, etc., and this book kind of attempted to clarify that, but it rang a bit hollow. The mention of transgender people and non-binary people being added to the pool that might be attractive to Jacob (who happened to be virgo intacta, yet knew his sexuality without a doubt) just felt a little too 'planted' in order to be PC, and didn't feel integral to how Jacob was portrayed. It kind of felt that the book was sort of ticking the boxes with all things PC, but not making them a real part of the tale. I am all for positive messages coming across in books, especially for the LGBT community but not when it comes across as what felt kind of like lip service. And yes, there was the obligatory prejudiced person, who was shown the error of their ways, and who suddenly became an ally...

The tale ends in what seems a long-term HFN, but possibly not a HEA, as Jacob is only 19 and Bas is a fair bit older. Normally I don't love this in my romances, but it was keeping the tale real. I don't outright recall any more guys who might be potential leads in a future tale of this series, though a couple of jokester types had a disagreement that got made into more than it was, so perhaps they might be the future leads?

I don't think I'll be reading more from this series, though the author's AIW series is decent, and I am interested in picking up Cameron's book, from a spin-off series, due out in the summer.

ARC courtesy of Riptide Publishing and NetGalley, for my reading pleasure.

~Book provided by NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion

After reading my very first Layla Reyne book, Relay, and liking it (4 stars), her second book, Medley, had three possible ways to go. #1 It could be better than Relay, #2 it could be not as good as Relay, so it would make Relay a fluke, meaning I only liked Relay by this author and won't like any other books by her #3 or it could be about the same as Relay.

To keep the suspense short, it was about as good as Relay, maybe a teeny-tiny bit better. Spoiler: I'm giving Medley 4,25 stars :) that's 0,25 stars more than Relay. Like I said teeny-tiny bit.

I can't tell a specific reason why this one was slightly better than Relay, it probably was just all things combined - which doesn't mean Relay was bad, like I said 4 stars ;)

We kind of already got a glimpse at the characters of Medley in the previous book and I really liked Bas and Jacob in the previous and in this book. Bas was this calm and collected guy who tried his damnest not to mess up and Jacob was a cute, clumpsy, way to observant guy who tried to do his best. Those two together just worked, they were like pieces of a puzzle that fit together. Their drama wasn't overly over the top, but it was there, so if you're not a fan of drama, back out now. I personally love drama, especially the kind of drama they had.

What I also really liked was that we got another glimpse at Dane and Alex's relationship. I love it when previous couples are still included - in this case they had to because they were on the swimming team lol.

Also some people didn't like in the previous book that swimming and the whole Olympia thing weren't really that much of a deal. Guess what, in Medley it is a pretty big deal, as they are in the midst of the Olympics. So here you go, people! There is your swimming competition! Satisfied now?

Did I mention I was watching the Winterolympics on TV while reading this book? No? I was. Lol.

The writing style sucked me in as much as it already did in the first book. Also I really liked that Layla Reyne mentioned a german speaking country, in this case Austria. We germans are not enough mentioned in fiction romances. ;)

Overall I really liked Medley and can totally recommened it to anyone that wants to read a swimming related m/m romance. Also I really hope there will be a third book, not really sure if that will actually happen since I don't have a clue what characters that could be about and what the whole setting would be, but I would definitely read it. Just saying.

Rating: 4,25 stars