The Next Competitor & Cold War

By: Keira Andrews

Narrated by: Tristan James

The Next Competitor: To win gold, figure skater Alex Grady must train harder than the competition. As for a boyfriend, forget it. The Olympics are only every four years—everything else can wait.

So it's ridiculous when Alex finds himself checking out his new training mate Matt Savelli. Calm, collected "Captain Cardboard" is a nice guy, but even if Alex had time to date, Matt's so not his type. Yet beneath Matt's wholesome surface, there's a dirty, sexy man who awakens a desire Alex can't deny . . .

Cold War: American figure skater Dev despises his Russian rival. Arrogant, aloof Mikhail is like a machine on the ice—barely ever making a mistake. He's also sexy as hell, which makes him even more infuriating.

Dev and his pairs partner have been working their whole lives to become Olympic champions. He needs to keep his head in the game.

The very worst thing he could do is have explosive hate sex with Mikhail in the locker room after losing to him yet again before the Olympics.

But you know what would be even worse? Discovering that under Mikhail's icy exterior, he's Misha. His sweet smile makes Dev's heart sing, and his forbidden kisses are unbearably tempting.

Contains mature themes.

©2016, 2020 Keira Andrews (P)2022 Tantor

When you love both figure skating and hot men…

I’m a huge Keira Andrews fan and she can do no wrong, as far as I’m concerned. I used to be a figure skater, back in the day, managing to land a loop. Once. Still, a full rotation was something to be proud of. Then my family pulled me out of skating. I wasn’t going to be a champion, and the lessons were damn expensive. I never forgot, though, the amazing feeling of gliding across the smooth surface of fresh ice. And would love to put on the blades one more time for the sake of remembering the dream.

But I digress. Clearly Keira knows her stuff. She understands skating in a way that makes it accessible to the average reader. For those in the know, though, there’s that added layer. Also, she doesn’t sugar coat things. This sport is so expensive – as are most, especially at the elite level. Getting to the top of the podium is damn near impossible, and having the resources to compete is half the battle.

Then there’s the competitive aspect of the sport, which Keira nails perfectly. I loved how Alex and Matt had a love-hate relationship that exploded into very, very, very hot sex. Through the roller coaster of competition, they fought the attraction right up until the moment they realized they couldn’t live without each other. I really enjoyed the story.

As for Dev and Mikhail…even more competition. The story was written before the Ukraine war, so I had to set that aside and just focus on Mikhail – Mischa, as Dev gets to know him as. They’re both pairs’ skaters and they both have a chance to be the best. But only one man – with his partner – can. Right? Well, you have to read the story to find out and I have to say I loved my happy ending.

Tristan James is a fantastic narrator and I thought he did a great job with both these audios. He’s a favorite of mine and I hope to see him do more of Keira’s stories in the future.

Different Competitions

The Next Competitor is an interesting look into the world of figure skating. Competitors really are sacrificing so much to reach that top level. Alex is driven and people see him one way. He also has ideas about the other skaters around him. But when a dramatic event occurs it seems to change everything. Suddenly, Matt is becoming part of Alex’s life. We get to see these changes and how it changes both men.

Cold War - Two men who know who they are but aren’t willing to be very public about it. Also, people have their ideas about the men including their own views of the other. And yet there we are seeing them drawn to each other and all the complications that brings. It was great to see these two men find a way to live their life.

Such A Fabulous Book Combo

I am so happy that I took the chance and started reading Keira's work. She brings her books to life, because they are so full of richly written characters and back stories. If you love skating or even just like it a little bit. Then I strongly encourage you to buy this book duet. I truly enjoyed both of these stories and I think you will too.

solid listen

These arent my fav Keira Andrews but i still love everything she writes. Only thing is i bought these automatically without listening to the sample. Nothing against this narrator i just dont prefer his tone, and some of the accents were a little much. These are classic feel good books though, so I am forgiving 😅💜

A figure skating book

This is more of a book about figure skating where the mmc just happens to be gay. I like a more romance focused book.

more graphic description of male leads,

more detailed description of males bodies including chest pits biceps erroneous zones pecs attitude

2 good books, well worth the credit

2 really strong stories by Keira Andrews. The Next Competitor is a single POV of a singles skater while Cold War is a pairs skater and is broken into two parts where each part is in the POV of one of the MCs. They both take place on the run up to the Olympics (different years). Tristan James does a really good job on the accents of the various characters and it is easy to know who is talking, but I wish he had emoted more during the really emotional moments, both the good and bad.

good stories...

good narrator! Well worth a credit and I'm saving this in my "listen again" file 😁

Performance lets the story down

The pensive delivery and tempo in most every sentence foundered. I was off this read by chapter 4x

No. Glad it was free.

I can't tell if it's the narrator or the story but it's not great.