Welcome to the final volume of the "Playing the Game" trilogy. Sean Porter, soccer kid, is heading off to college. How will he fare playing the world's most popular sport, while trying to maintain a long-distance relationship with Kayla, his girlfriend who is still a Junior in high school?
Size: 1216 KB (231,030 words)
Genre: Erotica
Sex Contents: Some Sex
Tags: Ma/Fa, Ma/ft, Teenagers, Romantic, School
Review by orangeade [other reviews by orangeade]
Reviewed: - (Review Updated: )
"The Competitive Edge: Playing the Game III," the final installment of the Rev. Cotton Mather's trilogy of life, love and soccer, might well have been called "Sean Porter: The College Years." Mather's protagonist and soccer savant takes his game to the University of Florida, while leaving a significant part of his life behind.
Soccer certainly plays an important role in the "Playing the Game" series, from college competition to Sean's innovative approach to youth soccer camps that threatens to make him a millionaire before his time. But Mather never loses sight of the fact that, at its heart, this is the story of a boy and a girl.
When Sean leaves his Illinois home for Gainesville, the love of his life, Kayla Lehigh, still has two more years of high school. Long distance relationships are always a challenge, particularly in the days before e-mail. Sean feels guilty about being set up in a platonic relationship with a comely freshman, not to mention some oral attention received while under the influence at a college party. The tipping point, however, is something else, and it hits like a load of bricks. He faces a difficult route to get his relationship back on track, and the reader has an equally excructiating trip down the "will she or won't she" path before the end of the story. And you won't likely be able to turn away until you find out what happens...
As a sexual being, Sean is more tame — and more realistic — than the protagonists in a lot of these types of stories. He has nothing approaching a harem, and the sexual scenes are actually at a minimum in this book, which is just as well, as this is more romance than stroke story. But fans of Nick Scipio's "Summer Camp" will be intrigued to find a female character from that series becoming a significant presence in Sean's life.
And as a bonus, Mather ties up all the characters' stories on the way out in a detailed epilogue. Not everyone lives happily ever after. Kind of like real life . . .
Review by Bobster [other reviews by Bobster]
Reviewed:
I just completed a marathon reading of all three books in the series. I could not help myself, I just HAD to know how it ended.
You owe it to yourself to read all 3 of these stories, Rev Cotton Mather weaves a wonderful, believable, story based around the life, love, and yes, some pain, of Sean Porter.
This is indeed a story that reads like it came from life, not a made up perfect world, but real, gritty, sweaty, painful, and wonderful life!
Technically the story was VERY well written, the plot was realistic and literally kept me glued to my screen! It sucked me in before I had even realized it.
It's not a stroke story, although it has some very intense sex in it, and very well written sex as well. But the sex contributes to the story rather than being the story.
All in all, the series is now firmly embedded in my top 10 list! Give it a whirl, you won't regret it!
Review by BlackIrish [other reviews by BlackIrish]
Reviewed:
College + sex + sports = winner
Part III of the Rev's coming-of-age saga has our hero, Sean Porter, off to college. It's 1980+ and all the stuff that can go wrong or right for a college freshman is involved.
The characters and the plot lines are complex with a strong sports factor involving soccer.
This is not a perfect people, perfect bodies, perfect lives kind of story. Also, while there's plenty of heat, it's not a pure stroke. It is addictive - like a favorite TV show.
Two notes:
1) the story is in progress which can be a negative but there are usually two new chapters per week so it's easy to stay tuned; and
2) Games I and II are complete and reading them first will make PTG III a richer experience.
