Book Reviews

Book Blurb

What if the right person could change everything?

Random hookups, saying “yes” to whatever, Zane thinks adulting should be easy. His childhood was a hard enough mess. After a health scare, however, Zane reevaluates his life and starts anew. When Zane meets Jordan, everything he secretly desires is finally in front of him. But Jordan Shelby’s family practically owns the town of Shelby Beach. Why would Jordan take a guy like Zane seriously?

Jordan only wants swimming lessons, so hiring Zane might have been a huge mistake. Even if Jordan resists Zane for now, the mere sight of the beautiful trainer fills him with yearning. Swimming isn’t Jordan’s only anxiety. Being nonbinary, Jordan’s dating life—hell, his life in general—isn’t always clear. Can he really trust Zane with his body? His heart?

Testing the Waters is a romance with a gender-fluid MC, a hurt/comfort trope, and a guaranteed happy ending.

Although it is in the Shelby Beach series, Testing the Waters can be read as a standalone. Note: Please look inside the copyright page for mentions of potential triggers.

 

Book Review

This book is one of those reads that starts out one way only to finish another way. Now let me explain. Jordan is very insecure. He has a phobia of swimming and he does not believe anyone will ever accept him for who he is. Each and every day he might feel different on the outside. One day he may want to feel pretty so he will wear a dress. The next day he may feel more masculine and want to wear normal everyday wear for him. He does not define himself as someone’s boyfriend because of the fact that one day he does wear dresses when the next he may not. He honestly does not know what definition he would use. 

 

Jordan has always fallen too hard and too fast for other men. In the end he has ended up with a broken heart more times then he can count. So when he meets a man named Zane, he turns him down when he continues to ask him out on a date.

 

Zane seems to be very secure in who he is and what he wants out of life. He is a trainer at his and his cousin’s gym UFit. Though he seems secure he does have insecurities about his health since a couple of years earlier he had cancer. He may be in remission but there is always that thought in the back of his mind that he will relapse. Since finding out he has cancer, things that meant so much to before his diagnosis just does not seem as important now. So Zane feels like he is kind of floating through life, searching for his purpose and what will make him happy.

 

When Zane meets Jordan, he is interested from the start. But the problem is Jordan seems indifferent to his advances. This throws Zane since he cannot seem to get him out of his mind.

 

When the two bump into one another one day on the beach, Zane quickly notices that there is something wrong with Jordan but he is not sure what it could be. When Jordan has a panic attack, Zane comes to his rescue. This sets in motion a set of events for both men that will change the course of their lives.

 

Jordan decides to ask Zane for help with his fear of swimming after the panic attack. Zane eventually agrees to work with him. With spending so much time together and slowly getting to know each other better, Jordan finds he can no longer resist Zane. Because of spending so much time with him before dating him, this has let Jordan feel more comfortable in his own skin around him and therefore he is able to be himself no matter who that may be at the time.

 

With everything starting to look up for them, it seems that nothing could come between them. Unexpectedly someone from Zane’s past returns and turns everyone’s world upside down.

 

Will Zane and Jordan be able to deal with the fallout? How will each man handle the role reversal that will inevitably happen between them when Jordan finds himself being the strong one for Zane instead of the other way around?

 

This was a good read. I enjoyed it even though I felt this book took a major one-eighty in the middle of the read. I look forward to more books in this series in the future.

 

 

 

DISCLAIMER: Books reviewed on this site were usually provided at no cost by the publisher or author. This book has been provided by the author for the purpose of a review.

 

Additional Information

Format	ebook
Length	Novella, 240 pages
Heat Level
Publication Date	12-February-2020
Price	$3.95 ebook
Buy Link	https://www.amazon.com/Testing-Waters-Shelby-Beach-Book-ebook/dp/B084RMLL6R