Class Act: A Coach/Student Romance

De: Gianni Holmes, Sage Abbott

Narrado por: Zachary Zaba

From USA Today best-selling author Gianni Holmes comes a heartfelt, forbidden, teacher-student standalone romance.

Abe Cooper is a triple threat.

He's my best friend's father.

He's the football coach at my high school.

And he's a married man.

His marriage is on the rocks and he could lose his job for the way he looks at me.

I could lose my only friend in the world.

I know I should stay away instead of flirt with him.

But all the cons don't outweigh how I feel when I'm with him.

When my home situation gets worse, Abe is there for me. But what we do under his roof when everyone's asleep makes me feel guilty.

Now his daughter, my closest friend, knows he's stepping outside his marriage and she's hellbent to find out who I am.

How long can we keep us a secret and how dare we be happy together when it might hurt the ones we love?

Class Act is a standalone MM romance between a teacher and a student in senior year of high school. It contains a huge age gap and cheating, but there's no cheating between the MM couple. All characters are 18+.

©2022 Gianni Holmes (P)2025 Gianni Holmes

Loved It!

I loved this book when I first read it, but I loved listening to it even more. Good world building and wonderful characters. I loved both Emery and Abe. My heart broke for Emery- stuck in an abusive situation with his alcoholic father who hurls homophobic insults, beats him, starves him, and steals from him. Bullied and/or not accepted by some people in school because he dresses feminine and wears make-up. There's so much weight and pressure on his shoulders and he just wants to be accepted for who he is and be loved.

Football coach Abe finds himself both drawn to Emery and keeping an eye on the boy who's become best friends with his daughter. He's married to a workaholic wife who neglects him, their daughter, and family time in favor of her job as a lawyer and high profile clients. He's lonely, disappointed, and soon unable to get Emery out of his head as the young man flirts with him. But starting to see Emery being abused and disguising bruises, as well as his daughter asking him to help her friend, has him stepping up to try and protect Emery even as his own home life is crumbling.

I loved the way the relationship between the two of them builds and develops. The line between professional and more beginning to blur. I found Abe's wife very unlikeable, so the fact that he was still married- even if only in name most of the time- when the emotional connection to Emery began, didn't bother me in the slightest. There was tension and suspense over discovery- both from a professional standpoint, and by his daughter, who fluctuated between wanting her parents to finally divorce and get it over with, and wanting them to bridge gaps and become a family again. How would everything turn out?

Zachary Zaba did a wonderful job bringing this story and these characters to life. I had no trouble distinguishing between the different characters and love his narration.

Overall: 5 stars
Performance: 5 stars
Story: 5 stars

absolutely wonderful!

I remember absolutely loving this story when I read it, but listening to it took it to an absolutely different level for me. Zachary Zaba did such a wonderful job with Abe and Emery. He has such a range with his narration and I love how that makes each character so distinct! Class Act is filled with tropes - it is age gap, student/coach and best friends dad. The thing I love about this story is the honest and raw emotions in it. There is cheating in this (not between the MCs) and the reactions to that cheating and Abe and Emmy's relationship are what I imagine would happen in real life - Abe & Emery are not able to just easily be with each other once their relationship comes to light, they get raw reactions from the people in their lives and for me, I liked seeing their relationship have some struggle to it. This is a raw, engaging story in print and those emotions are brought out even more with Zachary Zaba's narration!

Awesome listen

I love age gap and this was a good one. There is drama in this listen but it isn’t frivolous as it all has purpose. I think the dynamic of these characters is spot on.

Both deserving of the love they finally found!

Sage Abbott created such a beautiful love story between Abe and Emery in Class Act, and Zachary Zaba did a phenomenal job bringing the story to life.

Starting with the story itself; it was done beautifully. I will say I sometimes shy away from stories with a cheating element, but I love this author and wanted to give it a shot. I am so glad I did because that aspect of the story was not glorified in any way and please believe the author’s statement that the relationship between Abe and Emery happens so organically - it felt inevitable. Abe was stuck in a loveless situation with so much love to give and Emery did not know what being loved felt like. These two men completed each other. Emery needed someone he could trust and be soft with after constantly having to fight off the world and fend for himself. Abe needed someone to love and care for, who wanted him for who he was and not something he could offer or potentially be. My heart broke for both of them throughout their story as they continued to fight for themselves and their HEA. Both of these men showed commitment to the love that bloomed between them and they deserved to find happiness in each other.

Now for the narration of the story by Zachary Zaba it was phenomenal. He brought these characters and their story to life. He captured Emery’s sass and Abe’s authority wonderfully. It felt like multiple people were voicing these characters throughout the chapter because their voices and sense of character were so defined and unique to them. You could hear the shift of emotions and tones in these characters. For example, when Emery goes from being bratty to soft with Abe or when Abe goes from his tone authority to being goo for Emery. It was a great listen and I highly recommend it!

Emery deserves all the love

I really enjoy this story. This story does revolve around cheating though not between the main characters. Emery has an awful family life. His dad is terrible and his mom left when he was young. Abe's in a bit of a soulless marriage. His wife is so focused on her work that she puts her family last. These two find comfort with each other and I do like how they support each other. There's a decent amount of drama and I had fun with this one.

Zachary's performance is great! I loved how he voiced the characters and they felt unique. I took off a star because it seemed like there may have been some editing issues. A few times it seemed like lines were repeated as if one of them was meant to be cut out later. I don't know if it was just my copy but it wasn't enough that it took away from the story.

Abe and Emery 💗🥹

Despite being extremely off limits, Emery finds himself falling for his best friend’s father. Abe tries to stay away but when his resolve crumbles, Abe and Emery begin a forbidden relationship. Class Act is a book with a rollercoaster of emotions and a love worth fighting for, no matter how forbidden it happens to be.

I adore Emery and Abe so incredibly much. Class Act has complicated characters and nearly no one in this situation reacts perfectly. Check the description and trigger warnings for exact details, but I just want to talk about my love for this book. This was a delight to read even through the more tough and intense moments, I felt a swirl of emotions all the time every reread of Emery and Abe’s story. I love how they don’t deny the hurt they caused others, yet they have also been hurt in many ways as well. I found appreciation for nearly every character and while I loved to heavily dislike some, I also found reasons to find my opinion to be more complex than simple disdain. Emery and Abe just fit, regardless of how they shouldn’t work so well. I simply cherish Emery and Abe with my whole heart 🫶🏻

Zachary Zaba narrated this audiobook, and the way he switched his voice around for not just the leads but also the entire cast impressed me. The tone he uses for Emery and the one for Abe match the character’s perfectly. Truly, I thought he was a vocal chameleon with how distinct his voices were for each person, just spot on interpretations. With this favorite book of mine in audio I can reread Class Act in more ways than through an ebook or a physical copy, which I just love doing.

5/5 🌟

Forbidden love

Feeling alone in his marriage, high school coach, Abe makes do in life.
Dealing with an unsavoury home life, Emery finds other ways to express his true self.
When Emery comes into constant contact with Abe because of his best friend Mandy, two lonely souls make a sinful connection and a forbidden / taboo love is born.

This was a relatively easy story to listen to.
Mr Zaba does an excellent job of making the characters relatable to.
I also liked how the author made the characters deal with the inevitable consequences of their relationship.
I adored the ending and I hope to visit these characters sometime in the future.
Definitely a good listen and a recommendation for all those that love a bit of spice in their stories.

Sweet and devoted to each other

I was a little cautious when listening to the trigger warnings (I don’t have any) but I wanted to make sure before I continued. I am pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed the story. Emory, a 19 yr old high school student has had it rough with an abusive parent and is trying to keep it quiet until he can move out. Abe, the football coach and Emory’s best friend’s dad, has been trying to make it work with his wife but nothing is working. When things fall apart for emory, Abe is there to help him as best he could without giving Emory’s secret of abuse away. But along the way Emory snd Abe fall for each other and have an affair while Abe is still married. While both could lose everything they still continue to support and stand up for each other especially when Abe’s wife and daughter find out. Zachary Zaba as narrator captured Emory and Abe wonderfully This story was a forbidden, sweet and belief in one another that stands the test of their time.

super sweet

I very much enjoyed this book. age gap, secret relationship, some light kink, and a HEA. I loved the chemistry between these men and no matter how bad they were, I rooted for them

10/10 recommend
spicy 🌶🌶🌶

Yes Please!!

Oh, how much I loved this story of Emery and Abe! Class Act is an MM romance between a teacher/football coach, Abe, and a 19 yr old student/cheerleader senior in high school, Emery. Abe is married, but not happily, taking a backseat to his wife's career. Emery is alone with an abusive, homophobic father, both starved for love and affection. Emery is new to the school and becomes best friends with Abe’s daughter, and they become close through that connection. After a series of events that kept pushing them together, spending more time getting to know each other, they fell in love. Despite the obstacles they had in front of them getting their HEA, they never gave up, and they made me fall in love with them over and over again right up until the very end. This story was so well written, and Zachary Zaba's performance was fantastic! He truly brought Abe and Emery to life! Highly recommend this audiobook!