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

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.

What a dangerous game they played!

This is a standalone book written by Gianni Holmes under the pen name Sage Abbott. Zachary Zaba did a great job with the narration of this book.

I was a bit disappointed in Abe, for a man his age you'd think he'd be a lot wiser and sneakier to not let his hormones hijack his better judgment. It's not the cheating that bothers me, I don't mind books with cheating, but it felt like he wanted to get caught due to his risky behavior. Apparently older and wiser is just a myth when it comes to a man and his libido.

Inquiring minds want to know... How did Emery get all the party goers out of the house before Abe arrived? I felt like a chapter or a couple of paragraphs were missing.

25 year age gap, abusive father, married teacher/student trope, best friends father, marriage on the rocks, high heat

I kept waffling on what star rating to give this book. Gianni has some amazing books that are five-star reads all the way, this just wasn't one of them. I'm giving it three stars based on my definitions below.

My star ratings:
⭐ - don't waste your time
⭐⭐ - it's got potential
⭐⭐⭐ - all around good book
⭐⭐⭐⭐ - great book
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ - drop what you're doing/reading and read this book now

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.

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 🌟

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!

The narrator was amazing!!

I have to start by saying I tend to stay away from audiobooks that only have one narrator but Zachary Zaba did so amazing with this book! Every character came to life perfectly! I was completely engrossed that I forgot it was only one narrator!

Now onto the story! TW: Cheating is involved ( not between the MCs), Teacher/student.

Em and Ab, their chemistry is seriously explosive! the spice in this book is hotter than Hades! I loved the development of their relationship and the things they had to overcome! Teresa was a character that I just hated, she was manipulative and conniving and just a b*tch in the highest form, but I hate to say I understood everything she did.

Overall, you definitely need to listen to this book!

I am also really hoping for Lynn's story as well, I hope she gets a book!

Immature

DNF- I don’t mind cheating but this book was just poorly written. It was intentional seduction and the older mc was just immature and pathetic.