Medley

Changing Lanes, Book 2

By: Layla Reyne

Narrated by: Nick J. Russo

Olympic gold is within their grasp, if they can stay afloat in the sea of feels.

Jacob is drowning. Nineteen and a first-time Olympian, he’s in over his head. And the water’s only rising as he crushes harder on his tattooed teammate.

Sebastian cost his team the medley relay gold four years ago. He won’t make the same mistakes at this summer’s Olympics. Mistakes like falling for another swimmer at the Games.

Jacob needs all the help he can get. His mentor Sebastian can provide it. But when the irresistible rookie asks for his heart, Sebastian is the one left treading water. He wants the gold. He wants Jacob. If he can’t find a way to win both, he’ll sink. And take Jacob and the rest of the team with him.

Take a tattooed bad boy and an adorkable rookie, put them on the same Olympic medley relay team, and watch the heart-eyes fly in this friends to lovers MM sports romance.

©2018 Layla Reyne (P)2024 Layla Reyne

Conclusion of a two part story... still want more

I loved Jacob even though the incessant “pup” calling was a bit excessive for me. Poor Nick Russo having to say it a million times must have said it in his sleep after narrating this book! It made me ugh a bit.
But if you can get past that, the story was excellent.

Learning both Bas and Jacob’s back stories was great. The push and pull of their story was angst gold.

All the storylines get wrapped up and I’m sad to see these characters go. I’d love a check in sometime to see how their post Olympic lives are treating them all.
Nick did a great job with this narration. He captures Bas how I imagined him. Jacob was spot on too. Highly recommend.

4 Stars!

After reaching the end of the Relay audiobook I instantly started looking forward to this second audiobook! I picked this one up as soon as i finished the first one and got right back into this world! I finished listening to it in one sitting and I enjoyed it!

Having first listened to Nick J. Russo's narration in Relay I was so glad to be able to listen to him once again in this second installment! His narration was so great! I truly enjoyed him as Sebastian and Jacob! I was pulled into this story right away. I felt so much with Sebastian and Jacob from beginning to end! I so enjoyed digging deeper with Bas and Jacob and their chemistry.

I liked the fact that I wasn't sure what all was going to happen with these characters. I was so glad that i got back into the Changing Lanes world as well!

With Medley, Ms.Reyne has created such a good story that'll make you feel so much! I can't wait to pick up more of her work and listen to more of Nick's narration in the near future!

Pretty good

With the summer Olympics going on right now I was really excited to dive into this story. I've always loved reading books like this so when the opportunity to listen to this one came up, I jumped on it.

I liked Bas and Jacob for the most part. I think I liked Bas a bit more because he was more interesting and he had a very intriguing backstory. I could understand why he felt like he needed to push Jacob away and also why he had the stance he did on not having a relationship, particularly during the Olympics and with a teammate no less. My issues with him came from him flip flopping with Jacob and just basically leading him on. He was very hot and cold with him and I could see why Jacob was a mess because of it.

My problem with Jacob's story line is that his stress and pressure didn't really seem to stem from the Olympics itself, but from Bas. When he thought things were good with them, he swam really well, but as soon as he had doubt from Bas, he swam like garbage. We're told he had issues swimming during practices, but we're never actually shown those moments so it's hard to believe his swimming was affected by anything pressure or media related. I also felt like all of the characters handled him with kid gloves so it made him seem much younger than 19. In turn, it made his and Bas' relationship a little hard to believe.

One of the scenarios that I cannot get out of my head is the whole situation with Leah. She is such a bigot and I feel like that whole situation was just calmly accepted by everyone and then promptly forgiven and forgotten. Her reaction was unjustified and cruel and no one on her team especially seemed to look down on her for it. Bas "handled" it, but I don't know. It just rubbed me the wrong way. I don't know why I can't get over it...

Nick J Russo did a really great job, as usual. His voices weren't as unique for each character as they usually are, which actually surprised me. He's one of my favorite narrators because you can always tell who is talking because everyone gets their own voice, but in this one that wasn't always the case. It could also be because it was narrated in the 3rd person POV and sometimes that's more difficult to translate, especially with LGBTQ+ books.

Overall, this was a good book. I think it would have benefited from being a bit longer so some of the story lines could be more developed, but it was interesting and entertaining.

Emotional romance

It's been a while since I've been so frustrated with a romantic couple and still wanted to see them together. But that was the case with Bas and Jacob. Both of these guys have pasts that affect how they look at relationships as well as how they look at themselves. Jacob is only 19, so his insecurities are right there at the surface while Bas has buried his deep enough that he doesn't have to look too closely. As these two tiptoe around each other with an almost constant push and pull, they nearly drove me to distraction. I kind of wished for someone to just lock them in a room together and refuse to let them out until they figured it out. Needless to say, that didn't happen, and the result is drama, drama, drama for this pair. Oddly enough, even when these guys irritated me, I liked them. I certainly didn't always like their decisions or actions, but I liked them, and I liked the chemistry between them. Of course, I liked them as secondary characters in the first book in the series, so it was easy to start this one with those feelings. This book does pick up where book 1 left off, and while the focus is one a different couple, the story continues. Nick J Russo is also back to voice the characters for this second book, and as expected, he does it wonderfully. From 19-year-old Jacob's insecurities to the more jaded Bas and his gruff attitude about relationships, Russo gives us all the emotion of the story. What it comes down to is this couple may have driven me crazy, but it was so worth it in the end.

Great listen.

I really like this entertaining read. This is the conclusion of this two part series that follows Bas and Jacob. I really like listening to their story. Nick J Russo does another amazing job with this narration. He brings so much life to this one and I love listening to it.

Jacob and Bas are back!

This book is Bas and Jacob’s story ....but I want more. I enjoyed their story and happy ending. Nick J. russo’s narration in combination with Reyne’s words are an enjoyable match. Highly recommend!

Good

I loved Bas and Jacob! Loved the Olympic and swimmer angle. My only "problem" is Jacob's whining about wanting to get laid. Really got old hearing him go on about that one.

And the finish line has my heart

It’s rare to read a book with awimmers as MCs and I’m loving this! It’s difficult to write sports novel right and good but Layla Reyne did everything right by this book.

Bas and Jacob are doing their best to win the gold medal for their team, their country and themselves. But winning an Olympic medal is never easy and Bas is already suffering from the trauma of losing his dreams four years ago. Will they win their medal and their love?

Bas is a senior member while Jacob is the youngest in the team. It was interesting to see their interactions with each other and how they have to struggle their way to achieving glory. I like Bas, he’s an interesting character. Their journey to the path of glory and love definitely isn’t smooth but I feel like it was worth fighting for. NJR did a fine job narrating the story too. I really enjoyed this one.

4 And the finish line has my heart stars
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️





Audio rating

Story - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Narration - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Performance - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Overall - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Loved it all

I really enjoyed reading this series and the audio made me love it even more. With this one Russo did a great job bringing this story to life. I love how it focused on the MCs but we still got that family feeling from the previous book. Overall a fairly quick and highly enjoyable listen.

Golden

Layla Reyne should get a golden medal for the series, loved the books. Bas and Jacob were interesting and engaging characters to meet. Nick J Russo did a fantastic job with the narration as always.
This book was given to me for free at my request and I provided this voluntary review.