Jump to ratings and reviews
Rate this book

Going for the Gold #2

Personal Best 2: A Going for the Gold Novel

Rate this book
Swimmer Mike Gauliet and coach Jessy Turner are back in this second book in the Personal Best series! Mike is moving up in the elite ranks of the American swim team, despite his repetitive stress injuries. He's hiding his pain from Jessy, not wanting to give in to it or let his coach down, and by the time he gets treatment, it's almost too late. Jessy helps Mike recover, both in an out of bed, and their need for each other grows as quickly as Mike's career. They're scorching hot and ready to go to the top competitions when another injury forces Mike to the sidelines. Jessy thinks this one is no accident, and Mike has to work hard to recover the lost ground. Jessy takes Mike away from the hustle and bustle of the training center, living on the coast while the two of them struggle with adversity. Mike gets back into competition form and his success is also Jessy's. Can they keep everything together and keep their relationship from getting in the way of Mike's Personal Best? Sean Michael triumphs with another sexy, captivating read!

196 pages, Paperback

First published January 15, 2005

9 people are currently reading
79 people want to read

About the author

Sean Michael

652 books1,209 followers
Often referred to as "Space Cowboy" and "Gangsta of Love" while still striving for the moniker of "Maurice," Sean Michael spends his days surfing, smutting, organizing his immense gourd collection and fantasizing about one day retiring on a small secluded island peopled entirely by horseshoe crabs. While collecting vast amounts of vintage gay pulp novels and mood rings, Sean whiles away the hours between dropping the f-bomb and persuing the kama sutra by channeling the long lost spirit of John Wayne and singing along with the soundtrack to "Chicago."

A long-time writer of complicated haiku, currently Sean is attempting to learn the advanced arts of plate spinning and soap carving sex toys.

Barring any of that? He'll stick with writing his stories, thanks, and rubbing pretty bodies together to see if they spark.

Ratings & Reviews

What do you think?
Rate this book

Friends & Following

Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!

Community Reviews

5 stars
33 (26%)
4 stars
36 (28%)
3 stars
44 (35%)
2 stars
11 (8%)
1 star
1 (<1%)
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
Profile Image for Serena Yates.
Author 104 books768 followers
May 12, 2020
Supertalented swimmer Mike and his coach, Jessy, are back in this second book of the ‘Personal Best’ series. Much has changed in the two years since they have started working together, and a lot is still the same. Their almost magical relationship as athlete and coach is as good as ever, with Mike pushing the limits as often as he can, and Coach Jessy enforcing them as unrelentingly as he believes is needed to get Mike to the Olympics. Their personal relationship as lovers has changed for the better now that Mike is a little older (twenty-one) and more self-confident about his somewhat kinky desires. The combination of hard training in the pool and “hard play” in the bedroom makes this a very hot story, and by the time some injuries and tension around Mike’s ability to compete are thrown in, I was pulled into the events just as much as when I read the first edition many years ago.


Please find my full review of the third edition on Rainbow Book Reviews.
Profile Image for Serena Yates.
Author 104 books768 followers
May 12, 2020
Supertalented swimmer Mike and his coach, Jessy, are back in this second book of the ‘Personal Best’ series. Much has changed in the two years since they have started working together, and a lot is still the same. Their almost magical relationship as athlete and coach is as good as ever, with Mike pushing the limits as often as he can, and Coach Jessy enforcing them as unrelentingly as he believes is needed to get Mike to the Olympics. Their personal relationship as lovers has changed for the better now that Mike is a little older (twenty-one) and more self-confident about his somewhat kinky desires. The combination of hard training in the pool and “hard play” in the bedroom makes this a very hot story, and by the time some injuries and tension around Mike’s ability to compete are thrown in, I was pulled into the events just as much as when I read the first edition many years ago.


Please find my full review on Rainbow Book Reviews.
Profile Image for Lora.
347 reviews3 followers
August 7, 2012
Better than the first one. Still needs more story and less sex, though.
Profile Image for Natosha Wilson.
1,274 reviews15 followers
November 9, 2018
This is Book Two in Personal Best Series. It was a decent read but in being honest I expected more out of this book. I love the whole aspect of a coach and “student” (though not a school age student, college age instead) love story but what I do not like is at best Mike does not talk as smart as he truly is. Most of his sentences are one or two words when Mike and Jessie are intimate with one another. I think that brought down the level of how much I enjoyed the book as a whole. What I did like about this book is the whole never giving up theme that Mike has going on. He is determined to reach his goals and will not let anything stand in his way. Overall I rate this book as being a decent read. Though this turned out to not be my favorite book by Sean Michael, I still think that Sean Michael is an incredible author.

This book basically starts where Personal Best ended. Mike is back and more determined then ever to make it to the Olympics. He is an amazing competive swimmer and he is constantly beating his best times. With Jess as his coach Mike sees no way of him not reaching his goals.

But being Mike’s coach is not the only thing that Jess is. He is also Mike’s lover and best friend as well. As a coach, Jess is a hardass but as Mike’s lover, he is his dominant. Mike likes to be submissive to Jess and Jess is good at getting Mike out of his head. Jess believes that Mike tells him everything. But there is one thing that Mike is hiding from Jess. He has hurt his shoulder.

When Jess realizes that Mike is hurt, he immediately makes him go to the sports doctor. With what they find out, Jess does not want Mike to compete in the next event. But Mike is determined to not only compete in this event but win this event. After finally getting Jess to give in, Mike does compete and that is when everything could change forever for not only Mike and his swimming career but also Mike and Jess as well.

Like I said this was a decent read. Not my most favorite by Sean Michael but a good read. I look forward to more by Sean Michael in the future.

Was given this galley copy for free for an open and honest review
Profile Image for Amber.
1,701 reviews6 followers
April 26, 2019
Full review available at: https://optimumm.blog/2018/11/09/revi...

Personal Best 2 is the second book in the Personal Best series by Sean Michael. I loved this book. It’s packed full of sexy times, and I do mean packed full. Whether they were playing in the water, their playroom, the elevator, the hotel rooms after a swim meet, or their bedroom, these two had lots of stamina, and I loved the occasional dominate/submissive play to help Mike clear his head and focus his excess energy.

I loved the dynamic between Mike and Jessy. They flow beautifully from swimmer and coach to lovers. Jessy goes from being a complete hard-ass coach to being a protective dominate taking care of his submissive. And Mike needs somebody to tell him what to do. Otherwise, he would be in the pool twenty-four-seven and back to eating foods that would make him sick. I love how much he wants a Dr. Pepper and how he says it just get a reaction out of Jessy. I also liked that when push did come to shove that Jessy is willing to compromise and Mike is willing to compromise too.

I also liked when Jessy is there to help Mike recover from his injury, that is, after he gets over how furious he is with himself and Mike for keeping the injury to himself and his determination to continue to compete instead of taking a break and resting the injury. When he finally gets better from that injury and gets back up to competing again, he gets injured by another competitor. And he’s back to where he was before but with a longer recovery time.

But the book isn’t just pure sex. It does have a great plot also. The book does continue from book one, so I do recommend that you read Personal Best first before reading Personal Best 2 and the book does end in a happy for now ending, so I am looking forward to Personal Best 3 to come out and see how Mike does in his quest to win an Olympic medal.

I recommend this book to people that have enjoyed reading Sean Michael’s Iron Eagle Gym series.

***The ARC was provided by Dreamspinner Press. My review is an honest opinion of the book ***
3,166 reviews3 followers
May 5, 2019
blah, blah, blah...swim sex, repeat. I am done.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews

Can't find what you're looking for?

Get help and learn more about the design.