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Love Match #1
Love Match: Volume 1
Rocky N’Guwe thought tennis would be the hardest thing he’d have to learn at Palm Gables Tennis Academy. But the young jackal finds himself navigating a new culture as well as his own sexuality and the volatile relationships of any high school, all while keeping himself focused on the professional career that will allow him to rescue his sister from an undesirable marriage back home. And looming in his future is Palm Gables alum and rising tennis star Braden Longacre, an abrasive cross fox whose path keeps crossing Rocky’s no matter how much the jackal tries to avoid him…
381 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 13, 2017
12 people are currently reading
109 people want to read
About the author
Kyell Gold
66 books648 followersHi there! I am a writer of gay furry fiction--but you probably know that if you've seen my book listing here. I live in California with my husband Kit, and when I'm not writing, we like to go out to eat and watch movies. We travel a lot, too, mostly around the West Coast, but occasionally to the midwest and east.
I blog at http://www.kyellgold.com/wpblog about upcoming travel plans, upcoming books and news, general writing principles, gay rights, and whatever else seems interesting. And I co-host a podcast, called "Unsheathed," where we talk about the craft of writing and the furry fandom, sometimes at the same time.
If you have a question about any of the books, check the FAQ on my website and then ask away! :)
I blog at http://www.kyellgold.com/wpblog about upcoming travel plans, upcoming books and news, general writing principles, gay rights, and whatever else seems interesting. And I co-host a podcast, called "Unsheathed," where we talk about the craft of writing and the furry fandom, sometimes at the same time.
If you have a question about any of the books, check the FAQ on my website and then ask away! :)
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
March 24, 2017
It's very interesting how gay stories and sports - two themes that wouldn't seem to appeal to gay readers or sports fans - have become author Kyell Gold's forte. Yet he manages to not only pull it off, he makes it accessible to both parties. Gay readers will relate and be invested in the personal and relational drama, while sports fans can can drawn into the competitive drama (although admittedly this first volume doesn't have a lot of serious matches). I'm not a professional tennis player, but if I didn't know better I'd think Kyell Gold was a professional tennis player himself once, with all the detailed tennis descriptions.
Now if you're familiar with Kyell Gold's other work,you may notice a similarity with his other famous gay sports themed series: Out of Position. I'll say that while both have very similar themes, they have enough differences to the point where it's not like your reading the same book, just with tennis. The characters in OoP were at a college-professional level, while this book is more about high school and training. Also there are issues of ethnicity and cultural differences.
I will say that if you liked the OoP series you will like this. Time will tell, but I think it's safe to assume this series will be a spiritual sibling to OoP.
Some issues I had were the structuring and narrative voice. For the most part, the book is narrated in a 1st person reflective POV except for the prologue, epilogue, and two "interludes" between which take place in the present tense. I'm not quite sure how to feel about these parts because on the one hand, it tells you where Rocky is going to end up, but it doesn't give you any details and doesn't spoil anything. I get that the whole novel is a "how I got to this moment" story, but by the end we don't see the result of the story from those sections, which leads me wondering how the next novel is going to handle them. I can't see how the story going on in these "present" parts can be extended into future books,and it would be odd to have two stories going on in different timelines. Also I liked at first in one of the interludes that the POV changed from Rocky, giving us an external look at the events going on, but none of the others parts are like that so that section ends up standing out awkwardly somewhat. It's not that these parts ruin the book, but I'm curious to see how future installments will tie them all together.
Overall, this book has the same quality as most of author Kyell Gold's other work. It's engaging, emotional, and thrilling, and like his other books I found it hard to put down until the end. I am greatly looking forward to the next installment!
Now if you're familiar with Kyell Gold's other work,you may notice a similarity with his other famous gay sports themed series: Out of Position. I'll say that while both have very similar themes, they have enough differences to the point where it's not like your reading the same book, just with tennis. The characters in OoP were at a college-professional level, while this book is more about high school and training. Also there are issues of ethnicity and cultural differences.
I will say that if you liked the OoP series you will like this. Time will tell, but I think it's safe to assume this series will be a spiritual sibling to OoP.
Some issues I had were the structuring and narrative voice. For the most part, the book is narrated in a 1st person reflective POV except for the prologue, epilogue, and two "interludes" between which take place in the present tense. I'm not quite sure how to feel about these parts because on the one hand, it tells you where Rocky is going to end up, but it doesn't give you any details and doesn't spoil anything. I get that the whole novel is a "how I got to this moment" story, but by the end we don't see the result of the story from those sections, which leads me wondering how the next novel is going to handle them. I can't see how the story going on in these "present" parts can be extended into future books,and it would be odd to have two stories going on in different timelines. Also I liked at first in one of the interludes that the POV changed from Rocky, giving us an external look at the events going on, but none of the others parts are like that so that section ends up standing out awkwardly somewhat. It's not that these parts ruin the book, but I'm curious to see how future installments will tie them all together.
Overall, this book has the same quality as most of author Kyell Gold's other work. It's engaging, emotional, and thrilling, and like his other books I found it hard to put down until the end. I am greatly looking forward to the next installment!
July 16, 2018
I think as always, the worldbuilding Kyell produces is really top quality. There is so much richness to this book that it really grabs the reader and pulls them in, making them invested in the characters.
I probably preferred this one to his Out of Position series, but that could be because I'm much more familiar with tennis than I am NFL. If you liked one, chances are high you will like the other.
I probably preferred this one to his Out of Position series, but that could be because I'm much more familiar with tennis than I am NFL. If you liked one, chances are high you will like the other.
February 20, 2017
I went into this book with the limited knowledge of tennis that i have learned from wii sports. it has caused me to want to have a deeper knowledge of tennis, but you can follow it if you have half a brain. as in most of kyell gold's books it creates a strong appreciation of what someone has to go through to become a professional player of any kind, along with the hardships they face.
This book covers the first 2 years of Rochi's, AKA Rocky. (i Prefer Ro, as his mother calls him.) Life in America. Kyell has said there will be 7 years total. he is a young, talented, tennis player that is almost too good for his own good. he questions everything about himself that he has known as he is in a new country that is different from his old one. he has conflicts with how he was brought up to view the world and how others view it.
As with most of kyell's books lately, and in life, you can never resolve every problem and that life goes on, especially if there are two more books left. it is well rounded in characters development and left with little cracks in characters for the reader to infer about. there is a mystery surrounding every important character that drives you to keep reading to figure out the truth.
i felt that this is one of his stronger books, similar to OoP except that this book starts vanilla. when you think of his two biggest series, they both started off as short stories (In Between for OoP and Prisoner's Release for the Argaea Series), they created a world that the readers wanted to explore so it encouraged him to write without any inhibitions.
if you did not know, this book series was funded by Patreon here https://www.patreon.com/kyellgold . there are weekly updates with a new chapter and he can go at his own pace. it also allows for interactions with his readers and general encouragement to write. if you want to support this book series and help in it's progress, go here.
lastly, this book has left me craving for more of Rochi's story and how it will unfold. kyell has done an excellent job with this book and I DEMAND MORE soon. when i have more money, i would like to support on patreon.
some criticisms i have are that it is formatted weird and some grammar mistakes here and there, but it is nothing that a patch cant fix. it also feels like some things are left out that build character development, but the stuff that is left out is just kyell following the rule of fiction to keep the plot advancing. in OoP he had a problem where the 4th book was going to be last book, but he wrote too much and it became two books. now he wants to have more focus on the plot, but i think he should avoid that rule when he is doing little romantic gestures. the plot is important and it needs to progress, but if you cut the any part of the relationship or the want of the relationship, you will lose the connection. it is the recurring feelings and thoughts of your loved ones that will bring you the smallest of smiles on you face during the bleakest of times. it can be that the character is wandering through a mall and stumbles apon something that reminds them of their SO, it could be a gift for them, it could be what they like to do at a mall like people watch, play arcade games, eat pizza. it is that fuzzy feeling that is missing.
what he is missing now is the show and tell. you can tell me that a character does not life coffee, but can you ask the character why not, they can stutter and make a quick excuse like it is sour, but you can also dig deeper and bring up a memory where they burn their tongue, the burning feeling, the fact that the smell brings it back. it is the job of the SO to remember when they see coffee that they remember that their SO does not like coffee for a bizarre reason. i true relationship looks for the WHY no matter what so they can experience their partners feelings.
This book covers the first 2 years of Rochi's, AKA Rocky. (i Prefer Ro, as his mother calls him.) Life in America. Kyell has said there will be 7 years total. he is a young, talented, tennis player that is almost too good for his own good. he questions everything about himself that he has known as he is in a new country that is different from his old one. he has conflicts with how he was brought up to view the world and how others view it.
As with most of kyell's books lately, and in life, you can never resolve every problem and that life goes on, especially if there are two more books left. it is well rounded in characters development and left with little cracks in characters for the reader to infer about. there is a mystery surrounding every important character that drives you to keep reading to figure out the truth.
i felt that this is one of his stronger books, similar to OoP except that this book starts vanilla. when you think of his two biggest series, they both started off as short stories (In Between for OoP and Prisoner's Release for the Argaea Series), they created a world that the readers wanted to explore so it encouraged him to write without any inhibitions.
if you did not know, this book series was funded by Patreon here https://www.patreon.com/kyellgold . there are weekly updates with a new chapter and he can go at his own pace. it also allows for interactions with his readers and general encouragement to write. if you want to support this book series and help in it's progress, go here.
lastly, this book has left me craving for more of Rochi's story and how it will unfold. kyell has done an excellent job with this book and I DEMAND MORE soon. when i have more money, i would like to support on patreon.
some criticisms i have are that it is formatted weird and some grammar mistakes here and there, but it is nothing that a patch cant fix. it also feels like some things are left out that build character development, but the stuff that is left out is just kyell following the rule of fiction to keep the plot advancing. in OoP he had a problem where the 4th book was going to be last book, but he wrote too much and it became two books. now he wants to have more focus on the plot, but i think he should avoid that rule when he is doing little romantic gestures. the plot is important and it needs to progress, but if you cut the any part of the relationship or the want of the relationship, you will lose the connection. it is the recurring feelings and thoughts of your loved ones that will bring you the smallest of smiles on you face during the bleakest of times. it can be that the character is wandering through a mall and stumbles apon something that reminds them of their SO, it could be a gift for them, it could be what they like to do at a mall like people watch, play arcade games, eat pizza. it is that fuzzy feeling that is missing.
what he is missing now is the show and tell. you can tell me that a character does not life coffee, but can you ask the character why not, they can stutter and make a quick excuse like it is sour, but you can also dig deeper and bring up a memory where they burn their tongue, the burning feeling, the fact that the smell brings it back. it is the job of the SO to remember when they see coffee that they remember that their SO does not like coffee for a bizarre reason. i true relationship looks for the WHY no matter what so they can experience their partners feelings.
March 2, 2018
I debated a bit over whether to give this book 4 or 5 stars. Ended up going with 5 because despite its flaws I wasn't able to put the book down and finished it in three days!
As always, Kyell does a great job of world building and immersing the reader in the environment (having read most of his other novels that occur in the same universe helps too). I am a huge fan of how he furry-fies his characters so well, with the descriptions of the ear movements, tail movements, etc. I haven't read another furry author yet who is able to use these other "non conventional" body parts to show emotion nearly as well. This is definitely one of Kyell's deeper, more complex novels from a character development standpoint and it's quite refined from that aspect. He makes it very easy to connect to the main characters of the book.
Some criticisms - I didn't quite get the point of showing the flashbacks (or, more like flash forwards I guess) to later on in Rocky's life. It sort of spoiled part of the book's storylines because I already knew how successful he was going to end up being. I guess the whole book is supposed to be a look back on Rocky's development as a beginner tennis player but I feel like that could have been conveyed without the spoilers. Speaking of tennis... I'm not nearly as familiar with tennis as I am with football, and Kyell included a "intro to football" chapter in his Out of Position series... but no "intro to tennis" chapter in this? Last but definitely not least, in my opinion Kyell writes some great rather tasteful "explicit" scenes - but it seems like in this book the readers were constantly teased with "it's gonna happen" just before something or someone throws a wrench in the character's plans. It was quite a bummer to have all the buildup but then for nothing to really happen. (The book as a whole, by the way, is pretty tame... definitely among furry standards at least.)
Despite my gripes, this was a great book. I'm looking forward to the next installation!
As always, Kyell does a great job of world building and immersing the reader in the environment (having read most of his other novels that occur in the same universe helps too). I am a huge fan of how he furry-fies his characters so well, with the descriptions of the ear movements, tail movements, etc. I haven't read another furry author yet who is able to use these other "non conventional" body parts to show emotion nearly as well. This is definitely one of Kyell's deeper, more complex novels from a character development standpoint and it's quite refined from that aspect. He makes it very easy to connect to the main characters of the book.
Some criticisms - I didn't quite get the point of showing the flashbacks (or, more like flash forwards I guess) to later on in Rocky's life. It sort of spoiled part of the book's storylines because I already knew how successful he was going to end up being. I guess the whole book is supposed to be a look back on Rocky's development as a beginner tennis player but I feel like that could have been conveyed without the spoilers. Speaking of tennis... I'm not nearly as familiar with tennis as I am with football, and Kyell included a "intro to football" chapter in his Out of Position series... but no "intro to tennis" chapter in this? Last but definitely not least, in my opinion Kyell writes some great rather tasteful "explicit" scenes - but it seems like in this book the readers were constantly teased with "it's gonna happen" just before something or someone throws a wrench in the character's plans. It was quite a bummer to have all the buildup but then for nothing to really happen. (The book as a whole, by the way, is pretty tame... definitely among furry standards at least.)
Despite my gripes, this was a great book. I'm looking forward to the next installation!
November 16, 2019
The book is slightly off the usual Kyell's style and even at first it seemed a bit tedious and the plot a trifle chaotic. But when it all rolls on, the journey of a young, talented tennis player becomes definitely enthralling.
September 23, 2017
Felt a lil slow here and there. I'm not sure why but it might have to do with this book beng sponsored by patreon, meaning there was some sort of pressure to deliver something every month. I felt more curious about the 'villain' Brad in the story, and the ending clearly suggests there's going to be more than just this book in the Series. I often skipped paragraphs where there was just tennis talk going on that had no effect on the storyline (like who's hitting the ball in which way and how it affected the game etc).
October 10, 2021
My new favorite book series
February 26, 2022
Disappointed and not satisfied. I think the secondary plot about his sister in Africa was more interesting than what was going on in the main plot.
January 13, 2025
So refreshing with such a bittersweet ending
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews