I was excited to read this because of the rowing aspect, but unfortunately I didn't really care about any of this. Additionally, there were a few lines that just seemed slightly questionable like. "There was more conquistador than conquered in Morgan Estrada's background." and "It'd be nice too have sex without having to make sure the guy was drunk enough to be willing but not too drunk to perform."

This was a romance story of Nick and Morgan. Nick who was the men's rowing teams coach had an interest for one of his students on the rowing team (Morgan). Their love affair was steamy and at times cute. I questioned the fact that one of them was an authority figure in the love story/affair. It seemed to be secretive at the beginning and that was not fair to Morgan. I thought at times the story dragged on for a bit. It was a nice ending to the story. Overall, it was an okay book.

I received this ARC from the publisher and Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

2 stars

C Koehler is evidently knowledgeable, and passionate about college rowing. and scenes surrounding the training and competition are easily the best aspect of 'Rocking the Boat'. It is also a setting rarely used in a M/M romance, and one can't deny, from a shallow, aesthetic-driven perspective, it is a rather ripe choice to conjure up some steamy, sexy time.

While 'Rocking the Boat'. delivers on the sex, it falters quite a bit on its story and character development. The crux of the novella relies on a character decision so absurd and illogical (having you best friend fake dating your crush to alleviate him from your mind), that the remaining narrative never fully recover from it. It depreciates the protagonist Nick, who has been written a little too naive, leaning into incredibly dumb territory (yes, going out in public with a boyfriend means the potential of being spotted, that shouldn't come as a sudden realization). The story is also quite constrained in its scope, with setting/scenario narrowly focused on rowing and relationship gossip, characters don't read like well-rounded adult individuals, but emotionally-obsessed teens where a phone call or text ruins one's life forever. Being melodramatic and angst is a valid stylistic choice, but when it is paired with the almost documentary style precision of the rowing portion, the clash between realism and comic book characters ended up subtracting the impact on both ends.

Lastly, seeing this was originally written in 2011, some of the word choice may seems problematic under today's climate; when characters are emotionally vulnerable, they are often described with phrases like "being like a girl" or "acting girly"—which on repeating occurrence, starts to sound extremely sexist. Hope this is something can be be revisited prior to the re-release.

'Rocking the Boat' does have some highlights, but they are being dragged down by questionable plot choice and dated writing style. In it's current state, it reads a little more like a personal fantasy, rather than a fully fleshed-out publication.

<i>***This ARC was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Much appreciated!***</i>

This was a sweet romance between a coach and an athlete he is training.
Nick is gay but closeted and attracted to one of his rowers.
Hiding his attraction towards Morgan becomes difficult each passing day.

Morgan knows his coach is attracted to him, and wants Nick to act on the attraction between them.
Can a closeted gay man act on his attraction for a younger man?

I loved the setting of the story. The author's writing style appealed to me and the characters were real and likeable.