Book Review: Caught Running by Abigail Roux & Madeleine Urban

Title: Caught Running
Author: Abigail Roux & Madeleine Urban
Genre: Contemporary Romance, M/M Romance
Sensuality Rating: Erotic
Source: review copy from publisher
Published: December 2007 by Dreamspinner Press

Ten years after graduation, Jake "the jock" Campbell and Brandon "the nerd" Bartlett are teaching at their old high school and still living in separate worlds. When Brandon is thrown into a coaching job on Jake's baseball team, they find themselves learning more about each other than they'd ever expected.

High school is all about image - even for the teachers. Brandon and Jake have to get past their preconceived notions to find the friendship needed to work together. And somewhere along the way, they discover that perceptions can always change for the better.

Reviewed By: J9

In a Nutshell: Very good character based romance with two great leads, an intimate romance and good secondary characters.

The Set Up: Ten years after graduation finds Brandon teaching biology at his former high school. He’s asked to help coach the school’s baseball team with Jake, the high school jock Brandon went to high school with. But Jake has a secret that Brandon can’t resist and with them working together all the time both find they need to change their preconceived ideas about each other.

Why I Read this Book: I’ve been devouring everything Madeleine Urban has written and this is one with her Cut & Run series co-author so I was anxious to read it.

What I Liked: I love both Jake and Brandon. They’re unique men with full lives and experiences in the ten years since high school and I loved them both. Jake loves coaching and dons a persona of the tough but caring “Coach”. Jake is physically falling apart and emotionally isolated so to watch him open up to Brandon is delicious. Brandon doesn’t live behind a mask like Jake but he’s not comfortable around people. He’s a driven person in his work and his personal life so he has to make room and time for Jake and this was lovely to read. These characters aren’t uber-masculine or stereotypes but fully complicated men and I adored them for this.

What I Also Liked: Brandon and Jake have a very intimate relationship. They first circle their sexual attraction which ends up erotic awesomeness. Then they circle their emotional intimacy which totally matches the sexual intimacy. They start to rely on each other for emotional support that they don’t have anywhere else and to me this is the stuff that makes romance reading worthwhile. Their relationship closure was delicious and just what I wanted.

I should also mention the great secondary characters here. Brandon’s fellow assistant coaches are best friends with Jake and this group of men becomes a community for each other and I liked this.

What I Didn’t Like: As in a lot of MM romance, women are either non-existent in the story or bitches. I don’t know why female authors do this to female characters but it’s absolutely the case here. Jake has the psychotic cheerleading coach constantly stalking him; Brandon’s fellow AP teacher turns into a bumbling teenager when near Jake; and there are no other female characters. I love men as much as the next hetro-woman but c’mon! Women are people too and I want to see them in books, even MM romance!

IMO: These characters and their romance combined for a better than average MM read for me. This isn’t a book with big mystery or plot lines, just a meandering romance with two wonderful characters falling in love.

J9’s Rating: