Colby Johnson and his cousin Megan have been practicing all summer for Wildwood’s annual Beach Volleyball Tournament. The evening before, Colby drops by the bar where Megan works for a quick drink before heading home and meets sexy Vander “Van” Byron. The instant attraction is mutual, but they share only a few brief hours before Colby has to call it a night.

The next day, Colby and Megan are on a winning streak, advancing through the tournament ranks with ease. When Colby runs into Van and his twin sister Vallery at the tournament, he isn’t surprised – more than half of Wildwood’s population, tourist and local alike, are crowded on the beach for the event. But he is shocked to see the numbered vest Van wears, marking him as a competitor.

A quick look at the schedule shows that if both teams continue their winning streaks, the day will end with Colby and Van facing off through the volleyball net. To up the ante, Van proposes a little wager. Whoever wins their game advances in the tournament, of course, and continues on for a chance to win one of the grand prizes the next day, but whoever loses gets whatever he wants from the winner.

Playing the Field: Served! is the fourth installment in J.M. Snyder’s popular Playing the Field series and a great stand-alone novella for those looking to read a well-written and carefree story.

I have yet to come across an author of gay romance/erotica that writes athletic “men in motion” better than Snyder and this holds true of Served! Colby and Van sizzle on the page as Snyder expertly ratchets up the sexual tension in anticipation of who will win the volleyball tournament and who will win their clever side-bet. But I have to say that it is her descriptions that had me going throughout this story and made me nostalgic for those hot and lazy summer days spent on the beach checking out the life guards and ogling those lean boys in their cut-offs playing a haphazard game of beach volleyball.

Playing the Field: Served! is a fun, angst-free and easy-going story that serves up hard-bodied tanned beach boys for your reading pleasure and inspires all sorts of sex-on-the-beach fantasies. I’d say it’s an altogether winning reading proposition!

Playing the Field: Served! by J.M. Snyder is no longer available as a single title but appears in the collection Playing the Field: Volume I available at JMS Books.

NOTE: This review was originally published online by Rainbow Reviews.