(Balls to the Wall Series, Bk #2)
By Tara Lain
Blurb:
Renowned artist Rodney Mansfield stands five foot six, has pink hair, six earrings, a black belt in karate—and a desperate yearning for firefighter Hunter Fallon. But Rod, the Runtback of Notre Dame, knows he’ll never land the beautiful “straight gay” guy, so Rod musters his altruism and helps his more masculine friend Jerry attract Hunter. As if a broken heart wasn’t enough, Rod saves Hunter from a firehouse homophobe—humiliating Hunter in front of his dad!
Hunter lives a dream life—his father’s dream. While he’d like to teach literature in college, read poetry in the sun, and find a strong guy to top him, he fights fires for his dad. Hunter hates flamboyant guys like Rodney. So why can’t he resist him? Maybe it’s time to admit this is one flame he has no desire to put out.
Available to purchase
Excerpt
He leaned back on the couch. “Anyway, he’s dreamy,
straight-up divine. Sweet and nice and smart. Shit, man, have you ever seen
anything so beautiful?”
Too much. Rod got up and went back to the
easel. At least he didn’t have to stare into Jerry’s smitten face. Crap, he
wanted to be happy for the guy. He really did. “He’s beautiful, all right.”
“And guess what? He asked about you.”
No breath. “He, uh, did?”
“Yeah. Said you were so talented. See, I told you not
to leave.”
“Didn’t want to be a third wheel.”
“Hey, my man, you’re my brother from another mother.
What I got, you got. So I’m going on another date with him, and he loves to
read and shit. Could you tell me some stuff to talk about?”
Oh dear God. “So what have you read, Jerry?”
He looked at his hands. “I, uh, read a few romance
novels.”
“I think it’s okay to talk about those, but you have
to know some other writers too. So think. What did you read in high school?”
“Comic books.”
“Graphic novels?”
“Yeah. Man, I love Watchmen and X-Men
and Batman.”
“Comic books.” He walked over to a bookshelf he kept
tucked away in the corner of the studio. When he rested on the couch, he loved
to read himself to sleep. “Have you ever heard of Lord Byron?”
Jerry shook his head. “Sounds like a rock star.”
“He kind of was for his time. He was a poet.” He took
out a slim volume and began to read from Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage.
“Roll on, thou deep and dark blue ocean—roll! Ten thousand fleets sweep over
thee in vain; man marks the earth with ruin—his control stops with the shore.”
When he got to “unknelled, uncoffined, and unknown” he looked up.
Jerry’s big blue eyes shone with tears. “Hey, man,
that’s awesome. Probably not a surfer, I guess. All the ‘thees’ and ‘thous’
sound kind of old. But that dude knew what a surfer feels, man. We ride on top
of the—what did he call it?—deep and dark blue ocean. And we know we can sink
and never be heard from again, man. Axed. It’s how we want to go if we gotta.”
He had to stop underestimating this man. Rod walked
over to the couch and handed the book to Jerry. “Just be yourself. He’s got to
love you.”
“Wow, thanks. But I’ll read this, man. Every word, or
at least the words I understand, okay?”
He smiled. “Okay.”
“I sure do like the way you read it, though.”
Rod laughed, took back the book, and began to read.
4 out of 5 stars
Fire Balls is the second book in Tara Lain's Balls to the Wall series. While there are appearances from the characters from book one, the stories can be read as stand-alones.
I have got to say that I liked this book a little bit more then the first one, mostly because of Rodney. He is truly a strong character who is mostly comfortable in his own skin and a very talented artist. Which of course being an artist allows him to be free to express himself with bold choices in clothing and hair color. OH...and Rodney is a totally badass kickboxer ... and did I mention that he's a top? I loved that there was that switch in who you thought would be the alpha in the relationship but ends up being a bottom, and the guy that most might assume as the bottom is actually the top.
Hunter, on the other hand, is portrayed as this strong, 'Alpha'-type firefighter. He doesn't like showing who he really is and immediately assumes others are judging him if he's around someone that's a little more femme or flamboyant. At times it edges on self hate, because he does not like who he is but he has to maintain that persona to make others happy. Hunter focuses very little on himself and what might make him happy because of that.
I will say that the dynamic between Hunter and Rodney isn't the best until it actually 'clicks'. Hunter is way too concerned with pleasing others and keeping up appearances so both his father and others believe that he's the strong Alpha male. At points in the story I kind of wished that Rodney would tell Hunter to take a flying leap and not come back. Then there would be that connection that showed Hunter wasn't who he was projecting that made me like him. Let's face it, the tension, and eventually the sex, between Rodney and Hunter is super hot. It did walk a fine line with me, but ultimately I liked Rodney so much that the story was very worth the read.
I'm not sure if there was additional material added to the original story to this re-issue. However the cover on this new release really fits Rodney to a "T" and is worth a re-buy if you already have it.
I definitely recommend this as a fun, steamy read with unexpected characters that will pull you into the story.
Volley Balls
Bk #1
Available at
About the Author
Tara Lain writes the Beautiful Boys of Romance in LGBT erotic romance novels that star her unique, charismatic heroes. Her first novel was published in January of 2011 and she’s now somewhere around book 32. Her best-selling novels have garnered awards for Best Series, Best Contemporary Romance, Best Paranormal Romance, Best Ménage, Best LGBT Romance, Best Gay Characters, and Tara has been named Best Writer of the Year in the LRC Awards. In her other job, Tara owns an advertising and public relations firm. She often does workshops on both author promotion and writing craft. She lives with her soul-mate husband and her soul-mate dog near the sea in California where she sets a lot of her books. Passionate about diversity, justice, and new experiences, Tara says on her tombstone it will say “Yes”!
You can find Tara Lain at
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