*I received a free copy of Driven Snow from Dreamspinner Press via Enchantress Design and Promo. This has in no way influenced my voluntary review, which is honest and unbiased *

Driven Snow by Tara Lain
Series: The Pennymaker Tales #2
Published by Dreamspinner Press on 25 November 2015
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, LGBT, Romance
Pages: 210
Format: eARC

Young Snowden “Snow” Reynaldi is brilliant, beautiful, and alone. Though he’s shy, weird, and tolerated by the NorCal University students because he’s a renowned whiz at chess and helps put the school on the map, that doesn’t keep him from dreaming of the object of his desires: Riley Prince, championship quarterback.

When Riley needs a physics tutor, Snow jumps at the chance, and their relationship heats up—but Riley has to come out of the jock closet to get anywhere. Meanwhile, Snow’s one true friend and mentor, Professor Kingsley, marries a woman who secretly wants the chess tournament glory and money for herself. Soon after, the professor collapses and Snow finds himself underwater—literally. In a car!

Seven frat brothers from Grimm College rescue Snow just in time for his life to get even worse, and Snow discovers the one relationship he always wanted slipping away. With evil looming at every turn, Snow must survive if only to prove he’s the fairest of them all and regain the trust of his handsome prince.

Driven Snow has all of Lain’s trademark wonders, the romance, the laughs, the heartache, the misunderstandings and characters that just make you want more!

Welcome to my stop on the Driven Snow blogtour hosted by Enchantress Design & Promo. I am a huge Tara Lain fan, so when I saw that there was a review opportunity for her newest Pennymaker Tales story, I jumped right on it, and I am so happy I did!

My Driven Snow review:

What was really refreshing in Driven Snow was that both Snow and Prince were accepted as gay by their families, and Snow was out on campus as well. Prince, being the star quarterback of the college was only out to his coach, but when he got to know Snow, that is something he wanted to change really fast! This is a re-telling of Snow White different than any others you’ve ever seen, so original, and filled with tenderness, the story of the chess master and the evil step-mother was so well done!

The writing in Driven Snow is spotless, and the story unfolded beautifully! Strong characters and a solid plot made reading this story a pleasure. Character-driven and with quite a bit of suspense, I was at the edge of my seat as the evil stepmother made her play to become not only the fairest in the country, but also the new master when it came to chess. Because Snow was very smart, she had her work cut out for her, especially because once Mr. Pennymaker showed up, he had more help than he should have needed.

There are a lot of truths being shared in Driven Snow, just beyond the surface, we see that judging someone on only one part of who they are could make us miss out on getting to know a great person. And I think the message Lain shares in most of her stories, about solidarity, being open and to not judge is a great part of what makes her writing amazing. She is never preachy, but she still manages to always hit the nail right on the head! If you enjoy heart-warming stories, fairy-tale re-tellings, and a little bit of smexiness as well, you should definitely pick up Driven Snow! It can totally be read as a stand-alone.

You can buy Driven Snow in all these places :

 DreamSpinner ebook | DreamSpinner Paperback | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | iTunes | ArE | GooglePlay

Some of my favorite Driven Snow quotes:

“The Zetas don’t want me in their house or at their party.” He didn’t have the heart to say they didn’t want Winston either. The Big-Men-On-Campus jock fraternity did not do nerds. Especially not gay nerds.

H sprang up and started cleaning his pile of papers, extra chess pieces, leftover sandwich crusts, and glasses of tea. Still, no quieting the racing blur of his mind. Why was Riley coming over? Maybe he’d failed and he blamed Snow for it?

Snow nodded. Truth having two forms. Looking like something else.

Driven Snow Giveaway

a Rafflecopter giveaway

About Tara Lain:

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 23. Her best­selling novels have garnered awards for Best Series, Best Contemporary 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 soul­mate husband and her soul­mate dog in Laguna Beach, California, a pretty seaside town where she sets a lot of her books. Passionate about diversity, justice, and new experiences, Tara says on her tombstone it will say “Yes”

Author Links:

Website | Blog | FB Author Page | Twitter | Goodreads | Pinterest 

 

Driven Snow excerpt:

“There are rumors here and there, but I’m a big guy, and nobody says it to my face.”
Snow shrugged. “So why change now? You’re a senior. You can do what you want next year.”
Riley leaned his head back against the couch. “Because it’s chickenshit, like I said. People are always going to give gay guys crap when they don’t know anyone who’s gay. I can change that. A lot of people think they know me. I mean, look at you. Chess champion. Much bigger than I’ll ever be. But you never claim to be anything but gay.”
“I’m so weird, nobody’s surprised.”
“No, you’re not. You show the world that gay guys can be brilliant geniuses and beautiful. I can show them that gay guys can be big and strong and well coordinated. We all have a part to play.” He chuckled. “I have to confess, I practiced that speech, but I’m hoping it’s true.”
Snow’s heart beat so loud he could barely hear. Could this really be happening? “Umm, so you said you have enough experience to teach me.” He stared at his moo shu.
Riley sat up and got a very serious expression. “You see, Mr. Reynaldi, it’s all a matter of physics. Your quantum physics says that electrons can be in two places at the same time.” He leaned forward and pulled Snow across his lap, somehow managing to not spill any Chinese food in the process. “It’s like my tongue can be in my mouth—” He ran his soft tongue across Snow’s barely parted lips. “—and inside your mouth at the same time.” He insinuated inside and kissed Snow slowly and thoroughly. So that’s how it feels. Invasive and completing at once.
Riley pulled his lips back from the kiss but kept them close to Snow’s so his breath warmed Snow’s wet mouth. “And just as particles can be waves and waves particles, so I can feel completely relaxed and completely excited simultaneously.”
Snow grinned. “I knew physics could be fun, but this is far beyond my expectations.”
“You didn’t have enough faith in your subject matter.”
“Clearly.” He smiled and whispered, “What happens now?”
“First, I want to know if you’re interested in me, or am I just living in fantasyland?”
Snow’s eyes widened. “Oh, did I not show enough interest?”
Riley laughed. “Yes, but I don’t want to take anything for granted. You’re too special.”
My, that moo shu is interesting. “I’ve been dreaming about you ever since the first time I saw you. I didn’t think you were gay, so I never even hoped it could be more than a dream.”
Riley caressed Snow’s hair. “Think of all the time we wasted dreaming about each other.”
“In quantum physics, particles in contact become quantumly entangled. Perhaps we simply needed more time for the entangling to occur.” Snow smiled softly. This had to be a dream.

Thanks for stopping by today, and good luck in the giveaway!

Reading this book contributed to these challenges:

• 2015 New Release Challenge

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