Giveaway and Blogtour Review: Canning the Center – Tara Lain

Posted 25 December, 2014 by Linda @ (un)Conventional Bookworms in Blog Tour, Reviews / 8 Comments

Giveaway and Blogtour Review: Canning the Center - Tara Lain

Giveaway and Blogtour Review: Canning the Center – Tara LainCanning the Center by Tara Lain
Series: Long Pass Chronicles #2
Published by Dreamspinner Press on 17 December 2014
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, LGBT, Romance
Pages: 250
Format: eARC
Source: Enchantress Design and Promo

Six foot seven inch, 300 pound Jamal Jones loves football, so when he finds out the ultra-conservative owner of his new pro football team fired their current center because he’s gay, bisexual Jamal decides to stay in the closet and hang with the females. Then, at a small drag show, he comes face-to-face with his sexual fantasy in the form of Trixie LaRue, a drag queen so exquisitely convincing she scrambles Jamal’s hormones -- and his resolve to nurse his straight side.

Trevor Landry, aka Trixie LaRue, hides more than his genitals. A mathematician so brilliant he can’t be measured, Trevor disguises his astronomical IQ and his quirk for women’s clothes behind his act as a gay activist undergrad at Southern California University.

To Trevor, Jamal is the answer to a dream -- a man who can love and accept both his personas. When he discovers Jamal’s future is threatened if he’s seen with a guy, Trevor becomes Trixie to let Jamal pass as straight. But Trevor risks his position every time he puts on a dress. Is there a closet big enough to hold a football pro and a drag queen?

Welcome to my stop on the Canning the Center blogtour! If you have been here before, you know that I love Tara Lain’s stories! There are some really sexy male characters in them, and they all have to deal with discrimination because of their LGBTQ status in society. Some hide, others are well out in the open… Today, I’m sharing my Canning the Center review, some of my favorite quotes and there’s a giveaway, too!

My Canning the Center review:

Canning the Center might just be the best LGBT story I have read so far, it has everything – a hot football player who’s still in the closet, but really wants to come out, a beautiful and smart man who is a drag-queen on certain evenings, a lot of power play and intrigue. The story felt very real, and I loved both Jamal and Trevor as characters because they had integrity, love and a lot of common sense. Written in third person point of view, past tense, I got to know the characters really well, and I wanted to cheer for them when things were difficult.

The fact that the team-owner where Jamal played was both a homophobe and a racist made him very easy to hate, and it wasn’t hard to understand why it took a while for Jamal to gather the courage to tell the world about the fact that he was gay, loved football, and wanted to be able to be himself everywhere he went. The tension in Canning the Center was ever-present, because of the realistic way the story unfolded.

The love story was really well done, too, and there are some very hot moments between Trevor and Jamal that added a lot to their relationship. I already loved reading Lain’s Outing the Quarterback, and Canning the Center is even better!  If you enjoy romance and erotica, you should definitely add this series to your shelves. Jamal’s family is golden! They are so loving and accepting, and that helped the main couple to deal with a lot of ugliness that was thrown their way.

Some of my favorite Canning the Center quotes:

Maybe he should just find a woman. There were always football groupies at the clubs and and women who liked what he had. Truth, though, he said he enjoyed men and women equally, he preferred men. Pretty, twinky, slender, graceful, beautiful men.

His mom leaned on the table. “Why would a teammate’s sister be investigating your friends, Jamal?” “She kind of wanted to date me, but – ” Noah Chuckled. “Oooh, shades of Fatal Attraction, man. Look out for rabbits in the stew.

Canning the Center giveaway:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The prizes are:
1 signed Print copy of Canning the Center — US Only
Intl receives ebook copy of Canning the Center and ebook copy of Outing the Quarterback instead
Ebook copy of Outing the Quarterback (worldwide)
$10 Amazon GC (worldwide)
Canning the Center jewelry bookmark (US only, Intl receives ebook of Canning the Center)

About the Author:

Tara Lain - (un)Conventional Bookviews 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:
WebsiteBlogTwitterFB Author PageGoodreadsPinterest
Buy Links:
Amazon | ARe

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

Reading this book contributed to these challenges:

Linda @ (un)Conventional Bookworms

About Linda @ (un)Conventional Bookworms

Linda is an English as foreign language teacher and has a Master's degree in English Language and Literature. She's an avid reader, blogger, compulsive one-clicker and a genre omnivore. Ever since she learnt how to read she has been seen with a book or two in her hands everywhere she goes.

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8 responses to “Giveaway and Blogtour Review: Canning the Center – Tara Lain

    • I loved Canning the Center, Braine! It is so well done, and the struggle really resonated with me, it was very realistic 🙂
      Merry Christmas 🙂

    • I hope you’ll love it as much as I did, Trix! I love Tara’s books, too, and Canning the Center exceeded my hopes and expectations!

  1. The best you’ve read?!? I’m going to have to pick up this series…I know I’ve picked up at least one by Lain thanks to you…but I can’t remember which one. I love the sound of this one (and the series) since it involves football and being gay. I’m certain there are a lot of gay men who play football and stay “in the closet” because of all the testosterone, prejudice, and homophobia. Thanks for the great review. I’m glad you enjoyed it.

    Happy Saturday! **BIG HUGS**

    • Definitely, Brandee! so well done, and the characters were really great ones to get to know! I’m certain it’s even harder to be gay in a ‘manly’ sport like football, so I can’t really blame those who are for staying in the closet while they are still playing.
      Happy Saturday to you, too, Brandee *BIG HUGS*

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