*I received a free copy of Snow Balls from via Enchantress Design and Promo. This has in no way influenced my voluntary review, which is honest and unbiased *
Warning: This book includes mature content such as: sexual content, and/or drug and/or alcohol use, and/or violence.
Snow Balls Series: Balls to the Wall #6 on 6 December 2017
Pages: 121
JJ LaRousse looks like a quarterback but acts like a queen. He’s trying to be proud of who he is—until a robbery at the famous Laguna Winter Fantasy brings JJ face-to-face with tough cop Ryan Star. JJ hears Ryan likes manly men, so he drops his voice an octave, colors his pink hair, and tries to pass as a football fan.
Ryan Star may be tough, but he keeps his sexuality to himself at work. He learned in New York that being a gay cop can be deadly. His attraction to JJ threatens his secret, but he’s finding it hard to back away from a guy who’s so totally his type. Then, during a ski trip and a confrontation with JJ’s biggest nemesis, all the façades come crashing down. In the aftermath, can Ryan love JJ for who he really is? More importantly, can JJ?
Welcome to my stop on the Snow Balls blogtour! Snow Ball was a delightful story, with a lot of light-hearted situations, albeit with some underlying themes like discrimination as well.
Story:
As always, Lain grabbed hold of my attention and kept it from start to finish! Snow Balls was such a sweet, but still strong story! About how difficult it can be to come out of that closet. And once that happens, all the heartache and pain that come with it. This made the beginning of a new relationship very difficult, as one of the guys was way out, while the other had more or less crawled back in.
Characters:
JJ was the kind of character I’d like to have as a friend. He was loyal, and very comfortably out. However, he still had some lingering doubts once he met Ryan. Was he manly enough? Strong enough? And I think those little doubts just made me love him more.
Ryan was a police officer, recently moved from NYC to Laguna. And he felt like he had no choice but to return to the closet. Even if JJ was awesome. And out. And probably just the man for him.
The secondary characters were awesome – from JJ’s friends to clients of the gallery where he worked. I had some good laughs with some ladies buying very risqué art.
Feels :
I loved that there were even some suspense elements to Snow Balls. There was also that feeling of a new romance, with beating hearts and heavy breathing. I felt strongly for the main characters, and wanted to cheer for them when things went well for them.
Snow Balls giveaway:
Snow Balls excerpt:
The announcer’s voice sounded, and they both faced front. The teams were going to come in now, JJ was pretty sure.
The guys in blue-and-white started to run onto the field. Oh my, the way those narrow butts looked in the tight pants was positively appetizing.
Ryan leaned over. “Who do you like? Any favorites?”
Okay, JJ was prepared. He took a deep breath. “Rivers, of course. He’s a great leader. Bound to make it to 5000 yards this year.” Oh sweet god of boys who like to sew, what did any of that mean?
Ryan nodded. “Amen. What about Gates?”
JJ sipped his beer to sort through his memory banks. “Best tight end to ever play the game.” He held his breath.
“You said it.”
Whew. JJ stared at the field. “Of course, quite a few of those guys look like tight ends.”
Ryan looked at him with his mouth open and then started to laugh. “Yeah. You got that right.”
The coin toss. The kickoff. Wow. That ball went all the way to the end, and a guy caught it. Cool. They all went farther down the field. Yep, just like Jerry had said. The guy in the center—the quarterback, probably—threw the ball. It soared through the air and some lean player caught it and started running like a son of a bitch. Holy shit. Two guys slammed him to the ground. That looked painful. JJ resisted the urge to close his eyes. He’d seen football on TV, of course. His dad had loved it. But JJ’d never paid much attention. In these good seats, the game was in his face.
Somebody came out and measured the field. A lot of people, including Ryan, moaned. He leaned over to JJ. “That was close.”
“Yeah.” Close to getting killed?
The players got back into lines. JJ could hear the cute one, the quarterback, calling out numbers. Some big guy in the front line moved. A yellow cloth flew through the air.
JJ whispered, “Offside.”
Ryan glanced over at him and smiled.
The announcer’s voice rang out, “Flag on the play. Offside.”
Holy shit. He’d gotten it right. Thank God for Jerry.
The whole crew of men moved and then got back in their line. A bunch of stuff happened at once, and JJ couldn’t follow it until everyone on their side leaped up so he did too. The announcer called “first down,” but it sure looked like about a hundred guys went down getting there.
Ryan leaned over. “I didn’t think they could make that one, after the foul.”
“Me too.” What? Good Lord, pretending was hard.
The whole line reassembled. The cutie stepped back and threw the ball a long way. The lean, fast guy ran out and caught the thing, which was clearly a miracle. He headed down the field like a jackrabbit with a pack of bulldogs on his heels. Shit, one bulldog came out of nowhere and tackled the rabbit, and then five other guys piled on. Whistles and yells sounded from their side and cheers from the other.
Then a groan and the crowd got quieter as the bulldogs pulled off and left the rabbit lying there in a heap. He didn’t get up. Oh no. JJ grabbed Ryan’s arm. “He’s hurt.”
“Yeah. Looks like it. Shame. He’s a great wide receiver.”
Receiver, hell. He was a gorgeous, fast-as-lightning black kid who had just got beaten to a pulp in a stupid game. JJ wanted to jump up and scream.
A stretcher was carried onto the field. Some guy put a collar around the player’s neck, and then they picked him up and put him on the stretcher. Hell, they didn’t look nearly careful enough. The crowd murmured and shifted. JJ looked around. They were uncomfortable with his being hurt, but it didn’t seem like they felt sorry for the player, exactly. It was more like they wanted to get on with cheering, and this moment of required sympathy was an imposition.
He looked at Ryan and found those blue eyes gazing at him. JJ’s hand was still locked on Ryan’s forearm. He loosened his fingers. “Sorry.”
“You okay?”
“He just looks hurt bad.”
“Yeah. But they take a lot of precautions, so he may be up and ready to walk and run by the end of the day.”
“And he may not.”
“Yeah.”
The game continued, but JJ couldn’t stop thinking about the player who got hurt. He jumped up when Ryan did and cheered in the right places, but the game had lost its luster. The fun all came from Ryan being next to him. Having the man so close sent JJ’s dick into a constant state of anticipation. Lean to the left, lean to the right, stand up, sit down, fight, fight, fight. Just like the cheerleaders at halftime—who could have used a costume redesign, by the way.
Balls to the Wall info:
You can find your copy of Balls to the Walls by following these links:
Goodreads | Dreamspinner | Kindle | iTunes | Kobo | Nook
About Tara Lain:
Tara Lain writes the Beautiful Boys of Romance in gay romance novels that star her unique, charismatic heroes. Her first novel was published in January of 2011 and she’s now somewhere around book 40. Her best-selling novels have garnered awards for Best Series, Best Contemporary Romance, Best Paranormal Romance, Best Ménage, Best LGBT Romance, Best Gay Characters, Best Romantic Suspense, and more. 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”!
Author Links:
Website | Blog | Twitter | FB Author Page | Goodreads | Pinterest
Thanks for stopping by today! Good luck in the Giveaway!
#Review Lexxie gave ★★★★☆ beautiful stars to Snow Balls by @taralain #Blogtour #Giveaway @dreamspinners #LGBT Click To TweetReading this book contributed to these challenges:
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.
Great review! Those teaser and your review do make me curious about this book. That first teaser/ quote picture is so sweet and gives a nice insight in their relationship. That sounds nice how it’s a sweet story, but also deals with some heartache. The characters sound great too!
I agree, Lola. Lexxie’s reviews are the best! Hope you’ll check out JJ’s story. : )
Thank you Lola 🙂 I absolutely love Tara’s stories, and I think you’d enjoy this one as well 🙂
I have to admit that the title grabbed my attention right away. Your review gives me a great idea of the story and how much you loved it. Hugs…RO
RO, the Balls titles are so much fun to think up and everyone helps me! LOL. : )
Hehe, yes, so much can be said with a title, right? Hugs right back at you 🙂
Hey Lexxie, thank you so much for reading Snow Balls! So happy you liked my guys. HUGS and love. : )
I always fall in love with your guys. You just make them so darned attaching 😀
Oh sounds SO good. Thanks for sharing your awesome review, my friend. The author is totally new to me but i’ll definitely check her out. LOVED the quotes. Yay, they’re calling me! ?❤️??