Blog Tour Review & Giveaway ~ Fire Balls ~ Tara Lain (@taralain, @VivianaIzzo, @dreamspinners)

Fire Balls by Tara Lain
Balls to the Wall #2
Release Date: February 8, 2017
Genre: Adult, M/M Contemporary Romance
Source: I received a complimentary copy as part of the blog tour. I voluntarily reviewed it.
Rating: 3.5 Bookworms
Challenges: #2017NewRelease
Goodreads ~ Amazon ~ B&N 

Synopsis
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.

Fire Balls was another quick and sweet read in this series!

Having met Rodney in Volley Balls, I was eager for this talented artist and matchmaker to find his own match. And the match Rod has his eye on is one hot firefighter. Unfortunately, Rod's friend, Jerry, having no inkling of Rod's crush, sets his eyes on Hunter as well. Rod, being the selfless man he is, hands Hunter to Jerry on a platter, even coaching Jerry on dating conversation. Besides, Rod is a small, "all-fairy" sort of gay man who Hunter wouldn't never have any interest in. Right?

I quite enjoyed Fire Balls. We got to spend some quality time with both Rod and Hunter and I liked getting to know them. Rod really is talented and selfless. He also has some self-esteem issues with his physical appearance. Hunter is also smart and selfless - living his life for his dad's ideals rather than his own. These two together were a match - especially intellectually.

I did wish, however, that I'd gotten to spend more time with them as a couple. Although I feel like I got to know them individually, as a couple things happened pretty quickly and the "L" word is bandied about early on - too quickly, in my opinion. If there'd been more time spent watching their feelings bloom, the relationship would have more depth for me.

Fire Balls was a fun read though despite my issue with the fast pace of the relationship development. I thoroughly delighted in Rod and Hunter finding their match in each other. And I'm excited to meet the next couple in this series.

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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”

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