Posts Tagged With: Series – Long Pass Chronicles
Book Review: Tackling the Tight End by Tara Lain
Posted on January 15, 2016 by susan65coug Miss Behaving
Reviewed by Susan65
Title: Tackling the Tight End
Author: Tara Lain
Series: Long Pass Chronicles #3
Heroes: Raven Nez/Dennis Hascomb
Genre: MM Contemporary
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Available at: Amazon and Barnes & Noble
Blurb: Everyone wants the best for SCU student and tight end Raven Nez — and they know exactly what that is. Enter the NFL draft, become a big football hero, promote his tribe's casino, and make a lot of money to help people on the reservation. Just one problem. Raven's gay and he really wants to work with gay kids. Plus he figures a gay Native tight end will get flattened in the NFL. Then the casino board hires a talented student filmmaker to create ads for the tribal business and asks Raven to work with him. But the filmmaker is Dennis Hascomb, a guy with so much to hide and a life so ugly it's beyond Raven's understanding. Still he's drawn to Dennis's pain and incredible ability to survive. Captivated by Raven's stories of the two-spirited and by the amazing joy of finally having a friend, Dennis knows he has to break free from everything he's ever been taught was good—but that's a struggle that could kill him and Raven too. Is there a chance for "the great red hope" and the "whitest guy on earth"? A future for the serpent and the raven?
Categories: 4 Star Ratings, Book Review, LGBT, Published in 2016, Susan65's Reviews	| Tags: Abuse, Alpha Males, Athlete, College, Con Artists, Contemporary, criminals, dark, Domestic abuse, Dreamspinner Press, Filmmaker, Kidnapping, M/M, NA, Native American, Reunited, Road trip, Series - Long Pass Chronicles, Sports - Football, Tackling the Tight End, Tara Lain, The Blogger Girls, Violence	| 2 Comments
Audio Review: Canning the Center by Tara Lain
Posted on September 21, 2015 by thebloggergirls
Reviewed by Morgan
Title: Canning the Center
Narrator: Jean-Paul Barrel
Heroes: Jamal Jones/Trevor Landry
Length: 9 hours, 17 minutes
Available at: Amazon, Audible and iTunes
Blurb: 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?
Categories: 4 Star Ratings, Audio Review, LGBT, Published in 2015	| Tags: Athletes, audio book, Bi-Sexual, Canning the Center, Closeted, College Student, Contemporary, Cross dressing, Drag Queen, Dreamspinner Press, Guest Reviewer - Morgan, Homophobia, Jean-Paul Barrel, M/M, Nerd/Jock, Series - Long Pass Chronicles, Sports - Football, Tara Lain, The Blogger Girls, transgender	| Leave a comment
Book Review: Canning the Center by Tara Lain
Posted on December 22, 2014 by susan65coug Miss Behaving
Heroes: Jamal Jones/Travor Landry
Available at: Dreamspinner Press and Amazon
Categories: 4.5 Star Ratings, Book Review, LGBT, Published in 2014, Susan65's Reviews	| Tags: Athlete, Bi-Racial, Bi-Sexual, Canning the Center, Closeted, Contemporary, Cross dressing, Drag Queen, Dreamspinner Press, Family Drama, Family Illness, football, Genius, Homophobia, M/M, Nerd/Geek, Series - Long Pass Chronicles, Sports, Tara Lain, The Blogger Girls	| 1 Comment
Honorary Blogger Tara Lain: Research Can Be Sexy + Excerpt & Giveaway!
Research Can Be Sexy
by Tara Lain
Hi everyone. I'm Tara Lain and I write the Beautiful Boys of Romance. Today, I'm celebrating the release of my new novel, Outing the Quarterback. Just as its name implies, there's a whole heap of football (the American kind) in the book. Now, I'm no football expert. In fact, I'm not even much of a fan. But I do think that sports are wonderful metaphors for life, and I wanted a hero who was famous for being macho. The quarterback of the USC (I call it SCU in the book) football team is pretty darned well known and a lot is expected of him. That gave me a perfect platform for a young guy who is actually hiding the fact that he's an artist by talent and nature, and gay.
There are a number of key scenes in the book in which my hero Will plays football. You don't even think about all the tiny details you need to know in order to write those scenes – until you're sitting at the computer with fingers poised and haven't got the first idea how to start! What the heck do those numbers they say mean? Answer. Something different to every team and sometimes they're just gibberish to confuse the other team. What's a snap and how does shotgun position look? Who receives the pass? All those backs and ends! And one key question for me. What body parts are quarterbacks most likely to hurt? I discovered one significant answer that provided a very important scene in the book – but you'll have to read it and see.
For research, I relied on my husband and a lot on Google. I've also written book two in the series, Canning the Center that comes out December 17th. In that book, my hero is in the NFL, so I really had to get detailed on what a center does, wears, how he holds on his jersey, what training camp is like, details about the locker room, and so much more. Most of that came from Google right down to a video showing how the center snaps the ball.
I do a certain amount of research for all my books – places, details about hobbies or professions – but I've never done as much research as for the three books of Long Pass Chronicles. My publisher thinks I watch a lot of football. Let's not tell her.
About Outing the Quarterback
Will Ashford lives in two closets. He meets his wealthy father's goals as both the quarterback for the famous SCU football team and a business major, but secretly he attends art school and longs to live as a painter. And he's gay. But if he can win the coveted Milton Scholarship for art, he'll be able to break from his father at the end of his senior year.
In a painting master class, Will meets his divergent opposite, Noah Zajack. A scarred orphan who's slept on park benches and eaten from trash cans, Noah carefully plans his life and multiple jobs so he has money and time to go to art school. Will's problems seem like nothing compared to Noah's. Noah wants the scholarship too and may have a way to get it since the teacher of his class has designs on him, a plan Will isn't happy about.
When a gossipmonger with a popular YouTube channel finds evidence that Will is gay, the quarterback's closet doors begin to crumble. Hounded by the press and harassed by other players, Will has to choose. Stay in the closet and keep his family's wealth, or let the doors fall off and walk out with nothing. Nothing but Noah.
Available at: Dreamspinner Press & Amazon
An Excerpt from Outing the Quarterback
"You're not telling me that your own parents don't know you're gay? No way."
"Way. I've never come out to them."
Noah opened his mouth, then closed it. Being alone looked better and better. "How is that possible? Did you just decide you like guys last week or something?"
"No. I think I pretty much knew when I was twelve." He smiled. "Our neighbors had a son who was about sixteen. His bedroom was across from mine. I used to peek through the curtains and watch him dress. Watched him jerk off too. Man, he did that a lot." Will laughed. "I got hard every time, and I ended up beating my meat as much as he did. One day I finally realized that he had a sister who walked around the backyard wearing, like, nothing. I never looked at her, just him. That's when I got worried."
Had Noah ever been worried about being gay? Maybe a little. "But you date a girl. I saw you with her hanging all over your body."
"Yeah. For the last couple years I've had sex with girls. I hoped I was bi." He leaned his elbows on his knees and shook his head. "It doesn't work very well. I even had to take Viagra once. I finally gave up and broke up with her."
He smiled, kind of sad. "Yeah, it's been a helluva day."
"So are you going to come out now?"
His golden eyebrows drew tight above that straight nose. So damned Aryan. "I wish I could. No, that's a lie. I dread the whole thing. But the truth is, if I come out, the whole team takes it in the ass. Other teams will harass me, which means my guys will defend me. Some of them will. And they'll get suspended for fighting. Anyway, it's a fucking mess trying to come out in team sports. I've got to wait until after I graduate."
Noah frowned. "If big-time athletes like you never come out, it will never change."
"I get that and I hate to say this, but I've got enough shit in my life without carrying the damned rainbow flag."
Noah sucked in his breath to call the guy a pussy. And stopped. Coming out had been no big deal for him. Just one more weird thing about weird Noah. No one expected anything different. Will's life was another whole pile of bullshit. Different but maybe not better. "So why did you come here?"
The green eyes glanced up, then away. "To tell you I didn't lie to you about my name because I wanted to deceive you. I'm just so deep in lies I can't see over the top."
"Why what?"
"Why did you want me to know? Why did you care?" He held his breath.
Will frowned. "Did you just have sex with Masterson?"
What the—? He pushed himself back on the couch. "What the fuck business is that of yours?"
He didn't look up. "If you're committed, spoken for, I want to know, that's all."
"Nobody speaks for me. I'm committed to no one. And I'll have sex with whomever I please, got it?"
Will looked up from under his eyebrows, and this time he grinned. "I just wanted to check to see if you were too tired."
Noah suppressed a snort. "What makes you think I'd want to have sex with you?" He tried to keep his lips from turning up.
"You kissed me, remember?"
The smile must show by now. "What if I didn't like it?"
"Not an option."
"You think you're that good, huh?"
Will steepled his fingers in front of his own smile. "Yep."
"I might catch girl cooties from you."
"You'll have to take that chance."
Noah cocked his head at the big, handsome quarterback. Did he dare suggest it? Hell, the guy ate painters for breakfast. "There's just one thing, jockoid."
"I like to top."
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 best-selling 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 soul-mate husband and her soul-mate 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"!
Find out more about Tara on her Website, Blog, Goodreads, Twitter or Facebook.
Tara is kindly offering up a chance to win an eBook copy of Outing the Quarterback one lucky winner! The giveaway starts now and will end next Thursday, October 2, 2014, at 11:59 pm EST. After which the lucky winner will be randomly picked. To enter, just click the link below!
Please be aware that the only way to enter the giveaway is to click the Rafflecopter link above. Any comments on this post will not count towards entering the giveaway, except to verify your Rafflecopter entry.
Don't forget to check out Susan65's review of Outing the Quarterback to see what she thought of it!
Categories: Book Promo, Excerpts, Giveaways, Honorary Blogger Post, LGBT, Published in 2014	| Tags: Dreamspinner Press, Outing the Quarterback, Series - Long Pass Chronicles, Tara Lain, The Blogger Girls	| 27 Comments
Book Review: Outing the Quarterback by Tara Lain
Posted on September 16, 2014 by susan65coug Miss Behaving
Title: Outing the Quarterback
Heroes: Will Ashford/Noah Zajack
Genre: M/M Contemporary
Publisher: Dreamspiner Press
Blurb: Will Ashford lives in two closets. He meets his wealthy father's goals as both the quarterback for the famous SCU football team and a business major, but secretly he attends art school and longs to live as a painter. And he's gay. But if he can win the coveted Milton Scholarship for art, he'll be able to break from his father at the end of his senior year.
Categories: 4.5 Star Ratings, Book Review, LGBT, Published in 2014, Susan65's Reviews	| Tags: artists, Athlete, Bi-Sexual, Closeted, Coing Out, Contemporary, Dreamspinner Press, Family Drama, Homophobia, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Outing the Quarterback, Series - Long Pass Chronicles, Tara Lain, The Blogger Girls, Young Adult	| 1 Comment