Friday, October 4, 2013

Spotlight/Giveaway: F.A.S.T. Balls by Tara Lain

Book info

Title: F.A.S.T. Balls
Author: Tara Lain
Genre: MM Romance
Publisher: Etopia Press
Formats: ePub, Kindle format, Pdf
ISBN: 9781940223353 

Blurb:

F.A.S.T. — Firefighter Assist and Search Team

Firefighter and surfing champion, Jerry Wallender, looks like a hero to the world, but he can’t see it. He keeps falling for these intellectual guys who end up making him feel dumb and unneeded. On top of that, Mick Cassidy, super-gorgeous firefighter and total homophobe, makes Jerry’s life miserable with his slurs. Then one day Mick’s nice to Jerry and, at the Firefighter’s Ball, Jerry offers a helping hand and ends up with a hand-job. What the hell is going on?

Mick Cassidy is great with fighting fires and solving math problems but rotten with people. Raised by a gay-hating preacher, Mick’s carefully constructed world of gay bashing starts to crumble when he meets Jerry, the nicest, kindest man he’s ever known. Mick’s never wanted a woman and can’t stop thinking about sex with Jerry. In fact, he can’t stop doing it. Does that make him gay? And if he’s gay, what happens to his whole life? A hook-up between sweet Jerry and mean Mick might be total disaster — or the smartest idea Jerry ever had.

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Excerpt:

“My mom says fire is really scary. I had bad dreams.”

Jerry smiled and leaned forward on the folding chair toward the kids sitting on the big rug in front of him. Mick sat beside him on another chair looking like someone had thrown him into a swamp full of alligators. He’d said something about kids making him nervous on the drive over, and he hadn’t been kidding.

Jerry nodded. “Your mom is right. Fire can be real scary. But remember, it’s good too. How else would you get hot dogs and s’mores?”

All the kids laughed and echoed him. “Yeah, s’mores.”

“Now you guys did really good yesterday when you exited your building.”

“What’s exited?”

Jerry smiled at the little girl with cocoa skin. “It means when you marched out the door just like in your fire drill.”

“Ohhh.”

“And because of that, Firefighter Cassidy and I have been authorized, uh, I mean we’ve been told, we can give each one of you an Honorary Firefighters Badge.”

“Yayyy.”

“Wow!”

“Can I have two?”

Jerry laughed. “But first, tell me all the stuff you know about how to handle fire.”

The kids stared at him.

For the first time, Mick moved. He leaned forward and said real soft, “Matches.”

One little boy nodded authoritatively. “Ohhh, yeah. Never play with matches.”

“Don’t touch matches.”

Jerry looked at Mick and gave him a wink.

The guy looked down at his hands. Jeez, he was weird.

He looked back at the kids. “And what else can you tell me about fire?”

The children all looked right at Mick. His ears turned pink, but he got into the game. “Fireworks,” he whispered.

One little black-haired boy rolled back on the carpet. “Fireworks are great!”
Jerry laughed. “Right, but where do they belong?”

Once again, all eyes turned to Mick. He held up his hand beside his mouth. 

“In the city fireworks display.”

One red-headed boy threw his hand in the air. “Ciddy fiahrwooks!”

Jerry nodded. “Right! Never, ever pick up fireworks or buy them at the store. They can hurt you and they’re not allowed in Laguna Beach. You know where that is, right?”

Heads nodded.

“Okay, good. Now Firefighter Cassidy and I will hand out your badges. 
Remember, fire is good most of the time. But you have to use it right. Never play with it. And do your fire drills regularly. Ready for your badges?

“Yes!”

“Yayyyyy!”

He took the plastic badges from a box and handed some to Mick. As the kids flocked around him, the big guy smiled and looked kind of happy.

A little Hispanic girl grabbed Jerry around the legs. “Thank you, Fireman.”

He knelt down. “Thank you. What’s your name?”

“Antonia.”

“You enjoy your new badge, okay. Show it to your mommy and daddy.”

“I only have a daddy.”

Jerry’s breath caught. “Well, I’ll bet you love him very much.”

She nodded. “Yes. He makes me sandwiches and we’re in it together.”

Jeez, should he laugh or cry?

“Do you have a little girl, Fireman?”
He smoothed her inky hair. “No, but I wouldn’t mind having a little girl just like you someday.”

“I hope you find her.”

Heat pressed behind his eyes. “Oh, I hope so too.” No crying, man. He hugged the tiny frame. “Thank you for letting us come to your class today.”

Big wide eyes. She nodded. “Thank you for coming.”

He smiled. When he looked up, Mick was staring at him.


Author Bio:

Tara Lain never met a beautiful boy she didn’t love – at least on paper. A writer of erotic romance, mostly male/male and MMF ménage, Tara loves all her characters, but especially her unique heroes. In fact, her readers say her tagline, Read the Beautiful Boys of Romance, about sums it up. Her first romance novel was published in January of 2011. She’s now on book 21. Her best-selling novels have garnered awards for Best Series, Best Contemporary Romance, Best Ménage, Best LGBT Romance and Tara has been named Best Writer of the Year in the LRC Awards.

Some people call Tara “the Balls girl” in honor of her best-selling MM contemporary romance series, Balls to the Wall. Readers send her suggested titles for her next Balls book! Three of the Balls books, Volley Balls, Fire Balls and Snow Balls, were on the Amazon list of the top selling 100 gay romances in 2012.Tara also has a popular paranormal series called the Aloysius Tales and an award-winning ménage series titled Genetic Attraction.

In her other job, Tara owns an advertising and public relations firm, and she carries her promotional instincts into her writing career as well. She lives with her soul-mate husband 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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8 comments:

  1. haven't read any balls to the walls books as yet....

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    1. Hi Lee-- Hope you get a chance to meet the Boys! : )

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  2. I really like Jerry, and I wanted to hate Mitch at first, but towards the end I was crazy about him!!!!!!

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    1. Hi Amy-- Music to my ears! That was my challenge -- to make people like Mean Mick! I'm so glad you liked him. Me too. : )

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  3. Awesome reads...awesome contest! !!!

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    Replies
    1. Thank you, Ruth. I can't tell you how much you make my day! : )

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  4. Awww, that excerpt got me all teary eyed! Are you going to make me cry reading this book, Tara?

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