Thursday, December 18, 2014

Canning The Center by Tara Lain: Review #Giveaway #CanningTheCenter #BlogTour @taralain

Canning The Center
(Long Pass Chronicles, Book 2)
by Tara Lain

Genres: Contempoarary, M/M, Romance, Sports
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? 
Trevor stuck out a hand. “My name’s Trevor. Pleased to meet you."

Jamal reached out to take the offered handshake and—whoops! In one gentle pull on Trevor’s arm that clearly required no effort on Jamal’s part, Trevor was up against that huge chest. “I’m Jamal. I don’t mean to be presumptuous. Just tell me to stop. But if I don’t kiss you again soon, I’m a dead man.”

Trevor smiled up into those dark brown eyes. “I would never want to be accused of murder.”

Such full, full lips. They moved slowly down, down to Trevor’s. The first touch sent a flash like lightning through every nerve, and he shivered.

Jamal pulled back. “Cold?”

“Quite the contrary.” He wrapped his arms tightly around the bunny’s neck.

Invitation delivered. Jamal’s mouth closed over Trevor’s. Those lips were just as soft as they looked, but not as silky as the tongue that slipped into his mouth. Oh my, a girl could get drunk on this sweetness. Trevor opened and received, allowing exploration—and sharing it. His poor abused cock, which had spent a couple of hours locked between his asscheeks, wanted to stretch in a whole new direction.

Sweet God, he hadn’t throbbed like this in ages. One leg crawled up Jamal’s ass all by itself—and it was a long way up. Too far to get his bulge anywhere near its rightful companion. His eyes popped open. “Well, damn. Not much chance of sexing you up unless we’re lying down.”

Jamal chuckled. “Oh no, sweet thing, there are advantages to all these muscles.”

He picked Trevor up under the butt. Yes! Contact.

Trevor looked into those melted chocolate eyes. “I am estimating your equipment fully matches in size the other proportions of your body?” He wrapped his legs around Jamal’s surprisingly narrow waist.

Instead of getting all peacocky like he had the right to, Jamal kind of blushed. Yeah. Sorry.”

“Surely you jest.”

He grinned, but he was breathing hard. “So you don’t mind big all over?”

“Not one little bit.”

Jamal rode Trev up and down against his cock. Oh God, that felt so good. Trevor never had decent sex because he had this reputation to uphold, and Trixie never had sex at all. Jesus, that added up to one crappy sex life. But the bunny was like a world in the middle. With Jamal, for the first time, he got to be both Trevor and Trixie and that was whole and perfect and hot! “You might want to stop unless you would enjoy watching me wash these jeans.”

“Better yet, how about I take you out and we get to know each other before I quit football and take up fucking you full time?”

Who could laugh at a time like this? But he still did. He hugged that big, muscular frame tight and rubbed his cock against Jamal’s huge bulge until they were both gasping. “No. No, I think you better write the resignation letter.”

“Deal. But I could take us out for root beer floats first.”

Trevor stopped. “I love root beer.”

Jamal held him still, their cocks still squashed in bliss. “You’re kidding. No one likes root beer but me.”

“I do. It’s my favorite.”

“There’s this diner—”

“Okay, fuck sex. I need a root beer float and a hamburger.”
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I absolutely adored this story! It's honesty, raw emotions and compelling characters simply carried me away.

I was instantly drawn to Trevor/Trixie. Tara did a phenomenal job building his character in the college setting, emphasizing how important entertaining is to Trixie, and showing why she both loves and hates the duality of her identity. The emotional toll switching from Trevor to Trixie and back again has on his soul is gut-wrenching and destroyed me, while watching her blossom under Jamal's attention is breathtaking.

Jamal's instant attraction to Trixie is priceless, and his reaction when he met Trevor brought me to tears.  Jamal loves unconditionally; the tender care he shows the people most important to him is heart-melting. Jamal's humanity is what really drew me into his character. He makes mistakes, and despite his easy acceptance of others, still struggles with accepting himself at times.

The family dynamics, friendships, professional relationships and world building are vivid, descriptive, and flawlessly realistic.  Powerfully written, CANNING THE CENTER is on my must-have list for readers who love a dramatic story. I laughed, I cried, and I loved with the characters over and over again. I give it my highest recommendation.
Coming Soon!
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”!

6 comments:

  1. Carly, thank you so much for reading my book and for the wonderful review. I'm delighted and honored that you enjoyed it. ; )

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  2. Congratulations on the newest release, it sounds like an awesome one! Great blurb and excerpt! Really has a lot of emotions in them! Can't wait to read.

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  3. I want to read this so much!

    Tris, vitajex(at)aol(Dot)com

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  4. Hi everyone! *waves* Thank you so much for stopping by and all your nice comments. Happiest Holidays! : )

    ReplyDelete