Review: Important to be true to yourself
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 02 16, 2013
“Snow Balls” by Tara Lain is part of the spicy m/m romance ‘Balls to the Wall’ series set in Laguna Beach, California. JJ LaRousse’s size belies his gentle nature and his attraction to detective Ryan Star prompts him to hide his propensity to flutter his hands and pretend that he actually has a clue about sports. Ryan has painfully learned the dangers of letting his coworkers know about his preference for male lovers so, while his attraction to JJ seems mutual, he wants to keep their relationship hidden. They will each have to find the inner strength to be true to themselves in order to be true to each other but neither of them lacks for courage when it is most needed.Part of the charm of these romantic m/m tales is seeing the breadth of personalities among this particular contingent of gay men and the unlikely pairings that allow lust to deepen into love. The sadness elicited by the pervasive theme of fear of rejection or persecution when coming out of the closet is offset by the wonderful sense of camaraderie and support that this group supplies for each other. Each has battled painful experiences which has formed the current personality but fortunately, all of them find themselves able to overcome past hurts and open up enough to allow someone new in their lives. I wasn’t terribly thrilled by JJ’s propensity for over the top phrases (although I know that is just his personality) and I was annoyed at Ryan’s attempt to keep their relationship hidden even though I understood his reasoning. That being said, it is still a lovely tale and I was happy to get glimpses of some of the characters from previous stories.