REVIEWED by Christie

TITLE: Fool of Main Beach

SERIES: Love in Laguna, book 5

AUTHOR: Tara Lain

PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press

LENGTH: 294 Pages

RELEASE DATE: August 21, 2017

BLURB:

Merle Justice wants to reach for the stars, but it’s tough to get respect when playing a teenybopper vampire on TV. Then he meets a famous director anxious to give him all he thinks he wants—and maybe a bit more. Everything’s looking up until a life-threatening encounter with some homophobes on Main Beach puts Merle face-to-face with a Sasquatch-sized hero in a pink puffer coat. Tom Henry defies description. As unsophisticated and simple as an angel, he walks through life content with who he is and asking for very little except to care for his sister, Lily, and the dogs he loves. Then he meets Merle, the embodiment of dreams he barely knows he has. Merle knows the people who hold his future in their hands might love Tom—but they’ll never understand Merle and Tom together. Tom knows it too. With lives this far apart, who’s really the fool of Main Beach?

REVIEW:

So, I have been waiting for book 5 in the Love in Laguna series to come out for quite a while. After falling in love with Merle in book 3 (Prince of the Playhouse), I hoped he would get his own story soon. Thankfully, we now have Fool of Main Beach, and it is everything I hoped it could be. This may actually beat Prince of the Playhouse as my favorite book in the Love in Laguna series, so far.

Merle Justice is a heartthrob, cast as a vampire on a popular teen television show, which has given him moderate fame but also invited much ridicule amongst his Hollywood contemporaries. People really aren’t taking him seriously because, well, he plays a vampire. On a television show. Made for teenagers. Even Merle doesn’t think he’s all that special. But, thankfully for him, his closest friends do. And, it is at a party celebrating his Emmy award nomination that Merle’s life changes in the blink of an eye. While trying to relax by walking on the beach, Merle is attacked by four men who do not like the fact that he is on tv and gay.

Enter Tom Henry. Standing at roughly 6’ 6” tall, it is easy to understand why Merle’s initial nickname for the man was “Sasquatch”. Tom is an extremely sweet, hard working man who lives simply and loves with all of his heart. Especially when it comes to his dogs. He is also a bit naive, and many people try to take advantage of him because they think he’s dimwitted or slow. The thing is, he is simply untouched by the cruel realities of this world that cause most of us to become just a bit jaded. Well, anyway… Tom scares away Merle’s attackers and asks for nothing in return. But Merle can’t seem to stop thinking of the gorgeous gentle giant. Could Merle and Tom even be together in any capacity other than friends?

To be completely honest, I had a hard time writing this review. Not because I disliked the book (because, I loved it to pieces). It’s the fact that the first few drafts made me seem like a complete fangirl instead of a professional. I even messaged Tara to let her know of my difficulties, while trying to write it. Actually, the message I sent to her said: “You’re definitely getting [a review] from me, as soon as I can string a coherent sentence together that consists of more than “ZOMG, TARA LAIN IS THE MOST AMAZING AUTHOR ON THIS PLANET AND YOU MUST BUY ALL HER BOOKS NOW!” Well, okay, I had to fangirl a little. If you’re a fan of her or her books, can you blame me? At any rate, Fool of Main Beach was an excellent addition to the Love in Laguna series, and I definitely recommend reading it as soon as you can.

RATING:

BUY LINKS:

Amazon

Dreamspinner Press