Reviewed by Jen B.
TITLE: F.A.S.T. Balls
SERIES: Balls to the Wall # 5
AUTHOR: Tara Lain
PUBLISHER: Etopia Press
LENGTH: 47,194 words
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.
REVIEW:
If you’ve read this series, you will recognize all of these guys from previous books. Sweetheart fireman, Jerry, has dealt with fellow fireman Mick’s hateful slurs and hurtful remarks. I’ll start by saying the first quarter of this book is a bit difficult to get through. Jerry has just been dumped by his boyfriend, is constantly putting himself down and repeating over and over how stupid he is. Then there is Mick, constantly going on with the gay hating comments, fag this, fag that. Honestly, it gets really old, and I almost stopped reading at this point.
But, I trudged on, and I was glad I did. We quickly learn the reasons behind Mick’s beliefs and behavior. Hearing about how he was raised and how he still lives where his family is concerned was almost unbelievable if I didn’t know similar compounds actually existed. After Mick meets Hunter and then Jerry, he begins to struggle with what he was always taught and what he sees in these men. Thankfully, he continues to question it, as well as his own feelings towards men in general.
It was really sweet how Jerry introduced Mick to all things sexual. They were really good together, but this story is mostly about the way Mick sees through everything he was ever taught, everything that has been preached to him, and takes charge of his own life.
It was nice to see the other guys again, and we even meet a few new characters. While this was a much tougher read overall, it was well written, and if you can stick through the difficult beginning, you’ll really enjoy how this one turns out.
Jen rates it – 
BUY LINKS: Etopia Press :: Amazon :: All Romance eBooks
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Jennifer B. is one of the official reviewers on The Blog of Sid Love.
To read all her reviews, click the link: JENNIFER B’S REVIEWS
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