A warm welcome to author Tara Lain joining us today to talk about her releases of The Balls to the Walls series.
Tara tals about the books , shares an Exclusive snippet of book #3 and brought with her a wonderful giveaway!
Welcome Tara 🙂
Funny Moments Writing Two Beach Series
Hi everyone! I’m Tara Lain. I’m so happy to get to hang out at Love Bytes today. You may know that I recently re-released my novella, VOLLEY BALLS, which is the first book in my Balls to the Wall series. Yes, the entire series is coming back this year! The Balls to the Wall series takes place in Laguna Beach, CA. You might also know that I write another series called Love in Laguna, which, as its name implies, is set also in Laguna Beach. I actually lived in Laguna for many years and still live near it, so it makes sense to set books there. It’s a wonderful, eclectic town with surf, sun, sand, art, and a lovely small town feel in the middle of a giant metroplex.
The two series are actually fairly different. The Love in Laguna books are my longest novels so they delve deeply into the lives of the gay men who are my heroes. Balls to the Wall books are fast-paced novellas focusing on smaller bits of the character’s stories. I think of the Balls to the Wall novellas as a little more “over the top” and larger than life than the Love in Laguna books, which are rooted more in real life. BUT, writing two series in the same setting about groups of gay men has led to some funny moments.
The classic for me happened in the most recent Love in Laguna book I wrote over the last two months. The book is called Fool of Main Beach and it will release in August of 2017. In the story, a moment arises when my hero, Merle Justice, thinks he might need a lawyer. He’s at lunch with a group of friends (Ru, Gray, Shaz and Billy for those who have read the books) and they start recommending this great lawyer friend of theirs named Adam James. I had written a solid page of dialogue before I realized that Adam is the hero of Beach Balls and exists in an alternate universe to all the guys at the table!
I have a friend who reads all my books and he lives in Laguna Beach. He says he always looks for my guys when he’s walking down the street. So who knows? Maybe Adam and Merle will meet up on the street corner and never know they were almost in the same story.
I hope you enjoy both of my Laguna Beach series. Both series will have new books added this year. High Balls is coming in the early fall and watch for Fire Balls coming Feb 8th! You can pre-order it now at Dreamspinner Press. Below is a little, EXCLUSIVE nibble from Fire Balls!
Pre-order — Dreamspinner Press
Renowned artist Rodney Mansfield stands five foot six, has pink hair, six earrings, a black belt in karate—and a desperate yearning for firefighter Hunter Fallon. But Rod, the Runtback of Notre Dame, knows he’ll never land the beautiful “straight gay” guy, so Rod musters his altruism and helps his more masculine friend Jerry attract Hunter. As if a broken heart wasn’t enough, Rod saves Hunter from a firehouse homophobe—humiliating Hunter in front of his dad!
Hunter lives a dream life—his father’s dream. While he’d like to teach literature in college, read poetry in the sun, and find a strong guy to top him, he fights fires for his dad. Hunter hates flamboyant guys like Rodney. So why can’t he resist him? Maybe it’s time to admit this is one flame he has no desire to put out.
Rod zipped his fly, went to the back of the van, and opened the doors. He dragged out a couple of feet of the canvas.
What the hell? “What are you doing? I just put it away.”
“Take it. Take the painting. Burn it. Do whatever you want with it.”
Tears flashed to Hunter’s eyes. What the crap? “I can’t do that.”
“You wanted to buy it. You can’t afford it. Take it. I can’t keep it. I’d have to look at it every day, and that would be…. Well, I don’t want to do that. So either I have to sell it or you have to take it. Makes no difference to me. I just want it out of my life.”
The words slammed like a blow. Rod wanted to get rid of him, even Hunter’s image. Of course, he’d been nothing but a pain in Rod’s ass. And Rod had been nothing but ecstasy in Hunter’s. Shit. The little prick! “Sell it. I hope you make a bundle.”
He left Rod and everything he represented. Weirdness. Yeah, and wonder.
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And in case you haven’t read it, here is the blurb from Volley Balls
Volley Balls by Tara Lain – Revised and Expanded
A double dose of alpha male might be better than one.
Despite just getting out of an abusive relationship with an asshole alpha, David Underwood’s wandering glance lands on two hot members of the Australian volleyball team on Laguna Beach and gets him harassed again. Still, when the delicious Gareth Marshall proves his interest by coming out to his team, David succumbs to his attraction. But Gareth’s volleyball partner, Edge, who’s equally hot, makes the lover’s lives miserable.
For Gareth, a lifetime of hiding his orientation—and his attraction—from his best friend, Edge, as well as everyone else around him, adds up to hurt and frustration. David’s the first man to ever compete with Edge for Gareth’s passion. But Edge has secrets of his own, and David’s ex-lover will never be happy without David under his fist. With everything stacked against him, can a gay Laguna man find happiness with an alpha male–or two
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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 35. Her best-selling novels have garnered awards for Best Series, Best Contemporary Romance, Best Paranormal 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 soul-mate husband and her soul-mate dog near the sea in California where she sets a lot of her books. Passionate about diversity, justice, and new experiences, Tara says on her tombstone it will say “Yes”!
Website: http://www.taralain.com
Blog: http://www.taralain.com/blog
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4541791.Tara_Lain
Twitter: http://twitter.com/taralain
FB Page: http://www.facebook.com/taralain
Tara brought with her a wonderful Giveaway!
She is offering two ecopies of her new re release Volley Balls
Note: If you already bought a copy still make sure to enter as Tara will handle it, if you did 🙂
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Thank you for the post. I love the blurb from Volley Balls. In fact I love the concept of the book series.
Thank you so much, Tanja. This book launched an entire series. : )
I already have this but I want the new one.
There’s lots new in the book! : )
I really enjoyed this series originally. I can’t wait to read the new version of Volley Balls. Thanks for the chance to win a copy.
Thank you, Jen. hope you enjoy it. : )
Congratulations on the re-release, Tara! I love your books, they are must read for me 😉
Thank you so much, Susana! HUGS!!
I enjoyed a few of your books so far, ‘Knight of Ocean Avenue’ being my favourite. But this book is new to me. Congrats on re-releasing it.
Thank you so much Dee! So glad you liked Knight. : )
It started with a hot photo, moved on to a blurb that scorched the pages on my Mac, and I literally cried for Hunter. With that range of emotions from just a blog post, how could anyone not want to read more?
No one, that I know of, anyway.
I too have read the earlier releases of these books, but like all favorites, I’ll go back and read the new ones. Thanks for sharing the love!
Thank you!! Made my day. Only Volley Balls is changed a lot. Beach Balls is changed a little. The others not too much. BUT there will be two new books in the series! : )
Congrats and good luck with the re-release. I haven’t read it yet but it is on my TBR list. Fireballs also sounds great.
Thank you so much! : )
Boy I sure need these books in my life!
LOL!! Hope you get them all in your life! : )
Love this series!
Thank you, dear heart!
Congrats on the re-release! Thank you for the post and it’s interesting where I brain lead us.
Thank you and so true! : )
I can’t wait to read these!! I didn’t read it before so this is awesome
Yayyyy Anastacia, you’ll have 7 new books in the series! : )
I can not wait to read these.
Thank you Angelique!!
I’m so happy that Volley Balls got expanded. 🙂
Me too Renee. I never felt like it did justice to Edge. : )
Thanks for the post & the chance. This series has been on my wishlist for a long time.
Thank you Lisa. Hope you get to read the whole series. It will be 7 books. : )