Reviewed by Stephen K.
TITLE: Outing the Quarterback
SERIES: Long Pass Chronicles #1
AUTHOR: Tara Lain
PUBLISHER: Tara Lain Books
LENGTH: 216 pages
RELEASE DATE: October 29th, 2019
BLURB:
When Opposites Attract — and Compete.
Will Ashford lives in two closets. He yearns to be a serious artist but satisfies his wealthy father as a business major and the quarterback of the famous SCU football team. He’s gay, but he dates a cheerleader and feels like crap about it. And he has a plan – – if he can win the coveted Milton Scholarship for art, he’ll be able to stop living his father’s life at the end of his senior year.
In a painting master class, Will meets his divergent opposite, Noah Zajack, a scarred orphan who’s slept on park benches and eaten from trashcans. Noah carefully plans his life and multiple jobs so he has money and time to go to art school. Will’s problems seem like nothing compared to Noah’s. Noah wants the scholarship too and has a way to get it since the master teacher has designs on him – but so does Will.
What happens when the guy who has everything can’t get what he wants?
REVIEW:
This book features two guys that make an odd pairing but I’d like to think that they make it work.
Will Ashford is the doubly closeted quarterback of the SCU football team. He’s closeted in that he’s gay. But he’s also closeted in that he’s an aspiring painter, while his father harbors dreams of him playing pro-ball. Daddy funds his comfortable lifestyle (including a custom ordered Ferrari). He lives in fear that if either of his secrets is ever revealed, his controlling father will disown him.
Noah Zajack is at the opposite end of the privilege spectrum. He’s been a foster kid, and for a time he was a homeless kid. Now he’s working three part time jobs to support himself, and living in a crummy apartment while going to SCU for an art degree.
Both guys are up for a prestigious art scholarship, so this is billed as an enemies to lovers story, but it never really felt that way to me. Being an M/M romance, both guys are stupid attractive and instantly drawn toward each other. Both guys are just too attracted to each other to ever feel like enemies.
Though this is familiar ground in M/M romance, there are still a few fresh points that this tale brings out. I found it subversively refreshing that the the bigger, beefier Will wants to be a bottom, while Noah is all too happy to take the role of top. In some ways, and fitting with his backstory, Noah is the more adult of the two, having supported himself for as long as he has.
I’m actually reading this series in an unusual order but the stories can and do function well as stand-alones. I read the third book in the series first when I was offered a copy to review back in 2016. I said at the time that the author had good instincts as a story teller. Once again there’s a real plot here that rises above the mere fantasy fulfillment found in many gay romances. After reading book 1, I stand by that assessment.
The whole closeted athlete trope is a bit of well-explored ground. But this one is well crafted enough to remain interesting and it allows us to meet several characters that deserve their own books. Queue the intro for book 2! I know I tend to be a tough grader as these things go, but I’m giving this one 3 ½ hearts. It’s well above the average M/M romance fare, but its not quite in that “I’m gonna have to read this one again, and soon” category.
RATING: 
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