Reviewed by Stephen K.

TITLE: Tackling the Tight End

SERIES: Long Pass Chronicles #3

AUTHOR: Tara Lain

PUBLISHER: Tara Lain Books

LENGTH: 216 pages

RELEASE DATE: December 11^th, 2019

BLURB:

Everyone wants the best for SCU student and tight end Raven Nez―and they know exactly what that is. Enter the NFL draft, become a big football hero, promote his tribe’s casino, and make a lot of money to help people on the reservation.

Just one problem. Raven’s gay and he really wants to work with gay kids. Plus he figures a gay Native tight end will get flattened in the NFL. Then the casino board hires a talented student filmmaker to create ads for the tribal business and asks Raven to work with him. But the filmmaker is Dennis Hascomb, a guy with so much to hide and a life so ugly it’s beyond Raven’s understanding. Still, he’s drawn to Dennis’s pain and incredible ability to survive. Captivated by Raven’s stories of the two-spirited and by the amazing joy of finally having a friend, Dennis knows he has to break free from everything he’s ever been taught was good―but that’s a struggle that could kill him and Raven too.

Is there a chance for “the great red hope” and the “whitest guy on earth”? A future for the serpent and the raven?

REVIEW:

Raised by Wolves? Not really, unless you consider the human variety. And I’m not talking shifters here so much as grifters.

Dennis Hascomb the one doing the tackling here was something of a villain in the first book in this series. Here he’s one of the protagonists and his image is rehabilitated a bit in that we see the reasons behind the way he acted in the first book. Dennis was raised by an unloving pair of con artists. Yes, he was initially trying to “out” Will Ashford but that was at the direction of his abusive, unloving, parents. Now he’s being asked to pull the same sort of stuff on Raven Nez. But Raven is already out and proud and just spoiling to get out from under his father’s manipulative thumb.

Raven Nez, the titular “Tight End” is a student, a star tight end for the SCU football team, and (according to his domineering father) his tribe’s best hope for a bright future. Problem is Raven’s gay, or two-spirited as he likes to think of it, and he really wants to work with gay kids. He’s not interested in running an Indian Casino like his old man.

When I first read this back in 2016 this tale was a pleasant surprise. The author has good instincts as a story teller and there’s a real plot here that rises above the mere fantasy fulfillment/gay romance that I’d expected. Yes, there are some spicy sex scenes but they play a backseat role to an already compelling story. And while this is the third in a series that is football themed, most of the action here takes place off the field.

If you’re looking for just another m/m sex romp full of gay angst and coming-out drama, look elsewhere, but if a well told tale with two interesting main characters and a slightly more substantial plot sounds good, you could do worse than checking this one out.

As stated earlier, I read this when it first came out in 2016. I was particular interested in the intersection of football, an m/m romance, and a native American MC. On those levels it succeeds and was perhaps even better the second time around. This is one that I can see myself revisiting again from time to time, even if it lacks that unique epiphany yielding plot that makes it an unforgettable 5.

RATING:

BUY LINK:

Amazon