Reviewed by Cindy
TITLE: Tackling Tanner
SERIES: Football Heartthrobs Book Two
AUTHOR: Cliff J Cavender
PUBLISHER: Cavender Books
LENGTH: 373 Pages
RELEASE DATE: October 4, 2025
BLURB:
Why did I hire the hottest live-in chef in existence?
Jimmy Dillon
All I’m tryna do is stay busy with work and hookups. My thoughts get too crazy otherwise. But now that my assistant managers at my diner are insisting I’m too out of it at work, they’re forcing me to take a sabbatical. So now I have little to keep my thoughts at bay.
Until professional NFO center Tanner Bash comes to town. He’s a dick, but he needs a live-in personal chef out in San Diego. So I decide to help him, and it’s definitely not because I’m attracted to him. I just need something to do.
Tanner Bash
Growing up in a chaotic home, I learned that to earn God’s favor, I have to obey His divine laws. Most importantly, marriage—heterosexual marriage, of course.
But this pressure is killing my appetite, and now coach is on me to gain back all the weight I’ve lost. So I solicit the help of a deadly handsome chef whose food is the first thing in months that’s tasted good enough to finish. As long as I keep him distant, I won’t be tempted to break God’s laws.
Until I discover what a sweet man he is.
Tackling Tanner deals with heavy topics. Please read forewarnings. There is an HEA.
REVIEW:
Jimmy and Tanner are two men who have both been traumatized by their families in different ways…but then again not different. Parental expectations and the damage they can do is a running theme in this story.
Jimmy is just trying live his life, which revolves around his work and getting laid, and doesn’t understand the concerns his friends have for him. He’s not hurting anyone right? RIGHT?
Tanner is a man who knows who he is…and hates himself for it. His family…his religious family…taught him his whole life how it should go. Career then married and have kids. No room in there for someone who might not be able to see that in himself.
I had a hard time connecting with these characters at first. Tanner kind of annoyed me and Jimmy kind of did too. But once I got passed that, it turned into a pretty good story.
It was interesting to see how these men learned how to overcome the damage from their childhoods to find a healthy loving relationship. Both of them did the work, with the help of some good friends.
Of course there are some not so great people in the story. They are the cause of so much strife for both Jimmy and Tanner but they are also instigators for growth and figuring themselves out.
There are some pretty heavy doses of homophobia and self-hatred in this story, but it was unavoidable due to the subject matter.
This author created characters that you need to learn to love, but once you do, you will find yourself cheering them on to their deserved happy ending.
This was a great premise that was pretty well done. It’s not perfect, but life rarely is. If stories about people figuring out how to be their best selves makes you happy, this one is definitely for you.
RATING: 
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