Review: High Balls by Tara Lain

Title: High Balls (Balls to the Wall: Book Five)

Author: Tara Lain

Length: 163 Pages

Category: Contemporary

At a Glance: This is a great series, as are all Lain’s books based in Laguna, and I do recommend them. As long as Tara Lain continues writing about interesting, quirky, handsome men, then I will keep reading about them.

Reviewed By: Carrie

Blurb: Though only twenty-six, single father Theodore Walters lives with his head in the clouds and his feet firmly planted in reality. At the center of his life is Andy, his seven-year-old son, with whom he shares no DNA, though nobody—including his religious-fanatic in-laws—knows that, and Theodore will do anything to keep them from finding out. Theodore works hard to get his PhD and the tenure and salary that might follow to make a better life for Andy—but the head of his department thinks his dissertation on Jane Austen and romance novels is frivolous.

Theodore’s carefully planned life goes off the rails when he walks into a popular Laguna Beach bar and meets the bartender, “Snake” Erasmo, a pierced and tattooed biker who sends Theodore’s imagination—and libido—soaring. Snake has even more secrets than Theodore and couldn’t be a less “appropriate” match, but he might be the only guy with the skills to show Theodore that happily ever after is for real.

Review: High Balls is Book five in the Balls to the Wall series, and continues Lain’s love affair with Laguna, California and the gorgeous men who live there. While each book is a standalone, there are several crossover characters, as they all live and work in the same universe and are friends. For fans of this series who have been waiting for another book to drop (that would be me), it is a welcome addition and certainly fits right in with the feel and storyline of the other books in the series. As with the other books, this one tackles some pretty hefty issues, but it does so while staying positive and bringing a measure of forward-thinking which gives the story a lightness it might not have otherwise. Lain covers single parenthood and adoption issues, religious expression and family issues, even homophobia mixed with gender issues in the literary and academic pantheons. Whew. With all that—in spite of all that—we get a heartwarming story of a precocious seven-year-old boy, a dad working on his PhD, and barely holding it together, and a rake named Snake, who is not exactly what he seems. Together they make a family, and I totally enjoyed their journey to their own HEA.

Theodore Walters is working on his PhD. He’s so close he can taste it, with just his orals to go. All of his hopes are in passing this last test, and the boards conveying on him the honor of tenure and a salary increase at the small religious college he works at. When he was eighteen, he married his best friend, who had gotten herself pregnant. When she died, it left him with Andy, his son and the love of his life. Everything Teddy does is for Andy. He’s taken every precaution, he’s worked long hours at the college, sucked up to stuffy department heads, and lived the life of a monk so that he could make a better life for Andy. Basically, Teddy lives his life in a constant state of paranoia that things won’t work out with college, and that his in-laws will try to take his son away as a result. I will say that this character could be a little hit or miss for me. When he is Theodore, well, I didn’t like him much, and he could be a real ass. But when he becomes Teddy, and starts to accept his life and the changes made in it, well, he’s a great guy and a wonderful dad.

Snake isn’t what he seems. He’s been hiding who is and what he does for so long that it’s second nature now. But one look at the uptight, nervous guy who walked into his bar, and he’s ready to do whatever it takes to make this guy his. Discovering that the man has a son and ton of baggage doesn’t put Snake off; in fact, with his own issues he figures they are a pair. Snake has always longed for a family, having grown up in a dysfunctional environment, and he’s falling just as hard for Andy as he is for Andy’s dad, Theodore. He just wants Theodore to give him a chance. Yes, he has tats. Yes, he has piercings and long hair. But the outside doesn’t determine the inside, and Snake longs for Theodore to see him, not just his skin.

Snake took some plates to the kitchen and started dishing up cookie dough ice cream. He looked back at the table, where Teddy and Andy laughed over the total boredom of baseball. Like somebody captured a moment from his dreams and crystalized it into reality. A family who ate together, laughed, shared their days, teased, solved problems. An entity as rare as a unicorn in Snake’s life. He blinked hard against the heat pressing behind his eyes.

The road to HEA isn’t an easy one for these two, and they won’t get there without the help of some enterprising friends and a cheeky seven-year-old, but get there they do. This book was entertaining, it made me think, and it made me smile—all the things I can expect from a Tara Lain book.

Andy shook his head and put a finger to his lips. “Dad, shh.” He handed the box to Snake. “Dad, Snake says he really likes being my dragon, but he wants to be your dragon too. So, uh, will you marry us?”

And who couldn’t recommend a book after that? Hmmmm?! This is a great series, as are all Lain’s books based in Laguna, and I do recommend them. As long as Tara Lain continues writing about interesting, quirky, handsome men, then I will keep reading about them.

You can buy High Balls here:
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