BOOK REVIEW: High Balls (Balls to the Wall #6) by Tara Lain

Release Date: October 4, 2017

Length: Novel (163pages)

Genre: Contemporary M/M Romance

Cover Art: Reese Dante

Links: Dreamspinner Press  Amazon  Goodreads

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:

3.5 Hearts. Most simply, this is an opposites-attract romance between a college lecturer/PhD candidate and a tattooed bartender, at least that’s the assumption Theodore makes. I’ve enjoyed this entire series, and High Balls, while not my favorite, is no different. If you haven’t read series, no worries, the story works perfectly fine as a standalone. Both heroes are well-drawn and relatable. The writing is, by and large, quite good, but I had some commonsense issues that challenged my willing suspension of disbelief.

Theodore is portrayed as an uber-dad who does everything for his son and is perpetually terrified of losing him, but never talks to a lawyer about his potential custody issues? Really? One of his friends is a lawyer and would have answered his questions confidentially and for free… This makes no sense.

I still don’t get why Snake didn’t reveal his secret identity as soon as he learned about Theodore’s dissertation. I’ll avoid spoilers by not saying anything more, but there are a fair number of issues here that were more than bothersome and involved egregious breaches of professional ethics. None of which were addressed in the text.

And then there’s the kid. I liked the character overall, but Andy is precocious and at the same time juvenile in ways that are not consistent with a 7-year-old. Normal second graders don’t mispronounce common words they hear in everyday life… like review and pervert.

On a more general note, I’m a little tired of the homophobic, religious, evil parents/grandparents seeking custody trope. It’s cliché and a little lazy at this point. There was plenty of potential conflict between Theodore and Snake even without the focus on the custody subplot.

The cover is good. Typical Resse Dante, which is always great.  No complaints.

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