Fire Balls by Tara Lain

[reviews_and_ramblings]

Fire Balls put together two men that are at the opposite, hot firefighter Hunter and flamboyant artist Rodney. But their being at the opposite is only appearance and that is the main theme of the novel, to not let you being fooled by the looks.

Hunter has a troubled relationship with his father who is accepting of his son being gay only since he is a “straight” gay, i.e. he doesn’t look like one. Plus Hunter’s dream was to be a literature teacher, but that was not manly enough for his father who instead dreamed for his son to be a firefighter, something he was not able to become due to his disability. Hunter is behaving like a straight guy, even arriving to pose as a top in his relationship, when instead he would prefer to bottom, only to please his father, to be as much as straight he can be even if he is indeed gay. The false reason that he would be harassed at his workplace is only something more he add to his justification, but it’s not really the most important, as instead Hunter repeat and repeat to himself when trying to avoid Rodney.

Rodney on the other hand would be more “man” than Hunter, if not for his diminutive body. Rodney is small and pretty, even if he is a karate black belt. Since the world is already assuming he is gay, and a pipsqueak, than he will display to the world he can be even more gay and even more flamboyant. It’s Rodney’s way to say to the world he doesn’t care, that he has not to prove to them that he is a better man then they think.

I like this play of contraposition between Hunter and Rodney, and their characters were good and original. What maybe I didn’t like 100% was how often, and how harsh, both Hunter and Rodney were on regard of being gay, like both of them were ashamed of it, even if there was no way for them to be anything else. Even Rodney, flaunting his gayness in the face of everyone, when was alone was almost complaining, like if he wanted to be someone else, someone not gay. Maybe that was only my feeling, maybe it was generated by the harsh words both Rodney than Hunter were using, derogatory words, but it’s also true that I have heard more than once the position that, if you are gay, you are allow to use that words, if you are not, then it’s an offense.

Fire Balls was a first good experience with this author, and I think I will read more by her.

Amazon Kindle: Fire Balls
Publisher: Etopia Press (January 31, 2012)

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