Volley Balls

By: Tara Lain

Narrated by: Nick J. Russo

Length: 4 hrs and 1 min

Publisher's Summary

A "pumped up" version of the Volley Balls story, twice as long as the original.  

A double dose of alpha male might be better than one.

Despite just getting out of an abusive relationship with an asshole alpha, David Underwood’s wandering glance lands on two hot members of the Australian volleyball team on Laguna Beach and gets him harassed again. Still, when the delicious Gareth Marshall proves his interest by coming out to his team, David succumbs to his attraction. But Gareth’s volleyball partner, Edge, who’s equally hot, makes the lovers’ lives miserable.  

For Gareth, a lifetime of hiding his orientation - and his attraction - from his best friend, Edge, as well as everyone else around him, adds up to hurt and frustration. David’s the first man to ever compete with Edge for Gareth’s passion. But Edge has secrets of his own, and David’s ex-lover will never be happy without David under his fist. With everything stacked against him, can a gay Laguna man find happiness with an alpha male - or two?

©2017 Tara Lain (P)2018 Dreamspinner Press

Really entertaining!

Great match up with Tara Lain and Nick J. Russo. The story was a perfect blend of hot sex, romance with a bit of drama. Highly recommended!

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Just go along and have fun!

I read the original edition and though this says it’s twice as long as the original, I can’t say that I noticed a heck of a lot of difference.

I love this series and though this wasn’t my favorite of the bunch, it’s still a lot of fun!
(I’m not sure if she’s redoing the entire series, but I see that there’s at least a new cover for book two so…) In any case, FAST Balls is my favorite of the series, and I think that, though it’s not necessary, reading them in order helps to introduce the characters in a really nice way.

David is the owner of an art gallery who’s recently left an ex who abused him. He’s not really looking to date, but open minded when opportunity comes along. Edge and Gareth are Australian Volleyball players who are in town during a tournament. Gareth knows he’s gay but he’s deeply in the closet, Edge has some secrets of his own and some self-examination in his future.

To me, you have to just accept a lot on faith with this story. Don’t try to look at it too deeply- there are a lot of plot holes and amazing insta-love moments that aren’t terribly realistic. We don’t get a lot of relationship building here, as Gareth sees David once and is pretty smitten and makes some important life decisions with only a little bit of encouragement from David to go on.

The relationship between Edge and Gareth actually makes the most sense – given their history – and I guess the triad kinda makes sense – given that David is the only one with any real relationship experience at all. (This was the hardest for me to swallow. I could buy David and Gareth, Gareth and Edge and even David and Edge, but the three of them, coming together, and agreeing that this would work for them? I had a hard time seeing this given the brevity of their time together and the situation with Edge and… Well, it was a hard sell. The other thing that bothered me was the dialog – sometimes David and Gareth spoke in ways that didn’t always feel authentic. “Shall I …” etc. I just reminded myself this is fiction and kept reading. )

The sexy times are plentiful. Gareth’s mom is awesome. The art sounds fun. Seeing Edge switch gears and share with Gareth and David – super, scorching, hot and at times sweet, too. I didn’t really buy the triad, but found the guys fun to read about anyway, and I really enjoyed the other books in the series so…

3 of 5 stars

Audio

Nick is one of my favorites. Is his Australian accent good? Not the best. Is it good enough. You bet! I still loved this even though it wasn’t my favorite by this narrator. He’s still easy to listen to and fun. He’s great with the comedic timing and the smexy times and that makes this worth the money!

4.5 of 5 stars

Overall 4 of 5 stars

3.5 Stars

Art gallery owner David hasn't been lucky in love. With a restraining order out against his abusive ex he's trying to stay away from alpha males, even though they totally do it for him. But he can't help himself when he meets, and falls in love pretty quickly, with Australian volley ball player Gareth, who's still in the closet but willing to bust down that door for David.

Unfortunately, Gareth's best friend since childhood, and volley ball partner, Edge isn't happy with this new development - but the reason why is a complete mind blower.

Short, slightly angsty, and with a twist at the end that I absolutely did not see coming, it took me a little to get into the rhythm of the story, but once I was in I was riveted. A lot of that is due to Nick J. Russo's narration. While he doesn't have the best Australian accents, he does a great job giving each character a distinctive voice and with his timing and the way he performs the more emotional scenes was absolutely wonderful.

If you are looking for a super hot, sexy, insta-love romance with a twist, and great narration - this should definitely be on your listen list.

The threesome didn't work for me in this one

I really wanted to like this story, but the threesome didn't work for me. I felt like it was forced when, given more page time and content, it could have been amazing. That was another issue for me from start to finish, the story felt rushed and compact when it could have been better had the characters and menage been fleshed out.

Narration was amazing. Loved what Russo did with the characters and making sure each had their own voice.