Football Sundae (Spruce Texas Romance Book 1)

Author/composer Daryl Banner graduated from the University of Houston with a degree in Theatre and Psychology. His writing includes new adult romance, M/M romance, post-apocalyptic fantasy, and dystopian. According to his brief biography he is ‘most inspired by the smart and unlikely hero, but urges you (the reader) not to fall in love with them; they may deceive you with their innocence.’The difference, or at least one difference in Daryl’s books – and there are now many of them – is that in addition to managing the erotica arena he adds sufficient character psychology to make his players not only interesting and exceptionally physically attractive but also variations on extremes of social behavior.In this relatively short novel Daryl other novellas from the Brazen Boys series – ‘Dog Tags’ and ‘Slippery When Wet’. Be sure to read these tow very fine books after enjoying this ‘Football Sundae’. For those who have been following the fine books by Daryl the warmth of his author’s Foreword will not seem surprising: for those who are reading his works for the first time this is precisely why his books do so well: ‘Born and raised in a small Texas town myself, I know how unfriendly some can be with regard to gay people. I know not everyone understands us. I know I’m judged by some before they even get a chance to taste my mama’s homemade pies. Really, they’re the ones missin’ out. But this book is a departure from that. The small fictional country town of Spruce is a slightly idealized, friendly one. I believe this is how the world should be, and so dang it, this is how the town of Spruce is, where you’ll be spending the next twenty chapters. This is a book that’s simply about love in all its clumsiness and hopefulness. I really hope the story melts your heart and touches you the way it touched me to tell it. Rest assured, this foreword is all the “preaching” you’ll find in these pages. It’s not my job to tell you how to feel; I’m just here to tell a story and leave all the feeling up to you :-) Beyond this point, there’s no political soapboxes. There’s only Tanner Strong and Billy Tucker, two young men from Spruce who can’t wait to tell you their story. Thanks for picking up this book. From the bottom of this boy’s heart, I hope you enjoy it.’ That, is typical Daryl Banner!To jump into the manner in which Daryl captures the reader’s attention, see the manner in which he opens his tale – ‘Tanner Strong. Let’s take a minute to appreciate the lean slab of meat that was the high school quarterback of my horny, teenage dreams. When Tanner Strong enters the room, everyone turns their heads—and it’s not just because he’s something of a town hero. Tanner’s body is built to order and his crushingly adorable face matches the goods, framed by short, dusty brown hair that pokes and jabs in all directions. He has this chiseled nose with a tiny scar across it that gives him this tough I-beat-people-up-for-a-living look. His full, plush lips half hang open as he turns in circles, ignoring the loud shouts of his comrades as he drinks in the sight of my family’s diner, likely noting how much it’s changed in the past three years. He hasn’t changed much. I could watch that dang face for hours. Those muddy brown eyes can still pull all my focus, just like they used to in the middle of history class when I should’ve been learning what year prohibition was repealed. It was 1930-something, by the way. And please, let’s not spend another hour discussing Tanner’s broad, muscled shoulders that have obviously rammed into countless firm, hard-bodied rivals during his time on the field. Or the thick, bulging arms that come from those shoulders, the muscles of which make a stretch rack of those poor, tortured sleeves of his too-tight shirt. Or the pecs underneath said shirt that show through in perfect, distracting detail.’ That alone hints at Daryl’s ability to pen erotica.The summary is brief – ‘Football never tasted this sweet. Tanner, the hunky college football star, is home for the summer. Billy, the budding dessert chef, is about to have his hot-fudge-glazed world flipped upside-down. Get ready for the "sweetest" romance you've ever tasted - hot man-on-man action, a whole lotta southern small town sass, and ice cream.’So Daryl Banner has done it again. And there most assuredly will be further books to follow. He has arrived! Grady Harp, February 17

This was a fun read. I started off really enjoying it. Even though it was easy to tell where this story was going I genuinely wanted to see how the author would get there. There was a particular scene where the main character, Tanner, gets blamed for a plumbing accident that got my biggest laugh. Comedy gold. Though my first impression was good problems arose as the book continued.Once I got to the good bits the dynamics between Billy and Tanner didn’t cross new ground. Without the side characters and the comedy it didn’t move, or more accurately, grow much. Instead of being excited about Tanner’s big reveal, I felt annoyed. Like of all the times, this is the time you do it? It made so little sense beyond one obvious bit, to drum up some drama to make the story more interesting. Instead, it just seemed like another unrealistic plot moment designed for people who like drama and can suspend heap-loads of reality to make something too crazy to work, work.The other thing that got me was the book seemed to want me to dig deep without trying to taking me down that path. Like Tanner talks about how hard it is being at college/university but I don’t think, for the amount of time it’s brought up, he ever actually deals with that emotion. I get the sense I’m supposed to feel that verbalising it is dealing with it. It’s not. People say stuff all the time and never actually deal with it. Some have good intentions and others have zero intentions to deal with things but know expressing their feelings is enough to stall most people for a while before the unresolved problem arises again so the cycle can begin again.It was the same with Billy. Talking about how he had to stay home instead of going to culinary school, but it feels so effortless. Like it wasn’t that much of a struggle for him to stay behind. He had no choice in the matter and the story reads like it wants readers to feel some sort of way about how it affected him, but he gets along so well with his family and this issue never gets brought up in a way beyond just talking about it. It never digs into the alluded emotional trauma this causes but as I said there is zero evidence of this in how he acts and interacts with characters; we only have his word. Much like Tanner supposedly living a lie about being a star athlete. He keeps saying it but I get the sense he is still a star athlete and it’s just harder than he thought with all the competition. So where’s the lie he apparently is living? And scraping by academically… he never deals with that either. I was waiting for him to tackle this one with his parents. Deal with the fact he might need to either buckle down and go hard with the football career or start looking into a backup plan which he might need some tutors or summer classes to make happen. But it’s more of the same, mention problem, almost go deep but the story must go on so it’s not dealt with.The side characters gave this book life. Specifically both moms and Tanner’s grandma. Laughter abound. Especially how Tanner’s mom acts after the reveal. Hilarious. My second biggest laugh in the book.The romance angle and the sex didn’t lift off the page or fit much for me. There’s something about the way a college experienced student and a boy who’s been out of high school as a working adult for two years talk and approached adult themes that felt very sixteen instead of twenty. A lot of the time I was brought out a bit like no twenty-year-old would say this, especially not during the encounter. However, the steamy mid-sex talk did this a lot. Even if they had never had sex before something about their sentence structures I found lacked the experience that working and being around older and maturer crowds for two years would have. It was a bit too juvenile for their age bracket. A lot of the reactions, situations, and the way things were worded through the novel in its entirety sometimes made me think of teen fiction trying to masquerade as adult fiction.That was what undid it mostly. With all the hilariously good moments that kept this book alive, the main characters still felt like they were a few years behind the age they actually were. The story was clearly designed for adults but a lot of the times read more PG13 and never quite lifted to the level of real character depth that I continuously felt I was being pulled towards. It hit one good note and sang it really well. But it had so much potential to hit all the other notes but missed them. And, after reading some of the other reviews, I noticed I’m not the only one that found the writing a bit juvenile as a whole.Lastly, I am here for books where being gay is a non-issue. However, I couldn’t suspend enough belief that in a small southern Christian town literally no one has an issue with this. Like no one. And, plot spoiler, the local minister marries them. I found this out in the second book. Again, we have a small southern Christian town with an open-minded pastor and openly gay residents and… no one cares. Let that wordy sentence sink in a bit.This book gets three stars for the comedy and overall southern sass and mostly Tanner’s mom’s reaction to his coming out. You can’t beat that kind of writing. I’m here for it. Beyond that, it doesn’t have much going for it. If you’re looking for a hilarious romance about two guys navigating their way through first love, you’ll love this book. If you’re looking for an adultier worded, slightly more angsty, in-depth type of read along with your comedy, this is probably not deep enough and too safe for you, outside of the sex scenes of course.

I love some angst in my gay romance, but I also really love gay joy when the stakes are low. This is my first time reading Daryl Banner and I can see why he's so popular. I fell for these two hard and it was so cute to watch them grow closer.

Almost ruined by Tanner Strong having disgusting tattoos. He must have really hated himself to desecrate his body with disgusting tattoos. It shows no class.Otherwise a very quick enjoyable read

The perfect recipe, a hot football player, a a quirky soon-to-be chef and lots of yummy desserts. There’s delicious anticipation while they figure themselves out. Their insecurities are endearing but when they’re bold it’s spicy.I love books about characters coming into their own and this book does not disappoint.

Well written story and well developed characters! Billy has had a crush on Tanner since middle school. Of course, Tanner is straight and Billy is Not! Tanner is home from college for the summer. He and his friends are picking on Billy, who works in his parents diner!

This is the most basic of tales. The jock returns home to the backwater only they have changed.It took a long time to read if only because there was nothing moving the story forward. Just two people having a relationship. I dislike drama for drama's sake but there needed to be something in this story to keep the pages turning effortlessly.Didn't need to have any secondary characters because they did nothing for the story. Removing all their interactions wouldn't have changed anything.

Loved this made up town.Tanner and Billy made a lovely couple.Banner was the school 'jock' while Billy was the lonely gay guy.Three years later Tanner is back in town and Billy can't resist his long time crush.I loved the easy way Billy kept his cool and let Tanner do the chasing when he realised that Billy was the man for him.The love story was well written and even though they were keeping it quiet it still felt like a special love.I wish all small towns were like Spuce.

Wow this book is beautiful. Ive laid awake finishing this book and have had to keep my happy dance moves to a minimum not to wake my husband. What can I say about Billy and Tanner? They have the love story we all dream off and hope for. This book is beautifully written and will have you on a rollercoaster and have you cheering for them both.There are lines in the book that will make you smile and do the little happy dance when you see characters get what they deserve. You will fall in love with Billy and Tanner.This is truly a feel good story and I can't recommend it highly enoughThe only problem is post Billy and Tanner blues .......

This author is new to me and this series is fantastic. It's full of tasteful banter throughout the book and characters from previous books regularly make guest appearances.It was an easy 5 stars from me.

Daryl Banner has done it again!! Amazing writer. Amazing storyteller. This is a sweet (pun fully intended) love story between two young men finding love in a small town. Full of humour, angst and awkwardness, basically everything that happens when you first meet someone and fall in love. Loved this so much I read it twice in one day. Highly recommended reading.