Caulky is a totally sweet and sexy contemporary romance, the first in a new series about a group of single men working in a construction company.
Best way to describe it comes from a conversation between Cole and Ren where they saw their meeting as a sexy, porn worthy “You’ve Got Mail’. Although neither could agree on who was Meg Ryan… 🤣
Full of humor and sweet insights into the scary nature of dating ,we watch them take as they finally agree to take towards something substantial and potentially wondrous.
Love both Cole and Ren as well as all the characters the surround them. We are likely to see each get their own story in this series and that includes Daniel, Ren’s outrageous best friend.
The beekeeping element is well done and folded in beautifully along side Ren’s character that it adds a depth not only to his personality but to the story as well. Love that.
My only slight quibble was the oddness of having a mother (Cole’s) threatening to “wash your mouth out with soap “ because of a expletive. He’s over forty. While he should respect her desire for a certain type of language in her house, she should also show some in return. But back to that phrase.
Not only is that ridiculous but I’ve always found that expression as offensive as it is old fashioned. It implies a measure of abuse that’s no longer tolerated by society. That phrase shouldn’t be either.
Just my opinion.
That aside, this is a marvelous romance. I adored both men and their relationship. I look forward to to seeing more of them , hopefully, in the novels that follow.
Now I’m onto book two. Can’t wait.
Need a new series and contemporary romance? Try this one, I’m sure you’ll enjoy it.
Synopsis;Ren is in desperate need of a rebound fling. Lucky for him, the smoking hot contractor he hired has just the tool for the job.
The last thing I want is another relationship or another broken heart.
All I need are my bees and the occasional hookup to scratch the itch.
Okay, maybe meeting up with my hot contractor weekly is a little more than occasional. And maybe the way I’m starting to feel about the guy I’ve been anonymously chatting with online should concern me.
But CaulkyAF doesn’t want to meet, and Cole doesn’t want anything serious, so what’s the worst that could happen?
****Caulky is book 1 in the Four Bears Construction series and can be read as a stand-alone. This is a funny, steamy MM story guaranteed to make you laugh and swoon. Absolutely NO cheating and NO love triangle. This series does NOT contain shifters, it’s the OTHER kind of bears.
Here I am diving back into the Vino and Veritas series and Burlington,Vermont. It’s like coming home.
A bit of a change here in that the main characters are only peripherally connected to V & V instead of working at either establishment.
Caleb Holt, poet and accountant, adorable nerd , goes to live mic night and reads his poetry. Or does on the night he meets Tag.
That would be Titus “Tag “ Taylor, former famous rocker now bee keeper and meadery owner. The rocker part of his life is behind him and something he’s kept secret since he came to Burlington, giving up. Titus for Tag. An identity he far prefers.
From the moment they spot each other, it’s a story of love at first sight or at least first meeting. These two are almost deeply committed to each other within a week.
And while they do a lot of talking, it’s not completely honest. While Caleb, virgin that he is, is communicating his need for clarity and openness in a relationship Tag is inwardly justifying why he is hiding a huge part of who he was from Caleb. A huge something that has the potential to disrupt his life once again via the internet and paparazzi.
Once they get together, Tag’s inability to tell Caleb is frustrating especially as he is given endless opportunities.
As a reader I far prefer my characters and couples to act like adults. And that means communication. Something missing here.
I love the whole beekeepering and meadery elements. Those just added such richness to this story and depth to the character of Tag. I really could see his love for his craft, the bees, and all the different meads he crafted. In fact, I was ready for a taste testing myself.
I really need to find a meadery.
Caleb’s family, overbearing and loving. Also a genuine plus. As was his poetry.
Don’t get me started on Queenie. Loved her.
But that relationship was quick, and a bit too instant love for me to commit to it immediately. I just was too wary. For Caleb , and then Tag.
I liked the epilogue. That was sweet and heartwarming.
Overall a sweet romance I put in the win column .
Synopsis:Save the bees, ride a rock star.
Formerly famous . . . and planning to keep it that way.
After my band kicked me out, I ran away to Vermont, changed my name, and kept my head down. So far, it’s working and nobody knows who I am. Or who I was. Until I see geeky poet Caleb stumbling through his first open mic night and I can’t help rescuing him. He’s as sweet as the honey my bees make and sexy enough to make me rethink so many things. But I can’t tell him my secret, or I’ll lose the anonymous life I worked so hard to build.
Everyone warns me he’s too good to be true.
I can’t believe a gorgeous, successful winemaker like Tag is into shy, geeky little accountant me. But he helps me blossom and believe in my talent, and works his way into my heart and my bed… not necessarily in that order. I’m falling for a man for the first time, and now I know what the missing number in my equation has always been.
When lies are revealed, though, someone’s going to get stung
I’ve so often associated Marshall Thornton with his outstanding but often gritty , and dark stories and series (Boystown series and Pinx Video Mysteries series, both must reads) that I forget this author also writes extremely funny, effervescent novels.
Such as Fathers of the Bride, just released.
Incredibly witty, often with on point dialogue so sharp you could cut a razor thin slice of wagyu to serve up to whom ever is being dissected over an immaculately prepared menu. Talk about spew worthy sentences and comments made! Oh my!
A lovely wine or cocktail at hand and sitting around the table, characters so memorable and utterly charming as to win their way swiftly into your heart.
This book was just what I needed.
It starts off with a sharp little prologue from their daughter, Kelly Kettering-Lane. She begins remarking how much her name sounds more like a street address then an actual person. I immediately love her. It only gets better as she tells us her fathers ruined her wedding. Oh the glee!
Then we jump to Chapter 1 and already the anticipation is high!
We meet one father first, Miles Kettering-Lane . Very flamboyant, very ummm the House and Garden network host you would have in your mind…. If it was an updated version of Charles Nelson Reilly.
Not familiar? YouTube or Google him. He’s magnificent. And his commentary on his returned daughter is one for the ages, for framing and one a lot of fathers would agree with.
In other words, he’s perfection.
When he says agoraphobia has gotten a bad rap? Spew moment number 1.
Anyway moving on because I could quote this man all day.
This daughter/ father relationship was intimate and so wonderfully built that I pictured them easily.
I had a great surprise coming. Been debating how much I should say.
But when father of the bride 2 shows, Andy Kettering-Lane, it’s completely marvelous because Thornton shows us a father/daughter dynamic that works just as deeply and lovingly but in a completely different way.
I was dumbfounded as I how much I adored how the shifts in dynamics felt real and moving. Each man displaying a different knowledge of their daughter and the same for the daughter.
And into this falls a complicated son in law parents uh foursome dynamics. You have to read it, trust me. Then there’s Andy’s young influencer boyfriend Raj and his ever present streaming. Yeah we know him.
The wedding zillas start growing, things get immediately and hysterically out of control, including feelings.
Those pesky things.
Miles and Andy are ground in their long personal history, the love that never seemed to have left them, and a house that holds nothing but love and memories.
Ok I really need to start rereading this again. Just writing this review reminds me of all the things I love about the story and want to relive.
Take it from me. You need love and laughter, lively snark, outstanding spew worthy dialogue, and a second chance at love story in your life. Fathers of the Bride is it. Grab it up, start reading now! I highly recommend it!
Synopsis: After more than two decades together, Andrew Lane and Miles Kettering-Lane are going through a nasty divorce. Not only are they unraveling their relationship but also their business—Miles once had a popular home show on cable with Andrew serving as his producer/manager—the failure of which they blame on each other. Now, they’d be happy to never, ever see each other again. But the daughter they both adore, Kelly, announces she’s getting married, and that means one very important thing: a wedding.
Thrown together, at event after event—meeting the in-laws, planning the wedding, throwing an elaborate engagement party—the two clash over everything until, their future in-laws, Bradley and Pudge Lincoln and Terry and Lissa Collins, try to take over the entire wedding. The Lincoln-Collins’ are very wealthy, to quote Pudge, “People think we’re in the one percent but that’s so embarrassing. We’re barely in the two percent!”
Andrew and Miles realize they have to work together in order to compete with the overbearing Lincoln-Collins’ and give their daughter the wedding she deserves. Along the way, they realize things just might not be over between them
One theme that became easily apparent among all three Farthingdale books is that each contains one man’s journey from an abusive, traumatic past into a new renewed bright future. His path , one we accompany him on, is marked by a series of obstacles of varying elements, from small sidesteps off the path to what might seem insurmountable boulders to scale before he can recover and get, along with his true love, their HEA.
As I’ve mentioned in my other reviews, I started with the third novel in the series, went back to the beginning, and now end here at The Blacksmith and the Ex-Con while I await the release of the next stories.
So I can say this is probably the one novel most guaranteed to bring out the sniffles, that box of Kleenex, and the carton of ice cream. With one spoon.
Because Ellis and his history is heartbreaking! What he’s been through, yes, including the extremely poor choices the man made himself and paid for, he’s in our hearts. From the minute we meet him, bloody, beaten, filled with fear, hearing his story….we’re connected to Ellis. Mute, brutalized from his time in prison,Ellis is perhaps the most broken of all the traumatized men we’ve met in all these stories.How could you not hurt for him?
Jackie North has written such a vulnerable, heartbreaking character here that you want to enfold him , wrap him up safely so as to keep him from further harm.
Jasper, our Blacksmith, who’s self isolated himself within his work and cabin has such tight boundaries to begin with. But from his past history , we understand what caused him to establish them to begin with…a need to protect himself. However nothing prepares him for Ellis. Jasper will come to feel that its Ellis who’s in need of protection and more. But it will take time and an adjustment of his mind and heart to get there. Something we get a window into.
Both men are incredibly complex, emotionally and mentally. Life has added so many more layers of trauma and pain filled history between them to navigate that each tentative movement towards each other is often over a minefield.
Yet in a small cabin by a slow flowing River it becomes a thing of physical poetry, raw and emotional and shy.
All interspersed with the heat of the forge, the stamp of horses hooves as they wait to be shod or for a carrot treat, or any of the other daily ranch duties scheduled that flows through their lives and story.
It’s a found family at this ranch and all the people there seamlessly move around this couple and on the ranch as to make the reader see and feel apart of a living, working guest ranch. And this amazing group of people.
When the showdown comes, and in the utter relief at the end , I was reflecting on how much Ellis and Jasper had been through and how far they had come, and us with them.
What a journey! I was almost crying. In joy. What a story and couple. I look forward to seeing more of them in future stories as I know I will.
Another true pleasure with this remarkable series. I highly recommend this and all the books in this series.
Synopsis:
“If anybody ever needed him, Ellis did. Ellis was broken. Jasper liked to fix things.”
Jasper has the perfect life. He’s a blacksmith at a small guest ranch in Wyoming. The last thing he needs is to have that perfect life interrupted by a shifty-eyed ex-con, but the ranch needs the tax benefits the ex-con program will bring.
Traumatized by his time in prison, Ellis can barely speak. He’s about to be offered parole. He knows he will hate working on the guest ranch, but what other option does he have?
It’s not love at first sight. It’s not hate at first sight, either, but something in between.
A gay m/m cowboy romance with age gap, hurt/comfort, opposites attract, forced intimacy, emotional scars, trauma leading to mutism, grumpy/grumpy, and baths. A little sweet, a little steamy, with a guaranteed HEA
Need a new series to read and love? Start here. I’m recommending them all.
Out now:
The Foreman and the Drifter #1
The Blacksmith and the Ex-Con #2
The Ranch Hand and the Single Dad #3
Coming Soon – The newest books in the Farthingdale Ranch Series! soon…..
While I started this amazing series with the third book, this incredibly sweet, heartwarming romance is exactly the way to fall into this universe and found family.
It’s a slow burn, first love, first time romance that captures the essence of all that confusing, unsettling overwhelming feelings of true love . Set on a ranch where you can almost smell the wild fragrances coming through the tall meadow grasses, feel the heat pouring down as the men ride and go through their chores, it’s an old fashioned slowed down day in a modern world story. One to savor along with the very sweet, almost innocent nature of the relationship that’s beginning to form between Leland and Jamie.
The ranch, it’s full time staff which is also a family, it’s guests comes across as a real place. From the dining hall to the dusty tack room to the fire pit where the grasses need to be cut back for safety purposes, it’s described so clearly, easily such a deep integral part of the people there that it becomes a part of your heart too.
And as a worn, torn Jamie finds himself deposited at the ranch uncertain and almost beaten, you just hope he’s finally found home. Which he has.
Jamie is all young vulnerability, openness, and hope waiting for someone to want him. He’s an amazing character and you love him immediately. As the strait laced Leland does, even if he’s not sure what to make of his own feelings.
Leland we also understand and adore, in a totally different way. They gently spark, gaze, and as two men who’ve never had relationships, stumble towards each other.
How I love this and them.
Like sitting on that veranda in the summer’s evening, sipping root beer, listening to the owls call and holding hands under the blankets.
Sighing now. Perfection.
I’m so in love with this series. On to book two.
Need a new series to read and love? Start here. I’m recommending them all.
Out now:
The Foreman and the Drifter #1
The Blacksmith and the Ex-Con #2
The Ranch Hand and the Single Dad #3
Coming Soon – The newest book in the Farthingdale Ranch Series! soon…..
The Wrangler and The Orphan #4
The Cook and the Gangster #5
The Trail Boss and the Brat #6
Synopsis: If only Leland would forget forget that Jamie was a drifter. If only he’d give their hearts a chance.”
With Farthingdale Ranch at risk, Leland Tate, ranch manager, has to get tough and make sure everyone on the ranch follows the rules he’s laid out. That means no handouts, no fraternizing, and no drifters.
But what happens when a young drifter comes looking for a job? What happens when that drifter makes Leland want to break all the rules?
A gay, m/m cowboy romance with age gap, hurt/comfort, first time, rescue, sunshine/grumpy, boss/employee, emotional scars, and opposites attract. A little sweet, a little steamy, with a guaranteed HEA.
Buy The Foreman and the Drifter to fall deeply and forever today with the first book in the new Farthingdale Ranch Series
Summer Drifter is the second is Scott’s Whisper Ridge, Wyoming series and it’s my favorite of the two.
I find that both men were easier to connect with, had huge chemistry with each other from their first meeting in the road, and their continued complex dynamics just made this story so enjoyable on a variety of levels that it was hard to put down.
Quinn, with his bright pink hair, big plans, ginormous out there attitude and vulnerability was such a standout character…. Obviously!
He was made to love. By the reader and Levi. And we did. Even when he was making ,smh, incredibly poor choices, because of his inner turmoil you knew it was due to his traumatic past and confusion over what was best for all going forward. Poor choices done for the right reasons, at least in his mind. You could understand him.
The same went for Levi. His painful past history and fears were causing him to make his future based on his old memories and unwillingness to look past his pain to something more. Again we got him too. It took a bright pink haired Quinn to light the way to something new.
But in between there’s humor, horses, toddlers, young energetic boys, found family and a ranch to run.
It all melds together in one great story.
While Winter Cowboy laid the foundation, Summer Drifter filled out the universe and gave us a absolutely incredible love story and family.
Synopsis: One man craves family, the other isolation; neither of them was searching for forever love.
Experienced and much-in-demand horse trainer Levi doesn’t need or want people. With his horse and dog at his side, he lives out of his trailer and trains horses in the summer to earn just enough to head south for winter. Infrequent hook-ups with no-tell cowboys takes care of sex, but the moment any connection gets anywhere near complicated, he moves on. Losing a lover to violence has taught him that if he’s alone, he can’t get hurt, and in return, he avoids the pain of loss. Everything in his easy-going life is on track until he knocks over Quinn, a pink-haired stranger who pirouettes in front of his truck, sits in his lap and calls him cowboy with the sexiest voice he’s ever heard. Anger turns to frustration, lust turns to love, and by the end of the summer, Levi doesn’t know which way to turn.
Quinn loses everything when the cops find his brother’s body on the remains of a compound that belonged to a cult. Damaged and vulnerable, Max had been the only safe place for Quinn in his otherwise cold family, but finding out that Max might have had a son sends Quinn to Wyoming and the Lennox Ranch. When he’s knocked to the ground on day one at the ranch, he wonders if maybe he should have thought things through better. After all, he’d bought two horses and a house to get close enough to Lennox ranch just to see if he was an uncle. He craves love, connection and is excited to be part of a family, searching for a place where he can finally stop running. He never meant to fall for the closed-off cowboy, but somehow Levi steals his heart and Quinn falls in love.
Once again I started a series in the he middle but I don’t think it will make much of a difference here. It’s easy to understand the couples and I’ll be going back to pick up on each of their individual romances after this one.
Why? Because I so thoroughly enjoyed my stay on the Farthingdale Ranch and felt as though I’d actually been there , walking the grounds, riding the trails and being a part of that found family.
This story was so moving. Both men experienced such growth, one in particular had undergone such a bad relationship that he’d been badly damaged emotionally and that had resulted in Erectile Dysfunction, a subject matter treated here gently, lovingly, and focusing towards healing the man . It was amazing.
Interwoven with recovery was a remarkable Father/daughter relationship. You can’t help but love Bea. She was a force of nature.
The core is Clay and Austin finding a way towards a healthy, happy HEA … a true family. It’s a slow tentative path but one made through communication and adjustments. And a respect for each other.
What a great story and remarkable universe. Great characters, marvelous setting, moving plot lines. There’s three more stories to come and two prior books. Oh what joy!
I love it when I fall in love with a series! I believe you will too.
Head over to the Farthingdale Ranch and grab up all the books!
Synopsis:
“If Austin has forgotten what love is, maybe Clay can show him the way.”
Happy-go-lucky Clay keeps busy with hookups at the local bar after working hard at the ranch. Those hookups used to be fun, but now they leave him empty.
Austin is reeling after a difficult divorce. His wife took everything, including full custody of his daughter, Bea, who is only nine.
Austin doesn’t know where his life is headed, but at least he’s got a roof over his head, and a new job as accountant at Farthingdale Ranch.
The job is exactly the kind of work he loves. The only problem is he’s distracted by Clay, who is gay. Austin is straight. There’s no way this can work.
A gay M/M cowboy romance with age gap, hurt/comfort, opposites attract, single dad, out for you, midnight rendezvous, friendship between men. A little sweet, a little steamy, with a guaranteed HEA.
Out now:
The Foreman and the Drifter #1
The Blacksmith and the Ex-Con #2
The Ranch Hand and the Single Dad #3
Coming Soon – The newest book in the Farthingdale Ranch Series! soon…..
Lane Hayes continues her Out of series for couple Gabe and Derek post college with two lovely, sweet short stories.
We meet again Hayes’ great characters, in tightly plotted storylines filled with romance and hope for their dreams, individually and as a couple.
We follow them through each man’s future plans, one for a restaurant and one for an Olympic spot, then to a wonderful romantic conclusion.
Both compliment each other and leave the reader happy and satisfied for the couple and with the stories.
What a lovely way to spend a couple of hours.
Lighthearted, humorous, romantic and sweet. I loved it and recommend both. And Hayes Out of series. Check them all out.
Synopsis:Out for the Holidays
A Dream Come True…
Derek-
This is it! I’m finally opening my own bistro. I’ve spent the last two years getting ready for this moment. I can’t decide if the holidays are the perfect time to begin a new venture, but I’m excited. It would be nice if my family were on board too.
Gabe-
I play water polo. I don’t know anything about the restaurant business, but I want to make sure Derek’s grand opening goes according to plan. I’ll rally our friends, send out invites, and yeah…I’ll even deal with his mother. He’s my number one person and I’ll do whatever it takes to be sure we’re out for the holidays.
Out for the Holidays is a low-angst MM romance featuring Derek and Gabe from Out in the Deep…and a host of friends from the Out in College books!
Out for Gold
Chance of a Lifetime…
Gabe-
Winning a spot on the Olympic water polo team is my lifelong goal and guess what?…I made it! Of course, nothing goes smoothly. This is a bad time for a shoulder injury and an even worse time for my dad to show up out of the blue. I might be doomed.
Derek-
Family isn’t easy. Trust me, I know. But in my experience, ignoring obvious issues only makes them more challenging in the long run. I can’t solve Gabe’s problems with his dad, but I’ll help if I can. Win or lose, my man is going out for gold.
Out of Gold is a low-angst MM romance featuring Derek and Gabe from Out in the Deep in a full-circle quest for the ultimate prize…love.
*OUT FOR THE HOLIDAYS was originally featured in the holiday collection, Gifts for the Season. Since the anthology is no longer available, I wanted to publish it on my own and add new content. OUT FOR GOLD is a brand-new novella that really brings the whole story full-circle. Both shorts feature Derek and Gabe from Out in the Deep.
I just adore this series! After all, how often Is it that I get a 18 book series written by multiple authors that shows no signs of stopping, remains energetic and fresh from couple to couple, plot to plot, and has given me new authors to follow!
Exciting, right?
The main elements remain the bar/bookstore that’s Vino and Veritas, the beautiful town of Burlington, Vermont, the surrounding areas such as smaller villages, farms and woods. From that great foundation, we continually meet and/or revisit the many citizens (established and newly arrived) that intertwine their lives and loves.
Unforgettable’s couple is comprised of two men we’ve met before.
There’s Oz Walker, one of the staff at Vino side of V&V. He’s been mentioned fairly often in the other stories. Doesn’t matter the authors, many of these couples and characters make appearances throughput the entire series.
So yes, we superficially know Oz and now get to meet the man in-depth as well as his family. All of them and they rock!
Reeve Hale, temporally “passing through” Burlington for the summer is roommates with one of my fav people. That’s the effervescent Davey Murphy from Undone #17, here busy, supportive and looking for love. While it’s great to get a peak at “Showgirl”, the oh so delightful , duty minded adorable Reeve is a real great addicting character.
Add a marvelous fake boyfriend trope between these two and you have a story that just takes off and soars on a flight of romance, sexy romps, some angst, and a ton of heartwarming moments.
Just a heads over heels love fest that you will find so much fun to read. Well written, dialogue that feels real and hits the heart, and yes, filled with outstanding characters, both new and from the other series books.
Oz Walker and Reeve Hale are a great couple and make for a entertaining joyful romance. Add this one to your TBR pile. I definitely recommend it.
See the synopsis and entire series list below as well as the buying link from Goodreads.
Synopsis: One night with Reeve Hale wasn’t enough. I knew it when I kissed him, I knew it when I slept with him, and I was certain of it when I walked out of his motel room the very next day.
So when the shy, gorgeous man is introduced as our newest employee at Vino and Veritas, I can’t help but conjure up all the ridiculous ways to convince him to repeat that unforgettable night. Like asking him to be my fake boyfriend at my sister’s upcoming wedding.
Only, I didn’t expect him to say yes.
Playing pretend shouldn’t feel this real. Especially when Reeve is planning on leaving Vermont after the summer.
We agreed to one night. We negotiated a fake relationship. But I’m the one who broke our terms. I wasn’t supposed to fall in love and he was never supposed to be so unforgettable
I have been looking forward to this book and series since it’s origin story, A Brush of Blue, in her Colors of Love series. It’s there that we met Landon Reese, goalie/hockey player and his future husband, bandleader Montrell Pittman. And at the end they are facing a great future together, full of new journeys, including one that sees both at Landon’s large spread in Wyoming, the Prairie Smoke Ranch.
It was such an amazing story and that couple was so fascinating and diverse that I couldn’t wait to see how their lives continued and what happened next….on that ranch.
We get that here, although not as much as I had hoped to see of Landon and Martell. Here, we run across Landon most often as the carryover character. He owns the ranch after all. Of the complex , musical cross dressing Martell, we catch just glimpses.
No the focus of this novel is the Prairie Smoke ranch foreman, Nate Pearson and Dr. Bishop Haney, associate professor of Paleontology at UWW. It’s their love story, with heavy overlay plot lines of theft, bigotry, feuding ranches, rustling and more.
And that mixture of elements and storylines is both a blessing and , well not a curse then definitely a frustrating point, reader and review wise, about this novel.
Writing a series, authors can format their stories in various ways. There’s a main foundation or universe, here it’s the Prairie Smoke Ranch and it’s location near the Tetons as well as surrounding communities, town and Native tribes.
Locey has established a great setting and niche community here. We have the larger towns and citizens referenced and secondary characters from there who make appearances.There’s the smaller found family the author is slowly creating at the ranch itself that’s a combination of owners, ranch hands, and support staff. New people already situated or are soon to arrive within this group are those who’s relationships will be launched in the forthcoming books.
As I said, this series looks to follow the pattern of individual romances emerging from the ranch family that is growing before us on the page instead of following through on the couple already presented.
From foundation universe and main couple romance, then a author can layer on more themes or plots that get threaded through the narrative to further tie books and series together.
For me this has always been a somewhat tricky format to balance and have each tale remain satisfying in and of itself while moving the series objectives forward.
As a reader, I want to come to the end of each novel I read and feel happy (if it’s that sort of fiction) as well as satisfied that some if not most of the plot lines raised have been concluded , even if it’s not the arc storyline . That’s more so the case because it’s a anticipated smaller percentage in novels from a series because yes, you allow for a certain number of storylines to carryover into the next novel. I still emotionally need closure on something! Please don’t leave me with more questions then answers or spending hours wondering why I didn’t even connect 100 percent to our couple. More on that.
When that happens. Even if there’s no real cliffhanger (something I abhor in a series), having multiple major elements left dangling at the end , well frustrating is a nice way to put it. Then I start to look at every aspect of the story with askance.
That includes what seems to be a happy, loving main couple . Here after some thought, even their romance here feels just as unfinished as everything else. Definitely a HFN book. An air of uncertainty hangs ever present over all elements.
For me that perfectly frames out how Dawn’s Desire reads and comes across at the end. I done nothing but think about this story and why I just felt unsettled and yup, frustrated by the end.
Let’s tackle the romance first of all.
It’s very well written, especially when creating and defining the men who become lovers in this HFN story.
Nate has a tragic history which is easy to emphasize with and feel a part of this man’s life story. I connected with Nate. And even now he stands out so clearly in my head. I know this man.
Bishop, all energized, nerdy yet capable, messy man bun and long limbs, is equally amazing and relatable. From his California great looks to his positive outlook, Bishop feels as real as Nate.
Their chemistry is off the charts hot and I can even believe they love each other at the end.
The author did such a thorough, great job in giving both men not only a layered history but each has an emotional richness to them. Nate speaks hauntingly and with deep conviction of his connection to the wide spaces of Wyoming and his almost sacred bonding to the land. As he spoke at times during the story of his need and emotional ties there , it was so moving and natural.
Bishop too has equally meaningful layers to him. Not surprisingly, these strong ties run from his joy and passion for paleontology . But on the same level as Nate’s great need and love for the land surrounding the Tetons is Bishop ‘s innermost connection to the ocean, it’s waters , smells, and sounds that speak to Bishop of his heart. It’s a immense part of his soul, one that he says feels empty when he’s away from it. Yes, I understood Bishop too on a visceral level.
Soooo… anyone seeing a potential issue here for a HEA? Because yes, Bishop is a associate professor at UWW, that’s a both a field that calls for major time spent on digs (wherever they may be found) but he likes the city and his oceans.
This may be a case where these men are so well crafted as to feel real. We understand their inner emotions and can then see past a simple relationship whereas love here being everything. For me instead of focusing on their HFN status, all I could think of is this relationship has a real time limit realistically speaking. That sometimes love isn’t enough.
While realistic, probably not the tone Locey was going for in this romance.
The story doesn’t address my concerns about the romance feeling like a summer ranch fling however much they declared their love.
Add that to the fact that none of the other storylines (entertaining and suspenseful major threads) come to any fruition . Each one is left to continue through to the next book. Not one is resolved.
I got to the end of Dawn’s Desire feeling as though I’d read the first half of a book where the rest of it was missing.
I’m sure more information about each mystery and plot will be featured in book 2 in this series. However, that story doesn’t center around Bishop and Nate but another couple entirely.
And unlike Landon and Martell who communicated and worked , in that novel, how the complications from each man’s job would fit into their newly domesticated lifestyle, here between Nate and Bishop we get nothing. Just a declaration of love.
Just not very satisfying, at least for me.
So finally, Dawn’s Desire does a great job in setting up the foundation and conflicts going forward in the series. It does nothing to resolve any thread just a setup and move forward.
It does give us a age gap, layered realistic quick romance between Nate and Bishop, running from lust to love. We understand and come to love each man, easy to do as they’re intelligent, funny, poignant, and sexy.
But is this a romance built or written in a way that feels lasting? Not so much. More like Nate’s first step out of emotional hibernation than a HEA. And I could see Bishop, at another dig, thinking about Nate as the one thing he left behind. That feels believable.
Will the upcoming stories change them and my general feelings about this couple? Remains to be seen. Along with the conclusions to some of the mysteries started here.
I’ll be waiting anxiously for the next novel to see what it brings.
Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words 