author Sarah Masters – Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars ★★★

Sometimes, trusting your instincts leads to happiness and love.

After coming out, life took a turn for the worst. I knew people would view me differently, of course I did, but… See, here’s the thing. How does a person cope when a few of their work colleagues play such a cruel trick that it leaves them wondering if they’ll ever trust anyone again? It happened to me, and trusting isn’t something I do easily now.

Until James comes along. He’s a work colleague too, but my issue is, I keep thinking he’s playing another trick. You know, reeling me in, making me think he’s a good bloke.

He’s asked me to go out with him and although I should maybe get to know him a bit better first, I’ve said I’ll go. I need to get back out there, live a little. And if I get hurt? Well, I’ll just have to deal with it. Again.

But maybe he won’t hurt me. Break my heart and all that. Please God.

Definitely a short, sweet and cute read. Trevor is basically humiliated at work by his co-workers after them finding out about his sexuality. I thought it was cute of Trevor talking to himself and trying to reassure himself in the most sensible way that things were going to get better. Enter admin guy, who Trevor doesn’t know if anything coming out his mouth is genuine, and he takes a chance on him. These guys seem like they are in their awkward teenage phase of life, but they are adults dealing with being out in two different ways. We learn that sweet admin guy is just boring James as he describes his name, like Trevor, I see nothing boring about him. I think it took a lot of confidence to come up and talk to someone who’s basically being shamed at work. James gives off the aura of confidence when he has his own insecurities as well. I really liked how they came together, and were better with each other.

Cover Art by Posh Gosh. I liked the display of Trevor at the Art center where he and James can be themselves. No one is judging them, and they are happy being their own bent selves!

Sales Links: Pride Publishing | Amazon | Buy It Here

Book Details:

ebook

Published August 11th 2015 by Pride Publishing

ISBN139781784307103

edition languageEnglish

Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars

You can run but you cannot hide. Problems have a habit of following you, even if it’s only inside your head.

Ross decides to start a new life away from the grim belly of London, England, unable to stomach being a cop any longer. He tells himself he’s moving miles away to find himself a bed partner, but he’s lying. He has to. Facing up to the real reason he’s leaving isn’t something he can handle. His last undercover job proved too much—his life was at risk—and if he stays in London he’ll likely end up dead. Nightmares plague him, his subconscious unable to switch the past off. So he moves to a ranch in America, thinking the new surroundings and different lifestyle will help him to heal—and to forget. What he soon realizes is he’s jumping from the frying pan into the fire…

Joe’s passion—that of caring for the horses—is the only thing that keeps him sane. He’s a surly man, and for good reason—a reason he hasn’t told a soul. Folks think he’s mean and unapproachable and suspect him of committing murder. More than once. Locals assume that Joe got let off the hook. Nothing could be further from the truth, but Joe lets people think what they will. He’s done with their speculation and sly looks.

When Ross and Joe meet, tension is rife. The air between them prickles with animosity as well as sexual tension. Both have a past they can’t get over. Both have skeletons in their closets they wish would turn to dust. And both have to make a decision. Can they cast their fears aside and trust each other, or have the terrors they’ve experienced ruined them for love?

Outcast Cowboys by Sarah Masters more of a psychological drama and less of cowboy story, dealing with murder and mayhem. One characters past life was as a British police officer. We start with a past flashback where Ross was in London as an undercover cop. I do not know how realistic this is. I enjoy stories like those from time to time, but I guess I felt detached from the very beginning because of the dark feelings from the book.

It was somber for most of the plot and that kept me from connecting with any of the characters. I think that just to drop that career into another country, and to up and become a cowboy in said country with no qualifications felt unrealistic. I could see if he was a wanderer, but he has no skill sets for this. Then meeting Joe, it is rocky start to say the least. There was immediate hostility between the two as well as a total lack of chemistry in my opinion. I think it made getting together more of a booty call at best than an actual romance.

I do not know if I understand what Joe was going on about in the beginning, his attitude was horrid, then after one day, he completely changes his tune. He changed and I did not believe it at all. I couldn’t relate to either character. It felt very disjointed throughout most of the story. The tone seemed different from the beginning to the middle. Some things did not make sense to me, like talking about murdered horses, and burned down dorms. The drama aspect of the story did not make sense. Here I was thinking that this was going to be a straight CR m/m story with a foreigner and a cowboy falling in love over the horses. I did not like anything about this. I have picked it up 3 or 4 times just to get through the story. Sadly, at the end I was not happy with the plot or the characters.

Cover Art by Posh Gosh. The cover was one reason I was interested. The cowboy boots makes me believe I’m going to get a happy, contemporary story. While it wasn’t that, I did think the cover was nice.

Sales Links: Pride Publishing | All Romance (ARe) | Amazon | Buy It Here