Review: An Isolated Range (Range #5) by Andrew Grey

Rating: 5 stars

Marty Green, college student, was doing the thing he loved best, playing basketball for his first intercollegiate game for his Brackett College team when the unthinkable happened. While on the court, Marty suffers a stroke and ends up in the hospital for months recuperating and learning to walk again. Due to the extent of the damage done to his brain, the recovery is taking longer than he had hoped and his parents want him to come home to continue his rehabilitation. But Marty knows from experience just how smothering and overprotective his well meaning parents can be, so when his doctor suggests an alternative, to go to a ranch owned by a friend of his where Marty can work on daily chores, help care for an invalid father as well as his rehabilitation, Marty jumps at it.

Veterinary assistant Quinn Summers is there when Marty arrives at the ranch owned by Dakota and helps him get settled into his room. Everything about the young man in the wheelchair attracts Quinn, including his determination to be independent. Marty will help care for Jefferson, Dakota’s father as well as help feed the horses at the ranch. Marty has alway loved horses as much as basketball and quickly settles into life at ranch. The biggest adjustment to life at the ranch is seeing openly gay men living and loving each other as other heterosexual couples do. Marty has known he was gay since his teen years but never came out due to his conservative Republican Senator father. Now he has the chance to finally be who he really is and Quinn is ready to help him. But there are plenty of obtacles on the path to romance for Marty and Quinn. Quinn’s father dislikes the fact that his son is gay and works to undermine Quinn in every way possible. And there is Senator Green who is using an antigay platform to help him get re-elected to the Senate. It will take courage and heart for Marty and Quinn to overcome their families and reach for love.

Andrew Grey’s Range series just gets stronger with each new book and An Isolated Range is perhaps the most amazing addition yet. Marty Green is an extraordinary character, inspired by a real life basketball player from Gettysburg College who experienced the same devastating stroke that happens to Marty. Grey’s description of the stroke as it happens from Marty’s POV is as shattering as it is realistic. And that authenticity continues from the moment Marty wakes up in the hospital, moves into rehab, and then when he realizes that to get better he must move beyond his family into a more independent living arrangement or have his recovery be stifled by overprotective parents. The author is able to convey to reader the crushing disappointment that Marty feels when he is unable to walk, his stress and dismay over the lack of progress and his inability to be his own man. Andrew Grey does a incredible job of bringing Marty Green to life in every facet of this young man’s journey.

Quinn Summers is an equally remarkable character. He has succeeded in his personal life, with help from Wally, Dakota, and Jefferson, to become an exceptional young man who dreams of becoming a veterinarian. One of Quinn’s biggest obstacles in his life is his father, a self destructive man who continually tries to pull Quinn down with him. This element of An Isolated Range is as fully developed and layered as the rest of the story. And you root for Quinn to continue to extricate himself from his father even as the man reaches out to pull Quinn back in.

We also have to watch as Jefferson Holden fades, his illness claiming him as Jefferson is a character we have come to love over the series of books. This is such an affecting element of this story and Grey plays off the relationship all the men on the ranch have with Jefferson (he has been a father figure to most of them) against the antagonistic relationships Marty and Quinn have with their respective dads. Marty’s relationship with his Senator father is fraught with complexities as neither of Marty’s parents realize he is gay. Just as Marty is getting comfortable with his sexuality, Marty’s father starts to ramp up antigay sentiments to help him get re-elected to the Senate, a plausible action that we see mirrored in the media every day.

Really, An Isolated Range is just one outstanding book from every angle possible. I cannot recommend it enough. However, I would start at the beginning of the series. Read them in the order they were written, starting with A Shared Range (Range #1) which introduces you to Dakota and Wally, and continue on from there. Don’t miss a one.

Here are the books in the order they were written and should be read in order to understand the characters and their relationships:

A Shared Range (Range, #1)

A Troubled Range (Range, #2)

An Unsettled Range (Range, #3)

A Foreign Range (Range, #4)

An Isolated Range (Range, #5)

Review: An Unsettled Range (Range Series #3) by Andrew Grey

Rating: 4 stars

Troy Gardener’s life is a mess. For years now he has been a happily married husband and father to his wife and daughter, working hard to get ahead to support them in comfort. He has refused to admit his homosexuality all his life, even to his gay brother. But deep inside, he knows the truth, and the guilt is killing him because he knows the people he loves will be the ones hurt the most by his coming out. So Troy has remained firmly closeted in his life and mind until circumstances throw open the door into his sexuality and his life is shattered. Now after losing everything dear to him, including his job, Troy heads west to the cabin his uncle left him and his brother. He needs time to reflect on his actions and try to find a way back into his daughter’s affections if possible. But Troy never counted on a blue eyed gorgeous ranch hand showing up on his property, upsetting his self imposed isolation and his heart.

Liam Southard is literally at a dead end after being thrown out of his house by his abusive father. Collapsed by the side of the road, miles from nowhere, lack of food and water has finally taken its toll on his abused body and soul. Then a miracle happens, and he is rescued by two men who take him back to their ranch to recover. Liam thinks he must be in heaven or the closest thing to it because when he comes to, he finds out he has been taken in by gay ranchers, who cloth him, feed him and give him a job and home. On his first day on the job, he heads into the mountains to investigate a smoke column and finds a gun being pointed at him, and a gorgeous stranger behind the trigger. His first introduction to Troy Gardener is a rude awakening for both men. Even a rocky start can stop Troy and Liam from thinking about the other but more obstacles must be overcome before they find their happily ever after.

I started Andrew Grey’s Range series by reading the last two published books in the series first. I loved them both and couldn’t believe that somehow I had missed this series so now I am going back to pick up the remaining books to acquaint myself with all the characters and the relationships mentioned in A Foreign Range(Range #4) and An Isolated Range (Range #5). Still reading them out of order just because I am curious to see if they stand up as singular stories (they do), I find the series just as beguiling and charming as ever.

Andrew Grey has managed to give us two characters in each book with backstories that range from abusive families, closeted individuals, and sometimes just haunted personalities that stay with you long after the book is finished. An Unsettled Range brings us Troy Gardener and Liam Southard, two characters in keeping with Andrew Grey’s marvelous creations for the Range series. Troy Gardener is a realistic mess of a man. Admittedly selfish and shallow, he has alienated his gay brother and lied to his wife and child with his self denial over his sexuality. Grey brings us a credible portrait of an agonized man finally looking at himself in the mirror and hating the image he sees. It is a shattering moment for Troy and the reader. And it enables the reader to find compassion for this man who otherwise might be too unlikable to root for.

Liam Southard’s past unfolds slowly throughout the book, the horrific details of his upbringing revealed in spurts. It is impossible not to love Liam from the first moment we see him collapsing by the side of the road. Our sympathy is engaged fully at that moment and never leaves this wonderful young ranch hand. Grey has made him the opposite of Troy, someone who has remained optimistic and great hearted, no matter the pain Liam has been through. He is such a lovely, believable character, and is a stand-in for all those young GLBTQ youth cast out of their homes like yesterday’s garbage. I just loved everything about this young man.

As always, Andrew Grey brings a multitude of issues into his story. In this case, it is water rights, Mining companies, and the rights of endangered species. A lovely irony with contrasted with the rights of gay individuals still being fought, especially out west. And we also have the plight of large cat rescue as well. All outstanding elements, all beautifully folded into a heartwarming story.

So, I am off to finish up the rest of the books. I think you will love them as much as I do. Here they are in the order they were written and released:
A Shared Range (Range, #1)

A Troubled Range (Range, #2)

An Unsettled Range (Range, #3)

A Foreign Range (Range, #4)

An Isolated Range (Range, #5)

A Volatile Range (Range, #6)

Cover art by LC Chase is beautiful, it not only speaks to the subject matter but brands the series.

It’s 70 degrees here in Maryland and the Week Ahead in Reviews

It’s January and it feels like mid Spring. The woodpeckers are banging out their territory rhythms, the maples are budding out, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see the hyacinths and tulips start to peek out above the ground. The meteorologists keep saying that it will get colder, and it does, for about a day and then the temperatures start to rise and voila, back to Spring.

Now for us in the past, February is the month to look out for. It brings heavy snows and ice and all things wintery. Except for last year, when it brought nada. We need the water from snow melt, and that is not looking promising for us or any of the surrounding states. So each day is a surprise, more so than usual. What will our changing climate do to our day today? Will it bring Spring or Winter? Will it be quiet and calm or will winds with hurricane speeds be whipping over our rooftops? No one can say for sure. The one thing I do want to do is take those climate change doubters, those head in the sand ostriches, and give them a shake or two. Tell them to get their heads out of their nether regions and take a good look around. Time for us to make a change, one person at a time, while it is still possible. Still tut tuting over a favorite backyard azalea that is trying to bloom.

Here is a list with 50 easy ways to help the earth. Wire and Twines “50 Ways to Help the Planet – go green, its not that hard!

Now for the Week Ahead in Reviews:

Monday, 1/14: Revolution by Bailey Bradford

Tuesday, 1/15: Some Kind of Magic by R. Cooper

Wed., 1/16: Horse of Bells by Pelaam

Thursday, 1/17: An Unsettled Range by Andrew Grey

Friday, 1/18 Knight of Wands by Theo Fenraven

Saturday, 1/19 Trick of Time by J.L. Merrow

So there it is, let’s see what happens. Have a wonderful week.

Pete’s Persuasion (Shifters’ Haven #7) by Lavinia Lewis

Rating: 4.75 stars

Tony has been examining his life in New York and doesn’t like what he sees, a shallow man pursuing his career, without friends or a man to love. Tony is missing his best friend, Jake who is now living with his cowboy in Texas and happier than Tony has ever seen him. So when Tony decides he is due for a change, its to Texas and Jake that he decides to vacation. A vacation that will land him in the middle of a killer’s quest for revenge and into a world of wolf shifters.

Pete Johnson, beta of alpha Kelan’s Wolf Creek pack, is tired of seeing all the shifters around him find their mates while he remains alone. After the madness with the council member gone mad, all he wants to do is buy the bar he manages and settle down. But once more, a killer rises up from the ash of the plot by a Supernatural Council rogue member to threaten all the members of the Wolf Creek pack. The night Tony arrives, someone burns both the bar and Kelan’s Crazy Horse Ranch to the ground, killing humans and shifters alike. During the investigation, Pete meets Tony for the first time and realizes Tony is his mate. When Jake gets critically injured during the blast that brings down the bar, Tony sees something so unreal, so unbelievable, that he thinks he is hallucinating. Both Kelan and Pete’s features start to change and Tony discovers the reality of shifters.

As the killer escalates their plan to make the people involved in the rogue Councilman’s death pay, Pete must make Tony understand they are mates, sooth his concerns over shifters being real, and try to keep him safe until the killer is caught. Not a easy take when Tony is divided between wanting to help and wanting to flee back to New York. Can Pete persuade his mate to stay with him in Texas or will the killer take revenge on all the shifters in Wolf Creek, and their mates as well.

Shifters’ Haven is a series that continues to grow in depth and complexity and Pete’s Persuasion is the best book yet in this terrific series. In fact, I still find it hard to believe that it is only 92 pages long as it has the feel and emotional heft of a much larger book. Pete’s Persuasion continues with the aftermath of the death of the rogue Council member who was killing the mates of shifters who wished to remain hidden from the human world. Now someone is seeking revenge for his death and everyone is a target. I loved the continuity that flows smoothly from one book to the next, with nary a dropped plot point. Lewis never gives us extraneous storyline side trips but instead juggles all the characters and locations masterfully as she maneuvers her characters and the reader towards a goal yet unseen. If a certain element appears, whether human, shifter or Council law, then you can be sure it will figure seamlessly into the plot at some point, even if it takes a book or two to accomplish it.

Another facet of Lewis’ stories that I admire is that there are no throwaway characters. If she mentions someone, then you can be sure they will make another appearance down the line. Tony, Jake’s best friend of 10 years, is first mentioned in Kelan’s Pursuit (Shifters’ Haven #3), but it took four more books until he reappeared as a main character. And there is no such thing as a cookie cutter character in her stories either. These men or shifters laugh, love, and hurt in such a believable fashion that there is never a strain to remember the cast of characters and their relationships to each other, something that can happen with long running series.

A nice element that Lewis works into her shifter universe, is that there is no instant love between mates. There is desire certainly (hot sex too), there is a feeling of completeness and a recognition that each melds with the other but it takes time for the love to form. Her shifters also physically shift instead of a blink of an eye transformation, but there is no physical pain, just a momentary disconnect between the wolf and the man.

And finally, Lewis gives us scenes of such intensity, such fear, that she can make your heart pound and your pulse rate speed up with her action sequences, fight scenes and blazing conflagrations as the burning buildings start coming down around our characters. Really, she does an amazing job with her harrowing descriptions and vivid scenes that you feel like you are there.

So I cannot wait for the next in the series and one of the main reasons is that at the end of this book, the killer is once again on the loose. The plot continues, the anxiety and dread rises with the stakes higher than ever. Shifters’ Haven has me well and truly hooked. You will be too but don’t start here. Go back to the beginning and read the series in the order they were written, which is the only way it will make sense. You are going to love this.

Luke’s Surprise (Shifters’ Haven, #1)

Cody’s Revelation (Shifters’ Haven, #2)

Kelan’s Pursuit (Shifters’ Haven, #3)

Aaron’s Awakening (Shifters’ Haven #4)

Nate’s Deputy (Shifters’ Haven #5) – my review here.

Gregory’s Rebellion (Shifters’ Haven, #6) – read my review here.

Pete’s Persuasion (Shifters’ Haven, #7)

Cover art by Posh Gosh. The covers for this series is lovely but not up to the heights of the Leopard’s Spots series. Still, it pulls in many of the elements of the story and still manages to brand the series from other shifter books.

Too Careful By Half (a Roughstock story) by BA Tortuga

Rating: 5 stars

Sam and Beau are both still dealing with the aftermath of Sam’s brain injury during a bull ride. Beau is still so scared that he almost lost the man he loves, that he has been treating Sam as though he were made of glass, something he never would have done when Sam was healthy.Sam too is trying to deal with his brain injuries, his communication problems as the words he wants to say aren’t the words that comes out of his mouth, and on top of that, Beau is acting like he is going to break apart at any second. And Sam has had enough. Six months into his rehab, and Sam is ready for a trip back to normal, and that includes their more than healthy sex life.

How do I love these Roughstock stories and their cowboys? Let me count the ways. First comes their authenticity. When the words rolls out of their mouths, it is never less than perfect. BA Tortuga has the finest ear I know of for regional slang and sentence structure so when her cowboys talk, I know that is what the cowboys sound like from their accents to the word choices. Just perfection in every way. Secondly, especially when it comes to her long established couples like Sam and Beau, the reader gets that they have been together for a while, its there is the way they move about each other, the touches they pass back and forth, and the “knowing” of each other that BA Tortuga has built into her story. It’s as effortless as watching any long term couple you know relate to each other, small gestures, non verbal communication, it’s all there.

I have followed this pair from the beginning through the shock and pain of Sam’s accident in the ring so each new glimpse into their post accident life is a treasure for me. Here we find them six months after the bull stomped on Sam’s skull, and they are dealing with the changes in their lives the best way they know how. Everything they do and feel comes across so real, that when Beau runs his hand gently over the scarred skin of Sam’s head and feels the divot where part of his skull had to be removed, we feel his pain and sadness just as acutely as he does. And when finally Sam gets Beau to “hunt his ass in the dark” like they used too, well let’s just say we are grinning and whooping with them too.

BA Tortuga continues to give us characters that breath, bleed, and leap off the pages and into our hearts. Don’t miss a single installment!

This is a short story that never feels like one. Instead it feels a little like visiting old friends, you know, just stopping by for a drink and talk. It’s comfortable, it’s heartwarming, and most of all, it feels like coming home.

Here are the Roughstock stories not in the order they were written but grouped according to pairing:

Roughstock: File Gumbo – Season One (Sam and Beau)

Roughstock: And a Smile — Season One (Coke and Dillon with Sam and Beau mentioned)

Roughstock: And a Smile — Coke’s Clown (Coke and Dillon, with Sam and Beau)

Cowboy Christmas: A Roughstock Short (Coke and Dillon)

The New Guy, a Roughstock story (Coke and Dillon)

The Retreat, a Roughstock story (Coke and Dillon)

Roughstock: Blindride — Season One

Starting the Roux, a Roughstock story (Beau and Same)

Doce, A Roughstock Story: The Ten of Wands – Roughstock universe

Give it Time: the Seven of Wands – Roughstock universe

Shutter Speed, A Roughstock Story: the Seven of Pentacles – Roughstock universe

Amorzinhos, A Roughstock Story

Leather Work and Lonely Cowboys, a Roughstock story (Sam and Beau)

Too Careful By Half, a Roughstock story

December is here, the year is almost over and the week ahead in Reviews

Every year seems to go by more quickly than the last and 2012 is almost gone. It has been a tumultuous time here at home, in Maryland, and the entire northeast. From the scorching heat and drought of the spring and summer months to the recent Derechos which brought high winds and flooding, it has been a regular smorgasbord of geological happenings and meteorological events. We have had a major earthquake from which the National Cathedral and the Washington Monument and other buildings have still not recovered from. A heat wave and drought that killed much of the harvest from land and sea, with water levels down from lack of rain and snow to heat which baked the land and everyone on it. We had high winds, tornados and of course flooding that still did not mitigate the low water table. Really, 2012 has been our version of Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride and it’s not over yet.

Amazingly it was a year ago yesterday when I rolled out by my first blog, scrambling to get my feet under me and figure out what I wanted to say, what I wanted to review, and everything in between. It took me a while to get my voice and now the mutterings can’t stop! The thoughts keep tumbling out, rolling over one another like pebbles in a stream caught in a swift current, some concerned with vocabulary, others focused on eBook covers and design and more still on book content, reviews to be exact. I hope I have helped some of you find your way to new authors or rediscover old ones that you have forgotten. Later this month I will be rolling out my Best of 2012 lists, from Books to Covers. I bet you have been making your lists too. Let me know what book(s) is on them, and do you have a favorite cover artist, like Anne Cain, or even a favorite model? Inquiring minds and all that.

So here’s to the beginning of the end of 2012. I love this time of year, so much to reflect on and yet so much still to look forward to, including the holidays no matter which one you celebrate. I’ll be talking to you soon. In the meantime, look what’s coming up this week:

Monday, 12/3: Private Dicks:Undercovers Anthology

Tuesday, 12/4: The Journal of Sanctuary One (Sanctuary #6) by RJ Scott

Wed, 12/5: Crucible of Fate (Change of Heart #4) by Mary Calmes

Thursday, 12/6: Too Careful By Half, a Roughstock story by BA Tortuga

Friday, 12/7: Eight Days by C. Cardeno (a Christmas story)

Sat., 12/8 3 Dreamspinner Christmas Advent Calendar stories

So now I will leave you with a Vodka Christmas Cake recipe. You simply have to try this…

Once again this year, I’ve had requests for my Vodka Christmas Cake recipe, so here goes.

Please keep in your files as I am beginning to get tired of typing this up every year!

(Made mine this morning!!!!)

1 cup sugar
1 tsp. baking powder
1 cup water
1 tsp. salt
1 cup brown sugar
Lemon juice
4 large eggs
Nuts
1…bottle Vodka
2 cups dried fruit
Sample a cup of Vodka to check quality. Take a large bowl, check the Vodka again to be sure it is of the highest quality then Repeat.

Turn on the electric mixer. Beat one cup of butter in a large fluffy bowl. Add 1 teaspoon of sugar. Beat again.
At this point, it is best to make sure the Vodka is still OK. Try another cup just in case.

Turn off the mixerer thingy. Break 2 eegs and add to the bowl and chuck in the cup of dried fruit.

Pick the fruit up off the floor, wash it and put it in the bowl a piece at a time trying to count it. Mix on the turner.
If the fried druit getas stuck in the beaterers, just pry it loose with a drewscriver Sample the Vodka to test for tonsisticity.

Next, sift 2 cups of salt, or something. Check the Vodka. Now slift… shift the lemon juice and strain your nuts.

Add one table. Add a spoon of sugar, or somefink. Whatever you can find.
Greash the oven. Turn the cake tin 360 degrees and try not to fall over.

Don’t forget to beat off the turner.

Finally, throw the bowl through the window.

Finish the Vodka and wipe the counter with the cat ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Review: Second Chances (Cattle Valley #28) by Carol Lynne

Rating: 3 stars

After a shotgun blast took off his arm, former Chicago police officer Robert “Oggie” Ogden moved to Cattle Valley to start life over again as a cattle rancher. Then another opportunity came along, that of turning a portion of his ranch into a sanctuary for homeless and troubled GLBTQ youth. With the help of local philanthropist Asa Montgomery, Second Chance Ranch is about to complete its second dormitory and other facilities. But accepting Asa’s help has also meant that Oggie has had to put up with Drake Smith, the head of security for Asa’s company. Oggie hates that people think of him as disabled and refuses most of the offers of help sent his way, including Drake’s.

Drake Smith learned early in life that his small size made him an easy target for bullies as did his home life. And to take on the bullies he learned to defend himself, becoming a skilled fighter. But emotionally? That was something he found tougher to guard against the hurts inflicted by others. So he gave up, withdrew, isolating himself within his apartment and into his job. Against his better judgement, Drake finds himself drawn to the taciturn Oggie and reaches out to him only to find himself and his overtures of assistance harshly rebuffed.

Only an emergency rescue of a young boy in Washington, DC brings these two men back together. As they search for the missing boy, the sexual heat flares between them, burning down their barriers along the way. Neither man is prepared for the feelings emerging from their encounter and pull back from each other. When they land back in Cattle Valley with the rescued young man, only time will tell if they will give each other the second chance at love.

Carol Lynne’s Cattle Valley series has really turned into a hit or miss reading adventure. The last book I reviewed, Alone In A Crowd, was a return to the reason I loved this series and grabbed up each book as they were published. Carol Lynne brought back her original characters in a long established relationship and gave us an intimate look into their changing dynamics with only scarce mentions of new characters to come. So I eagerly picked this book up, only to find that the author has returned to the form that made me eventually give up on Cattle Valley. Here in Second Chances, the author has so many balls in the air that they are dropping figuratively all over the landscape and we are left with a grab bag of nonsensical characters and behaviors culled from the back of a psychiatry handbook.

Really, from the descriptions and back histories of the main characters here, Oggie and Drake, it looks like the author used the Mr. Potato Head method of character construction, jamming in various characteristics into her people regardless of whether they fit or not. I don’t know how else to explain it. This is Drake Smith. He is small statured (no problem), so preoccupied by threats to his safety (real or imagined) that he lives in a tiny apartment in Asa’s business complex with multiple locks on his door.He take a gun with him to answer any knocks on it. Drake bases all his life’s decisions on “what would make his (dead) mother smile” but only eats Campbell soup because that’s all he and his mother ate. Drake is a cutter. He self mutilates and then runs around on cutup feet like it is no problem. And after one episode, the cutting is never mentioned again. It just disappears. Drake is ok with casual sex but won’t open his door without a gun? Huh. And it just keep snow piling from there. I get that Lynne wants us to find him a pained filled little man needing our sympathy but all she accomplishes is to make him out as a whacko with the Bate’s Motel in his background. Trust me it gets worse if you think that is harsh. We will come back to him later.

Oggie is a little better. I can see a cop having trouble leaving his life behind and having problems adjusting to his disability. I get that, I do. Oggie is more believable as someone who is afraid that pity lies behind offers of help. He’s not too bad except when Drake gives him a compliment and his response is “F*&k, Drake, you turning me into some kind of damn woman or what?” Really? That’s what you come up with after muttering an endearment? I don’t know about you but I found that offensive to both men and women.

Then there is the matter of a little scene between the two men in the airplane on their way to DC. Drake carries with him a small photograph album of pictures of him and his mother. He gives them to Oggie to help him better understand where Drake is coming from. Sweet, right? The first picture shows a 5 year old Drake and a women with bandaged feet. As he ages, his mother loses more and more limbs over time (to Diabetes), First her feet, then her arms…year by year there is less and less of her. Another year, another limb. And by then I am in tears. Of laughter. Not because of the very real possibility of amputation as the disease progresses. No, I am in hysterics over the thought of what an SNL sketch this would make. Definitely not the reaction I think Carol Lynne going for. But that just shows you how over the top this story got in making a grab for our emotions.

And finally there is Cullen “Little Man”, the boy they were sent to rescue. Her characterization of this young man is the ultimate black mark against this book. Cullen was a young prostitute on the streets of DC until Father Joseph (hopefully Episcopalian) talks him into the shelter he runs for GLBTQ youth. But something happens and Cullen returns to the streets where he is abducted by his pimp and made to pay for trying to leave his stable. It is inferred that this kid was gang raped i.e., tortured and “retrained” by multiple men. And when Oggie and Drake find Cullen, he is tied to a bed barely breathing, bloody, beaten, raped and a W is carved into his forehead. I don’t think it is a stretch for anyone to imagine the emotional and psychological trauma this would inflict on this young man, to say nothing of the physical mess his body is in. But is this handled responsibly after loading up this poor guy with one horrific event after another? No, Cullen bounds back to normal almost immediately. Nothing is said about the huge W on his forehead. It’s as though nothing bad had really happened to him. So how do you go there as an author and not address the very real problems brought up? I don’t know and Carol Lynne has certainly not given us any answers.

There are smaller editing errors (Drake “unlocks” his apartment upon leaving) as well as an unrealistic case of “instant love”, all in 89 pages. But there are so many larger issues here, that is the least of the book’s problems.

And finally there is the prospect of a romance on the horizon that even if Cullen turns out to be of legal age, leaves me kind of nauseous. So where do I go from here? One terrific book is followed by one that is just this side of awful. I will probably keep reading them. At this point it is too late to stop and, like a carrot before the horse, there is always the promise of a return again to the form that made Cattle Valley I place I loved to visit.

Cover by Posh Gosh is perfection as usual.

Review: The Legend of the Apache Kid by Sarah Black

Rating: 4.75 stars

Dr. Raine Magrath is lazing about in a hotel hot tub when he sees young Apache Johnny Bravo and his grandfather by the side of the pool. Johnny is in town for his first film festival and to meet with a man about the independent film Johnny has made. When Johnny joins Raine in the hot tub, they make an immediate connection with each other and Raine asks Johnny to look him up in Taos if he ever visits. Then Johnny and his grandfather disappear and it is another year before they meet again.

When Raine walked into The Peaceful Bean to get his morning coffee, he was surprised to see he knows the new guy behind the counter. It was the Apache film maker he had met a year ago at the film festival. Johnny Bravo was in Taos and it looked like he now lived here. Johnny had gone home with his grandfather until the cancer killed him and then went looking for Raine. The connection they felt at their first meeting is as strong as ever and getting stronger with each passing conversation. And when Raine takes him home to the family ranch he shares with his father, he semi jokingly introduces Johnny as his new boyfriend, something that becomes reality. With the arrival of Johnny’s 8 year old cousin, Weasel, the men start to form a family, cemented by love of the land, history, family, and each other.

But Johnny has another love, film making. He’s a genius at it and Hollywood is beckoning by the way of the Sundance Festival. And when he begs Raine not to put any chains on him, Raine knows that for them to succeed, he must be prepared to let Johnny go and chase his dreams. When Johnny heads off to the Sundance Film Festival, the welcome his film gets is overwhelming with offers to work out in Hollywood. It’s everything he has dreamed about or is it? With Raine and his family missing him back in Taos, Johnny must decide where his dreams really lie.

OK, right off the start, I will tell you that I want to take a black marker and eradicate that awful blurb for this remarkable book. Why? One, Johnny is in no way an “airhead” bur rather someone focused more on the quality of film he makes and less on its marketability. What a disservice the person who wrote that did to Sarah Black’s characters and this story. *Shakes head* Alright. Rant over, now that I have gotten that off my chest. The Legend of the Apache Kid has all the qualities of the best of Sarah Black’s writing. Her characters of all ages are so well crafted, so beautifully put together that I feel I have run across them in my travels out west for truly Sarah Black has one of the strongest regional voices for our western states that I can remember.

These people rise up from the pages of this book covered in the dust of their ancestors, history percolates through their bloodstream, and who they are is so strongly tied to the land they walk on that they are as much a part of the landscape as the weedy scrub sage, twisted juniper and alligator pine of Carson National Forest. From their dialog to their rides (either horseback or truck) the characters exude authenticity of location, the author’s love of the southwestern desert and the native american tribes who belong to it. Sarah Black knows this land and its people intimately and it translates her love and knowledge into her stories, characters and locales. If she has an old man talking and walking in her scene, then that character moves and sounds like an old man does. When the bored and sullen Weasel is left by himself for a few precious moments in his first introduction to Raine and Taos, he carves his initials into the shop’s small table because that what small sullen boys with a pocketknife do. To write like this, your knowledge of people cannot be superficial. You must have the ability to see beneath the surface, to get under their skin and somehow burrow into peoples thoughts and emotions to bring forth characters as real as these.

Equally remarkable is the dialog and narrative of the story. It is both weighted with emotion and yet as dry as the desert air. It is elegant in that spare western way rarely heard outside the region. You could give me anonymous samples of writings, and I could pick out Sarah Black’s signature voice in an instant. Although I dislike taking sentences out of context, this is one such example:

“He leaned forward and kissed me, light as a hummingbird on the side of my mouth. “Later, Raine.” He climbed out of the tub, grabbed his clothes, and pulled the old man’s jacket over his shoulders. The snow was falling on his hair, but he didn’t hurry, just followed the man, wet bare feet on frozen concrete. I closed my eyes so I didn’t have to watch him walk away.”

I put that out there, loving the feeling it evokes within me and still feel I have not done this author justice because there is so much beauty to be found everywhere within this book. There is the author’s considerable knowledge of the history and her appreciation for the differing Native American tribes and their cultures. In fact, her love for and curiosity about all cultures comes shining through each and every story. A particular delight of mine is to see what new element of Americana she will bring into a book. In Marathon Cowboys, it was bathtub Marys. Really I had no idea. Check them out. Here it is the green Earthship homes built in communities out west. Yes, I had to look them up and darn it if I can’t stop thinking about them and the need for green sustainable living ever since. Sarah Black has given me a real itch to go out west and visit one to see and experience them for myself.

So why not a 5 star rating? Well, that would be the ending and really, I need to just give it up when it comes to Sarah Black. If anyone reading this is already familiar with Sarah Black’s books, then you know what I am talking about. The ending of the book just comes to a gradual stop. There is no epilogue, more of a “this is where it needs to end naturally” sort of thing. It’s not rushed, nor is it drawn out, it just is. In some of her stories it drives me crazy my need to know more is so great, in others it’s just fine because it is in tune with the story and characters. And truth be told, she is never going to change that, so I just need to let it go. And yes, it works here, it ends well and brings the story back around full circle. But damn it , I just wanted more. More of these characters, and more of their story and so will you once you read this. It enters your bloodstream as it did mine and won’t let you go. And you will be ok with that. It’s a Sarah Black story after all.

Cover: Paul Richmond was the cover artist. The colors he chose are perfect for the story as is the illustration. The background graphic is the poster for Johnny’s film.

Read my review of Marathon Cowsboys here.

Read my review of Border Roads here.

Read by Author Spotlight on Sarah Black here.

Review of Long Hard Ride (Prentiss #2) by Talia Carmichael

Rating: 4.5 stars

Paxton Lawson and his sons relocated to Prentiss, Texas following the death of his husband to enter into a horse breeding partnership with the Ralston brothers. Gibson had been a friend of Paxton’s sons in college and a new start in a new place seemed like a way to ease the grief Paxton has been trying to live with. Paxton still missed his husband and the grief he feels has put his life outside the business on hold. The one person he has come to count on in his new town is lawyer Windsor Broadhurst. Windsor is a lawyer to most of the ranchers in the area and a close friend to Gibson and his sons so it only seemed natural to Paxton that Windsor would be there when Paxton needed him, brought him books that they read together and discussed, turning into one of his closest friends within the year. But when Windsor admits to Paxton what the entire community already knew, that Winston had been courting Paxton, he was shocked. All this time, he had been oblivious to Windsor’s true intentions but now that Paxton was finally aware, he looked at the handsome lawyer in an entirely different manner.

Windsor Broadhurst has been biding his time, getting to know Paxton as a friend first before letting the man know how attracted he was to him. During the year’s time, Paxton had turned not only into a wonderful friend but Win quickly realized that his initial attraction was deepening into love. Finally, Windsor admits that he has been courting Paxton all along Paxton seems receptive to dating again. But Win wants more from Paxton, he wants his love as well. Paxton must decide if he is ready to move on and accept the love offered or remain in mourning. It looks to be a long, hard, ride to a future that both men want and that one is afraid to reach for.

Long Hard Ride is the second in the Prentiss series from Talia Carmichael and I just loved it. It is relatively short at 87 pages but the author packs a lot of characterization and emotion into this story given the length. Right off the bat I was hooked by the older characters. Paxton especially captured my heart. He is trying to deal with the loss of his husband after a long term illness and not doing a very good job of it. He and Adam had adopted and raised three boys who have now grown into men. But those men still love and depend on their father and are dealing with the death of their “Dad” as well. So it is highly realistic that Paxton has buried himself in the new horse breeding venture along with his sons and relocated to another part of the country, away from places that hold nothing but memories of Adam and their life together. Paxton is someone who grabs not only our sympathy but our understanding at his inability to help himself move forward. It also feels right that when Paxton decides that he will date Win but only allow himself to give “just this much and no more”. Paxton also feels guilty about betraying the love he had with Adam, a very genuine reaction to feeling alive and attracted to someone else for the first time since a partner’s death.

Equally great at capturing our attention and interest are the characters of Windsor “Win” Broadhurst, Gibson, Blayne, Morgan, HC and all the rest of the populace of Prentiss, Texas. Some of the people are coupled already, which happened back in Ralston’s Way (Prentiss #1). But Carmichael is laying the ground for future stories with the characters she introduces here and I for one can’t wait to see how their courtships play out. Paxton and Win courtship starts out so easily, too easily in fact, that I thought the realistic touches she had brought to the story were going to be lost. Luckily that didn’t happen as Paxton must decide to really open himself back up to another person, and the author lets us feel how hard it is for Paxton to let go.

The sex scenes between the men did “creak” a little, but I found that to be actually endearing as Paxton had let his sexual side die with his partner. And Win with his long hair plaited into a braid that fell to his butt? Well, let just say I love a man with long hair and Win hit my buttons. Loved him. This is the perfect sequel to Ralston’s Way which I just finished too. I can’t wait to see where Talia Carmichael takes this series next. Cowboys and men with long hair *waves fan*. Please don’t keep me waiting too long.

Books in the Prentiss series:

Ralston’s Way (Prentiss #1) read my review here

Long Hard Ride

Review of Ralston’s Way by Talia Carmichael

Rating: 4 stars

Morgan Ralston and his brother Gibson have always run their family ranch the Ralston way meaning Morgan’s way. Then Gibson decides to go into the horse breeding business and with the new business comes new partners and new ways. The expanding business calls for an upgrade in their computer systems at the ranch and Blayne Dalton computer guru has been called in by his old friend Gibson to overhaul their computer needs. But Gibson has more surprises for his brother. In addition to the cute computer nerd, Blayne, Gibson has brought in Blayne’s brother as a chef, his other brother as a horse trainer and their father as a partner. Soon the Ralston ranch is flush with new ideas, new people in the Dalton family. And Morgan can’t help but notice that very cute and very gay computer guy who always seems to be where Morgan needs to be.

Now Morgan has always run things his way but with his brother determined to change things and Blayne’s attention not only to detail but to Morgan too, what is a cowboy to do?

Ralston’s Way is the first in the Prentiss’ series from Talia Carmichael about two interlocking ranching families and their friends. I am always a sucker for gay cowboys and this pulled me in from the start. Morgan and Gibson are running the family ranch by themselves having lost their parents. When Gibson starts a horse breeding venture, he pulls in his friends from the university, a trio of brothers and their father, as partners. Talia Carmichael seems to be building a series with families dealing with loss in one way or another. Morgan and Gibson Ralston have lost their parents, Paxton Lawson, father to Blayne and his brothers, has lost his husband to cancer and brought his family to Texas to try and recover. And more peripheral characters that have larger roles in subsequent books all have holes in their lives from losing someone important to them. I really like the community she is building here.

Talia Carmichael does a splendid job with her characterizations and plot lines. Her characters are people easy to care for and take interest in. And while the courtship between Morgan and Blayne is brief, it is also intense. I really enjoyed watching this couple get together and can’t wait to see what the author has in store for each of the brothers as well as Paxton Lawson, a wonderful person deeply wounded in his grief. Despite its short length, this is a wonderful story full of characters I loved spending time with.

My only quibble here is the short length of the story. It is only 80 pages and its volume needs to be increased to really give the story and its characters their due. My issue with the length of this story is one I reiterate over and over with regard to Total E Bound Press’s authors whether it is Lavinia Lewis, Bailey Bradford or Carol Lynne so perhaps this length is a required number of words from the publisher. At any rate, the shortened story does their authors a disservice in my mind, as stories of excellent promise come out as stunted instead of flowing naturally to the length needed to do the book justice. Just my opinion. If someone can tell my why so many 80 page books, I would be grateful if no less frustrated.

But this looks to be a promising series. I started with the second book and immediately went back to the beginning to get to know them all right where it all starts. You will want to start your journey here too.

Books in the series are:

Ralston’s Way (Prentiss#1)

Long Hard Ride (Prentiss#2)

Art work by Posh Gosh. Love the cover, the only thing that strikes me as odd is the way the black band with the Prentiss name on it cuts across the torso of the cowboy, making his belly seem (dare I say it?) pregnant. An odd mis step from a wonderful cover artist.

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