The Meaning of Life by B.A.Tortuga , another of this author’s cozy cowboy romances, is a sweet contemporary low angst story.
If that’s what you’re looking for, then this is the book for you.
It has cowboys, babies, a ranch and a HEA, in a quick read.
However, if you’re looking for anything that reminds you why you should be reading a B.A. Tortuga book and not just any other random nice cowboy romance, don’t frustrate yourself and read this story.
The Meaning of Life by B.A.Tortuga reads like a formulaic story, imo, so similar in plot lines to many of the cozy cowboy books this author has previously written.
Someone’s unexpectedly a dad, orphaned babies, throw in a ranch and some dogs, horses, odd animals. A ex boyfriend or man who was a crush or old friend shows up. Has to be a rodeo or rodeo cowboy in there somewhere. A minor drama. HEA.
In a few of those books, we do get a sense of a realistic dynamic and a growing relationship. A great feeling of place and B.A.Tortuga’s unique perspective on local culture and sense of cowboy history. Those are terrific stories.
But here that’s missing.No real sense of a real relationship of any depth. Instead it’s almost a calendar of steps towards a commitment and family.
All a little too pat. They move in, boom. Instant love, boom instant happiness, boom instant family. Halloween, Thanksgiving. Christmas. Check all the boxes.
There’s a drama. It’s over so everyone can get on with their lives as they want to see them happen. HEA.
It’s sweet, and non demanding. And utterly forgettable. It nice.
Sometimes that’s exactly what’s some people need. I listed the cozy cowboy romances below. If this is your jam, you might want to check it out!
When tragedy strikes in the parking lot of a rodeo event, bullfighter Jasper Dean loses his best friend Kayla, inherits her barrel racing horse, her pack of dogs, and her two babies, who also happen to be his biological kids. He has no idea what to do about any of it, and JD struggles to juggle all of his new responsibilities. So when an old friend makes an unexpected offer of help, he grabs it with both hands.
Nash Remington was right there when the crime happened, and he’s mourning just like the rest of his rodeo family. When he seeks out JD to deliver Kayla’s horse, which he’s been caring for, he makes the offer for JD to come to his ranch to let him and his family help JD figure out what to do next.
The two men have to deal with loss, their old attraction to each other, new love, and a whole new family dynamic, all while balancing work and life and trying to make sense of a terrible loss. Can they find the meaning of life together?
Cowboy Healing has some good narrative elements to it. The basic storyline is good. The characters with the children are very well written. And while it took me a hot minute to connect with a cowboy whose sole aim for working for a overwhelmed widowed parent is to ingratiate himself into his good graces in order to get his family off the ranch, well, yeah. I bet I’m not the only one.
Caleb , a well crafted character, starts off as a unlikable cowboy, who’s aiming to take back his family’s ranch that was sold out from him, partly out of his negligence, partly because of a agent’s criminality.
Patrick, a orthopedic surgeon, is a widower and father of two children. He’s a bit obsessive about his practice and out of his comfort zone on the ranch, which was his husband’s dream.
I liked Patrick but, again, major events occur that should propel him towards more introspection and character growth. That really doesn’t happen. Instead, it’s Caleb asking for change, even short term. It’s Patrick’s character that’s seems to have a unformed foundation, as though the author isn’t as sure of this character as they are of the cowboy.
Patrick complains of the “lost years” due to his profession. Yet is oblivious of his drive and it’s effects upon his family. Even when Caleb asks for help, it’s a ranch hand , not a orthopedic assistant which is intended.
Is the author unaware of the character’s issues that she’s writing into the story and relationship?
That part of his character, added to the elements below just keeps me from totally investing in the story, the future for the family, and the relationship.
Issues:
1. Editing issues. See example below:
““That’ll be up to them. We’ll see.” The doc didn’t seem too convinced on that front. “Maggie is more interested than Caleb.”
That should be Mason. Not Caleb. A easy edit/error catch. Especially given the very next sentence below.
“Caleb bit back a grin. Yeah, he might be a bit scary if they were city kids.”
2. Second larger issue: The disappearing dogs. Four to be exact.
“He agreed, although the dogs were becoming off-leash beasts now that there were only two. “I would be fine with that, then.””
And with that small, throwaway line, the author disposed late in the book of a fairly significant story element. That of 4 husky puppies that were hugely loved and important to Mason, son of Patrick. The fact that Mason loved, trained, named,and spent most of his hours with these 6 dogs , (now only 2 as 4 have vanished into thin air with no explanation) during the story . The author made them a integral family element only to carelessly discard them in this way towards the end of the book. Where’s Ginger? All the rest? Honestly, it’s is something I can’t understand.
It changes a deeply held belief about Mason’s character and promises made ( he built structures, spent hours on researching sleds, training) only for the author to trash this part of the story for no discernible purpose. All Tortuga had to do, basically, was not mention them other than to say dogs versus the individual husky names.
Why eliminate a beloved book aspect and something we deeply associated with not only Mason, but the family as a whole?
This is where a great editor would have stepped in and challenged these decisions. As well as corrected the easy editing mistakes made along the lines I pointed out earlier.
Most writers, well people in general are aware of the unwritten rule . Don’t kill off the animal characters in films/books, etc. Because your audience/readers will take note. And be very unhappy.
Issues like these make a book come off as unpolished ,their odd narrative choices throwing a reader out of the storyline, never to recover.
I enjoy B.A. Tortuga as an author but the books lately have more a feeling of being piecemealed together instead of one that’s been finely tuned, beautifully edited with an eye towards hard decisions and fine details.
That’s a shame because she’s got one of the best ear for location, colloquialisms, and regional variations as far as culture when talking about Texas and certain parts of that country that I know of. From the rodeo to the raw dry landscape of New Mexico, when she’s in her element, there’s no one finer.
That’s the reason I’ll keep reading in hopes of finding that complete book again.
As for Cowboy Healing, maybe the things that bother me aren’t deciding factors for you. In which case, I’m sure you will be fine with it. It’s the first in a new series.
Patrick Kelly needs some help. His husband passed away a while ago, and now he has a thriving medical practice, two busy kids, and one ranch outside Aspen, Colorado that he’s not really sure how to run. Patrick doesn’t want to give up on any part of his life, but he knows he can’t do it all alone, so he turns to a service to hire a cowboy to help run the ranch and free up some of his time.
Caleb Warren wants his family ranch back. So he hires on to work as the foreman there through the Cowboy Wanted service, just waiting for the fancy doctor who owns the place to get tired of roughing it and sell out. The problem is, Patrick’s kids love the country life, Patrick is a good man, and Caleb can’t quite get past the guilt he feels about being on the road with the rodeo when his family had some real troubles to deal with.
The two of them find more common ground than they expect, and between everything from animals to parent teacher meetings, Caleb lends and hand and Patrick learns to lean on Caleb for help. Can the two of them give up the past and embrace the future together?
The first in a new series, The Cowboy Contract (Foster Ranch Book 1) by B.A. Tortuga is another in this author’s lovely cozy cowboy contemporary romances.
This one sets itself apart in that it’s low angst with little to no high drama but instead relies almost solely on the real , relatable characters and elements of foster care and the issues children have when adapting into their new environment.
It does start off with the premise of contract husband but that is quickly discarded when the foster children come into play and their needs as well as troubled history takes center stage.
As it should.
Former bull riders, star Ryder Vittor who was forced into retirement by a broken neck, and , Kase McDaniel, who’s major wreck crushed so many bones in his body, that retiring was never in doubt, are a perfect pairing.
As superbly crafted by Tortuga, they are so familiar with each other, so in sync and comfortable with their actions and thoughts it’s as though they’ve been together for a longer time period. Which they have as bull riders on the circuit. Extremely realistic and easy.
She makes these men absolutely believable in every way, from their speech to their relationship and how they relate to those around them.
That includes the marvelous lesbian married grandmothers who raised Ryder and help run both the ranch and rodeo enterprises. Strong, impactful women and wonderful characters .
However, your heart will truly belong to the four foster children that comes into the lives of everyone who lives on the Chiara ranch. That’s a orphaned family of four. Charlie, a sixteen-year-old girl. Elijah, an eleven-year-old boy, Dani, eight-year-old girl, and tiny Nell, a two-year-old baby girl.
They arrive with a heartbreaking history, separate issues and sets of challenges, and personalities to endear themselves to the family at the ranch and readers alike.
Of course, there’s animals like adorable dogs, goats, and horses too.
This is one sweet, moving, heartwarming romance. You will want to just curl up and sink into this group of characters and children as they work their way into becoming a family .
It’s a marvelous journey and one you won’t want to miss.
I highly recommend it. And wonder what the next story in this series will bring.
Ryder Vittor has almost everything he could ever want. He was a successful bull rider, he runs a rodeo company and a ranch for his family, and he’s right where he wants to be. Until his grandmother issues him an ultimatum. Now he has to get married and have kids if he wants to keep the life he loves, but he can’t exactly produce a man and a baby out of thin air, can he? So he sets out to hire a husband in order to get what he needs.
Kase McDaniel is at the end of his rope. His bull riding career has ended in a bad crash, his family doesn’t want him back, and he has nowhere to go. When Ryder offers to let him come stay at Ryder’s New Mexico ranch, he’s grateful, but he’s stunned when he finds out Ryder intends to make a contract with a stranger to marry him and raise kids with him. Kase has been in love with Ryder for years, so why shouldn’t he put in for the job?
Neither one of them has any idea what they’re setting in motion when they tie the knot, and soon they’re overrun with foster kids, rodeo family, and more. Can Kase and Ryder find something real in all the chaos, or will they be parting ways when the contract ends?
Dusk’s Devotion is a terrific way to wrap up this western romance trilogy with its roots in another hockey romance series.
Locey ties up all loose storylines and manages to end the nasty ongoing feud that’s been a persistent flashpoint point of so many troubling events between the two major neighboring ranchers.
Told from one point of view, that of Kyle Abbott, long time ranchhand/irrigator and well established character from the preceding books.
It seems to be winter, the prodigious amounts of snow falling is about right for a Wyoming winter, especially around the Tetons. And the storm that blew in on Kyle as he went out to the furthest part of Blue Ice Ranch to feed and water the herd of cows pastured out that way until they could be brought in for calving and market.
I got into this section of the story. I love the Tetons, have ridden out there, and find its beauty beyond compare. Whatever the season. But to stay in Wyoming and be someone who has to work outside during the winter takes a certain fortitude. And love for the land which Locey captures very well.
It’s out at this remote cabin where Kyle’s staying, that as a blizzard arrives, so does a visitor.
What a fantastic idea and dramatic element!
It has so many different aspects to the idea of this entrance and it’s ramifications.
Shep McCrary comes from that despicable neighboring family of ranchers known for their bigotry, racism, homophobia, and actual crimes committed against the local indigenous peoples.
He’s not one readers are immediately going to get involved with, unless the conditions are right.
Well the conditions are right.
Although it takes a minute, Shep and his Dun stallion invade Kyle’s cabin, and then the blizzard keeps them all there.
I wish we actually had more of their developing relationship during the time they had alone. Instead we get a good start, then told of the passing of time, boom , someone is knocking on the cabin door with food and times up.
What should have been drawn out and intimate moments is over too soon imo.
Understandable, as there’s a bunch more exposition to get through.
It’s back at the ranch. Where multiple characters are processing feelings about seeing a hated McCrary in their midst. There’s also some sort of minimal communication about a future between Kyle and Shep because of family issues.
No spoilers.
And then there’s still major thefts going on to be solved as well as past enormous ones regarding the dinosaur digs to uncover.
So that’s quite a few storylines to process and then resolve.
Locey does, everything gets a investigation, there’s a huge dramatic development that’s potentially devastating, and a final expose’ that solves everything.
I only wish that ending and the culprits had felt more fleshed out , and believable. Not the rationale but the people. They felt too one dimensional to care about.
That’s a bit of a shame because the story is well done . It just has a lot of work to carry as the last book in the trilogy. I loved the romance! I just wish that had been given more focus.
If you love contemporary romance with a cowboy twist, this is a terrific series. Put it on your TBR list!
Blue Ice Ranch (previously named Prairie Smoke Ranch series)
Can love warm the hearts of two enemies facing the wrath of a Wyoming winter storm?
Kyle Abbott is slowly discovering that being midway through his thirties and being married to your job isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. There has to be more to life than random hookups, horses, and cattle. If only he could find a person who excites and ignites his passions like everyone else has at Blue Ice Ranch, he’d be a happy man. He hopes. Confused about his life, he volunteers to spend a month out with the cattle to sort through his bewilderment. Knowing there’s a blizzard on the horizon, Kyle sets out fully prepared and ready for anything.
Anything except the unexpected arrival of rival rancher Shep McCrary. When the half-frozen man shows up at the remote cabin where Kyle has hunkered down with the herd, his conscience demands for him to allow Shep to come inside. Offering food and warmth to another human being is the least he can do, right? Even if the man is a swaggering, hateful jerk who’s far too pretty for his own good and knows it. When the two are forced to spend time together, Kyle begins to see that there is more to Shep than he ever imagined. He might actually kind of like the pompous creep at times. Whoever said there was a fine line between love and hate sure knew what they were talking about…
Dusk’s Devotion is the final book in the Blue Ice MM contemporary western romance trilogy with enemies-to-lovers, a blizzard, lots of forced proximity, family dynamics, suspense, a mystery solved, and a happy ever after.
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Unless it’s noted, all books reviewed have been purchased by the reviewer
Broken In, B.A. Tortuga’s new release , is definitely my favorite of all her most recent stories.
It’s got all the elements I expect from a B.A. Tortuga tale, but elevated into well developed, beautifully defined book, where every aspect of the story and all the characters damaged past histories flow smoothly into a believable reunion and grounded heartfelt loving future.
The start doesn’t reflect the depth the story and characters will achieve as the story unfolds. First it’s a bit of the men’s combined past, their failure as Greyson Hayden is asked to leave his home and his lover of many years due to his alcoholism. Kyler Lassiter has packed up Greyson’s bags and told him to get help, get sober. Because he doesn’t love Kyler enough to do it together.
It’s a heartbreaking scene for all it’s shortness.
Fast forward to a successful now sober Greyson Hayden who’s returning to the small town he left as a drunk and the ex who asked him to leave.
Tortuga doesn’t shy away from the very human mixed bag of emotions Hayden is bringing with him to town. Tortuga writes believable people, and that means that they come with feelings and thoughts that aren’t always very admirable.
It’s all Greyson to begin with in the narrative. He’s been through the program, he’s got a sponsor he’s working with (we meet him later), he’s realistic about being a alcoholic. But he’s also someone who’s still hurting over the past. Right or wrong.
And just when the reader wants to give him a kick in the conscience about who’s to blame for his actions, Greyson himself gives himself a mental talking to, and corrects course.
Because he’s become a responsible adult. He’s grown up. And just like that , human foibles and all, you are in this man’s corner.
Which is exactly what the story and character needs when the reunion happens.
I won’t spoil Kyler Lassiter for you and his part of the story. It’s huge. It’s so emotional. It’s also realistic in keeping with the character and the setting. But how I love that man. He might be one of Tortuga’s finest characters.
I’ll leave it at that.
Showcased here at the highest level are the following elements:
⁃ The author’s ability to fully explore with grace and sensitivity important topics such as alcoholism and disabilities within the framework of her characters.
⁃ Tortuga’s regional knowledge of the land and culture to enrich the story and characters by creating a foundation so real it’s never in doubt.
⁃ This extended to the love of horses as well as bulls here. The horses were a living, breathing part of this book. I felt them as much as the people. Same went for Snow.
⁃ Food. Enchiladas, breakfast burritos, stuffed sopapillas, tacos, “Christmas flat enchiladas with an egg”, stuffed sopapilla with ground beef, guac, and Christmas”, and just like that my mouth is watering and I need to have a seat in that restaurant with them! Then honey and fried bread. Hmmmm.
⁃ Tortuga’s cellular level talent with colloquialisms. There’s the familiar Lord have mercy and God help me, but also the perfect
“Pie crust promises.”
Broken In by BA Tortuga
If that doesn’t describe a promise that’s temporary I don’t know what does.
I found a new one here, asking for Christmas as in:
““Do you want green, red, or Christmas?” “Christmas, please.” Ky beamed at him. “I love both types of chile.””
— Broken In by BA Tortuga
Again, don’t you just want to go ask for some of whatever they are having just to say that?
The author’s ability to craft dialogue that’s grounded in the region, as well as the people is outstanding. It contributes to pulling us into their lives, the universe, and all the emotions playing out in the situations they find themselves in.
One last thing. The realism as it pertains to the medical aspects of this story. That’s a raw deal for so many people who live in area like the ranches here where care is so spread out that what’s offered is almost nonexistent. It’s a reality faced here inside the story and for many in real life.
Combined with all the other elements here, it makes Broken In by BA Tortuga one of the most amazing contemporary romances I’ve read lately.
I’m highly recommending this. It went very quickly, including that wonderful epilogue.
Greyson Hayden wants to prove to his ex that he’s made it. He’s a successful stock contractor with a couple of million dollar bulls, a ranch owner with more acres than he can count, and he stopped drinking when Kyler kicked him out. He’s had a lot to prove, but now he’s back in town to show Kyler that he has. And maybe rub it in.
The hardest thing Kyler Lassiter ever did was let Greyson go, and he’s lost a lot in his life, right up to his legs in a terrible accident. He’s willing to let Greyson one up him if it makes the man feel better, but when fate throws them together again in the most bizarre way, Ky isn’t sure he’ll survive it, or having to lose Greyson again when it’s all said and done. Can these two hardheaded cowboys learn to forgive each other, and themselves in time to find something lasting, or are they more broken than broken in?
This is a MM cowboy romance with tough love, tough luck, and lots of learning to be something new.
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Unless it’s noted, all books reviewed have been purchased by the reviewer
Security Detail is one of Tortuga’s Cozy Romances and a side story to her last book, Trial By Fire.
That was a romance between a Texas rodeo cowboy and an Australian one, both from rich families with a stake in a child left a orphan when the parents, siblings of the main characters, died.
This book involves two men from the security team from the now married couple, who divide their time between the two countries and their two large holdings. Again one’s a Texan and one’s an Aussie.
The romance isn’t bad, in fact it’s sweet and hot. However, there’s other issues here that carry over from that first novel.
If you’re writing about characters from another country, especially one like Australian, then those characters need to behave and sound like they come from Australia. Even the certain part of Australia.
However, here there’s absolutely nothing to distinguish Ryan (Texan) from Dez (Aussie). Not Dez’s dialog, nothing in his casual chatter, or even the way a Aussie shortens certain words. There’s pages and pages, then a “Oi” gets thrown in the beginning of a sentence. And that’s it .
From a author who’s unbelievable talent lies in establishing the very heart and soul of a character as well as the culture of the land they walk on by just a regional throw away line, the lack of any color to the people here via the verbiage is disappointing.
Nothing especially says Texas either.
Could be anywhere West.
Then there’s the drama which is just , if I’m being kind, uncomplicated. It’s almost exactly the same as before. These are supposed to be extremely smart security professionals. Nothing here says that. So it’s very hard for a reader to engage in the storylines and main characters. Plus there’s no real resolution to the mystery behind the kidnapping. That’s left forgotten, and the reader unsatisfied with this aspect of the story. At least this reader.
Still, people like the intriguing Chrissie the tech guy make the book. You want more of him. And his background.
The conclusion is just odd. They basically decide to start a side office in Costa Rica because Ryan likes a beach and they needed a vacation. While that’s understandable, given past events, they hit their bosses and best friends with this out of the blue with no notice and with everything new , such as untried security just starting.
So again, no. A big SMH for this ending and really the entire story.
I like the cover .
To understand this book, you might want to read Trial By Fire beforehand.
Security experts Dez and Ryan teamed up to form a business after they worked together on the kidnapping of a friend’s daughter. Australian Dez and former Marine Ryan have amazing chemistry together, and for one amazing night they acted on it. But then Des got cold feet, and the two of them have never connected again in that way.
Ryan thinks Dez just isn’t that into him. Dez doesn’t want to mess up his friendship with Ryan over something that may or may not ever come to pass. In the midst of all this frustration, they also have to deal with a security crisis with their respective best friends, Holden and Lachlan. When they have to band together to get their friends back, Ryan and Dez are reminded why they work so well together. But can they solve their own problems, and find their way back to each other, as well as save the day?
I have enjoyed this series immensely. Which is why I’m so surprised and puzzled over the characters and storylines of The Wrangler and the Orphan , the 4th in the Farthingdale Ranch series.
Unlike the others, this book has some major elements and characters which unfortunately didn’t work for me and in cases actually, had me thinking of cautionary flags.
And it starts right with the main characters. And their dysfunctional backgrounds as well as current histories.
The characters…..
🌈Kit Foster. Abandoned teen, last enrollment and safe structure was middle school, regularly beaten as well as emotionally traumatized by his mother and her endless line
of temporary “boyfriends” to the point that’s Kit’s normality.
His mother repeatedly moves him, eliminating any support or security other than her, who again abandons him after stealing money from her latest target and taking off to Las Vegas.
So basically, Kit is a mass of Insecurities , unable to trust, a scared kid of scarred body and young unformed abused mind. Without even an abusive mother to hold onto, he’s desperation personified.
Worse, Kit has just escaped ,after being severely beaten by bar owner Eddie Piggot, and imprisoned in the bar’s basement. He’s got Victim written all over him.
He’s rescued by Brody, the ranch’s wrangler.
That would be…..
🌈Brody Calhoun, almost 30. Ranch Wrangler. Son of an abusive father who whipped , beat and starved him. Ran away with a older carny man, still suffers PTSD from his upbringing, nightmares which he treats with CBD oil. Which is fine except it would get him fired and the ranch in trouble if found. So he’s not exactly dealing well with his own past.
Brody never got the real help for the issues his brutal adolescent and background still causes him but looses himself in training horses for the ranch. And self medicating when necessary when the past catches up, including his nightmares.
Brody’s rescuer , the man who took him away from his abusive father, also works with him. His history is never far away.
He sees himself in Kit. And wants to take care of him? Finds the teen attractive in his totally needy, abused way? Everything about this , including keeping it a secret that Kit’s even at the ranch at the beginning starts the questions popping up in my mind about the relationship and storyline.
Kit is regularly referred to a “kid” and acts like one. Although it’s made a point that’s he’s of “legal age”, nothing in this story, from the descriptions to his behavior will ever be anything that resembles something close to an adult. Instead Kit just presents as a somewhat broken, utterly youthful ,uneducated if eager youngster. One in desperate need of therapy and stability.
What he gets a older man who’s been as much if not more abused than he was, who decides how to fix and take care of the kid. Not as a family but as a lover. Hmmmm.
One of Kit’s few happy memories of one of his mother’s temporary boyfriend was a cowboy, a bronc rider. Now Kit is rescued by a cowboy. Can we say transference? Kit’s now isolated on a ranch, with someone who just rescued him, who “glows hero”, but not once does anyone mention what specifically Kit has undergone or that he needs therapy to understand just what his past history has done so he can better understand the choices made going forward.
Things just continue to add up, and not in an enjoyable way.
The author uses terms such as “kid, scared kid, scared foal, young animal, torn sneakers, skittish” over and over , adjectives used to describe very young people or animals when referring to Kit. These are not words I’d choose when applied towards adults or anyone of legal age.
Example of elements I found problematic. One scene that threw up a big question for me. Brody turns grooming a horse into a sexual/comfort effort after Kit ends up in a fetal position just from enforcing close proximity to a horse. FYI Kit’s informed Brody he’s terrified of horses.
The author/Brody says he’s soothing him like he would a skittish young animal. Hmm. Putting your arms around him and your groin up to his ass while someone is in a fragile emotional state? I know what I call that outside of this novel. Taking advantage of someone in a shaky state. Maybe something harsher.
Also there’s that weird element that the ranch hands refer to Kit as a orphan and he tells them he’s not. Truth. You may not like that he’s got an abusive mother but that’s downright odd denying someone’s truth.
Where during the rest of the story Kit is still making impulsive “young “ decisions based on his abusive upbringing….because you’d expect a teenager to at this point. He’s still new to the situation and people.
But why is the author not addressing this ?
Kit’s damage from his mother and upbringing doesn’t disappear nor should it. Brody‘s scars are inward as well as laid across his skin. So why is there no real acknowledgment that healing for something of that pain and depth is more than to “cowboy up” and a quick romance.
By the end Brody takes” the place of his mother in Kit’s eyes . Kit’s words🤦🏼♀️. In the epilogue, Kit is comparing his life he had with Katey(his mother) versus the life he has now with Brody, how ones so stable. SMH.
As readers how are we supposed to feel about this? In another age gap novel I just finished, where the gap between lovers was larger, the author used other characters as stand-in’s for readers perspectives who might feel uncomfortable, voicing various opinions. Allowing us to think about the pros and cons of such a romance through multiple characters.
But also those characters weren’t damaged and knew fully who were supporting them.
Here, we are supposed to connect with a brutalized teenager and a damaged man, both of whom need help to deal with their traumatic memories and childhoods. But instead dive immediately into a romance.
For this reader? Doesn’t feel healthy.
Several times this came close to a DNF as it was just an uncomfortable read. Trust me, not the age gap but the characters, their issues as well as their ages. It was everything here I found challenging.
It was odd because it felt as though this did not fit in among the other stories.
And as such, I just can’t recommend it.
Synopsis:
Some scars run soul-deep. Some scars only love can heal.”
Brody is the wrangler at Farthingdale Ranch. He knows a lot about horses, but not a whole lot about people.
He is so broken, he cannot imagine anyone would want to love him. Then along comes Kit, a young man in need of shelter, searching for a forever home.
In Kit, Brody sees the scared young man he used to be. In caring for Kit, Brody is in over his head.
But as Brody makes room in his heart for Kit, both their lives begin to change.
A gay m/m cowboy romance with hurt/comfort, rescue, age gap, fish out of water, opposites attract, midnight rendezvous. A little sweet, a little steamy, with a guaranteed HEA
Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words 