Penny’s Rating: B
Publisher Description: “The last thing Liam Southard expects when he flees his abusive father is to be taken in by a couple of gay ranchers. Soon he has a new job and a new perspective on his sexuality, and his life starts to turn around. Then someone pulls a gun on him.
In Troy Gardener’s defense, the gun thing was a mistake. Between his marriage falling apart and living in his uncle’s isolated hunting cabin, he’s been a little edgy. He wants to make it up to Liam, and once he discovers how much they have in common, he wants even more. But with Liam’s father popping in unexpectedly and a mining company threatening the ranch’s water supply, the only guarantee is that life is never going to be boring.”
Okay, I am going to make this one short and sweet. I LOVE cowboy romance stories. Hot gay cowboys, lots of them, all living on the same ranch, who maybe have an occasional romp in the hayloft? Yes, please! Here’s the deal: If you are looking for some really deep, substantive reading, this book isn’t it. But if you want a quick read about two sweet men who fall in love, figure out their lives, and have hot steamy sex, this will not disappoint.
Grey’s writing tends to be a bit formulaic for me, but the quality level of his writing is pretty consistent, and you basically know what you’re going to get every time. I’ve yet to love one of his books, but I’ve liked all of the ones I’ve read. The impression I’ve gotten is that Grey is writer you turn to when you need a “safe” romance. By “safe” I mean, you probably won’t burst into tears while reading it, or have an anxiety attack. You won’t yell at the pages or scream at the characters. His characters are rational thinking creatures who handle real life adversity in emotionally healthy and constructive ways. You the reader, just get to feel warm and fuzzy, and enjoy the ride. Happiness in two hundred pages. Because sometimes you just need a pick me up in the form of some plain yummy vanilla ice cream.
Troy and Liam are adorable together. I was impressed with Grey’s ability to make Troy such a likeable character, especially given that when his story starts, the reader discovers that he’s been closeted his whole life, and has been cheating on his wife with other men. Dishonesty of any kind: lying, cheating, no matter what the justification, usually completely pisses me off, so I was surprised that it wasn’t more of a turn-off for me. Probably because Troy comes clean at the end of the prologue and moves forward to pick up the pieces of his life.
This is book 3 of the Range series. You obviously don’t have to have read the rest of the series for this one to make sense, but characters from the previous two books do make appearances throughout the story since Liam is living on the ranch with Phillip, Haven, Dakota and Wally. Since I have a thing for the cowboys, the rest of this series is definitely going on my to-read list!
