Title: Ranch Foreman
Series: N/A
Author: Rob Colton
Genre: Western
Length: Novella (120 pages)
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press (August 14th, 2013)
Heat Level: Explicit
Heart Rating: ♥♥♥2.5 Hearts
Reviewer: Thommie
Blurb: When Madison “Matty” Ward finds himself out of work and without a place to live, his cousin comes through with a job on the Gates cattle ranch. Despite not knowing anything about herding cattle or taking care of horses, Matty does his best to impress the older hunky foreman, Baxter Hollingsworth. Baxter is drawn to the new young hand, but he’s deeply closeted, and after an openly gay veterinarian shows he’s interested in Matty, Baxter’s repressed feelings lead to an explosive encounter. Baxter then withdraws—leaving Matty feeling angry and used—until an accident forces him to confront his fears.
Product Link: http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=4093
Review: I start reading this story and the first impressions are quite good. As I progress further into the plot, those impressions keep getting better. The characters described here are not only charming and appealing, but they have a raw feeling, a certain depth that real people do. Yes, that is what I kept thinking while reading this story.
Matt and Baxter were very realistically portrayed. The closeted cowboy, his reactions, how he would go after Matt when he’s had a drink or two and his inhibitions were lax, and how he would shut down when he was sober, how he would ignore and avoid the young man when in public. All that had a very real and everyday taste that made me love the first three quarters of this book. The chase and pull between them, the hungry need displayed from Baxter, and the fear that need caused, it was all pretty well written.
But then the book took a U-turn and went from realism to surreal in the blink of an eye. All the hesitation and resistance the characters pulled during the entire read changed at the end as if by magic. One accidental even that had Matt nearly seriously injured made Baxter change from a behavior nurtured his entire life and come out, claim Matt publically. I suppose the book would have to end like that, but I can’t stomach the “I love you’s” that spilt like lighting and the entire sappy emotions that followed when the two men didn’t even have the opportunity to know each other, let alone develop such intense feelings for each other.
In addition to those unreal declarations, there were other feelings and emotions “told”, that were not showed in the plot. I missed that connection with Matt’s bosses. How it happened it was lost in translation. The fact that Matt suffers a violation, aka rape, and the offhand way he deals with it, and the transition from detached to friends with the rest of the farm hands. It was weird seeing the leaps that happened and literally affected the read, all the while missing that effect on you. The only palpable feelings I got from this read was the lust and need the pair of men had for each other during the first half of the book.
Bottom end, I was seriously put off from the way the end occurred. While I loved most of the writing and the best part of this read, the last quarter of it simply knocked that all down. However, I’m known to be picky. Some other person might say the end was pretty romantic and “awww” inspiring. Could be, and while it was not the case for me, you might feel differently about it. Because while this was not a great read, it was definitely not a bad one either. Do give it a shot if that little last tidbit doesn’t bother you.