Title: Masked Riders
Series: N/A
Author: Lucius Parhelion
Genre: Historical Romance
Length: Novella (79 Pages)
Publisher: Torquere Press (March 26th, 2013)
Reviewer: Thommie
Heat Level: Moderate
Heart Rating: ♥♥♥♥4 Hearts
Blurb: Jesse Putnam, once a union cavalryman and now a California rancher, has no one but himself to blame when he realizes the foreman assigned to help him investigate the problems on the Southern Californian acres of a railway baroness has a face that’s all too familiar. Even on the Barbary Coast of 1869, unknown vaqueros who share Jesse’s inclinations are few and far between, and Jesse didn’t even try to resist the heated attraction between them. But he never counted on his nameless companion of the previous night turning out to be Wardley Bridger, now his colleague and fellow investigator.
Bridger, at peace with his nature in a way Jesse is not, proves to be a calm and canny companion as they travel south and start sorting through a mystery that stretches out from the dusty Pueblo of Angles into the brush-covered hills of Ranchero Los Robles. But as the ghost rider’s threat overshadows both them and the ranchers of Los Robles, can Jesse still learn that friendship might merge with his shadowed hungers to gift him with a kind of bond he has never even dared to desire?
Product Link: http://www.torquerebooks.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=78_92&products_id=3847
Review: Now this is what I call a romance and I absolutely loved it.
This beautiful historical follows Jesse and Bridger. Jesse has finally settled in his life as a rancher after the trauma left behind the war. What he hasn’t settled in yet is his “perverse cravings.” Jesse finds it hard to calm the storm inside him that come after each encounter with men like him.
After one such night with a certain vaquero Jesse still finds the need in him to delude himself that the said vaquero might’ve been a bit reluctant to leave him. But such notions are for fools and Jesse doesn’t indulge much.
When the next day brings him face to face with his nameless man again but this time under the name Bridger and fellow traveler/investigator in a shadowy business for his relatives, Jesse has to gather all his strength to maintain a polite façade. It is the first time ever for him to see the same man twice and something deep inside start sing-songing that Bridger is no ordinary man.
I loved this story as short as it was it was lovely and so very romantic. This pair was, oh dear, so lovable. Bridger a steady character who has no real worries in life is the opposite of Jesse, who is skittish as a colt. In the most calm way possible Bridger slowly worms his way into Jesse’s heart, who never until that moment has believed he could find intimacy in a man’s presence, arms and life. I adored this pair. I loved the way they steadily went from the one-night-stand to companions to friends and finally lovers in an era that had no good news for “sodomites.”
I also loved the story; it showed just how dangerous that time was for people who were different and how easily rascals could overwhelm your life and threaten your existence. The writing itself was divine for me. Written in a language that could be considered of that time, all I saw was roses and blue skies and white puffy clouds while reading this. Did I say this was quite a romantic read? Loooved it.
And after going all pinky little hearts for this book I feel compelled to recommend this to you. If you love historical romances, featuring sexy cowboys than this is the book for you.