The Lone Rancher by Andrew Grey

Title: The Lone Rancher
Series: N/A
Author: Andrew Grey
Genre: Contemporary, Cowboys
Length: 192 pages
Publisher: Dreamspun Desires,  Dreamspinner Press (February 15th 2016)
Heat Level: Moderate

Reviewers: Cat, Aerin & Tams
Blurb: He’ll do anything to save the ranch, including baring it all.

Aubrey Klein is in real trouble—he needs some fast money to save the family ranch. His solution? A weekend job as a stripper at a club in Dallas. For two shows each Saturday, he is the star as The Lone Rancher.

It leads to at least one unexpected revelation: after a show, Garrett Lamston, an old friend from school, approaches the still-masked Aubrey to see about some extra fun… and Aubrey had no idea Garrett was gay. As the two men dodge their mothers’ attempts to set them up with girls, their friendship deepens, and one thing leads to another.

Aubrey knows his life stretching between the ranch and the club is a house of cards. He just hopes he can keep it standing long enough to save the ranch and launch the life—and the love—he really hopes he can have.

ISBN: 9781634769136

Product Link: http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=7369

Cat’s Review:  ♥♥♥♥ 4 Hearts

Aubrey comes home to the ranch to find his dad ill and the ranch almost in foreclosure. He does what he has to do to save using a talent he kept hidden. He could dance.  He became the Lone Rancher at a strip club and were the top draw. He wears his mask to hide his identity. One night he runs into his friend and the man he wished was straight at the club. Perhaps his dream could come true if only either man could come out of the closet.

I really liked this story. I loved that Aubrey put the ranch and his family above himself and did what he had to for them. I also liked Garret and thought they made a good couple.

The Lone Rancher is a sweet story of two men that are putting their families first, hiding but now that they have found each other struggling with what to do.  I thought the descriptions were so good that I could visualize Aubrey’s dances.

If you are looking for a sweet and hot story with sexy cowboys, more erotic male-stripper, and some hot man-sex, you will like this one!

Aerin’s Review: ♥♥♥ 2.75 Hearts

I started this book hoping I would like it, but having reasonable doubts, because Andrew Grey is not exactly my perfect author match. And I’m not the biggest cowboy book fan. I simply don’t get off on the smell of horse (shit) and barn, and those are mandatory mentions in all cowboy books it seems. But once I commit to a series, I usually see it through, so I wanted to like this book, I really did! It didn’t happen, as you can see, but I can’t say I hated it either.

As you know from the plot, Aubrey’s overspending parents put their farm and their well-being in serious trouble, so Aubrey returns home from college to help them out. When he finds out about a stripper job at a gay bar where he’d be able to make insane amounts of money, he doesn’t think twice!

That boy is up on that stage, baring it all (or almost all if a jockstrap is considered much coverage), shaking his booty cowboy style, making men crazy with lust. Aubrey is still closeted, because the small town he lives in still has a 1950’s mentality. But, he’s in no danger of being discovered, because he’s hiding behind his Lone Cowboy mask during his performances.

Garrett is Aubrey’s longtime friend, and he’s gay as well. Only they don’t know about each other. Both their mothers are being pushy for them to find a girl to settle down with, setting them up and sending them to socials. When The Lone Cowboy meets Garrett one night after his performance, I thought things would spice up between them.

Unfortunately, their relationship/friendship was as flat as their chemistry. After they finally come out to each other they start sleeping together/dating. Only I found that to be a matter of convenience, rather than lust and chemistry. There was NO sexual tension AT ALL! What’s a book without sexual tension? In my opinion, a romance novel should always have sexual tension or chemistry, or it’s a complete and utter failure.

Besides, I didn’t get the feeling that they were close friends to start with. I got the feeling they knew each other, but there was nothing in their interactions that made me think they were best friends when they were little and used to hang out a lot. These boys had history, but it wasn’t put to good use.

Both Garrett and Aubrey were flat characters. There was nothing about either of them that stood out to me. There was no character development and I couldn’t really connect with them in any way.

Aside from that, Aubrey’s mother’s constant nosiness annoyed me. Aubrey is a grown man who’s working his ass off (pun intended, heh!) to save her home, and she won’t quit pushing him into situations he doesn’t want to be in. Aubrey needed to pull up his big boy breeches and tell her to fuck off instead of letting her dictate his life.

Aubrey and Garrett’s coming out was rather uneventful. There was no major drama or anyone screaming bloody murder, and the conflict is resolved too easy considering where they live.

This book wasn’t horrible or anything like that, but it certainly wasn’t memorable. If you like cowboy books you might enjoy this more than I did, so give it a try.

Tams Review: ♥♥♥♥ 4 Hearts

Aubrey Klein moonlights as an exotic dancer at a strip club in Dallas as a means to an end. His mother does love her credit cards and his father is getting up there in years, so it’s up to Aubrey to make sure his family ranch doesn’t sink under a mountain of debt. His trips to Dallas afford Aubrey an opportunity to be himself though, and then the one guy that could destroy it all shows up at the club and leaves Aubrey questioning everything.

Aubrey and Garrett Lamston grew up together, played in the creek when they were kids and worked their family’s ranches. Each of them tried college, but it didn’t work out. The life they live is all they’ve known and where they are most comfortable. They share a secret as well, both certain that if they came out to their family they would be rejected. But when Garrett sees Aubrey in Dallas it sets a chain of events in motion that change both their lives forever.

Aubrey is essentially living three lives… the son that refuses to let his family ranch drown, refuses to let his parents down. The Lone Rancher that hides behind a mask to make the money he needs to keep the ranch afloat. And then there is the man that he is in love with his child hood friend; sweet, gentle and loving Aubrey is finding it very hard to juggle these three lives.

I felt at home while I was reading this book, with the scenery and images that played in the background. Perhaps because I’m from Texas, Dallas Ft. Worth actually, and I’m pretty sure I know exactly which club The Lone Rancher would be dancing in if he weren’t a fictional character. The life on the ranch, the way that Aubrey and Garrett were almost forced to live their lives, hiding who they really were for fear of the ramifications; it all rang very true for me. I was able to visualize the life Grey painted for these two men.

There was a spur in my saddle though; I didn’t understand why Aubrey was so ashamed of what he was doing. Yes he deliberately passed up several chances to be honest with Garrett and save himself some heartache, but when he was talking to his parents and Garrett after the cat was out of the bag, he came across as mortified and immensely ashamed. I think that were he sleeping around or living a shady double life, maybe, but he was achieving his goal to financially support his parents and the ranch without doing anything illegal. I guess I wish he hadn’t been so hard on himself. And then when his mother saw that Aubrey had paid off all her credit cards and the mortgage, she was ready to charge them right back up. I wanted to smack her. I was very impressed when his dad agreed with him in that situation.

Overall I really enjoyed this book. There was just a touch of angst, the inner struggle that Aubrey and Garrett had to deal with individually, before realizing they could better deal with it together. Love and romance, sexy men in wranglers wearing hats, and riding horses, and each other. And let me just say, you haven’t lived until you’ve made out in a truck bed on a dark dirt road in backwoods Texas, lying on a blanket all naked and sweaty, staring up at the stars. I’m just sayin…

* I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review through http://mmgoodbookreviews.wordpress.com *