Review: A deep, detailed, and delightful romance
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 03 9, 2011
I rate this about 4.5 stars, rounded up to five for Amazon's rating system. The level of detail of the characters, along with the complex relationship, surprised me a great deal.Gable runs a small horse ranch. Due to an accident, his foot is mangled and he's in near-constant pain. He had a sexual relationship with this last ranch-hand, Grant, but Grant had taken off, and Gable is now realizing he can no longer manage his ranch alone. He puts up a short help-wanted ad at the post office, offering room and board, with the salary to be paid after six weeks when he can sell off some of his herd. Flynn is a bit of a drifter. He doesn't choose to be, it's just that the few places he's wound up in during his young life held no joy or promises, so he would move on. The help-wanted ad he sees is perfect. With room and board taken care of, he won't need a salary until the job is over, and he loves ranch work, having performed it on his own family's ranch. Both men are gay, and though each finds the other to be attractive, sparks don't actually fly until much later.The characters are unique and finely developed in this story. Gable is a man who never really learned how to love, so when love does finally come around, he's not sure what to do with it. He's much older than Flynn, and is also "damaged goods", so he doesn't date believe Flynn would want to stay around anyway. Also, he didn't have a good experience with his last lover. Grant was closeted, and Gable fell into an odd sexual-but-non-intimate relationship. He really doesn't know how to have an intimate relationship. Flynn is all about the intimacy, and even when the two start having sex, Gable's tendency to keep intimacy out makes Flynn feel used. This is a very strong point for the novel, as in most romantic tales, the sex itself is almost always mind-blowingly perfect. Here, it's almost a hindrance to romance. Besides this, a worsening of Gable's injury leaves him dependent upon Flynn, and totally despondent, which also strains the relationship just as it's starting.Interestingly, the relationship is settled long before the book's conclusion. There is a healthy amount of secondary characters who have had influence in Gable's life, and what makes the story interesting is that the romance is settled and secure long before the book's conclusion. We witness the romance, then continue to watch the pair, as a couple, relate to, and resolve, many issues dealing with the secondary characters. It's refreshing.There is a slight tendency to feel that the book meanders at a few points, so pacing probably could have been just a little tighter, but only a little bit. That's not really a complaint, just an observation. This long detailed story ultimately fulfills, with some heartfelt emotion, wit, drama, suspense, and colorful and compelling characters.