Review: Great slow-moving romance
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 04 6, 2012
Ms. Tachna is usually a hit and miss with me. I always enjoy her plots and think she is definitely an eclectic writer but sometimes she writes to much smut for me but even with that, I still always enjoy her stories in some way.This one, however, is probably one of my favorites from her so far. First the plot intrigued me but then the characters won me over. If you're looking for an intense, fast moving, multiple conflict book, you won't find it here. What you will find is great characters, a slow moving plot that allows you to actually know the characters and a sweet, slightly frustrating romance in the outback of Australia.From the start I was interested in this story because of Caine. He's insecure because he has a speech impediment that causes him to stutter uncontrollably sometimes. He needs a lot of concentration to be able to talk without it but it always sneaks up on him when he's nervous, angry, aroused or any other really intense emotion. Because of his disability, his life has gone nowhere. There's no possibility of a promotion at his job, he just got out of a relationship where he and his lover were more like roommates and his confidence in himself has been steadily plummeting for a while now. Macklin is different. He's a born Aussie, completely confident in himself and his capabilities but he lives a life without passion because he's in the closet. I loved Caine simply because of his stutter and the way he discovers himself and his newly developed confidence but I loved Macklin because of how simple he was. While he pushed Caine away, he couldn't help himself when it came to his desires for Caine which I found sweet.As I said, this book doesn't have much conflict but that's one of the reason I enjoyed the story so much. I was intrigued by Caine finding a place in the world where he fits and I liked seeing Macklin come to terms with himself as well. It's a slow-moving story but it also delves deep into the characters, who they are and some of the actions of the sheep station. However, there is a bit of conflict. Two, in fact, one has to do with possibly having a secret relationship and the other has to do with why and how their sheep keep running loose.While I enjoyed the story very much, I still had a few problems with it. For one, the story doesn't have much sex until the 75% mark which I adored, however, after that there's too much sex clustered too close together. I got a little annoyed with the 'cluster' but once I got passed it, it wasn't so bad. There's also the ending, I felt like it was too rushed and too easy. We get a basic answer and a resolution to a major problem but we don't get an explanation for how the conflicts were created which left me with a lot of questions in addition to the ones I already had. For instance, how was the guy who caused all these problems able to get onto the land without anyone knowing? Why would he do that? What did he have to gain from that? How did Taylor even know Caine was gay? Also, did they find all the sheep that ran loose?In the end, I really liked the story. Caine's stutter was adorable and Macklin's failure at keeping his distance from Caine was amusing. If you're looking for a good out for you story that actually focuses on the characters, this one is definitely recommended.