Review: A nice cowboy story. Good start to the series!
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 05 20, 2013
Luke and Simon have been together for 10 years and have a happy life. They work together running Luke's father's ranch and are surrounded by people who support them as a couple. They are welcome at church and are part of the town community.A new pastor comes to town and starts spreading a very different message, encouraging the townsfolk to reject Luke and Simon. Suddenly they find they are no longer welcome at various places in town and some people stop doing business with them. Things progressively get worse with attacks on their property and stock.I actually found the alienation and the actions the townfolk resorted to unbelievable in the context of this story. I do understand that people behave this way, particularly if they have been brought up with different beliefs or do not understand people. However, in this case, the people knew Luke and Simon and their family and had been accepting for 10 years. They had also had a previous pastor who preached a message of tolerance. I don't think the story adequately showed how such a radical change could have occurred in two months, why people would throw out all the teaching of their previous pastor and suddenly listen to the new pastor. Particularly as they were resorting to extraordinarily unchristian-like behavior.Luke and Simon made a good couple. Luke takes charge of the running of the ranch but Simon usually takes charge in the bedroom. The sex scenes? I love a good sex scene and they were well written but the story could have benefited from leaving a few out. These guys seemed to have sex at the drop of a hat and even had a daily "morning report" scheduled. It's nice to see that a couple who had been together for 10 years were still going strong but we didn't need to experience it with them each time.The story focuses on the strain placed on the relationship between the two men, the first time they have had to work through tough times together. They need to agree on the best way to make decisions that impact both of them (Luke hates people making decisions for him) and decide whether they stay at the ranch.The plot was slightly formulaic but having an established couple in the story was a refreshing change.