Review: An exciting, sexy, and romantic tale
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 07 12, 2010
This book is the 2nd one of the Hawkins Ranch series. Like the first one, it's a supernatural romance, but the couple is gay in this story. It's an exciting, dramatic, and sexy story.Cain, Caleb, and Connor are brothers and demons... shapeshifters who can assume a frightening form that humans think are demons. These are not blood brothers, they are from separate clans, and Cain is a separate species of demon than Connor and Cable, and each one was so disgusted with the way demons trick and frighten and toy with humans, that they renounced their clans. The swore brotherhood to each other and started anew as their own family, hoping one day they could become fully human. Now, they own a ranch in Montana and try to pursue normal, loving lives.Connor was the most fortunate so far. He fell in love, and through a ritual was able to become fully human and marry the girl they sheltered, Cassie. Caleb hasn't been fortunate yet. He's not harbored love and doesn't appear to be interested in doing so. Cain.... Cain has it the hardest. Cain is gay, but he's also a Naverto demon. They have VERY strict laws. Any homosexual action is punishable by swift execution with no jury or trial and no exceptions. So Cain has given up hope of finding love and works at helping and retraining abused horses with the hope of reselling them.Luke Forrester is Cassie Hawkin's (Connor's wife) best friend since high school. He's an honest, hard-working, smart, and friendly young gay man. After a brutal beating, Cassie takes him in to recuperate, but Connor begs Cain to hire him and take him in because Connor misses his privacy (and not knowing Luke is gay, is afraid Luke will make a pass at his Cassie). Unable to say no to his brother, Cain gives Luke a job and lets him stay in the living quarters off the barn. Cain is about 175 years old, and he's never had a romantic encounter. Not even a kiss. And now he has a young, incredibly handsome man working for him and the attraction is driving him crazy. And Luke is just as infatuated with Cain! Luke finds qualities about Cain that few people see in him, and finds him to be a sexy incredible man. It's just a matter of time before they can't resist each other and engage in romance.The story goes into much more detail of Cain's demon clan. We find out much more of his history than we did in the first book of the series, which really only glossed over their background. There are also much stronger emotions present in this book. With the first, it was merely a question of whether Connor would become human or not. With this book, Cain's life is at stake. Though we know that gay acts warrant death to a Naverto, what we learn is that they do have a way of checking up on all the renegade Navertos to keep them in line. When Cain fell in love, it became just a matter of time before they show up, take him away, and kill him.The interplay between Luke and Cain is very rewarding. Cain is reserved not only because his life is at stake, but because he simply has no experience at all. Luke, not knowing anything of Cain's past, innocently tries to worm his way into Cain's heart, not knowing that by doing so, he's condemning him. The dialog is crisp, the emotions deep, and the writing style engaging. The plot flows along, and it builds up to some very intense action and drama scenes as Cain undergoes a deadly trial to fight for a life with Luke. The details of these scenes added an appropriate chill to the story, which in turn, made the romantic moments shine even more.There's a lot of romantic/erotic fun stories out there that engage and fulfill. But some stories stand out in a unique way by giving just a little more than you expected, by bringing out details you didn't know you wanted. This story is like that. The characters were so nicely developed, it was a joy to read their interactions. Instead of glossing over a crucial period in the story, it was drawn out in exquisite detail to add suspense and chills. It gave more than I expected, drew me in more than I expected, and I felt rewarded by the experience.