Review: Wonderful story
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 01 28, 2014
4.5 starsI have been on pins and needles waiting for Jimmy and Eddie's story. From the moment I finished Crispin and Malloy's story and had seen Eddie load Jimmy's drunken ass into his pickup and head off for a hard core detox adventure, I was positive that book two in Z.A. Maxfield's 'The Cowboys' series was going to be amazing. I suspected this book, with its focus on alcoholism and seriously repressed sexuality issues, would be filled with drama and angst. I've put my faith in this author's work many times and I was reassured that she wouldn't steer me wrong. Much like with my opinion about the first book, I wasn't wrong here, either.The first glance I had of Jimmy and I thought "there's a typical ol' conservative cowboy who drinks too much." That was at the beginning of the first book. By the end of that book I was seeing him in a slightly different light, but I was sure that there was much more to discover about Jimmy. Jimmy is thirty-eight and over the years his drinking has steadily become more and more, until now, when he believes his whole world is coming crashing down, Jimmy has sunk face-first into total alcoholism. With his future at stake, and everything and everyone he's always relied on to keep him centered up in the air, Jimmy's own feelings of shame, insecurity, self-doubt, and his repressed sexuality are coming to the forefront and he's simply not capable of dealing with it. It's up to his best friend, forty-two-year-old Ed, to try to help him get back on track.Ed's friend, Don, loans his vacation cabin to them for Jimmy's detox. Those first few days aren't pretty and it sure gave me even more respect for Ed. Don is a doctor and a recovering alcoholic, and he's been a good friend and part-time lover to Ed for years. They have a comfortable understanding that works for both of them, particularly since Don's home life is "complicated", and he's a bit of a horn dog. A threesome develops and it was interesting because it could have been a horrible thing to happen for the future of Ed and Jimmy's lives. Instead, the author wrote it in a way that made it very believable for me, and necessary for Jimmy. Jimmy is a man who can't handle the fact that he's an alcoholic, he's gay, and he's loved Ed for fifteen years. This threesome, with Don in charge and Eddie as Jimmy's safety net, allows Jimmy to give up control and just feel. At the time it happens, Jimmy is in no shape to handle sex with just Eddie, and Don provides the buffer that is desperately needed.Jim is the single point of view in this book and I really liked his voice. Watching his battle with himself and his fight to tamp down on all the emotions he'd been hiding in a bottle, was humbling. His crisis of faith, for lack of a better term, was beautifully written and really had an impact on me. Because when it was all said and done, Jimmy couldn't get sober for Eddie, he had to do it for himself. His love story with Ed, fifteen years of loving each other and basically being partners, but never saying the words, was intense, dramatic, sweet and, oh so loving. There was a whole lot of drama and angst within this book, but the author did right by both Jimmy and Ed in telling their story. Thank you, ZAM, for doing justice to Jimmy and his tale.