After years of saving every penny, Nathan has finally managed to buy the horse of his dreams. He’s looking forward to a summer of exploring the Colorado mountain trails above Tucker Springs with Tsarina. But on their very first ride, a motorcyclist makes a wrong turn, scaring Tsarina into bolting and leaving Nathan with a broken leg, a broken hand, and a ruined summer.

Ryan is a loner and a nomad, content with working odd jobs before moving on to the next town. Feeling guilty for causing the accident that leaves Nathan in two casts, Ryan offers to keep Tsarina exercised until Nathan heals.

Despite their bad start, Nathan and Ryan soon become friends . . . and then much more. But with a couple of nasty breakups in his past, Nathan doesn’t want feelings getting involved—especially knowing that Ryan will never settle down. But since when do feelings ever listen to reason?

 

Review

 

LA Witt is a fine writer and this is a well written book in a very good series. Witt does an especially good job with how Nathan fools himself and protects himself.

However, I am disappointed in this book overall as I was so looking forward to Nathan's book from reading the other books in the series. He seems really diminished somehow here and less himself than in other books. So, the love story loses its shine as well for me though it is enjoyable

This was fun!


I'm a little irregular when it comes to the Tucker Springs series. I've read some of the books, but not all of them, and certainly not in the correct order. Which is not necessary, because these books work fine on their own.

In this onstallment, we get to meet Paul. I immediately liked him. He was lost and depressed after being dumped by his girlfriend. While he smack in the middle of "I need you to come back." and "PLease go to hell.", he has some pretty big financial fish to fry. Thanks to his ex, he's stuck with a house he really can't afford, a job he doesn't exactly love and a collection of crap he never really uses. Enter pawn shop owner El, who might be able to help Paul out - but only once a day. Or so he says.

I enjoyed the journey of these two a lot. Especially Paul grew on me so much, I really rooted for him and his pursuit of happiness. El, in comparison, stayed a little pale throughout the book. Which might have something to do with this little pet peeve of mine. I was constantly told that El's behavior, ever since meeting Paul, was so atypical and unusual. Which is fine, but I never got to actually SEE that irregularity. And I always have a hard time buying the change in a person when I can't witness it - at least a little. On the plus side, the relations and interactions between El and his famliy were wonderfully written and grabbed me right where it hurts.

All in all, I had a lot of fun reading this, keeping my fingers crossed for these two, waiting for them to finally get it all together.

Definitely recommended if you're looking for something low on the angst, big on the feelz and a little deeper than a garden pond. And let's not forget the sexy times - because Heidi Cullinan rocks the steam like nobody's business.

Sweetly emotional. This book had so many great feels and explainable ones. I like Seth and Darren each so very much. Each carrying baggage and undeniably attracted. And the sex. Who knew a minister could tear up the sheets like that? There was toppy bottoming and just the perfect amount of aggression. *swoon*

My only complaint is for more. This isn't even my usual, This is so good so give me MOAR. The story felt like a beginning to me. I like it, and I want to see the development of this relationship. I've admittedly not looked, so there could be more of these guys in Tucker Springs. I will be looking now.

Overall, a great balance of emotion and steam.

Poorly characterised and barely plotted, this one pushes the envelope that much further with the inclusion of terrible female characters.  Even the little sister (with the uncannily exact same disability) has some of her agency removed by making her a flake who just jumps from interest to interest (she's not really a person in her own right anyway; she's mainly a foil for one of the MCs and then conveniently disappears when her job's done).

 

I really did not expect to strike out on a Sexton.  If there's one thing she does well, it's chase a story down and nail it to the ground.  This one felt like she'd left it a week before deadline so frantically set out trying to find the thing that would take the least time to write while still giving her maximum bang for buck.  And what does that better than a disability and a potentially life-threatening illness? That shit just writes itself, right?

 

I wish it had.

 

Not recommended.

 

 

I didn't read as many m/m books this year as in 2012. Not sure why that is since I bought more this year than 2012. The bright side is that I have tons of books ready to go for 2014. Of the ones I did read, these were my favorites.

 

I think I've mentioned A Reason to Believe before. It's a really great story about a TV medium and a cop teaming up to solve a murder. I loved this book.

 

Almost Like Being In Love was one of those unexpected books that surprises you with it's awesomeness. The book is written in the epistolary style, which I always find to be a nice break from a traditionally written novel.

 

Blame It On the Mistletoe was just so very cute. You can't help but smile while you are reading it.

 

Dirty Laundry made my list because of it's extremely well done portrayal of OCD. This is the first book I've ever read that really gets it right. I saw so much of myself in it that it was almost a little tough to read at times, but worth it in the end.

 

Naked Tails is a book about possum shifters. Yep, possums. The shocking thing is that this book actually had a really lovely story about a guy not only falling in love but also finding his place in the world.