Sunday, August 27, 2017

Random Review: A Cowboy's Secret by Carol Lynne #Review #Giveaway




Author: Carol Lynne
Book: A Cowboy's Secret 2nd edition
Publisher: Pride Publishing
Publication date: August 15, 2017
Length: 94 pages


Reviewed by Morningstar

Synopsis


Will Lex be willing to sacrifice his long-held secrets for true love?
Nick Barker was thrilled. A summer working on his college roommate’s family ranch was a dream come true for a veterinary student. He didn’t anticipate his reaction to his best friend and roommate’s father, though.
Lex Whitefeather hired his son Sam’s best friend for the summer. He figured he’d be generous and help the kid out. He wasn’t expecting the young Adonis who stepped off the plane. Nick Barker was no kid. Years of repressed sexual desires rose to the surface that summer.
When Lex and Nick finally come together and admit their feelings, Lex is plagued by guilt. He’s not “out” to his family and friends. Lex pushes Nick away with his unwillingness to open up to his family.
A few years later, Nick is back on the ranch…




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Review

I love cowboy stories. I love the environment, the animals, the location, and of course...the cowboys. They’re the one contemporary story that feels like it takes place in a different world than the one I live every day. I was not fond of this cowboy story.

Overall the story was, I hate to say it, but boring. These two guys fall for each other, but because Lex (the Native American cowboy) was deep in the closet, Nick decided he wouldn’t stay and become more invested in something that would never be. In a shorter story, this part of the story was handled well. It flowed and read easily. It’s the rest that I have an issue with.

Nick comes back at the request of Lex’s son and his ex-best friend, Sam. The resolution after three years apart and untold emotions was too easy, not enough talk, and way too much sex. Novella or not I needed more to believe Nick went from not looking forward to seeing Lex to back together with him within a day.

The writing at this point, in my opinion, went downhill around this part. It was cheesy and corny and the flow was not as great. Now some people like that kind of writing (cheesy & corny)but it’s just not for me. I loved the characters especially Nick right from the start. Lex took a bit to grow on me but not because he was bad or anything. It was more of a lack of connection due to his own emotions.

Lastly, and MOST importantly, I mentioned earlier that Lex Whitefeather is Native American. He is described as what most know of one to look like; long black straight hair, bronzed skin which is fine. What isn’t fine, as someone who is Native American, is the times like in Chapter 10 that the author wrote that Nick wanted to see Lex in a loincloth, that he was going to buy him one and they were going to play “Indian-catches-the-cowboy game” afterward. Like it was something sexy. Then in Chapter 12 as a surprise for their anniversary, Lex plays this “game” out with him. I’m not easily offended, but I was by this. The author gave voice to a terrible set of dialogue and had Lex acting stupid. Like sniffing Nick lower regions like a dog under the guise that Lex didn't know what “it” was. It was corny, and I will admit the over the top nature of it all made me laugh. But I was offended by this “game” being turned into a sex act or something sexy at all.

I know this author or publisher probably didn’t mean to offend but as it has been said numerous times if you are writing about a group of people you don’t know about ask someone of that group.


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1 comment:

  1. I'm so sorry you had to read such hateful idiocy! That's why I am so wary of reading stories with Native Peoples even though I really want more. I just know this is a lot of what we'll read. And especially with certain publishers, I have no faith that they even care to demand racist garbage like this gets stricken from a story. This isn't an author I've read before, but thanks for the heads up so I don't have to. I've been thinking about reading more of Rose Cristo's books lately, and I feel like I should do that soon to wipe out the bad taste reading about this one has left in my mouth/eyes/brain.

    Carolyn

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