Rating: 3.25 stars
Buy Link: Amazon | All Romance | Amazon UK
Length: Novel
Zane Ashford is injured in the line of duty as a NYPD officer. Partially blinded in one eye, he fears his career is over. His friends and family, shaken by his near-death experience, urge Zane to go someplace to recuperate. When his best friend talks him into going to his friend’s ranch in Montana, Zane reluctantly goes.
Cyrus Abrams is a rancher in Montana. Having loved and lost, Cyrus doesn’t want anyone to get that close to him again, even if it means the only person he will be having sex with the rest of his life is himself. Vulgar and stuck in his ways, he is unprepared when Zane walks into his life.
Zane is looking for someone to settle down with, maybe have a family. As the sparks start flying, can Zane convince Cyrus to give love another chance, or will Cy’s past send Zane running?
This book had all the right pieces: a hot police officer who was injured in the line of duty, a stuck in his ways older rancher, a dog so cute that you are ready to go get yourself a puppy, a little girl who wraps your heart around her little finger, supportive friends and family who just want the best for each other, and two men who have to learn to heal – one physically, the other emotionally. There was so much potential with this book; unfortunately, the blurb on the back cover was more intriguing than the story itself.
I hate to criticize any author’s work because I know they pour their heart and soul into a book. To be fair, this was a fairly decent read, it just didn’t work for me. I want a book that reaches out and grabs me within the first few chapters. Initially, I thought this was going to be one of those books. The story opened on a high note with Zane, a police officer who was gravely injured in the line of duty, learning that he may not ever be a police officer again due to his loss of sight in one eye. His best friend since childhood, Renford, urges Zane to go to his friend’s place in Montana to recover. Then we meet Cyrus…
Cyrus was probably the most vulgar and obnoxious main character that I’ve ever encountered in my reading. Described as an “old man,” we never learn how old “old” is. Is he 40, 50, 60, 70? Given his “set in his ways” attitude, I kept imagining him to be much older than one about whose sex life I wanted to read. Everything about him screamed “creepy old man.” I will admit that despite his initial off-putting ways, Cyrus ended up being the character that I sympathized with the most.
Once Zane arrives at the ranch, the sparks start flying between the two men as they both grate on the other’s nerves despite being instantly attracted to one another. Zane tells Cyrus he isn’t looking for just sex. Despite Cyrus’ vow to never do another relationship, he tells Zane he is willing to try just for him, except Zane thinks he is just saying that to get him into bed. Despite this, the two are quickly heating up the sheets, or at least trying to if they can quit having people walking in on them. Then wham-bam – they are in love! Which is probably the most irritating part of this whole story in that they deem themselves to be in love with each other, yet they never seem to have a conversation to address anything about what they are looking for in life, their pasts, or even their ages! This is the set up for a storyline where these two men are in constant turmoil about their relationship because they spend most of their time together between the sheets and not communicating with each other.
Which brings me to Zane. I really liked Zane at the beginning of the book, only to find myself wondering who the hell Zane was as I was reading the book. Initially he was strong and brave, only to be wishy-washy when he was around Cyrus and needing to talk about his “feelings” with everyone but Cyrus/ Then when Cyrus finally starts telling Zane about his past, Zane can’t get away fast enough. At the same time, Zane had a secret of his own he didn’t feel guilty keeping.
Overall, I wasn’t feeling the romance between these two characters. This book was a miss for me.
A review copy of this book was provided by Dreamspinner Press.
