Tempted in TexasRating: 4 stars
Buy Link:
Amazon | All Romance | Amazon UK
Length: Novel


Rusty Briggs knows there is little chance of finding a man while living in Sweetwater, Texas. Firmly in the closet, his life is turned upside down when old man Baker catches Rusty with another man. Receiving the cold shoulder from the townspeople and having his last ranch hand take off, Rusty finds himself on the verge of being dirt poor and losing the only thing left in his life – his ranch. As Rusty is resigned to working the ranch himself or being forced to sell and move to the big city, he meets Trent Anderson.

Trent appears as if he was born with a silver spoon in his mouth as he arrives in town driving a borrowed Porsche and wearing his donated clothes. Grandson of a wealthy rancher, Trent was cut off without a dime when his parents found out he was gay. Forced to live on the streets where he had to sell himself to survive, Trent managed to pull himself out of all that without anything but his intelligence and compassion. Working to ensure no other youth is forced to live in a similar situation, Trent works at a homeless shelter in Atlanta. When his grandfather dies and leaves everything to Trent, so long as he meets a few conditions, Trent is forced to spend the next ninety days in Sweetwater.

When Trent is given the cold shoulder upon arriving in town, Rusty steps forward to help him. As the two bond with one another, they find themselves falling for each other. Then Trent’s anonymous benefactor, Reed, arrives declaring his love. With Trent insisting he will only be there for ninety days, can the two of them build a strong enough foundation? Or will money, greed, lust and power keep tearing them apart?

This story is one of love at first sight…or at least love within the first week of meeting each other. While, ordinarily, I am not a fan of insta-love stories, this one really worked for me because this story took two characters who were completely selfless and put them together.

Rusty is struggling just to get by. With no ranch hands to help him, he is on the verge of having to sell his ranch. Despite being on the verge of being poverty, Rusty immediately steps in to offer a hand when Trent arrives at his grandfather’s ranch that is devoid of furniture and basic utilities – despite the fact that it was Trent’s grandfather who caught Rusty with another man and managed to ruin Rusty’s relationship with the people of Sweetwater.

Trent, on the other hand, has climbed his way up from hitting rock bottom after his parents kicked him out when he was a teenager. Determined to ensure no other throwaway is forced into the same situations he was in, he devotes his life to a homeless shelter. Forced to return home to claim his inheritance, he does so not with the intent of making himself rich, but instead, with the intentions of using that money to further his ambitions of helping others.

When these two come together, they create magic between them. A fast-paced romance with a hefty dose of passion, these characters burn up the pages while bringing a smile to your face.

Then we have Reed. I am still not quite sure about this character, and I have a feeling we will be seeing him in a later story. Reed is an older man, in his fifties, who has been afraid for years to approach Trent. Instead, he has anonymously given Trent gifts. Unfortunately for Reed, he has terrible timing and declares his love and devotion to Trent a bit too late and very much unwelcomed. Despite this, he isn’t willing to let go if there is the slightest chance he can win over Trent’s love.

My only complaint about this book is that I was expecting something more from the townspeople and their homophobia to shine through, but it seemed to be just bubbling beneath the surface. I, personally, like to be shown rather than told, and when it came to Rusty getting the cold shoulder from the townspeople, that didn’t’ happen. Granted, we did get to see a tiny little bit of it pop out in the beginning when Trent arrived, but I was expecting more. Again, I am not sure if this is a build-up for something to come in a later book in this series, or if we are just to take the author’s words for it.

Overall, I thought this was a great start of a new series and can’t wait to read what comes next!

Wendy sig