Reviewed by Carissa
TITLE: Pine Valley
AUTHOR: Ged Ruggles
PUBLISHER: Self-published
LENGTH: 151 pages
BLURB:
Most men of ambition would kill for the chance to play a bracing game at Pine Valley, the most celebrated, and exclusive, golf course in the world. And in the summer of his 30th birthday, Jeff Carpenter gets his chance.
Trouble is, Jeff isn’t exactly a man of ambition, having put his literary dreams on hold 10 years ago for a soulless back office job. Nor did he ever master the art of the swing farther than once making par on the giant dinosaur hole at his local childhood mini golf.
But a chance encounter with the son of Pine Valley’s most senior councilman at a Philadelphia gay bar, sparks a clandestine romance that plunges Jeff into a web of intrigue that threatens Pine Valley’s very existence.
REVIEW:
Jeff spilling his drink all over the hot dude next to him at that bar, is a bad way to end an already bad day. But it turns out even with the soiled shirt, Kent finds Jeff appealing. Who knows, maybe Jeff’s luck is finally turning around. But even with the sparks flying between them, these two just can’t seem to catch a break. Kent is still hugging the closet door, and Jeff can’t detach himself and his life from his ex-fiancé and her scheming. Throw in a golf-course full of bigotry and hate, that Kent has to work at, and some shady dealings that the guys keep coming up against, and you have a recipe for disaster. But for Jeff, that is pretty much par of the course, so why not give it a go anyways?
I did not enjoy this book. I wanted to. The blurb made it sound interesting, and I really like when trans characters show up in the stories I’m reading, so even though I am not a fan of golf I thought I would give it a try. And I did try, honest I did. But by the end I couldn’t help but feel that I’d missed out on some crucial element of this book. Because it felt like it was supposed to be a farce, but mostly it just came off as ridiculous.
Half the problem is that the book’s plot had a habit of meandering all over the place. And by the 50% mark, I wasn’t even sure what the plot of the book was. Mostly it was just a general feeling that a) rich people are massive assholes, b) women are manipulative bitches, and c) Secret Agent Sam is apparently awesome.
When the plot finally does start to resemble something coherent, it just seems too clichéd to even bother caring about. Yes, Kent’s father is up to something shady (but honestly who didn’t see that coming?) and the people of Pine Valley are racist homophobic asswipes (but, of course they are), and poor ol’ Jeff is just a doormat for every woman in his life, but there is nothing there that I haven’t seen before. A thousand times over. And the few characters that I really wanted to like (because I have a soft spot for trans characters) just seem to be there for comedic effect…despite the fact that it wasn’t all that funny.
The writing was also less than what I wished for. It tended to be too overly descriptive at times–mostly distracting from any real plot movement–and the sudden switching of povs in the middle of the scene were confusing at best. Not to mention it felt like a thesaurus threw up all over the story. I’m all for interesting word choices–and I love finding new words in books that I can add to my hoard–but most of the time here the substitutes used by the author here were odd, or just plain wrong.
I don’t know what the author’s intentions for this book were. As a romance it is rather tepid. As a spy novel it is rather boring. As a comedy it is rather over the top. As a social commentary it is preaching to the choir. And as all of those things combined, it is just too much of a jumbled mess to enjoy.
Maybe I really am not the target audience, because I like my humor more cerebral than slap-stick, but even the romance left me feeling nothing. I just can’t find a lot in this book to enjoy. Even if I really wanted to at the beginning.
RATING: 
BUY LINKS:
Oh Carissa, I am so glad someone else had the same experience reading this book. I thought I was reading too fast or not paying enough attention. I couldn’t figure out what was going on most of the time. I would re-read passages thinking I must have missed something, but no, the book has just jumped from here to there with no warning. And you are right, there were very few likeable characters.