Reviewed by Tammy
TITLE: The Wounded Warrior
SERIES: Rocking W, #1
AUTHOR: BA Tortuga
PUBLISHER: Pride Publishing
LENGTH: 217 pages
RELEASE DATE: 6 June, 2017
BLURB:
When Luke’s lost everything, the only thing to do is head back home to the ranch and pray that he finds his way again.
When Navy SEAL Luke Blanchard comes back to Northeast Texas after a devastating injury, he feels like the whole world has gone dark. In a wheelchair and feeling worthless, Luke has no idea what to do, even as his twin brother Matt is determined to lift him up and help him heal.
Rory McConnell is a local prodigy, a real estate lawyer with a plan to buy up land before his bitter rival can collect it. When the Blanchard ranch goes into the red, he offers to buy out the debt. Luke backs his brother instead, but he doesn’t believe for a minute that Rory is a bad guy. No one that sexy and fun can be, right?
As Luke claws his way out of depression with a crazy idea to run a therapy ranch, he and Rory start to explore the need growing between them. Will Rory’s need for revenge against a man who damaged him forever come between them, or will it be the force which brings these two wounded men together for good?
Reader Advisory: This book contains fragmented recollection of gang-rape which happened off-screen several years earlier.
REVIEW:
Well now, this book has me in a quandry! First off let me say I loved the story, the thing I have a real problem with is the way the MC,s talk. I don’t know if it’s because I’m Australian or not but I honestly have never come across people who talk the way these two do, especially not Texan’s!
Luke Blanchard has returned home from the Navy Seals a wounded warrior. He is having trouble coming to terms with the fact that he’s now in a wheelchair. The only thing that really keeps him going at this point is that if he continues with his physical therapy he will walk again, maybe not without a cane but he will walk under his own steam. Luke has moved in with his twin brother Matt on his ranch to recuperate. This works better than anyone could have realised when Matt puts Luke in charge of the babies, the mistreated horses that Matt has taken in and the horses that have hurt themselves on the ranch. Luke finds a peacefulness that he never realised he was missing when he spends time feeding and taking care of the horses.
Rory McConnell is a Real Estate Lawyer who has had a horrific past. He is a very gifted man, Rory was 12 years old when he started high-school and still a teenager when he finished college. Because of this Rory has been determined to be out, loud and proud! Because of what happened to Rory when he was 19 he has been on a mission of vengeance ever since. When Rory’s nemesis, started buying land to eventually sell to a developer, Rory decided to start buying land faster by visiting the ranchers when he heard rumblings from the bank. Rory met Luke when he visits Matt after hearing that Matt is in arrears since their father had a stroke several months previous. Matt hates Rory with a passion, he can’t stand Rory doing what he thinks he’s doing by buying ranches on the brink of foreclosure.
The moment Luke and Rory meet the attraction is instant and they start dating. They’ve been dating a while when Luke comes out and asks Rory if he has a ranch that can be turned into a therapy ranch where wounded warriors with PTSD, brain injuries, basically anything that prevents them from returning to civilian life can stay get their therapy but with the horses instead of just in a hospital. Whilst all this is going on Rory is dealing with the remains of his past, a past that even he doesn’t want to acknowledge until something happens to bring the scandal to the forefront of everyone’s minds. This is when Rory realises this time he has Luke to support him as well as the Blanchard’s to back him up and stand as solid support for him. When you find out exactly what happened to Rory when he was a teenager you will understand why it was imperative to him to have spent so long doing what he has been doing. I do recommend this book to all military, m/m romance lovers.
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