Reviewed by Carissa
TITLE: Inheritance
AUTHOR: Sean Michael
PUBLISHER: Torquere Press
LENGTH: 88 pages
BLURB: Cash McCord loves his life. He owns the family ranch, works hard and invites the occasional cowboy into his bed. All that changes when his brother Jack and Jack’s wife Val are killed in a car crash, leaving behind six kids.
Cash is made guardian along with Val’s brother Brad Rafferty. Brad couldn’t be more different than Cash. A Yankee, Brad is a video game developer who works twelve to fourteen hour days at his desk. The two men lock horns on sight, neither man happy to have the other around, but neither willing to give up guardianship of their nieces and nephews.
Can they manage to keep the kids together, and keep from killing each other at the same time?
REVIEW:
Cash and Bradley don’t have a lot in common besides the fact that their brother and sister got married and had a whole passel of children–and the fact that both men are gay. Cash is a rancher, Bradley a video game designer, and neither of them has a clue how to raise a child, let alone six of them. And that isn’t much of a problem until both Jack and Val die and leave their children under the care of both men. Neither Cash nor Bradley can agree on how raise the kids, where to raise them, or when they will ever sleep again. But when it comes to the heat sparking between them, they might just find that they have something in common after all.
I really enjoyed the whole kid aspect of this book. I don’t know why anyone in their right mind would want to have six children—my mom had four and I think we drove her insane by the time my little brother showed up–but I loved how these two men had to learn to cope with this unexpected family that they have inherited. Neither of them expected to have children, so it was really like dropping them both into the deep end with their hands tied behind their backs and then asking them to sing the national anthem. Doable, but not easy, or a lot of fun.
The tension between Cash and Brad was great. I really love the whole enemies-to-lovers trope, and while I don’t think they could be considered real enemies, there is a lot of anger in the beginning of this story. They have both lost siblings, and they don’t really have a lot of family around that they actually like, so they have to deal with their grief as well as the overwhelming job of inheriting the responsibility of six children, all of them 13 or under. But their anger quickly becomes something a lot more heated, and a lot more fun. They also gain a whole new appreciation for door-locks.
As odd as it is for me to say this, I actually think there should have been a little less sex in this book. I mean, the sex was hot and really great to read, but I think the tension in the other parts of the story kind of suffered from not getting enough page time. The whole issue with Brad’s mother kept alternating between tense and not a problem at all. I like that they seemed intent on never giving her way, but they never really treat her like a threat, more of an annoyance, so I never felt like I should feel afraid that she may actually win. If there had been more uncertainty, I think I would have enjoyed the story a little bit more.
However, it was a cute story, and I laughed my ass off when a couple of the kids brought up the whole “sex” thing. Their reactions and attempts to change the subject were hilarious. It was an enjoyable story, and while I would have liked a bit more tension, for a short story, it was good. I would love to have a follow-up on how they get on after this story ends, though. A lot of stuff they are going to have to deal with, but it would make for a real interesting read.
RATING: 