Reviewed by Vicki
SERIES: Cattle Valley #31
AUTHOR: Carol Lynne
PUBLISHER: Totally Bound
LENGTH: 30.229 words
BLURB:
Sometimes it takes finding an opposite to show us the beauty within ourselves.
When security consultant and ex-mercenary, Gabrielo ‘Snake’ Barbas, thwarts an attack of one of his co-workers, Riley Banks, he takes it upon himself to keep the smaller man safe. His job is made harder when he discovers the attacker is actually Riley’s ex-boyfriend, a ruthless man from a very wealthy and powerful family
.
After a night of passion, Snake decides to take Riley far away from Richmond, Virginia to a town in Wyoming for the annual Cattle Valley Days celebration. He should have known that sex with Riley wouldn’t be enough, but he feels he has nothing else to give such a nice guy. Riley is the sexiest man Snake’s ever taken to his bed despite Riley’s claim otherwise.
Riley knows he’s average-looking at best, so why does Snake continue to flatter him? It’s obvious he’s not going to kick Snake out of bed, even after Snake informs him that sex is all he has to give. Why does Snake see him so differently than the rest of the world?
While Riley is busy trying to figure out the man who touches him like no other has before, Snake is busy trying to protect him from a monster in a business suit.
REVIEW:
I do love the Cattle Valley books! Unfortunately this is not my favorite….
Riley is a very stereotypical nerdy gay man, small, plain, quiet, and bullied. His ex lover is the son of a big family and abused him repeatedly, getting away with it due to his family connections. Riley moves, but not out of town, and gets a job in the accounting department of a security firm. Of course Cal, the ex, finds him and attacks him in the parking garage. Snake comes to the rescue, and Cal gets taken away but will not be held, due to a paperwork issue. Snake and Riley’s boss says he won’t help Riley, because of the family of his abuser. Snake calls a co-owner and gets permission to help him anyway. His help come in the form of bossing him around, scaring him, insulting him, and fucking him. It was one of the least sexy sex scenes I’ve read. Then off to Cattle Valley they go.
Snake is not particularly nice. He’s in security at the moment, but used to be in the military, special forces, then some secret government agent. He has no manners, no filter, is big and obnoxious. He’s the son of a biker and seems to have been raised by a biker gang. He’s rude and crude. He sees Riley at work but doesn’t fuck were he works, so he ignores him. Until he sees he’s having a problem in the parking garage and jumps in to help. That may well be a good deed. But. Within minutes he’s kissing poor Riley, who has just been ATTACKED by his ex-lover, then running rough shod over him and whisking him away to his apartment, having no understanding or sympathy really, for a man who has obviously been abused by a lover. He is not very nice to Riley, even though he’s trying to help him. He decides he needs to get him out of town until he can deal with Cal, and Cattle Valley is a safe place.
So the basic plot was good, these books are all short and slightly rushed, there isn’t a lot of time to build a big story. I’m ok with that, I know what to expect. We jump in, get a story, sex, drama, love, and a happy ending. That happens with this one, and it is ok, but I did not like Snake at all. I did not like the way he treated Riley, I don’t know why Riley put up with him, I didn’t like them as a couple at all. It starts with Riley being attacked by his ex in a parking garage, within minutes Snake has his tongue down Riley’s throat and tells him he wants to fuck him. But it’s ok, because he doesn’t want a relationship only sex. As he tells Riley “God made dicks to be sucked and holes to be filled”. Yuck. Then I couldn’t get past his poor treatment of Riley, and how he comes pretty close to bullying him. Their first night together he points out that he has a big dick and wants Riley to keep himself lubed so he can take his big dick easier, and so he can finger him when he wants. Then the next morning he makes him wear a plug in his ass with no underwear while they fly from Virginia to Wyoming so he’s nice and stretched when they land and he can have him anytime. Ugh. When they get to CV he is an ass to Riley, who is completely baffled by his behavior, and certainly doesn’t deserve it. They agree to be fuck-buddies until this gets resolved then go their separate ways. Of course we know that won’t happen! Drama does happen however, and Snake gets somewhat better. There is some good drama and action, and some of the other CV boys pop in and out, offering help as needed which was nice to see.
I can usually get past not liking a character and still like the book, but I have to be honest and say my strong dislike of Snake’s treatment of Riley did color my enjoyment of this book. A big thing happens toward the end of the story and Snake does get better, a little to late though. It started out rough for me, and I had a hard time getting in to the groove and liking them together. I still liked the basic plot, there were a few things I didn’t understand though. Why didn’t Riley leave town after the last attack? Snake freaks when he sees Riley has a phone with him, they turn it off so Cal can’t track him, but keep turning it back on to check the messages and texts, never shutting the number off and getting him a new phone. Riley’s dad comes to visit, after this big thing happens, then he’s not mentioned again. Also, the big thing that happens is caused by another character, but we never find out what happened to him.
The writing was ok, however a big part of the enjoyment of a romance story for me is the connection between the characters and I didn’t get it with this one. The sex was hot physically but it lacked an emotional connection. I think if Snake had been more sympathetic and caring of Riley sooner in the story, I could have really liked this one, but it didn’t work for me.
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