Reviewed by Donna
TITLE: Outcast Cowboys
AUTHOR: Sarah Masters
PUBLISHER: Pride Publishing
LENGTH: 62,366 Words
BLURB:
You can run but you can’t hide. Problems have a habit of following you, even if it’s only inside your head.
Ross decides to start a new life away from the grim belly of London, England, unable to stomach being a cop any longer. He tells himself he’s moving miles away to find himself a bed partner, but he’s lying. He has to. Facing up to the real reason he’s leaving isn’t something he can handle. His last undercover job proved too much—his life was at risk—and if he stays in London he’ll likely end up dead. Nightmares plague him, his subconscious unable to switch the past off. So he moves to a ranch in America, thinking the new surroundings and different lifestyle will help him to heal—and to forget. What he soon realizes is he’s jumping from the frying pan into the fire…
Joe’s passion—that of caring for the horses—is the only thing that keeps him sane. He’s a surly man, and for good reason—a reason he hasn’t told a soul. Folks think he’s mean and unapproachable and suspect him of committing murder. More than once. Locals assume that Joe got let off the hook. Nothing could be further from the truth, but Joe lets people think what they will. He’s done with their speculation and sly looks.
When Ross and Joe meet, tension is rife. The air between them prickles with animosity as well as sexual tension. Both have a past they can’t get over. Both have skeletons in their closets they wish would turn to dust. And both have to make a decision. Can they cast their fears aside and trust each other, or have the terrors they’ve experienced ruined them for love?
REVIEW:
I don’t know what to say about this book or how to even rate it. I’ve sat on this review for twenty-four hours and pondered (seriously, I was lying in bed just thinking about it) what I honestly thought and what I actually felt. I don’t know if I loved it or barely liked it and although there were parts of the story I didn’t care for, even perhaps found slightly boring, I’m pretty sure I don’t even mind. So I figure I’ll just spew a whole lot of words onto the page and see if I can make enough sense of them to come up with a rating at the end. So, here goes…
The story begins with Ross, ex-undercover cop from London turning up in the middle of absofreakinlutely nowhere-America to begin his new life as a hand on a horse ranch. He immediately meets the owner, Gren, plus Joe, Limmy and Tessa and from that very first day he can feel that something is very wrong in Gladwood. Joe is immediately aggressive, an obvious bully and Tessa’s words of caution against him don’t paint a very good picture as far as Ross is concerned. The hints and tales of murder and suicide that surround the ranch, and Joe in particular are something that Ross doesn’t want to get involved in. He doesn’t want to be a cop anymore but as he starts to see the man that Joe really is beneath the tough guy front, he finds himself drawn into the violence and secrets, whether he likes it or not.
My very favourite aspect of this story is the setting. It almost has a post apocalyptic, dystopian feel to it although I assure you it’s set in a contemporary time and place. This didn’t just feel like a rural town but one of those the-locals-are-going-murder-me-and-eat-me, creepy locations usually reserved for corny yet scary horror movies. Not that the locals are actually eating people here, but you get what I’m saying, right? The sheriff rules his small town with an iron fist and the locals go along with it or face the consequences. Somehow the author created this town that creeped me the fuck out while making me believe that such a place could credibly exist.
The title is kind of misleading. Yeah, Joe lives on a horse ranch so maybe he’s a cowboy but this is in no way a cowboy story. There’s a heavy tone of darkness throughout much of the story. It’s not angsty, but I was constantly waiting for something bad to happen. All (and I mean all) of the characters had deep dark secrets they were protecting. They were all addictively interesting, yet at the same time they were largely unexplored. The “event” I thought should have happened with a huge bang, instead was more of a little pop, and occurred much sooner than expected. Also, the flashbacks of Ross’s last case were something I just wasn’t interested in reading.
As a romance this book isn’t what most readers would be expecting. Well, I can only assume. It wasn’t what I was expecting anyway. It really wasn’t much of a love story. The two main characters get together almost instantly but it felt to me that it was mostly out of desperation to have someone special in their lives rather than any real attraction. That’s not to say they weren’t good together. I honestly loved these two men as a couple, you could feel the need they had for each other, whether the emotions were present or not. Even towards the end, when they were confessing their love for each other, I didn’t really feel it. Not until the epilogue, which is set twenty five years later. It’s told from Ross’s point of view and the love that he had for Joe just seemed to emanate from the pages. It was almost a tangible thing and to tell the truth, I kind of liked that that was the first time I’d felt the emotion between them. The epilogue was actually sad but that just made me more conscious of their love.
I feel the need to recommend this book because I can’t deny that I unquestionably enjoyed it. How much did I enjoy it? I’m still undecided. I think this is going to be one of those stories that I continue to reread and love it more each time, until I wonder what the heck I was thinking giving it 4 stars because clearly it deserves 5.
RATING: 
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