Reviewed by Dan
TITLE: Chaps
SERIES: Cherry County Cowboys #2
AUTHOR: Jules Dixon
PUBLISHER: Evernight Publishing
LENGTH: 347 Pages
RELEASE DATE: May 13, 2016
BLURB:
Rising rodeo star Nate O’Neill never expected to be living in a small Nebraska ranching town waiting for his rodeo brother to recover from a vicious ride. His unplanned stop steers him into the arms and bed of local celebrity, Tennessee Reed. Soon he questions what thrills him more—the rodeo or Tenn. Forced to face his reckless past, he’s reminded that relationships can cause damage far worse than any bull ride … and maybe he’s headed for the same suffering again.
Professional football draft-pick Tennessee Reed returns home emotionally shattered by the unexpected passing of his father who left Tenn with a hereditary secret buried in his chest. He might be dying inside, but when Nate walks into his life all Tenn’s troubles seem to disappear into those hazel eyes and he’s never felt more alive. Will Tenn follow the cowboy wherever life leads? Or will he protect his heart and watch those fringed leather chaps ride away?
REVIEW:
I loved this book. One warning, it is a fairly direct continuation of the story and characters in the first book in the series, Spurs, and in my opinion, you should read them in order. I reviewed Spurs when it first came out, and honestly I read too much, so I couldn’t remember the backstory. Poor me…I had to go back and re-read that one first. It was very onerous. Not. I loved that one as well, so it was a great re-read.
In this new installment, Chaps, we are again back in that idyllic little town of Valentine, Nebraska, a town as I mentioned in my review of the first book that reminds me of the fictional town of Big Eden, in the movie of the same name. The people in town are just so darned accepting of everyone…well except for the local vet and his wife, but I can read the writing on the wall…they have theirs coming…I hope in another installment at some point! After all, their son Matt needs his own story!
This time we shift focus over to a cousin of the first book’s MC Grayson. The cousin’s name is Tennessee Reed and we met Tenn and his brother Dakota in the first book. I was hoping we would see more of Tenn down the road. Well, we have! Tenn is a fairly huge young man, who has been drafted by the Denver Broncos. Only problem? He didn’t want to be, and his brother Dakota did. The Broncos took Tenn instead because he is gay and they wanted the rainbow diversity card.
Tenn is home for his and Dakota’s father’s funeral. The father dropped dead suddenly, at a very young age and the whole town is having a tough time dealing with it.
Nate O’Neill is new in town. He arrives with his best friend Rik, who it turns out has a connection to Valentine, which solves one unanswered question from book one.
Once in town, Nate is kind of thrown together with Tenn. Nate doesn’t intend to stick around. Tenn is member of the Denver Broncos and due back for training in a couple weeks. But the best laid plans don’t always work out…
I really enjoyed this one. It was a perfect length, what some might call long, and it had great character and storyline building. I really enjoyed it, and highly recommend it. Like I said, do yourself a favor and read Spurs first. Don’t be surprised if you are like me and don’t even pause between the two books.
Great job Ms. Dixon!
RATING: 
BUY LINKS:
Dan,
What can I say? A few happy, happy tears and a lot of big smiles. Thank you for taking time to come back to Cherry County. Guess where I’m going to this weekend with a girlfriend? Yep, the one and only Valentine, NE. I mean, I write about the town, I should visit it, right?
I’ll be putting up blog posts on my website about my adventure in upper central Nebraska as we go along. Kind of a running Cherry County log-book.
Again, thank you. I’m glad you loved Tenn and Nate as much as I did. Those two really pulled something from me, and I hope that Matt…and (um…someone) **** 🙂 do the same again for you.
<3
Jules