Reviewed by Tori (Vicki)
TITLE: Red Dirt Heart 4 
SERIES: Red Dirt Heart #4
AUTHOR: N.R. Walker
NARRATOR: Joel Leslie
PUBLISHER: Self Published
LENGTH: 9 hours, 15 minutes
RELEASE DATE: March 2nd, 2018
BLURB:
Moving from a Texas ranch to an Australian Outback station was a life changing decision for Travis Craig. Though it wasn’t really a decision at all. Something in his bones told him to go, though he had no clue as to why.
Until he met Sutton Station’s owner, Charlie.
Loving Charlie shouldn’t have been easy. The man was stubborn, and riddled with crippling self-doubt. No, it shouldn’t have been easy at all. Yet somehow, falling in love with Charlie was the easiest thing in the world.
Loving him was easy. Living with him, teaching him how to love in return and, more importantly, how to love himself, was not.
But Travis knew all along it’d be worth it. He knew the man with the red dirt heart was destined to be his. Just like he knew the red dirt that surrounded him was where he was supposed to be.
In the final instalment of the Red Dirt Series, we see Charlie through Travis’ eyes. We see how much he’s grown and how much he loves. We go back to Texas with them, and we see Charlie get everything he truly thought he never deserved.
Red Dirt Heart 4 is Travis’ story.
And this is the story of not just one red dirt heart, but two.
STORY REVIEW:
I’m kind of at a loss as to what to say about this book. (clearly that is NOT true, as I read over this review…) There are a few favorite series I have in this genre, and I would put this series in my top five, maybe in the top three. I don’t even have the words to say how much I love these books or these characters. The absolute only way they could have been better was for N.R. Walker to pick the perfect narrator to do the audio versions. And she totally and completely did that.
Let’s see….. I usually start my reviews with an introduction to the characters, which can be challenging with a series that follows the same characters. That is the case with this book, it is the fourth in a series about the same two guys. If you have read or listened to the previous books, you know damn well who Charlie and Travis are. If you haven’t read or listened to them, you are seriously lacking in your Australian m/m books! Way back in book one, we met Charlie Sutton, owner of the massive Sutton Station in Australia, and Travis Craig, Texan, originally on the station as a agronomy student… we followed them through three books, as they fell in love, had huge amounts of drama and angst, nearly died, nearly broke up, nearly lost each other, nearly lost other characters, on and on. They fight, love, fuck, nose nudge, bicker, cuddle, and laugh.
Now with this book they have been together and settled, so the drama internally is pretty minimal, as far as the risk of them breaking up goes, but there is still vast amounts of external drama! There is one big huge FUCKING thing that had me crying more than I think I probably should have cried… luckily I knew what was coming since I was listening to the audio version and I have read the kindle version so I was prepared. I do admit to stopping the audio book until I got home, so I didn’t drive off the road! Then I settled in for a good hard, ugly cry. Sobbing. But anyway! So much good stuff happens to make up for that!
We see the old favorites on the station, George and Ma, Bacon and Trudy, and Nugget the wombat! Oh, and Charlie’s mother and brother pop in a couple of times.. plus we meet Travis’s family when the two finally travel to Texas! Then a new teenager, Amos, is introduced, and added some fun to the mix of characters. There are lots of little things that go on around the station, it’s hard to really say what the plot is about since it’s just about the life of Travis and Charlie.
Then we get to the ending of the actual book. Oh My Gawd. More freaking tears! A thing happens that is so sweet and perfect between the two men, and I was crying happy tears!
Then there is a whole follow-up after the main part is over, and I fucking CRIED through that! I don’t want to say what happens on the off-chance that someone reading this hasn’t read the book before, but holy crap. I was wrecked! It’s a good thing, I promise, but the way time skips over nearly 20 years in what may have been a half hour at the most in listening time, made me realize how fast the last 20 years of my life have jumped by in glimpses, and it actually made me sad and nostalgic. I’m tearing up right now just thinking about it honestly. It’s like we spent four books with Charlie and Travis covering a couple of years, then in minutes we jumped over 20 years. And I realized it’s over. The end of the story again. I was heartbroken when I read the book when it came out, and even more so this time through. I can’t imagine not having more of these guys… As I was deleting the audio file from my phone, I was half tempted to go pull up the first book and listen to them again! I’m sure I will in the future, I have to revisit Sutton Station.
So yah, I kinda loved this book. I have read nearly all of the books this author has written, she’s definitely an automatic buy for me, and I’m especially fond of her books set in Australia. I love reading books in different countries written by authors that live there, they are so much more authentic. I don’t have the words to tell you how fabulous this book is, this series is, these characters are, I just don’t know what to say! Perfect, fantastic, awesome, emotional, sexy, dramatic, angsty, lovely, heartbreaking, life affirming… there, those are some words!
Read this series and fall in love with the folks of Sutton Station, you won’t regret it! I can’t recommend this series enough, and this ending could not have been better.
Thank you N.R. Walker for giving the world Charlie Sutton and Travis Craig.
NARRATION REVIEW:
And then we have the narration…. so when I listened to the first book in audio, I wasn’t familiar with Joel Leslie. I had seen his name as narrator on books, but I hadn’t listened to anything he had done. I spent the first book trying to decide if he was Australian and could fake a good Texan accent, or if he was Texan, faking a good Australian accent! I’m pretty sure at this point that he isn’t from Australia OR Texas! I don’t know which accent is better…. His voices are all very clear, and his ability to pop between Australian and Texan in one conversation is truly impressive. His Charlie voice is my personal favorite, he speeds up when Charlie goes in to panic yapping mode, and it made me laugh every time! His sexy voices are soooo nice too….
I also need to mention the bad thing that happens without saying what the bad thing is. I had actually forgotten about the bad thing since I had read this book, but a month or so ago Joel Leslie posted a few minutes long video of his reading of the bad thing, and clearly shared his pain at reading that scene. He had to stop narrating several times, to wipe the tears off his face and compose himself. I cried then, watching his pain. It was such a meaningful thing to do, to share his emotions, I was very impressed. Then listening to that scene, I could hear the anguish in Joel’s voice all over again, and I seriously cried.
I still don’t know what Joel Leslie’s voice sounds like, I meant to go find other books he’s narrated and I haven’t done that yet. I promise I will!
The narration of this book, made an incredible book just a bit more incredible!
Thank you Joel Leslie for your excellent narration of a beloved series.
RATING: 
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