Reviewed by Sarina
TITLE: Latigo
SERIES: Latigo #1
AUTHOR: B.A. Tortuga
PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press
LENGTH: 230 pages
RELEASE DATE: May 8, 2018
BLURB:
Being a hard-core rodeo cowboy means getting by with little money and less of a future. But for two hardscrabble rodeo riders, that might change….
Dean’s been around the rodeo circuit long enough to know when a new kid is down on his luck. Giving young Will a ride to the next event is just the neighborly thing to do, passing on some of the kindness strangers have shown him over the years. Who’d expect Will to be such good company? So good in fact, that Dean figures he might just keep Will around—especially since Will feels the same.
Traveling from rodeo to rodeo, enjoying all the fringe benefits they can, is a dream come true for Dean and Will. Troubles with Dean’s family and Will’s stubborn pride separate them for a while, but they always come back together when the chips are down. These two cowboys are a match made in heaven—now they just need to convince everyone else to let them live the life they love and find their future together.
Latigo first published by Torquere Press, July, 2005.
Bits of Leather first published by Torquere Press, July 2007.
REVIEW:
So, while I was aware this was a re-print, I wasn’t originally aware that you’re actually getting two books here instead of just one which, hey, score!
I was totally looking forward to getting into this one because a day that starts off with cowboys is going to be a good day. Surprisingly, I had a little bit of trouble getting into this one; I loved the cowboys as expected but the way the book was laid out is kind of what threw me. I’m used to the stories I read being fairly straight forward and enjoy getting into a nice smooth read. While the events that take place here are nice and linear, the book itself was more like a bunch of snapshots from the life Will and Dean have together rather than just one long, smooth story, if that makes sense. There are time skips all over the place so, for example, something happens and then the next thing you see is days, weeks or months later along. That’s pretty much the entire book; while you get a great long look at their lives together, reading about it came off as a bit choppy for me. I loved getting to see such a long relationship but not having the smooth transitions just threw me off of my reading stride.
Like I said, I did enjoy the nice long look at Will and Dean together; there were plenty of ups and downs along the way but they stood together through it all. There’s also a lot of sex in this book. Like, a lot. LOL. It was understandable since there are sometimes in the book where Will and Dean have been apart and sex is part of reconnecting and other times its a comfort thing while the rest of the time they just can’t help themselves and keeping their hands to themselves just isn’t going to be possible. Honestly, while I can like a lot of sex in my books I would’ve liked maybe a little less on the intimacy and a little more on the story itself. Just my opinion though others may really like the way things were laid out here.
While the majority of the book is actually the original Latigo, you are also getting the second book in the Latigo series which is around 50-60 pages long. I have to say that it was a nice bonus; its still set up the way the rest of the book was, with a series of snapshots. This second story is broken up into seasons as well though, which I liked quite a bit. It was nice getting to see Will and Dean together throughout the year this way and I actually enjoyed this story a little more than the main story of the book. My favorite will probably always be Winter because of the holiday feels that came along with it but I won’t apologize for that. 😀
Overall, I liked the book, and both stories in it, though not as much as I’ve liked other books by this same author. If you’re looking for a good long look at a relationship, this could be something that interests you but if the ‘snapshot’ approach to the story bothers you, you’ll have to decided if you can get past it to read the book.
RATING: 
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