Reviewed by Kat
TITLE: Hung Up
AUTHOR: Cat Kane
PUBLISHER: Self Published
LENGTH: 175 pages
RELEASE DATE: August 27, 2018
BLURB:
When dissatisfied rodeo cowboy Billy Valentine walks into a small-town bar, he just wants to forget his problems with some good company and a little no-strings fun. Strait-laced veterinarian Spence Quinn might be very good company, but he brings with him complications – and feelings – Billy doesn’t need.
Spence is looking for some redemption of his own, running from a scandal that almost wrecked his career. He’s got a fresh start, working for a rodeo stock contractor miles away from the racing world he left behind, and a hot, cocky cowboy doesn’t figure anywhere in his plans. Until he does.
But when Billy’s desperate attempt at salvaging his career tangles with the ghost of Spence’s troubled past, they’ll have to decide whether the connection they’ve forged is worth the ride.
REVIEW:
I’ve been on a bit of a “cowboy ride” of late so I grabbed one from a new-to-me author.
Billy Valentine Jr’s life isn’t what he is wanting right now but it seems as if he can’t catch a break. His sponsor, Reed, has been on his back about his lack luster performance at the rodeo events and suggests that there might be a way to turn this all around “if he caught his drift”. Billy doesn’t want anything to do with Reed’s cheating plan but his sponsor keeps bullying him until he sorta gives in. He just doesn’t want to know anything about it. With his last chance to get out, and go a different direction in his pathetic life, crushed Billy heads to a local bar in the town they just landed in to drown his sorrows. If he doesn’t watch it he is going to go down that long road his dad did and there was no turning back for Billy Sr. Billy thinks he might have caught a sliver of luck in catching the eye of the handsome guy that walks into the bar. That all turned to no luck when they guy bails on him in the middle of a blow job in an alley. Imagine the surprise when Billy walks up to thank a horse, his old superstition, and discovers the veterinarian working there is no other than Spence Quinn, the guy that ran off. After foraging a friendship things start to heat up. Just when everything looks like it might work out the bottom falls out on their relationship. How can they possibly go on when Spence’s ghosts from the past and Billy’s sponsors “activities” crash into each other?
I tried real hard to get into this story and become invested in Billy and Spence. However, the constant angst was a bit too much and overwhelmed most of the story. I get that Spence had major trust issues from his past. He seemed a bit too trusting and naïve to be as brilliant and innovative as he was professionally. But there is a major difference between book smarts and common sense. Billy seemed to have been given the short end of the stick his entire life. Rodeoing was about the only option out there for him and that career has an expiration date. The problem with the story was that they constantly battled internally with themselves and their thoughts way too much for my liking. When the story would move and they were talking and caring, those parts were fine. However, a great portion of the book was the internal dialogue and Billy trying to figure out how to do the right thing. I leaned more towards Spence because he came clean to Billy. I kept hoping Billy was going to figure out how to do the right thing and possibly ask for Spencer’s advice how to get out of the situation Reed forced him in. I would have liked to have seen them face Reed and Cordell, Spence’s immediate supervisor and major pain in his backside, together and find a solution that took those two worthless jerks out and left Spence and Billy to build a trusting and supporting relationship. Unfortunately that never happened together. I did appreciate that Jacob Diamond seemed to have Spencer’s best interest at heart. He seemed to appreciate him and it looked as if he arranged for Billy and Spence to finally run into each other again.
This wasn’t a bad book but it was just a bit too focused on each of the men’s past and their individual problems that they couldn’t find a way to solve. If you like a real angsty rodeo cowboy book then this is a good choice for you. Unfortunately for me, it fell a bit short. I wanted more of the men and their journey forward and less of all the internal drama.
RATING: 
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