Reviewed by PizzyGirl
TITLE: Wrestling with Destiny
SERIES: Leather and Grit #2
AUTHOR: Jon Keys
PUBLISHER: Pride Publishing
LENGTH: 140 pages
RELEASE DATE: April 17, 2018
BLURB:
Fresh out of college, Tyler is ready to take on the world—or at least the world of steer wrestling. But after meeting Micah, he comes to realize he’ll have to choose between his two loves—rodeo and his man.
Tyler Lang was a champion steer wrestler at the collegiate level, and now that he’s returned home, he has his sights set for the National Finals in Vegas. His hometown Independence Day parade and rodeo gives him the chance to play the role of town hero, even though it wasn’t an honor he would have pursued. But later, while enjoying a celebratory drink, he runs into Micah Vella, a local rancher who had been a few years ahead of him in high school. Their evening together starts out as two friends watching the Independence Day fireworks. When Micah confesses he is gay, too, Tyler’s careful plans are thrown to the winds.
The couple work to build a relationship, but it’s feeling as if the world is conspiring against them. The pair battle setbacks from a continual plague of problems with Tyler’s gear, attacks that come close to getting them hospitalized and Micah’s father’s diagnosis of a life-threatening illness. With so many things going wrong and their lives in turmoil, Tyler comes to realize he will have to choose between rodeo and Micah.
REVIEW:
This was my first experience with Jon Keys as an author. I have heard good things about his writing so when another reviewer needed to step away, I grabbed this one to give him a try.
I am sad to report that this story was just not for me and left me very confused as to why others are impressed over this author. With that said, I will be picking up another book by this author, probably from another publisher as well, to see if it is just this story before I make a final judgement on if Jon Keys is for me or not. NOTE: feel free to recommend his best works.
For me, the romance was adorable and the ending was cute and wrapped things up nicely. However, the journey was lackluster and felt bland. I read words on the page that told me these men were getting to know one another and that they were emotional and in love, but I never felt their connection nor did I connect to them. I never felt invested in their outcome other than in finding the answer to the saddle breaking mystery. Which turned out to be exactly as I predicted from the very beginning.
I liked the rodeo part and seeing Tyler learn to become an adult and learn to hone his craft better. His native American trainer was a good addition that could have been a better teaching/cultural learning moment.
I also thought there was great potential for more from the side characters, but in the end, I am not sure why some of them were even such large players. Like what was Kenny’s ultimate purpose to the story? What was the purpose of the issues with the father? Are their parents sweet on each other and going to start dating? There were just so many questions left unanswered.
Overall, the story felt immaturely written. The mechanics felt like first time writer with poor editing support. It has a very choppy plot that had me re-reading sections multiple times because I felt like I kept missing details that I eventually just had to admit were not present. The awkward sentence structure and repetitive phrasing had me shaking my head and sometimes hitting a full stop to make sure I was understanding what the author or character was trying to say.
Overall, I was not impressed with the way this story was delivered. I can’t recommend this one to anyone else and I will not be continuing with this series.
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