Reviewed by Annika
TITLE: Inherit the Sky
SERIES: Lang Downs #1
AUTHOR: Ariel Tachna
NARRATOR: William James
PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press
RELEASE DATE: January 31, 2019
LENGTH: 6 hours, 53 minutes
BLURB:
Caine Neiheisel is stuck in a dead-end job at the end of a dead-end relationship when the chance of a lifetime falls in his lap. His mother inherits her uncle’s sheep station in New South Wales, Australia, and Caine sees it as the opportunity to start over, out on the range where his stutter won’t hold him back and his willingness to work will surely make up for his lack of knowledge. Unfortunately, Macklin Armstrong, the foreman of Lang Downs who should be Caine’s biggest ally, alternates between being cool and downright dismissive, and the other hands are more amused by Caine’s American accent than they are moved by his plight… until they find out he’s gay and their amusement turns to scorn. It will take all of Caine’s determination-and an act of cruel sabotage by a hostile neighbor-to bring the men of Lang Downs together and give Caine and Macklin a chance at love.
REVIEW:
Caine Neiheisel’s life is going nowhere, he’s stuck. So when his mother inherits a ranch in the outback’s of Australia he sees this as a chance to start over. Said and done, he quits his job, his boyfriend, packs up and sells his things and moves across the world for a fresh start. Only problem is, he’s never set foot on a ranch in his entire life and has no clue what it takes to run a ranch like Lang Downs. And the welcome he gets from the farmhands and the foreman is less than enthusiastic. But Caine is determined to win them over no matter what.
Macklin Armstrong is the foreman on Lang Downs and has been for years. The ranch is the only home he knows and the people there has been his family for the past twenty years. So when the ranch is willed away, and to a yank at that, he is anything but happy and dreads the things to come. Because how can a man with no clue what ranch life is all about have a speck of a chance in running it? He dreads the downfall of his home. What he gets is an out and hard to resist man, eager to learn and listen – for the most part.
I’m a fan of western themed books; give me a cowboy any day. Their world is so far from my own reality and I have to say that I admire what it takes to run a ranch. I mean the skill sets alone is a mile long, add in isolation from everything, that all they have are each other, the equipment they have on site and my mind is blown away. I do know that this is fiction, but men like Caine and Macklin do exist in the world, and I can only say that I’m in awe.
Let’s address the elephant in the room. This book reminds me so much of the Red Dirt Heart series by N.R. Walker. We have the American newcomer, the closeted owner/foreman, the accidents. It’s basically the same set up with different people in a different location. A definite déjà-vu. Then again, this book was written two years prior to Walker’s series, so technically it should be the other way around. On the other hand I do like the set up and plot line in general and didn’t mind the similarities that much. What I did mind was that there was this shallow feel to this story, it lacked depth. It was a miss-match of events taking place but I still lacked that sense of place and connection.
There were a few things that didn’t sit well with me in this book, and that was mainly Caine. I hated that he was basically forcing Macklin to come out and be open about their relationship, about being gay. The manipulations, the guilt tripping. It didn’t sit well with me – especially that early in their relationship – there barely was one! And that’s another thing that I had a problem with, the relationship between them moved at lightning speed. From a kiss to relationship in no time at all. It was too much too soon and felt forced and off to me. It kept me from enjoying the book as much as I would have liked.
Now I *think* William James is a new to me narrator – might have to go look it up later, and it’s not without wariness that I pick up new narrators. This time it paid off – and big time. I love the accents James had for the characters, especially the Aussie one. Now being a non-native English speaker I can’t speak to its authenticity, but to me it sounded real. I was enjoying the heck out of it and kept wanting Macklin to say more so that I could bask in it for just a while longer. My personal favourite though – he narrated with feeling. A definite win for me.
Recommended for the audio, the story left a few things to be desired.
RATING:
Story: 2,5-3 hearts
Narration: 4,5 hearts
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