Reviewed by Annika
TITLE: Cherish the Land 
SERIES: Lang Downs #5
AUTHOR: Ariel Tachna
NARRATOR: William James
PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press
RELEASE DATE: November 24, 2015
LENGTH: 8 hours, 36 minutes
BLURB:
Seth Simms never wanted to be a cowboy, although to listen to his best friend, Jason Thompson, tell it, he isn’t one. He just happens to have lucked out in coming to live on Lang Downs with his brother ten years ago. He found enough stability to finish high school and go off to university, but he never really believed Lang Downs would be the same haven for him that it had become for so many others. He’s too messed up in the head. No one would accept someone with his issues.
All his life, Jason has had one goal: to come home to Lang Downs as resident veterinarian when they need his skills and jackaroo when they don’t. And it means he gets to spend time with Seth during his occasional visits, even though his dream of going from friends to lovers is hopeless since Seth is straight.
When Seth unexpectedly comes home to stay, Jason takes it as the boon it is. But juggling a relationship with another jackaroo and his friendship with Seth isn’t easy, and that’s before Jason realizes how deep Seth’s issues run and how dangerously Seth chooses to cope with them.
REVIEW:
I have been looking forward to Seth and Jason’s story for a while now. I liked the idea of best friends being in love with each other but both also totally clueless about the other’s feelings. Hiding it for fear of rejection. Add in some self-harm and this book was calling for me for a long while. There’s just something about troubled characters that draws me in.
Jason has lived on the station for his entire life, it’s his home, and it’s where his family is. And apart from going away to uni to become a vet it’s all he’s known, all he wanted. Until one day when he was fifteen and Seth and his brother joined the station. Instant best friends and soon thereafter the crush to end all crushes. He know nothing can happen though, his best friend is straight, and he’d rather have him as a best friend than nothing at all.
Seth recently made a huge decision in his life, breaking up with his girlfriend of three years and deciding to head back to Lang Downs, the only place he ever felt like he belonged. City life just isn’t the right fit for him. He’s also decided to take a chance on Jason, finally telling him that he was bi, and not only that – was also in love with him. Things doesn’t work out as planned, when he arrives home Jason is already seeing one of the jackaroos leaving Seth to try to mend his broken heart.
Sadly Cherish the Land wasn’t everything that I wanted it to be – but isn’t that also the danger with expectations? I expected and wanted Seth and Jason, to feel their longing, the passion. Tachna didn’t quite get us there with her words. Sure she told us how they (and we) felt, were supposed to feel, but we couldn’t be there for it. It wasn’t in the pages and that’s just not enough for me. I want more of a connection. I want to be there and feel it. I never felt any depth to the story or characters, the intent was there for sure but the plot was all a bit too scattered for it to really happen. This in turn made me feel that their relationship was lacking, that there wasn’t any deep connection part from friendship between them. What also bugged me was the speed of their relationship; it went from (believed) unrequited to first kiss to moving in together in just a few days.
It also felt a bit like this book suffered a bit of an identity crisis, of who this book was supposed to be about. Now I know that for all of the prior books (part from the first one) have had multiple POV’s and not only the main characters. Those times were annoying sure, but they were short interludes to catch up. In this book there is a sub-plot involving Sam and Jeremy that at times takes up more space than Seth and Jason do. Sure it was interesting and I enjoy the couple and wanted to know all about it, but this book wasn’t the place for it. I think that it would have been better suited as a novella where we could delve deeper and have more of a coherent story. As it stood now there was no real flow of the story, it was jumbled and miss-matched and it kept me from becoming invested, to feel for the characters like I wanted and had hoped.
As previously, I loved William James Aussie accent. Loved his voices and feelings he added to his narration. Some parts of the books sounded very stilted, there wasn’t any natural flow of the words. I don’t think that was due to James’s narrations as such, but more on choppy writing. It wasn’t all the time, but it was still noticeable when it happened. I do know one thing for sure, and that is that I’m going to look for more of his narrations to listen to – possibly even another Aussie book.
It’s been a nice journey to take with these men and I’ve, for the most part, enjoyed the hours I spent listening to their stories. However I can also say that I’m ready to say goodbye and leave them to their lives, to pick up the next set of strays and just in general living their happily ever afters.
RATING:
Story: 3 hearts
Narration: 4,5 hearts
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