Reviewed by Jess
TITLE: The Heart of the Rodeo
AUTHOR: Nicole Higginbotham-Hogue
PUBLISHER: Self-published
LENGTH: 134 pages
RELEASE DATE: January 23, 2019
BLURB:
Blake Young is one of the best bull riders that Melville has seen in years. When she ends up falling off a bull during one of the biggest competitions of her career, she is placed in the hands of an in-home doctor, Dr. Jane Steibold and one of her worst fears, not being able to take care of herself. Blake and Jane clash at first, but as Blake gets used to the restrictions of her new lifestyle, she begins to realize that having Jane in her life might be just what she needed all along.
REVIEW:
This is my first story by this author. I can tell she’s passionate about lesfic and about writing stories with strong butches, charming femmes, and the passion that ignites between them, but this story is a bit on the thin side and the characters never quite got their chance to shine.
Jane is a big city girl fresh out of med school who takes a job as the only doctor in the small town of Melville. Her first big project is tending to Blake, a local rodeo star who injured her leg bull riding and needs an aid to help her recuperate at her house. Blake isn’t too keen on being taken care of, and she bristles at Jane’s attentions, especially since she’s nursing a broken heart on top of a broken leg. They’re also in for a hard time when Martha, the town drama queen and the mayor’s closeted daughter, makes her move on both women, trying to wedge them apart before they even get a chance to come together.
I like these women enough, but I needed more of them. Jane is smart and idealistic, but not enough of her past or personal life is shown. And Blake, though prickly and cantankerous, deserved a deeper arc as she healed and fell for Jane (I’m also a sucker for a shy butch, what can I say?). The book also suffers from weak conflict, because as an antagonist, Martha isn’t very effective—she’s so two-dimensionally evil that she seemed more like a Disney villain than a snotty ex-girlfriend.
I was also frustrated by how much of Blake and Jane’s blooming relationship happened off the page. They were practically enemies before ending up hanging out on the couch, talking all night long, and falling asleep together—but that all was said rather than shown! I wanted to see them get closer, I wanted to know exactly what they talked about. Instead, a whole chunk of development was left out. We like our romances to happen slowly and organically, so leaving out those telltale moments feels like we’re being cheated.
These characters had potential, and Higginbotham-Hogue has obvious love for the genre and for characters and tropes we know and love. It just needs a lot more detail and fleshing-out to be more successful. I’d be happy to read her future works to see how her writing career advances.
RATING: 
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