Reviewed by Valerie
TITLE: Long Winter
SERIES: Wild Ones #1
AUTHOR: Rachel Ember
PUBLISHER: Chestnut Press
LENGTH: 284 pages
RELEASE DATE: February 19, 2021
BLURB:
A complicated history divides them, but when they find themselves in close quarters while the snow falls, the heat between them builds slowly, and burns hot.
It’s been a long, cold winter at Riverside Ranch, where Robbie has lived alone since his brothers moved away. Alone, that is, except for his three devious cats, four saddle horses, and the forty-eight mustangs that roam the ranch.
Robbie is preparing for yet another snowfall when he gets the last call he expected—a plea to pick up Lance Taylor from the county jail.
Lance wasn’t just his little brother’s best friend, he was a part of the family. Then, one night, after Lance asked Robbie for something Robbie couldn’t give, he ran away and never came back.
Lance was sixteen and heartbroken when he left his middle-of-nowhere hometown. Six years later, he’s at rock bottom with nowhere else to go, and no one to turn to but Robbie, the man Lance has been inconveniently in love with for most of his life.
When Robbie offers Lance a place to stay, Lance expects a guest bedroom and awkward silences. Instead, he finds himself sharing Robbie’s one-room hayloft apartment and its single bed, while realizing that the old flame he carries for Robbie might not be so hopeless, after all.
REVIEW:
Lance Taylor left his small hometown in Nebraska six years ago when he was just sixteen and hasn’t been back since. That is, until now when he escapes an abusive relationship in Chicago. He makes it home but somehow ends up arrested and spends the night in jail. The only person he knows to call for help is his old friend, Danny Chase. Danny no longer lives in the area but calls his oldest brother, Robbie, and asks him to help Lance. It’s Robbie who bails him out; Robbie – the man Lance has had a crush on for the better part of a decade.
Lance was once very close to Danny, Robbie, and the middle Chase brother, Johnny. Their father died when Robbie was a teenager so he ended up raising his brothers on the family ranch. (It’s never mentioned why both Lance and Robbie’s mothers aren’t in the picture.) Lance grew up impoverished with his emotionally abusive and neglectful father. He was lucky to become best friends with his classmate, Danny. Robbie, who is fourteen years older than Lance and Robbie, welcomed Lance as family, helped clothe and feed him, and offered the Chase home and ranch as a sanctuary and escape from Lance’s father. Lance had been harboring a crush on Robbie since his early teenage years, and when he was sixteen, he confronted Robbie with his feelings. Robbie, who loved Lance like family, couldn’t reciprocate. Thoroughly embarrassed, Lance ran away and hasn’t been seen since, although he’s stayed in touch with Danny sporadically.
Currently, Robbie lives on the ranch alone now that Johnny and Danny have both left home to follow their own dreams. His days are lonely and long. After picking up Lance, he takes him back to his studio apartment above the barn (one bed, of course!) and they get snowed in. The reunion between the men is awkward, at best, but there’s clearly an awareness between them and sexual tension. Robbie is bisexual but has never been with a man. Lance works to subtly seduce Robbie with tempting, sexy body movements and eye contact that appear to do the trick. There is strong chemistry from the start.
Rachel Ember is skilled at painting a vivid picture of the story’s setting, although I feel some parts were too descriptive. The pace was too slow for my liking, as well. My biggest problem with the book, however, is the non-linear narrative. Flashbacks don’t usually bother me but they drove me crazy in Long Winter, primarily because they’re non-sequential. The story jumps from 14 years ago to present day, to 30 years ago, back to 14 years, 23 years, 10 years and so forth, and they differ by whose point of view they are in. (The book is dual third person POV throughout.) I was constantly trying to calculate ages through the years until I got too exasperated and gave up.
A villain appears near the end and there’s also an unrelated, interesting twist. Both subplots will feature prominently in book two, I imagine. Since this is an HFN, I look forward to the conclusion of Lance and Robbie’s story in the next book. Hopefully there won’t be flashbacks.
RATING: 
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