Reviewed by Valerie

 

 

TITLE:  Red Dirt Heart Series Collection

AUTHOR:  N.R. Walker

PUBLISHER:  Blue Heart Press

LENGTH: 1120 pages

RELEASE DATE:  October 11, 2021

BLURB:

The Red Dirt Heart Series Collection

Welcome to Sutton Station: One of the world’s largest working farms in the middle of Australia – where if the animals and heat don’t kill you first, your heart just might.

Book One

Charlie Sutton runs Sutton Station the only way he knows how; the way his father did before him. Determined to keep his head down and his heart in check, Charlie swears the red dirt that surrounds him – isolates him – runs through his veins.

American agronomy student Travis Craig arrives at Sutton Station to see how farmers make a living from one of the harshest environments on earth. But it’s not the barren, brutal and totally beautiful landscapes that capture him so completely.

It’s the man with the red dirt heart.

Book Two
Up until Travis arrived on his doorstep, Charlie had lived a very solitary life. He had surrounded himself with isolation; a couple million acres of red dirt, scorching sun and loneliness. Six months on, winter has settled over the desert, and Charlie has the life he never dreamed possible. But living and working together, twenty four hours a day, seven days a week, for six months straight starts to take its toll.

Charlie is a stubborn, stubborn man, who tends to have more conversations in his head than what comes out his mouth, whereas Travis has no problem saying what’s on his mind. And even as they both struggle to communicate, struggle to make sense of need versus want, Charlie can see that he’s pushing Travis away – yet seems helpless to stop it.

When it all boils down to whether Travis should stay or go, maybe the decision won’t be theirs to make.

Book Three
Life for Charlie Sutton has never been better, or busier.

With Travis now a permanent fixture of Sutton Station, a permanent fixture at Charlie’s side, Charlie’s convinced he couldn’t do anything on his ever-growing to-do list without him. He can run a multimillion-dollar cattle business, finish his degree, try and further the local beef industry, deal with staff issues, Ma’s failing health, and an attention-demanding wombat. He can even deal with an unexpected visitor and some shattering news. He can deal with it all, as long as he has Travis.

But what happens when he doesn’t? Red Dirt Heart 3 is the story of Charlie Sutton finally realising he can be the man Travis Craig deserves, even if he doesn’t have Travis. It’s a story of love, family, holding on, letting go and coming home.

Book Four
Moving from a Texas ranch to an Australian Outback station was a life changing decision for Travis Craig. Though it wasn’t really a decision at all. Something in his bones told him to go, though he had no clue as to why. Until he met Sutton Station’s owner, Charlie.

Loving Charlie shouldn’t have been easy. The man was stubborn, and riddled with crippling self-doubt. No, it shouldn’t have been easy at all. Yet somehow, falling in love with Charlie was the easiest thing in the world. Loving him was easy. Living with him, teaching him how to love in return and, more importantly, how to love himself, was not.

But Travis knew all along it’d be worth it. He knew the man with the red dirt heart was destined to be his. Just like he knew the red dirt that surrounded him was where he was supposed to be. In the final installment of the Red Dirt Series, we see Charlie through Travis’ eyes. We see how much he’s grown and how much he loves. We go back to Texas with them, and we see Charlie get everything he truly thought he never deserved.

Red Dirt Heart 4 is Travis’ story. And this is the story of not just one red dirt heart, but two.

Also included:
Red Dirt Heart Christmas short story
Red Dirt Heart Imago crossover

 

REVIEW:

I eagerly revisited the brilliant Red Dirt Heart series when it was re-released as a collection recently. It’s one of my very favorite MM romance series – I would give it ten stars if I could. It’s quintessential N.R. Walker at her very best, and although I have enjoyed every one of her books, there’s something truly special about this series and its leading men. Red Dirt Heart is an immensely enjoyable epic spanning – with the epilogue – nearly twenty-five years. The collection features stunning world building, deep character development of both primary and secondary characters, and a beautiful love story of two men destined for each other. This is strong on the hurt/comfort theme so my eyes leaked quite a bit during the reading. I might go so far as to admit I wept at times. 

 

Book One introduces us to Charlie and Travis, the station hands, and life and work on Sutton Station. For the first time, we get to experience the beauty of the Outback. Charlie Sutton is a twenty-five-year-old man who inherited one of the largest and most remote stations (ranches) in all of Australia, three hours from the nearest town in the Northern Territory. He’s the most stubborn man who walks the earth but he’s caring, loyal and generous with his staff, and a touch jealous and possessive around Trav. And sadly, he carries a world of insecurity. 

For Charlie, being a farmer and living on the land is not a job, it’s a way of life. It’s who Charlie is to his very core. When twenty-three-year-old Travis, an agricultural science exchange student from America, lands on his doorstep for a month to work on the farm, he’s struck by how much they have in common. Trav is a kind, funny, beautiful man who shares his soul deep respect and appreciation for the land, the animals, and the people. Travis is a kind, happy, hard-working guy who’s always smiling. He’s a natural on the station. He has his own streak of stubbornness, as well. He never wants to leave and soon his heart is composed of red dirt, too.  

Although communication isn’t Charlie’s strong suit, these men are always there for each other, with a hand to hold, an ear to listen, a shoulder to cry on, a chest to lean against, and the strength to support each other through difficult times, which are plentiful. Their love isn’t demonstrative; it’s in the tender moments before they fall asleep, the small gestures, how they intertwine their feet under the table, and how they cup each other’s faces before they kiss. It’s in the way they help each other, day in and day out. It feels genuine. 

Charlie lives with his deceased, homophobic father’s disappointment and has to deal with the secondhand shame instilled in him. He was cruelly told he’d have to live a hard, solitary life on the station without a partner because a gay man could never gain the necessary respect and trust of his employees, other farmers, and business colleagues. It takes lots of time for Trav to help Charlie let go of his father’s ghost in his head. 

 

Book Two is all about the growing pains as the men settle into their six-month-old relationship. Charlie’s out of his depth with no relationship experience. He struggles with the idea of being openly gay. He wants so badly to acknowledge Trav as his boyfriend – even to just hold his hand in public – but he can’t get past the deep-rooted mental block set in place by his father.  

Charlie also worries that Trav will grow tired of the simple life on the station. He knows Trav is homesick and has a hard time believing his beloved would choose him over returning to his life and family in Texas. He’s so afraid Trav will leave that he begins to push him away. He worries that he can’t be the man Trav wants him to be. Trav works hard to convince Charlie otherwise, but this is a pervasive theme through to book four.  

Trav adopts a precious, orphaned animal who keeps the family entertained. 

 

Book Three amps up the angst as Charlie and Trav deal with major trials and tribulations and support each other throughout. There’s a new star in town when another adorable, spirited, baby animal joins the family after Trav rescues him. Charlie works to be a farmer Trav is proud of by becoming a leader and innovator among area farmers, working toward his college degree, and being more personally involved in the lives of his employees. Trav helps Charlie to better understand his past relationship with his father. And the men must endure an extended separation that causes Charlie’s insecurities to get the better of him. Throughout all of this, Charlie and Trav’s love for each other grows stronger and deeper.  

Book Four switches to Trav’s first person POV. The story continues with Charlie finally finding true peace within himself and being secure that Trav is with him forever. Charlie leaves Australia for the first time when the men travel to Texas to visit Trav’s family. And the station family expands. 

 

This is Charlie and Travis’ story, but it’s also a study of Charlie’s growth after meeting Travis. We first see him as a closed off, self-doubting man who believes his deceased father’s harmful words and doesn’t think he deserves happiness. By the end, we’ve witnessed his journey to becoming a self-confident man who is open with friends and family, can communicate well with Trav, and understands that his fate is in his own hands. Charlie learns all about acceptance over time: finally understanding and accepting that he’s not his father and doesn’t have to make the same mistakes; proudly accepting his sexuality and becoming an out and proud gay man; accepting his employees as the family they truly are; and most of all, accepting that Trav isn’t going to leave him.  

The Characters 

This series wouldn’t be successful without the myriad of supporting roles, beginning with Ma, the cook, caretaker, and heart of Sutton Station, and her husband, George, the lead hand. Charlie was raised by Ma, the only mother he’s ever known, and George is the man Charlie looks up to.  

Each and every character – from the station hands to the cantankerous, old-school farmers who hate Charlie, to the younger, I’ve-always-got-your-back farmer friends, the troubled teenagers Charlie invites onto the farm, Trav’s family, and various children – is well developed with rich personalities and stories of their own. Even the baby animals Trav keeps rescuing bring an abundance of personality and humor to the homestead. This is truly a found family with love, trust, and support all around. 

One of the themes of the series is about Charlie moving from being detached from the people he works with because he’s afraid of being hurt and let down, to blurring the lines between boss/employee and accepting his hands as friends and family, too. 

Exceptional World Building 

I never tired of reading and learning about life and work on the station. It’s far from my way of life so I found it fascinating: the twice-yearly musters of the cattle, the horse riding, working with the newborn calves, the interaction between all the station hands, and so much more. Ms. Walker paints such a vivid picture I felt like I was watching a documentary on life in the Outback where the dust from the red dirt permeates everything. The landscape is “peaceful, dangerous, and beautiful” and we see it all through Charlie’s eyes, whether it’s on horseback, motorbike, or in the helicopter. There’s the natural spring lagoon and the layered limestone ridge casting shadows over the harsh, sweeping terrain where more than 2,000 cattle graze. The imagery is so realistic I could almost feel the 120 degree heat. And then there’s the stillness of the land when night falls and the desert is covered with millions of stars. 

The warm, welcoming 1920s homestead, with its wide verandas and iron roof, is the heart of the station. There are the daily meals around the large dining table, conversations in the kitchen with Ma, and lots of intimate time in the bedroom.  

The Sex 

There’s nothing Trav likes more than to work hard and get dirty all day long and then get dirty and worked over hard all night long. This pair loves sex: hard sex, sleepy sex, comforting sex, just lots of it, but never too much for the books. They’re on fire together, but its sweet, too. 

The Epilogue 

The ending is a masterpiece of happily ever after. The book itself spans four or five years and then the epilogue adds nineteen more!! For me, a book is not complete if I’m not assured my guys are happy far into the future, and this book delivers. There are no loose ends, no stone unturned. It’s simply perfection.  

If you haven’t yet experienced the extraordinary Red Dirt Heart, now is the time you can get it all in one series collection. It’s also the perfect time for a re-read if you already know how special Charlie, Trav, and all of Sutton Station is. Enjoy! 

RATING: 

BUY LINK: 

Amazon