Reviewed by Sadonna
TITLE: As the Tallgrass Grows
SERIES: Wild Ones
AUTHOR: Rachel Ember
PUBLISHER: Self-published
LENGTH: 332 pages
RELEASE DATE: January 28, 2022
BLURB:
No matter how many times Johnny starts over, things eventually fall apart. Like they did when he left the family ranch he loves in Nebraska, or in his fledgling acting career in L.A., or with his arguably perfect ex-boyfriend. Then he meets pretty, prickly, captivating Owen Galeo. A man who loves fiercely and protectively. A man Johnny is helplessly drawn to, and who inspires him to finally build a life that he won’t burn down. But every idyllic summer comes to an end, and Johnny has never been able to resist his urge to run when things get hard.
Owen’s safe haven has always been his godfathers’ farm. When they need help, he drops everything and moves in for the summer. To his surprise, they already have one house guest—Johnny, their long-lost nephew. Johnny’s beautiful, charismatic, and worst of all, famous…everything Owen’s celebrity parents taught him to hate. Owen resists their instant chemistry, but as the summer works its magic, he falls for Johnny anyway. Even though he can practically hear the clock ticking until Johnny takes off with no regard for who his leaving will hurt.
As the Tallgrass Grows is a stand alone novel in the Wild Ones series.
REVIEW:
Johnny Chase, former cowboy, former actor, almost fiance to an up and coming politician is down to his last few dollars. He leaves the by the week hotel on the bad side of town and uses his last resort bus ticket out of town. Without any other options in LA, Johnny is off to see his previously unknown great uncle at his ranch north of LA. He’s too embarrassed to got home to Nebraska after leaving without a word when a crisis came up in California with his ex. He grew up without parents and his older brother Robbie has kept everything going on the family ranch and Johnny assumes that his brother would not want to hear from him after yet another screwup. Because that’s what Johnny sees himself as – a serial screw up.
Owen Galeo is the only son of a famous Hollywood couple. But his parents have never been close to him and they go through a breakup of sorts every few years. Owen has finished his first year in graduate film school and heads to his godfathers’ ranch for the summer – as he’s been doing basically his whole life. Bo, one of the ranch owners/godfathers has had an accident and so Owen decides to leave early to get there. When he arrives, he finds Johnny Chase. He has NO desire to be around anyone famous and does his best to disassociate himself with the Hollywood crowd – that’s why he’s a documentarian. He’s quite wary of Johnny at first – knowing about his breakup with the politician. What he didn’t know is that Johnny is the great nephew of Dylan Chase, his other godfather.
While on the ranch, Johnny and Owen do their best to help. Johnny’s been working on a list of things that Dylan has been putting off forever during the month he’s been at the ranch. Owen finds Johnny quite attractive, but the last thing he needs is to get involved with someone famous. They manage to keep their distance most of the time, because it’s obviously Johnny reciprocates Owen’s attraction but he sees that Owen is pretty closed off an not exactly excited to spend time with Johnny.
When they begin to clean out the hayloft at the barn, they end up spending quite a bit of time together in the enclosed space and Owen begins to open up a bit after Johnny shares a little bit more about his situation. Pretty soon the sparks fly and they are unable to hold back from touching each other. Their kisses are fire and Johnny and Owen can’t get enough. But Owen’s inexperienced and Johnny definitely isn’t. At first Owen is reluctant to take things further because he’s only there for the summer and he’s got to head back to grad school – and it is Johnny Chase.
Both men have issues from their past that affect their lives. Owen’s parents don’t really have a relationship with him and he’s fine with that. He’s always counted on Bo and Dylan. Johnny didn’t have parents growing up, so he has definitely enjoyed the solid life with Bo and Dylan after the chaos of LA. He doesn’t have many friends either and the ones he has are split in their loyalties between him and his ex. Nobody is on solid footing with what’s going on in LA.
Over the course of the summer, Johnny and Owen do get together and it’s clear that this isn’t just some fling. There are deep feelings here. Even though outside forces and disappointing actions by others cause some hiccups, it’ clear that these two are meant to be together.
This is the first book I’ve read by Rachel Ember, and while it’s the fourth book in this series, it works Ok as a standalone. I think I will need to go back and read the previous books though prior to the next book as I think they provide context around Johnny’s issues with his family and shares the story of Bo and Dylan from the beginning starting in 1972. I really liked both Owen and Johnny and empathized with the things they had been through and the things they still had to deal with. The way the story unfolded provided a way for their pasts to be shared organically without a big info dump. Bo and Dylan are surrogate fathers to both Johnny and Owen – who both need that for different reasons. Both men are insecure about things and Owen has spent the majority of his time away from the ranch alone. He really doesn’t have solid personal relationships with anyone beyond Dylan and Bo. Johnny is a big surprise to him and not at all what he expected from the actor. It takes him a little time to realize that maybe he was judging him a bit harshly based on his “public” face. Johnny is intrigued by Owen because he’s very much walled off and keeps Johnny at a distance for some time. It’s clear that he suspects Johnny of having some other motive for being a Dylan and Bo’s place. Once they decide to give into their attraction, it’s not all easy going for them though and Johnny is afraid that he will end up hurting Owen in the end while Owen is afraid he won’t be enough for Johnny to stay for. Other family secrets are also uncovered that bring both comfort and pain for everyone.
There are a few other secondary characters here, but we don’t really get to know many of them as the main action takes place on the ranch with Bo and Dylan and Johnny and Owen. I’m not sure if they appear in the other books but I didn’t feel like I got to know them here and I’m not sure how much they added to the story. Overall I enjoyed this story and the author’s writing style, but I felt like the first half was extremely slow going. I’m good with a slow burn, but it felt very very drawn out here. There were a number of side stories that took up quite a few pages but didn’t lead to anything. I’m guess maybe they will show up in subsequent books? It took me quite a few days to read this which is indicative that the pacing was off for me. I’m interested to see who will star in the next book since there are definitely a few potential suspects here. If you’re a fan of the extreme slow burn romance with a side of cowboys, I think you’ll enjoy this one.
RATING: 
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