Reviewed by Stephen K
TITLE: The Trouble With Cowboys
SERIES: Sin Deep #2
AUTHOR: Jodi Payne and B.A. Tortuga
PUBLISHER: Tygerseye Publishing LLC
LENGTH: 267 Pages
RELEASE DATE: February 6, 2024
BLURB:
When Kacey Lowe shows up at his friend Sam’s place in New York, it’s because he has nowhere else to go. He’s lost his shot as a bullrider, and he’s beat up as anything to boot. He doesn’t want to impose on Sam, and he and his buddy tend to get into trouble together anyway. That’s how he ends up at River’s place.
River McIntyre doesn’t really understand Kacey, but he wants to help the tough little cowboy with whatever demons he’s wrestling. He’s not sure he can, and he’s not sure Kacey can be everything he needs, but he sees past Kacey’s pain and insecurities, and knows they could have something special together if they can just figure it out.
The trouble with cowboys, River finds out, is that they might be speaking a different language than a city man like him. But if they can meet in the middle somewhere, it will be worth all the effort. The Trouble with Cowboys is a hurt-comfort, opposites attract, D/s romance set in New York City.
The Sin Deep Series is a spin off of the Cowboy and the Dom Series, set in the same club.
REVIEW:
First a few personal notes/disclaimers:
Initially I was really intrigued by this latest “cowboy in the big city” aspects of this book. Then I’d spotted that it was co-written by B.A. Tortuga. and I’d really enjoyed her Cowboy Logic book a few years back. As a 20 year Manhattan resident who’d been country born and bred these types of stories appeal to me.
That this one involved a new Dom/Sub dynamic made it even more interesting. That’s NOT an area I’ve done of lot of reading about. It’s also an area that I’m more curious about than I used to be. Back when I lived in Manhattan I knew a couple with a dom/sub relationship, and while I’d enjoyed seeing them at parties and poker games, I’d never really talked with them much about their relationship. Just recently after years in Florida I saw them again whilst in Manhattan. With the Dom in that relationship on the far side of 80, and the sub still a vital 50-something, I was struck by the evolution of their relationship and how they both seemed to have benefited.
Now on to the general review:
This is the tale of Kacey, a badly broken guy who’d been through the school of hard knocks and learned all the wrong lessons. After yet another betrayal/abandonment by someone he trusted and thought he loved, he’s at loose ends. He’s left the cowboy life behind and shown up in New York City asking to couch surf a few nights with Sam, an ex-lover that had found answers in a D/s relationship.
Kacey and Sam quickly fall afoul of Kacey’s hair trigger temper and the two of them end up having to be rescued by Sam’s dom and his buddy River.
While River has been a long-time casual Dom in the D/s scene, he’s never taken on the responsibilities of having a full time sub of his own. To a large extent this is a tale of both Kacey and River’s journey.
The mechanics of Kacey and River’s D/s relationship are depicted here in enough detail that it felt at times like a D/s primer. It was enlightening for me as to some of the appeal of this form of relationship. It’s not a type of relationship that appeals to me, but it was easy to enjoy this peek into what was involved and helped me understand some of its appeal for others. Meanwhile, the more traditional sex here is pretty understated by M/M romance standards.
Overall, this is a pretty low-angst tale and it was engaging as well as enlightening. The prose is well constructed and while I’m new to this area myself, it felt original and authentic. If you’ve ever had any curiosity about this scene, then this might be a great intro to the whole area.
RATING: 
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