Reviewed by Stephen K.
TITLE: Throw Down
SERIES: (Down Home #5)
AUTHOR: Parker St. John
PUBLISHER: Self published
LENGTH: 270 pages
RELEASE DATE: May 5th, 2024
BLURB:
Briar Phillips is no stranger to bad boys, but Derek Owens is a whole new breed of danger. He’s a grumpy loner with a dark past… and he’s still in the closet.
The hulking cowboy storms into Briar’s veterinary clinic after hours, refusing to take no for an answer. He needs Briar’s help and he needs it now. But with a body built for dominance and demons in his gaze, he’s a temptation—and a threat to Briar’s peaceful way of life.
Once a flamboyant city kid, Briar has sworn off hard men like Derek. The emotionally unavailable kind with troubled pasts and rough hands. But as they grow closer, it’s tempting to forget all that… and surrender to Derek’s arms and his demanding gaze. Giving love to a man who thinks he doesn’t deserve any at all.
But Derek’s past won’t stay there, and soon it threatens to haunt them both. Giving in to the cowboy might lead to more than just heartbreak for Briar–it might be downright dangerous.
REVIEW:
In this book we meet Derek Owens, the oldest brother (and de-facto head) of the Owens clan. The one who took over the duties of his father when West, the youngest Owens kid, was born with a heart defect and their father left the five kids and their mom at home in Sweetwater Oregon. While dad worked in the Alaskan oil fields trying to make enough money to pay medical bills, Derek was left at home to see that his siblings got fed, that his brother got to the hospital when necessary, and pretty much everything else that a resident father would do.
In addition to not ever having attended high school, Derek is blessed (cursed?) with the hulking build (and possibly the countenance) of Shrek, frightening most of those he encounters. Derek promised his mom he’d ABSOLUTELY POSITIVELY NOT be gay too when his youngest brother was discovered with the gay porn stash he’d pilfered from Derek. He’s been trying to live on the straight and narrow ever since.
Enter Briar Phillips, city boy with a flamboyant fashion sense. Sure he’s a competent vet tech, but he fits into rural Oregon like tits on a bull. Briar has had a historically unhealthy attraction for the wrong type, particularly the tall, dark, burly, and surly. Of course he’s attracted to Derek when the two first meet. While Derek may look (and act) the part, it’s clearly an act that Briar is determined to get past.
If, like me, you’ve always had a bit of a thing for the tall rugged cowboy types and their silent demeanors, then you might well enjoy this tale. It’s actually pretty romantic and Briar’s courting of Derek is a bit like watching someone gentle a horse. They might be capable of stomping you into the ground but… as long you don’t spook them, that’s NOT what they want.
This book is NOT as explicitly hot as some of the other books in the series, but what sex there is, is well integrated into the story and seems much more organic than in much of what I’ve been encountering in M/M fiction of late.
Though this IS the fifth book in the series, one might actually enjoy the series more if one starts here. Read this as a stand-alone and much of the material in the earlier books might even be MORE enjoyable encountered in retrospect as further glimpses into the tale that this story tells.
RATING: 
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