Reviewed by Jen
TITLE: Daddy’s Firm Hands
SERIES: Saddle Up
AUTHOR: Mae Malone
PUBLISHER: Self Published
LENGTH: 147 pages
RELEASE DATE: September 27, 2025
BLURB:
𓃗 Daddy’s Firm Hands is a semi-dark MM cowboy/mafia story in the Saddle Up shared world. Saddle Up is a MM Daddy cowboy multi-author collaboration where you’ll find heart, heat, and a good time!
Will secrets lasso their love before it can start?
Milo
𐚁 I’ve always been a f*ckup, but this time I’ve done something unforgivable. I flee the most ruthless mafia on the east coast, driving west until my car breaks down in the middle of nowhere.
𐚁 A silver fox cowboy picks me up, offering me a job on his ranch in Montana. I thought it would be the perfect place to hide…
𐚁 The problem is, I can’t hide my secrets from Stone. He sees the deepest, darkest parts of myself I can’t face alone.
𐚁 His firm hands are the only remedy that can heal me. He makes me want to be a better, braver man. But I can only outrun my past for so long…It’s only a matter of time before the mafia finds me, and I f*ck this up too.
Stone
℧ Maybe Milo reminds me too much of my younger self, or I’m a sucker for a handsome face. From the minute I meet him, I’m obsessed with peeling back his tough guy exterior layer by layer until only the rawest secrets remain.
℧ I know I shouldn’t indulge—I’m too old for him, and I have my own secrets I’ll take with me to the grave.
℧ But he’s hurting. He needs a firm hand to help him become the man he’s meant to be. Will our secrets lasso us before we can even start?
Daddy’s Firm Hands is a stand alone MM romance with dark themes. Stone and Milo will get their HEA.
REVIEW:
This is a strange combo with dark mafia and cowboy romance, but I love a good mafia theme and who doesn’t love a hot cowboy daddy? I have not read anything by this author or any of the other Saddle Up stories, but it was easy to get the idea on both areas with the one. Milo is part of the mafia family who has had a plethora of negative issues in his past. He is now on the run to escape the family after a series of events put him in the crosshairs. Stone finds Milo broken down on the side of the road and picks him up, offers him a job and a second chance on his ranch.
Milo is a contradiction. He is a bit injured at the moment but while he comes across as a victim, he quickly shows he has skills to hold his own. Stone, on the other hand, is an obsessive dominant cowboy who admittedly lost his previous relationship for those very reasons. It doesn’t really stop him from pursuing Milo after it becomes clear Milo is looking for just those qualities. He is keeping big secrets though justifying same as a means to keep Stone safe from his past.
Things happen pretty quickly in this short story, especially once the past catches up to Milo. The end result seemed to come out of left field to me, and while it worked with the overall story, it just didn’t feel right. I loved the side characters involved with the ranch, i.e. Lucky and Doc, et al. The story ends with crumbs about Lucky finding his HEA with either Sunny, Doc or maybe both. I was hoping this story was a bit more fleshed out, so I would definitely be up to reading more about these guys in another installment. If you love obsessive, possessive types and men who crave that as well, this might just be the book for you.
RATING: 
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