Reviewed by Jen
TITLE: Ransom: A Dark MM Romance
SERIES: Dust Devils
AUTHOR: L. Eveland
PUBLISHER: Self Published
LENGTH: 290 pages
RELEASE DATE: May 18, 2026
BLURB:
I’ve protected Pae Saco Ranch for a decade. Now I’m about to burn it all down for the wrong man.
RANSOM
My job is to settle the score when the law turns its back. I don’t talk much. I don’t fuck strangers. I sure as hell don’t trust a Texas Ranger who shows up on my land with a dead judge at his feet and a smile like he’s already won.
Winston Valverde was supposed to be a problem I made disappear.
I’m starting to think he’s going to be a problem I can’t let go of.
WINSTON
I walked onto Pae Saco looking for a killer. I found one.
I just hadn’t counted on wanting him to put his hands on me.
Ransom Lanza is dangerous in a way I’ve only seen a handful of times in my career. He’s quiet. He’s loyal. He’ll burn the world down for the people he loves, and he doesn’t care who’s watching.
He thinks he can kill me. He doesn’t know yet that I’m already under his skin.
One way or another, that man is mine and I’m going to make damn sure he knows it.
Ransom is a dark mm romance set on a ranch in New Mexico between a ranch enforcer and a Texas ranger. The land is hot and unforgiving, and so are the men who live there. Expect steamy insta-obsession, forced proximity, and unapologetically morally gray men. This is book 1 in the Dust Devils series. Each book follows a different couple.
REVIEW:
This was an interesting story. Right off the bat, the cover threw me off a bit. I’m glad I didn’t let that stop me from jumping in. This story centers around a ranch that basically takes in young men who have issues and prison/jail isn’t necessarily the best place for them to be. It gives them purpose and a family, but things are not all on the up and up when it comes to protecting the ranch. Ransom is one of the boys taken in by the ranch who became the right-hand man to the owner. He basically does all the dirty clean up work and has no issues with doing whatever it takes.
When a local judge ends up dead on the ranch land, Ransom is out to check it out and sees Winston, a Texas Ranger, with the body. Winston is not there in an official capacity and it is later learned he has his own reasons for being there. Winston and Ransom have an instant attraction/obsession with each other and it takes some time to figure it all out and who has what ulterior motives, etc. They eventually all join forces when the killer turns out to be another head honcho in town who is hell bent on obtaining ever important water rights which the ranch holds priority over. Things get a bit violent as this water war escalates, and Ransom and the others are pushed to handle things the only way they know how.
There is an added side story about Ransom’s brother who was struck by lightening when they were children and has remained in a coma ever since. Ransom visits monthly in the hopes he will eventually wake up and it appears that will be the case, but the ramifications of being in a coma for over a decade look to make things a bit difficult for the unforeseeable future. Add him to the list of interesting characters to come.
It takes a little while for this one to get going until the pieces are all laid out, but it gradually picks up pace and kept me turning pages to see it all play out. Winston and Ransom fall in love, although not in a mushy way, and loyalties are tested a little on both sides. There are a number of other really interesting characters working on this ranch, and I immediately wanted to know more. I’m excited this is a series and there is more to come, as I’m already looking forward to the next installment.
RATING: 
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