Reviewed by Kat
TITLE: The Banker and the Blue Collar Man
SERIES: Snow Creek Ranch Multi-Author Series
AUTHOR: Jackie North
PUBLISHER: Blue Rain Press
LENGTH: 315 pages
RELEASE DATE: August 12, 2026
BLURB:
Love can be found in unexpected places
As a ranch hand on a sprawling ranch in Colorado, Jake finds comfort in routine. Now, the ranch is being transformed into a dude ranch for troubled LGBTQ youths from the city. It’s a change Jake resists, fearing the loss of the ranch’s soul.
Dalton, a banker from Denver, arrives at the ranch to deliver three young men to partake in what the ranch now offers. He’d love to escape his chaotic life, but he feels out of place in the vast, open landscape and has no idea how to fit in, so he doesn’t plan on staying.
To Jake, Dalton is a city boy with tassels on his shoes. Plus, he’s afraid of horses. Jake is not interested, except Dalton is as pretty as a sunrise, with blue eyes reflecting the Colorado sky above, a combination almost impossible for Jake to resist.
To Dalton, Jake is a dusty cowboy with chiseled features and a distant air; he probably hates everyone and everything. Dalton does his best to stay out of Jake’s way.
Dalton attempts getting on a horse, in spite of his fears, and when he gets tossed off, it’s Jake who hauls him to his feet, dusts him off, and teaches him how to ride.
Long days on the ranch lead to late-night talks under the stars. Slowly, they challenge each other. Dalton helps Jake see the beauty in change, while Jake offers Dalton a sense of belonging. Will they put aside their own fears and realize that love can be found in the most unexpected of places?
The Banker and the Blue Collar Man is a 90,000 word contemporary mm romance featuring opposites attract, slow burn, endless flirting, hurt/comfort, fish out of water, only one cot, city boy/country boy, a buckskin named Buddy, and, of course, s’mores over a campfire. Definite HEA.
REVIEW:
I love cowboy stories. Especially when they catch and get to keep their city slicker man!
Dalton Gayle is just helping out his good friend, and former work buddy, Lucas who is now owner of the Snow Creek Ranch. He has two boys at the Center in Denver that he supports. They are LGBTQ+ youth that need help and want to learn ranching. So Dalton takes some well earned and seldom used PTO to bring the boys up and get to see Lucas too. That simple drive turns into more when he helps get the boys some much needed proper ranch clothes, a good cowboy hat and boots, and personal supplies. They literally had nothing of their own. Accompanying them is the stoic ranch hand Jake Colter. He is driving them to the mercantile to help pick out what they need. This drive with the boys should’ve been only a one day adventure. But funny how life changes in a moment.
I love all the ups and downs of this story. How Jake’s early life when he came to the ranch is mimicked by the boys coming now. How he became the mentor after Walter had been his true mentor when he was young. How Walter meant the world to him still, even after his passing. And I loved how it gradually dawned on him that that this was the same kind of opportunity that Lucas was trying to give to the boys like themselves. The discarded ones. The ones no one wanted. It warmed my heart the way he got Xander and took him under his wing. And that Dalton completely understood and embraced it.
You just had to know that Dalton would become a country boy. Will he ever be a cowboy/ranch hand…heck no! But the country wormed its way into him through Jake. And those two, who seemed complete opposites, learned that love comes in the most unique packages sometimes.
One of the things that I truly loved was that they didn’t become instantly wealthy. It didn’t fit these two hard-working men. They had people who cared about them, found family, and had their backs. But they would still work hard to get to live their dream.
This story really warmed my heart. The giving back/paying it forward story that Jake didn’t even realize at first. He would always be a ranch hand not a cowboy. He would always be the one that helped the wild and unsure settle. He would always make sure that they would be gently taken care of and learn trust. That was his nature. He would always be honorable and love Dalton with his whole heart.
This is a great series of hope and love. I highly recommend it and hope that you enjoy it as much as me.
Warning: there is on-page description (some graphic) of horrible child abuse when one MC was in the foster system as a child.
RATING: 
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