This was an amazing and beautiful story about a nineteen year old man struggling to live after a childhood of mental and sexual abuse that started at age eight. Kaden is barely getting by in New York City. He can't hold down a job because of his mental state and his fear of big men which stems back to his step-father raping and torturing him. Being a slightly built young man doesn't help him either. It almost seems that the author went overboard with the abuse yet this really does happen. Kaden became a cutter at some point in his life just to deal with the emotional pain. What is revealed by the cutting is that Kaden knows that he's hurting himself physically and that he is crying out for help. The guy that runs the labor agency that Kaden has been finding work through takes pity on Kaden and puts in a call to his cousin in Montana. The cousin, Logan, owns a large cattle ranch and is in need of a cook for a three month stint. Logan is damaged himself by his parent's bitter marriage but hires Kaden on. It was panic at first sight when the Kaden meets the big cowboy and much of Kaden's time is spent either cooking or hiding out in his room. Logan and his sister, Shea, see that Kaden is troubled but gently let the young man do his work and allow nature to help heal Kaden. A bond of sorts forms between the three and with the unconditional love freely given by Shea and Logan, Kaden slowly builds his self-esteem and trust. The love that forms between Logan and Kaden is a surprise to Logan but not to many of Logan's friends so I'm assuming that Logan is gay but repressed. Ms Loveless did a terrific job of pouring emotion and hope into the story. What takes years to build inside Kaden cannot be just wiped away quickly so some readers may be put off by Kaden and think the story drags. My only problem with the story was the over used word "teen" used to describe Kaden. I liked all three main characters and the way Ms Loveless portrayed the three as family. The story had a good flow and there was outside action that broke up some of the heavier scenes but the story revolved around Kaden as he slowly bloomed into a healthy and fairly secure man. I'd recommend this book to anyone looking for something different to read that will touch their hearts. ( )

I didn't really like it. Objectively, this is probably a better written story than the light-hearted omegaverse story I just read, but I'm much more annoyed by certain things I find unbelievable here than there. I'm much judgier on contemporaries than paranormals and fantasies - when I'm already setting aside belief for a world with people turning into animals and magic fire balls and teleportation and the like, I can just attribute anything odd to it being a different world!

But here we are in rural Montana without a hint of homophobia. GFY MC accepts his new sexuality without even blinking, as do all of his ranch hands. The only issue is with another (straight?) hand going right after our MC, openly and in public. Really?

GFY MC is also super flowery and touchy-feely in his language. Now, I know men can be in touch with their emotions and communicate and all. But the world we live in will punish that, especially in hyper masculine professions like ranching. And I'm not just talking about a private conversation or two. The back half of this book is just one super sweet convo after another.

I also can't believe that the hospital, when stitching up his face, wouldn't notice the other (and we're told there's a lot of them) burn scars. No suspicions at all of abuse? No social worker assigned?

A lot of this could be tweaked without substantial changes to the overall story. Make the other ranch hand want to be the tar out of him for being small or scarred. Have the scar incident be the same incident as the stabbing.

I also now remember that I don't care so much for Loveless's treatment of perspective. I don't mind when authors switch to perspectives other than the two MCs (e.g., Whiskey and Wry has the assassin's POV to up the creep factor and I like that book) but switching for like, single paragraphs, mostly strikes me as unnecessary and disorienting. Generally speaking the one character's reaction is just not that important to my understanding. ( )

Pretty good sentence-level writing kept me going after the point where I might otherwise have DNFed this one. Ultimately I wish I'd just quit. A decent premise, but the character development was lacking--I never felt like I was really getting to know these men, and I really didn't understand why they were falling for each other. And eventually things got dramatic in a way I thought the story neither built up to nor earned. ( )

3.5 Stars

At the start it was heading to a full 4 star read but then, nearing the end and into the epilogue, it veered into mushy, smarmy territory. ( )

A bit melodramatic, but I still loved it. Looking forward to reading more from this author. ( )