City Slicker at the Horny Goat Ranch is the charming story of Keith Kelley a goat rancher who lives at home with his mother, and helps run the ranch. One day real estate developer Max Levin shows up and infuses much life into Keith’s humdrum world. The story is told in third person from both Keith’s and Max’s pov.



This is a totally charming book and just what I was looking for. The story was light, with characters with distinct voices, although somewhat confusing which I’ll explain in a bit. They had issues to work through, but not so angst-ridden that I didn’t want to read it, a perfect balance. The plot moved along nicely and I was never bored. Now that I’ve got that all out of the way, I’ll give details.

Keith first meets Max when Max’s car slid off the road and Max is standing on his car trying to get cell phone reception, which is practically non-existent in the area. Keith tows Max’s car to the shop and finds out that he’s the new neighbor who’s going to develop the land next to their Horny Goat Ranch. Keith’s voice in the story sounds like he’s in his late twenties or early thirties, older than his age. Later in the book, we find out that he’s actually twenty-two which surprised me. When Keith picks up Max, Max does refers to Keith as ‘kid.’ But Max himself sounded like he was the one who was in his early twenties. He was a developer and architect, plus he'd probably been in the business a few years, so I’m guessing he couldn’t have been older than twenty-seven. I’m surprised he referred to Keith as a kid unless I’m mistaken and guys around the same age bracket do call each other that. So this is where the mannerisms, speech patterns and age confused me in the story because both characters sounded like the age referred to the other MC.

Keith and Max couldn't be more different. Keith was in the closet, fearful of what his parents would think of him, especially his mother whom he lived with. He really had no reference of men who were out in his small town, so he had no other belief other than to think he’d be ostracized. His parents were divorced and his father was abusive, so Keith also felt insecure about who he was. Nothing changed in his world and he saw no way out until Max entered it. Around Max, Keith started to bloom. Max was out and confident, he didn’t care if someone knew he was gay, but Keith asked him not to let people know, especially his mother. Max didn’t like it, but agreed not to tell unless they directly asked him.

Keith and Max went from neighbors, to fuck-buddies, to more than that as they each struggled with something they wanted. Keith to accept himself as gay and find someone who wanted to make a home with him and love him for himself. He liked living in Pookataw Valley. Max struggled with settling down. All his life he moved from place to place without attachments, but now he met Keith. Max had to face his past habits of escaping to settling down in a tiny town with someone he cared about.

There was a bit of conflict added into the story having to do with Keith’s dad and large amounts of land. The land issue wasn’t very clear in the story and I wish the author had given a bit more background with maybe Max explaining what was going to happen to Keith, because I was confused. I had to take a half star off for the lack of clarity about this subplot.

The other issue was there were quite a few noticeable grammar issues. Sometimes enough to make the sentence confusing so I had to re-read it to decipher what was being said. I deleted another half star for the SPAG mistakes.

I enjoyed this story and looked forward to Keith’s and Max’s interactions. I can see myself re-reading this and I don’t normally read books a second time. City Slicker at the Horny Goat Ranch is a fast and light read, despite some family and introspective issues. There was character growth, mostly on Keith’s part and some hot sex between the MC’s. I give this story a solid 4 Stars.





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4.5 stars.

City Slicker at the Horny Goat Ranch by Daisy Harris is a delightful romance that is short on angst but long on charm. It is a sweet yet sexy love story with just the right amount of seriousness that fans are sure to enjoy.

Keith Kelley is in his early twenties and he lives on his mom's goat ranch in rural Idaho. He had a small taste of freedom when he went off to college, but Keith returned home when his mom needed help on the ranch. Due to the conservative nature of his beloved hometown, he remains deeply closeted but he does go to Boise for the occasional hook up. While this is not exactly the perfect solution for his love life, Keith is terrified to have a relationship of any kind close to home.

Max Levin is a city dweller whose job as a real estate developer keeps him moving from place to place. He is definitely a fish out of water on his latest assignment but he is immediately charmed by both the beautiful scenery and his attractive next door neighbor. Max has been out and proud for a long time and although he is attracted to Keith, he really is not interested in being anyone's dirty secret.

Despite Keith's uneasiness with his attraction to Max, the two men slowly become friends as Keith helps Max settle into country life. They eventually give in to their simmering desire for one another, but they agree to keep their relationship as friends with benefits. As the months pass, Max discovers he loves the slower pace of life but Keith remains adamant that he cannot live as an openly gay man in the small town. With Max's project fast nearing completion, will the two mean figure out a way to live happily ever after?

City Slicker at the Horny Goat Ranch by Daisy Harris is a light-hearted and fun novella. The characters are likable with real life issues to overcome. This well-written story is fast-paced with an engaging storyline. It is an all around enjoyable read that I highly recommend to fans of M/M romances. ( )

I was in a rut when I read this and it fit in rather perfectly. Not too long, no big drama, cute guys, plus a goat farm called the Horny Goat...what's not to love? ( )