3.5 stars ( )

It was an interesting read. I’m not sure why, but I struggled to engage with this one. I think it had more to do with the voices used for the audio than anything else but there was a disconnect I couldn’t quite shake. It was decent though. ( )

“Desperate times call for desperate measures” – or so the proverb says. Aubrey can certainly relate when he finds out his parents are in debt over their ears and are about to lose the farm that was their home all their lives. Aubrey doesn’t have any money either – so he decides to become a stripper since it pays well. He is hoping to get rid of the debt faster that way, but even though what he does is not illegal, he isn’t comfortable with the morality of it. Hence, he dresses up as the “lone rancher”, wearing a mask at all times so he can keep his anonymity. But when he discovers his childhood friend, Garrett, among the patrons of the club, he is not only shocked to find out Garrett is gay, but also scared that Garrett will figure out who is behind the mask.

Aubrey faces a lot of issues in this story, and they all seem to pull him in a different direction. Yes, he wants to keep the farm in the family, as he has always seen it as his future. And yes, he wants to respect his parents. But. There is the fact that he is gay but in the closet, and his mother’s constant attempts to find a “nice woman for him to settle down with” grate on his nerves. They grated on mine as well! There is also the fact that he is lying to his parents as well as Garrett about what he does when he goes to Dallas every Saturday night. And then there is the fact that he has feelings for Garrett and would love to explore them, but that seems impossible. Aubrey needs to make a few decisions, and he needs to make them before everything falls apart.

Garrett is in just as much of a quandary. He can’t see himself coming out – ever – since his preacher father and very religious mother have made it abundantly clear what they think of the ”gay lifestyle”. Garrett wants more than a lonely life, or worse, a life married to a woman of his mother’s choosing. But he is scared to change anything in his life until he runs into Aubrey in Dallas and figures out that his old friend is gay too. But to find out he has stripped in front of an audience, never mind how good his reasons or how urgent his need, may just be too much for Garrett.

Secrecy, trying to hide the truth for fear of losing each other, and fear of retaliation from their parents – and everyone else – keep these men from finding happiness for a very long time. When they finally realize that they are the ones in charge of their destinies and that life apart is far worse than life with shared troubles, the real work of building a future together can finally begin.

If you like cowboys and ranchers, if you want to know more about two men who face some tough decisions about coming out in a conservative small town in Texas, and if you’re looking for a read full of angst, moral dilemmas, meddling mothers, and a burning desire to be happy despite what everyone else says, then you will probably like this novella.


NOTE: This book was provided by Dreamspinner Press for the purpose of a review on Rainbow Book Reviews. ( )