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Review by Jessewave - Cowboy Crush by Eve Cassidy

Title and Link: Cowboy Crush
Author: Eve Cassidy
Publisher URL: Breathless Press
Genre: Contemporary M/M, Western,
Length: Novella (61 PDF pages)
Rating: 3.75 stars out of 5
 

Summary Review: The lack of western atmosphere prevented me from fully enjoying this story despite the two hot cowboys.

THE BLURB

When the future depends on trust—things might get a little rowdy.

After receiving a Dear John letter from his fiancée, Eli Smith isn’t sure what comes next. He’s spent years going from one rodeo to the next, biding his time and saving his money for the ranch he wanted to call home. Unfortunately, he tries to find the answers at the local saloon—too bad the more he drinks, the more he can’t stop thinking about the attraction he’s had to deny. Until now…

Ready to hit the road, Vinn hunts down his circuit companion and best friend, Eli. The last place he expected to find him was in the saloon drowning himself in the bottom of a bottle of whiskey. As if things weren’t complicated enough with the ever-growing attraction between them. But alcohol lowers inhibitions, and for a few brief minutes, Vinn entertains thoughts of going for it—despite the fiancée, despite the friendship, and despite the fact Eli isn’t gay.

Rodeos and cowboys make good bedfellows. But do you risk a friendship simply to scratch an itch?

THE REVIEW

Hold on to your cowboy hats because here comes a fun story with two cowboys that are just raring to go – under the sheets, on top of the sheets, outdoors,  at a barbeque, anywhere they are together. This book is hot and should come with its own fire extinguisher but I had a problem with the theme –  the western atmosphere was mostly missing.

Eli was sitting in a bar drowning his sorrows after getting the kiss-off from his fiancee. He didn’t really care about her, he just wanted his money back that she had stolen. He had plans for that money which included buying a ranch and retiring from the sport of bullriding. Eli hadn’t had sex with his fiancee for a while since he was on the road with Vinn his best friend and rodeo partner for a major part of the year, and when he did he wasn’t really into it, but he couldn’t get out of the hole he had dug for himself. Before he could get really drunk Vinn showed up and dragged him away to their trailer since they had to hit the road immediately, if they wanted to be on time for their next show on the circuit. Eli could barely stand up so Vinn put him to bed, but before he could leave him in the camper and take the first spell driving to their next destination Eli grabbed and kissed him.

Vinn was taken aback since he always thought that Eli was straight – after all, he was engaged to be married to a woman. Because he didn’t want them to be uncomfortable around each other when Eli woke up sober the next morning he left him to sleep off his drunk, but the next morning things were even more heated than the night before and their attraction continued to simmer. It was as if now he was no longer engaged Eli didn’t want to waste any more time pretending. When Eli explained to Vinn about the Dear John letter, the feelings that had been between them for a long time, which they had never admitted to before, were out in the open.  Eli no longer had any sexual inhibitions around Vinn as he became the aggressor, with Vinn only one step behind in getting up close and personal. They couldn’t keep their hands and other body parts from touching and that led to them admitting how they felt about each other.

Eli and Vinn were very sweet together and the sex was hot. They were both likeable and their characters were three dimensional. The relationship between them wasn’t just a crush because apparently they had harboured tender feelings for each other for years and had been gradually falling in love.  Being a bullrider Eli knew that their careers could be in jeopardy if it became known in the macho world of rodeo that he and Vinn were a couple, a major hurdle they would have to overcome, and this was probably the main reason neither one had pursued their attraction before. However Vinn and Eli were young studs who could not stay away from each other once their inhibitions were down and at the end of the story it was clear that they weren’t going to miss out on the opportunity to be together. I really liked this couple.

So if I enjoyed this book so much why didn’t I give it a higher rating? The reason is there is a lack of authenticity about the western theme of Cowboy Crush. The publisher Breathless Press is based in Alberta in Western Canada - home of cowboys, ranches and the world famous Calgary Stampede yet nowhere in this book was there typical cowboy gear or activities. Eli and Vinn were both bullriders according to the blurb, but there were no bulls, bullriding or other rodeo events. This book could just have easily been about a couple of men in a different profession for all the western flavour it provided, other than a barbeque one evening with a few cowboys who had arrived for an event. I was really disappointed at the missed opportunity.

If you don’t mind the lack of western ambiance in a story about cowboys you will enjoy Cowboy Crush.

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