Book Reviews

Book Blurb

Viscount Collin Northington has spent his life under his father’s thumb. When his friend George and his cowboy husband, Alan, offer to let him tag along to the US for two weeks, Collin jumps at the chance to get away. Perhaps the open ranges of Wyoming will put his problems into perspective. He even dreams of meeting a cowboy of his own.

He doesn’t expect his dreams to come true.

When Tank Rogers returned home after his military service, he took over the family ranch the way he knew he was meant to. Now he’s the only one left, but he likes the solitude. Even so, he has no excuse to object to putting up Alan’s friend for a few weeks in exchange for some help around the ranch—it wouldn’t be neighborly.

The feelings he has for his blue-blooded houseguest aren’t exactly neighborly either.
Once Tank realizes there’s more to Collin than upper-crust manners, suddenly his solitary life holds a lot less appeal. But in the long term, Tank doesn’t fit into Collin’s fancy society life any more than Collin fits into Tank’s down-home and dusty ranch… does he?

 

Book Review

Andrew Grey is, unbelievably, the author of more than 200 books of gay romantic fiction. That is sufficient proof of his ability to successfully reach out to our particular readers, and all without employment of excessive sexuality (i.e., smut) or peculiar twists for any of our less vanilla subgroups. He is a paragon of popularity of middle-of-the-road gay literature. Hooray! Here is another successful entry – a western style story set in contemporary Britain and the United States – populated with characters and problems with which the every-day reader can fully identify. Imagine my surprise to have discovered that my own daughter-in-law, a fully adult, professional woman, really enjoys this genre of which such fiction provides most enjoyable reading – and this without my persuasive reviews!

 

‘The Viscount’s Rancher’ is focused on Collin, a minor, gay English royal, who goes on a two-week vacation to the western United States with a fellow titled countryman and his American fiancé. By ‘western’ the locale, Wyoming, is intended to be contemporary cowboy country. Collin is happy to temporarily escape the narrow world of his prejudiced and perhaps off-balanced father – an earl, who currently is poorly running his own estate. If there is a blessing in Collin’s existence, it is that his late mother, a woman of significant means, left a considerable sum to him – despite the rapacious wants of the earl. The earl serves as one of the story’s villains – a lazy, unpleasant man and miserable father, who frequently is in conflict with Collin. “Maybe you wanted someone who was straight, or maybe a kid who is as useless and lazy as you.”

 

On the other side of the ocean, we are introduced to Timothy ‘Tank’ Rogers, the owner and manager of his own ranch, his little kingdom. His place is adjacent to that of Alan, the partner of George, also an English royal. Tank is in awe when he meets Collin and while he’d as soon avoid complications in his life, the sight of Collin makes Tank’s blood run hotter, though he believes he is destined to be alone. But there is flirting! And full-on sex! How odd that Mr. Grey’s style can so easily slip into purple prose, poetic and exaggerated, and more emotional than merely physiologic.

 

The story is colorful. A villain hovers, for tension’s sake. Collin’s father is also sufficiently bad as to colorfully affect the action. And noblesse oblige seems to affect the choices confronting the heroes.

 

Romance is sweetly presented. Problems are posed and solved. Despite some tension, as we arrive at the last few pages, we are assured of a happy ending for all. Isn’t that enough?

 

 

 

DISCLAIMER: Books reviewed on this site were usually provided at no cost by the publisher or author. This book has been provided by Dreamspinner Press for the purpose of a review.

 

Additional Information

Format	ebook and print
Length	Novel, 184 pages/61446 words
Heat Level
Publication Date	10-September-2024
Price	$6.99 ebook, $16.99 paperback
Buy Link	https://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/books/the-viscounts-rancher-by-andrew-grey-12498-b