Reviewed on Hearts On Fire... http://heartsonfirereviews.com/


What a beautifully written story about two totally opposite and complex men destined to be together. Rory McCowan spent three years in prison for stealing horses from the Blue River Ranch. Tim Conroy has been carrying a torch for Rory from day one and talks his boss, Hunter Krause, into hiring Rory back at the same ranch he stole the horses from. Hunter makes Tim fully responsible for Rory and his actions which keeps the two men in close contact. Rory has a hard time being accepted back at the ranch but slowly proves his worth as a good ranch hand. Tim wants to help Rory even more and offers to teach Rory how to ride so that he can become a wrangler and make more money. Rory tries to push Tim away and plans to leave the ranch as soon as his parole is up but he can't shake him. Rory also can't shake his awful past and feelings of worthlessness, abandoned by his mother at the age of six to grow up mostly on the streets, turning tricks at sixteen, PTSD from serving in Iraq and more arrests than you can shake a stick at. He cannot see why anyone would be interested in him especially the perpetually optimistic Tim so Rory finds his courage in a bottle and lives as a functional alcoholic. Tim and the others at the ranch miss the alcoholism until one day Tim finds Rory at a motel they had used for sex going through withdrawal. Rory is admitted to the hospital and treated with Tim by his side coaching and protecting him all the way. Tim has his own experiences with alcohol from an alcoholic mother and middle brother and knows the ups and downs of recovery. I liked both Tim and Rory quite a bit once I understood what motivated them to do what they did. The speech that Rory gave at the AA meeting for his six months sober was very touching. There were times that I wanted to slap both men for the way they treated each other. Tim gave too much and Rory didn't give enough. Ms Owens wove many wonderful secondary characters into the story who helped both Tim and Rory and gave depth to the romance story. The story flowed extremely well with a good mix of action, sex and emotional play. I recommend this book highly to anyone looking to invest themselves emotionally in a great cowboy romance. ( )