Susan

Books by A.M. Arthur are always a hit or miss for me. I’m glad to find out this one was a hit. It wasn’t perfect, but overall I really did enjoy it.

This had sweet hurt/comfort, which is my crack.



Working as a contractor Ethaniel falls through a roof. He survives, but two of his friends do not. He is now suffering from PCS, Post Concussive Syndrome. He gets dizzy a lot, cannot stomach most foods and he walks with a severe limp. That’s why he moves back to his parents’ ranch. His mom and dad welcome him with open arms, but Ethan isn’t so sure how his parents or his siblings will respond to the fact that he is gay, so he decides to stay in the closet.

But he has a very hard time not giving himself away once he meets one of the stable hands, Angel. Angel has been working at Shockley Stables for the past 3 years, but before that he was in prison for 3 years, for killing a man.

Angel is shy, stutters, and cannot stand The Look. The look people give him once they find out he killed a man. The fact that it was his mother’s abusive boyfriend doesn’t seem to matter to some people.

Ethan and Angel grow very close in a short period of time. Both broken souls, they seem to recognize some of that in each other…



I found the ranch with the entire family living together to be a bit suffocating at first. But when Ethan felt more at ease around his family, I started to like them a bit more.

I also really liked the villain and how things were handled with that. It felt real, the struggle how to treat a family member when he’s violent. He’s still their son/brother, even though he is a bad person.

This was a very nice hurt/comfort story without much relationship angst. The relationship could even be described as a bit cheesy at times, but hey, I like cheese.