Author: RJ Scott
Release Date: September
2 2016
Blurb
Two men destroyed by the past learn to live—and love—again.
Kyle Braden has nowhere else to go. With no money, no prospects, and no drive to be something else, he turns to the only man who promises him help. Jack Campbell-Hayes wants to show Kyle that he can be more than he ever thought.
Kyle gets to realize just how far he’s come from being the scarred man who shut everyone out, when the first person through the doors of Legacy Ranch carries a gun and threatens to kill anyone who comes near him. Kyle wants to be the man that someone turns to for help and it scares him.
Thrown out of his house and with three years on the streets marking every inch of his body, Jason Smith is scared. His life is an evil mess of hate and despair, and even the offer of a fresh start and a clean bed isn’t enough for him to hand over his gun. He’s cheated death twice, and he’s not letting there be a third time—he might not be so lucky.
For these broken men, Legacy Ranch offers more than a place to live and work.
It offers hope.
A new story set in the world of Jack and Riley Campbell-Hayes and the Double D Ranch, Texas.
My thoughts
You know how sometimes a book is described as ‘giving somebody all the
feels’. Well that! Except multiplied by ten. The first few chapters didn’t just
give me all the feels, they punched me in the gut, left me breathless and torn
between desperately needing to read on and just putting the book away—cause I
don’t do angst. Except that maybe I ought to stop using that ‘don’t do angst’
tag when talking about myself. Because while there were moments, especially
during the first half of the book, when I thought R.J. Scott was trying to kill
me, there was no way I could walk away from Kyle and Jason mid-story. These two
broken men clawed their way into my heart and settled there. Despite the fact
that I didn’t really have time to read last weekend I kept on stealing moments
whenever I could because I had, no I needed, to see them find each other, and
in the process themselves, with my own eyes.
Because I’m not exaggerating when I say that both Kyle and Jason’s back
stories will break your heart. These two young men have been through more
hardship than any person should have to face. They’ve survived, but only barely
and only because they’ve closed themselves off from the rest of the world. Kyle’s
desire to trust the people who are helping him continues to be defeated by the
fact that all his past experiences have shown him others can’t be trusted. And
poor Jason is as incapable of believing that his (bad) luck may have changed at
last.
This story was very well constructed. The, very gradual, change both
Kyle and Jason go through as they learn to work together, open up to each other
and, eventually, to trust and even love each other is done so realistically and
naturally that, for me at least, it was impossible to pinpoint one moment when
it all changed and got better. There are no magical cures or even bright flashes
of enlightenment in this story. Kyle and
Jason grow closer almost despite the fact that their instincts tell them they’re
better off, less vulnerable, on their own. The two men can’t help but recognise
their own fears, pain, and insecurities within each other and instinctively, almost
despite themselves, end up looking out for each other.
I do however feel this book should come with a ‘do not read in public’
warning. I rarely shed real tears over a book, no matter how touching. For this
one it was a close call. With a lot of blinking of my eyes I just about managed
to keep the tears from falling when I got to the end of the story. Had I been
on my own I would have indulged in a little crying session—the middle of a busy
hotel lobby may not be the best place for such behaviour though.
Long story short; Kyle is a touching, at times heartbreaking, stunningly
beautiful, not always easy to read, but utterly rewarding story. I can’t wait
for the next book in the series. I also feel the need to go back and read the
Texas series. While my experience with Kyle is proof that it isn’t necessary to
be familiar with the earlier series to enjoy this book, I am now very curious
about what preceded this story.
Author Bio
RJ Scott is the
bestselling gay romance author of over ninety MM romance books.
She writes emotional stories of complicated characters, cowboys, millionaire,
princes, and the men who get mixed up in their lives. RJ is known for
writing books that always end with a happy ever after. She lives just
outside London and spends every waking minute she isn't with family either
reading or writing.
RJ also writes MF romance under the name Rozenn Scott.
The last time she had a week’s break from writing she didn't like it one
little bit, and she has yet to meet a bottle of wine she couldn’t defeat.
mailto:rj@rjscott.co.uk
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