Crushing On The Cowboy (Sarah M. Anderson)
2.5 stars
Based from Goodreads Page as well as reading a couple of reviews at Dear Author, this novella might be an expansion of Mitch and Paulo's story line that was just secondary or being in the background of the other couples at Anderson's rodeo world.
I thought the story was dry and lacked emotion. It was crammed with Mitch's personal fear of being outed -- since rodeo world was not very kind to gay men. At the same time, I felt that Mitch's internal conflict as well as the feelings between these men were told to me rather than shown. Maybe because this is the author's first full jump into the M/M romance, she still tries to find the balance of telling a story from perspectives of two men? In any case, it was rather hard for me to feel connected to Mitch and Paulo that way.
In addition, amidst of broken conversations between Mitch and Paulo (Mitch was not exactly fluent in Portuguese while Paulo didn't speak English very well), it had too much sex scenes for my taste, instead of relationship development.
I did give a point for one particular thing. I actually thought it would end up in a cliche way ... like them being outed in public or maybe Paulo gets badly injured which leads to love confession at hospital. It was nice to know that it wasn't the case.
ALTHOUGH... at the same time, the ending was way rushed. To me, it felt like it was tying up some loose ends which happened in the other books but the author just didn't want to explain them all again here.
Maybe Crushing on the Cowboy will work better for the fans of this author's works, or for those who are starting their experience of reading M/M Harlequin romance. Unfortunately for me, this novella didn't impress much *shrugs*.
The ARC is provided by the publisher via Netgalley for an exchange of fair and honest review. No high rating is required for any ARC received.
Based from Goodreads Page as well as reading a couple of reviews at Dear Author, this novella might be an expansion of Mitch and Paulo's story line that was just secondary or being in the background of the other couples at Anderson's rodeo world.
I thought the story was dry and lacked emotion. It was crammed with Mitch's personal fear of being outed -- since rodeo world was not very kind to gay men. At the same time, I felt that Mitch's internal conflict as well as the feelings between these men were told to me rather than shown. Maybe because this is the author's first full jump into the M/M romance, she still tries to find the balance of telling a story from perspectives of two men? In any case, it was rather hard for me to feel connected to Mitch and Paulo that way.
In addition, amidst of broken conversations between Mitch and Paulo (Mitch was not exactly fluent in Portuguese while Paulo didn't speak English very well), it had too much sex scenes for my taste, instead of relationship development.
I did give a point for one particular thing. I actually thought it would end up in a cliche way ... like them being outed in public or maybe Paulo gets badly injured which leads to love confession at hospital. It was nice to know that it wasn't the case.
ALTHOUGH... at the same time, the ending was way rushed. To me, it felt like it was tying up some loose ends which happened in the other books but the author just didn't want to explain them all again here.
Maybe Crushing on the Cowboy will work better for the fans of this author's works, or for those who are starting their experience of reading M/M Harlequin romance. Unfortunately for me, this novella didn't impress much *shrugs*.
The ARC is provided by the publisher via Netgalley for an exchange of fair and honest review. No high rating is required for any ARC received.
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