Under a Rock

Title: Under a Rock
Author: India Harper
Cover Art: Trace Edward Zaber
Publisher: Amber Quill
Buy Link: Buy Link Under A Rock
Genre: Contemporary M/M Romance / Modern Western / Adventure
Length:  Extended Novella – 30K
Rating: 3.75 out of 5 rating stars

A Guest Review by Raine

Summary Review: A light, lively read – slightly spoilt for me by possible inconsistencies.

Blurb: When his father crossed a powerful Mexican drug cartel, Keith Lewis lost everything—his identity, his way of life, and the freedom to live in the open. With a new name, Keith is now in witness protection, and his handler has brought him to the last place on Earth anyone would ever look for him: a cattle ranch in Montana. What Keith didn’t expect to find there was a handsome, tempting former Navy SEAL.

Tanner Bruenig retired to the Montana countryside to try his hand at ranching and savor the peace of hard work and few neighbors. When you’re former military and your cousin’s in the Marshals Service, however, it’s easy enough to get roped into providing a safe haven once in a while. Keith isn’t the first witness to shelter in Tanner’s house or to join him in his bed. But he may be the first one Tanner wants to keep there…

Review:

I have to admit I was a touch disappointed with this novella, and it was mainly because of the high standard I’d enjoyed in these writers’ previous work. What I did enjoy was the everyday details of the story; ranch life and even Keith’s campaign to update the business’s technology. The guy’s casual attraction to each other grew believably enough from little more than, ‘ the only gays on the ranch ‘ to being the basis of a good relationship.

What I found irritating were various occasions which made me come out of the story to consider the likelihood of something, only to find what I’d been questioning was actually resolved a little while later. This was reinforced because of the relatively realistic tone of the story.

These were often trivial things, but they spoiled my immersion in the stories flow. For instance, Keith is taken on an all day ride in snow to check fences in spite of not having ridden for years- he would have been in some serious discomfort, more than could be solved by a hot tub. Also the very small town in Montana is surprisingly gay tolerant, virtually colluding in matchmaking for Tanner. It is quickly mentioned that the mayor’s son had come out and blazed the trail to explain this. These are a couple of the niggles possibly trivial enough to just be my personal twitch.

However my main irritation came from a plot device which made Keith, who had successfully avoided being the ‘spoilt brat character’, seem positively stupid. Again this silly behaviour was acknowledged within the story, but it was too late for me as I’d already emailed Sirius with a rant !

I love books which include horses, especially in well written working situations but again I had an ambivalent reaction to the lovely Foster in this book. My pony girl alter ego thought Foster’s reactions were brilliant, but my sensible self was reminded that it was really so very unlikely.

The Montana setting was well developed and the guys were very like-able together and in spite of my reservations I did find this a pleasant, light and lively read.