The Longest Stride

Title: The Longest Stride
Author T.A. Chase
Publisher: Amber Allure
Cover Artist: Trace Edward Zaber
Buy link: Amazon Genre: contemporary/ Fantasy/ Shapeshifter
Length: Novel (45 k words)
Rating: 3 out of 5 rating stars

A Guest Review by Feliz

Summary Review: The basic idea of this novel was original and enjoyable, but overall, it was unfortunately weakly executed and too tedious for me.

**This review contains what might be considered spoilers****

The Blurb: More than twenty years ago, Branimir Javlosk moved from Montana to Kentucky, following the man he loved to a strange new place. They started a rescue farm and rehab center for retired racehorses, or any equine that needed their help. Branimir gained a reputation as a horse whisperer, able to teach the most frightened horse to trust. They were on top of the world—until Branimir’s lover died in a car accident.
Since then, Branimir’s continued on, allowing the horses that need him to fill the empty place left by his tragic loss. Yet Branimir has a secret hidden deep inside of him. One he lets out only on rare occasions when there is a need.
Austin Jameson Spellsin is the youngest and favored son of one of the country’s richest men. But Austin’s not interested in working in the family business of building oilrigs. He wants to ride horses in the Olympics, eventing, to be specific. Yet with all his money, he’s never found the right horse for him. Until one morning, he stares at a scar-covered, half-starving mare named Mary’s Gospel and sees the look of eagles in her unvanquished gaze.
Of course, falling in love with the damaged mare isn’t going to make her want Austin, so he turns to the one man he knows can help him. Taking Mary’s Gospel to Branimir seems the best way to win the mare’s troubled heart. Little does Austin expect that Mary’s Gospel will lose her heart to the older cowboy, but Austin will also find himself aching to heal the wounded soul hiding inside Branimir…

The Review:  Austin Spellsin, a fellow horse breeder and trainer, appeals to Branimir Javlosk in a way he hasn’t experienced since his lover Tilman died five years ago. They meet over Mary’s Gospel, a horse which Austin saves from her abusive owner and takes to Branimir who is well-known for his skill with retraining/ rehabilitating  damaged horses. The attraction is immediate and strong for both of them. Since Austin got injured in a riding accident lately and can’t ride anyway, he takes the opportunity to stay at Branimir’s alongside Mary’s Gospel. Together, Branimir and Austin help the horse heal physically and mentally – while getting closer to each other. Attraction becomes affection becomes love, and it looks as if it could work out between Branimir and Austin, despite the age difference and despite the physical distance between the two men’s businesses.
But then Branimir’s younger brother Drahomir shows up, unvoluntarily dragging doom behind him to Branimir’s place. It becomes impossible for Branimir to keep his birth family’s secrets from Austin any longer. But how will Austin react to Branimir’s revelation?

This started out as a story of two men realizing they’re attracted to each other, taking their time in getting to know each other, and building a relationship together. Although their mutual attraction is supposed to be fierce early on, and although Branimir thinks that he loves Austin after their first day together, they don’t act it out until Austin is healed from his injuries. (apropos, this was the first little bewilderment for me – I couldn’t help thinking, what, you can’t have/give a blowjob when you’ve twisted your ankle? 😉 ) The romance proceeds slowly, they talk a lot before jumping into the sack together, they’re very mature about it. A little too slow for me, but that’s a matter of taste IMO, others might love this aspect of the story. At least it was almost completely angst-free since both are out and confident in their sexuality.

The equine business which I think was supposed to make the backdrop for the romance actually took up center stage for a big part of the story. There are detailed renderings of training sessions for riders and/ or horses, blow-by-blows of horse grooming, hoof picking, saddle-and-bridle-training of a horse, we even get to be inside a horse’s head a few times. While this was nice in a way, it also reminded me of the “Poney Club” books I used to devour when I was little. To me, it was overdone and felt repetitive, but again, this is probably a matter of taste.

The shifter aspect of this book was very interesting. I’m generally not overly interested in the old were-whatever-finds-his-mate-theme, but a horse shifter? I found myself intrigued, but ultimately,  also disappointed. Branimir is a horse shifter, but aside from his “above-average” cock, a tendency for dominance in bed and a few scenes where he runs through the night in shifted form, this didn’t really feel as if it mattered much. Starting with Branimir’s interactions with horses, for example. He IS a horse, after all, but he can’t communicate with them any better than other people with good horse sense. You’d have thought horses would trust one of their own instinctively? Particularly when he’s allegedly a dominant herd stallion? Generally I’d have wished to see more significance to the fact that Branimir is a horse shifter. As it is, this fact could’ve just as easily been left out without changing the story overly much.

But where this book lost me for good was during the last part, from the time where Branimir’s father comes into play. Not only does he act unreasonable and illogical (which he should, as he is crazy after all), there’s an internal inconsistency to his craziness which I just couldn’t wrap my head around. And then, well, Drahomir’s friend Mirek -there is one revelation about him that struck me as so totally  out of place and ridiculous… if I’d been reading this as a paperback, I’d have thrown it across the room for sure at that point.

So this story that started out as a decent, if slow romance, somewhat dragging due to being fraught with details went downhill for me during its last third or so, in a way that I can’t recommend it without reservations. Then again, I’m only one reader with one opinion, and others might very well feel differently.