Nowhere To Hide by Andrew Grey
Publisher: Self-Published
Genre: Contemporary, LGBTQ, Erotic Romance
Rating: 4 stars
Reviewed by FernStylish Sinclair Llewelling has little contact with his family, but he loves his cousin Lilly very much, and agrees to help her plan the elegant country wedding of her dreams. There’s just one problem: the foreman of the ranch where the wedding is to take place.
Former rodeo cowboy Dawson West takes his job very seriously, and he doesn’t appreciate anyone who gets in the way. Ranching is in his blood, and the people he works for are like family to him, so when Sinclair and his plans add to his work, he isn’t quiet about making his displeasure known.
Sinclair and Dawson have more in common than they realize, including a strong work ethic, horses, and spines of steel. Their fighting shifts to mutual respect, and heat flares as they see past each other’s walls to the men beneath. Just as Sinclair is getting a taste for ranch life, problems at his late father’s business pull him away from the cowboy who has lassoed him in. They’ll need to team back up to balance jobs, ranch, wedding, and what their hearts want.
Dawson is the foreman of Rita’s ranch and takes his work seriously. When Rita agrees to let Lilly and Ben host their wedding on the ranch, Lilly’s cousin Sinclair agrees to help with the arrangements. Sparks fly between Sinclair and Dawson – both the good and uncomfortable kind – but each have some serious reasons to not want to get too involved. Can they figure out a way to handle their attraction?
After really enjoying the previous story in this series (Nowhere To Ride) I was eager to jump right in to this second offering. I was particularly pleased that – other than the setting and many of the characters being the same – there was absolutely no strong ties between this story and the previous one. Readers can be sure they could pick this book up and enjoy it without any prior knowledge, the story and characters stand very well on their own. I also enjoyed the fact that it was clear from the beginning that both Sinclair and Dawson have numerous layers to them and each had a bit of baggage from their past that needed dealing with. I felt this really added depth and complexity to the story and the plot really sang with it.
Dawson is very much a quiet, strong willed cowboy but I was pleased that he wasn’t stubborn to the point of stupidity. I feel a strength and some level of stubborn is really good in a character, particularly a cowboy, but it never reached pig-headedness or the level where Dawson was merely being obstinate. He was willing to bend and compromise and that just made things so much better to my mind. I also appreciated how at first glance Sinclair might appear to be the slick city-boy, he wasn’t afraid of a bit of work and he, too, was willing to listen and change his mind under the right circumstances. It meant there was plenty of friction between the two men but also there was a willingness to work together and compromise which I feel really boded well.
The pace of the story was delightful for my tastes – slow enough that it felt believable that the two men could edge together and not be too put off by their strong differences, but also not so slow that I wanted to skim or jump ahead to something a bit hotter. I feel the author did an excellent job balancing out the story along with the chemistry and this story really had emotion and connection in spades. I feel readers looking for a steamy M/M cowboy romance should absolutely be satisfied with both the plot and romance aspect to this book.
Steamy and sensual, but with a good plot and layered characters this was a wonderful read that ticked all the right boxes for me. I’m eager to read more by this author.
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