Ranch Hands by S.L Danielson

Title: Ranch Hands  
Author: S.L Danielson
Publisher: Smashwords
Length::111pages
Buy the book: Publisher

Blurb:

Sid was in trouble; he’d be wronged in every way one could be. His farm was failing, his lover had left with no warning, and the mortgage is 6 months overdue.

Desperate and pushed by the bank, he hires a live-in boarder, Roger. Unbeknown to Sid, Roger has just escaped his own personal hell and is grateful for the opportunity and new surroundings.

Things are not rosy, however. Neither man will tell the other their secrets due to a huge lack of trust of people in general, especially other men. They have a few incidents, including a couple with the town deadbeat, Jerry.

Finally, an ultimatum is issued. Will things turn around? What will become of the farm and all the hard work? Can these two work past the problems and sow the seeds of love instead of anger?

Review:

I will say this Ranch Hands is not one of the worst books out there and neither can it be considered one of  the best, it ’s right smack in the middle between “what the heck was this” and “ That wasn’t very bad”. I am caught in limbo, I like it but then I feel like the writing fell short, but in the end it was a sweet story about two sad individuals finding love again.

Sid’s ranch is having a hard time with failed crops and no money coming in, he might very well lose what is most precious to him. The mortgage is 6 months overdue, he is suffering from a broken heart, lets just say things aren’t going his way. Sid decides he needs help and takes on a live-in-boarder and hopefully with his help they can bring the farm around. He hires Roger explaining all the hard work and that there would be no pay, what then begins is a discovery in trust and letting go of the past.

Roger has his own dark past, running from an abusive lover, working on a farm is just what he needs to clear his head and begin anew. Well he has feelings for his boss, and not the general feelings you usually have for an employer, these feeling are the I wanna get you naked feelings. Well the naked part seems far off in the distance, because Sid and Roger can never see eye to eye, they constantly fight and mostly they just ignore each other.

When Roger starts snooping he finds the name of the man who broke Sid’s heart and this pushes them further apart but in the end they resolves their issues. They share the past and the feelings they have for each other, and they begin their lives together. Things don’t remain peachy and the villains of the past pop in for a visit. I had my issues with that, it was kind of expected that past loves would appear, but consecutively, that just threw me for a loop.

Overall, it’s an ok story and the characters are likeable, and the plot is very touching. Told in third person, you get a glimpse of what both Roger and Sid is feeling. There was lots of drama, and for a book with only 111pages believe me when I say a whole lot happens, but it gets resolved. There were a few times when I felt like certain conversations just jumped from one topic to the other, and that left me a little confused, its still quite and easy story line to follow.  Another issue was I could never figure out if they had sex or not, and when they did, easily forgettable and not the least bit sexy. With all the angst and depressing moments, we do get a neat little HEA, and it is quite sweet. This is one of those books where you have to draw your own conclusion, for me it was just ok.