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Extreme Bull (2009)

by Catt Ford(Favorite Author)

3.36 of 5 Votes: 4

languge

English

genre

Romance

publisher

Dreamspinner Press

review 1: This story was nice but I'm used to excellent from this author and this one just didn't strike me that way. The premise is two straight guys who have a sudden attraction to each other. Both rodeo bull riders, they fight their own feelings because they just can't be gay and work the rodeo. Clay is much more adamant about that than Jeff is, and is constantly shoving Jeff away then pulling him back in. The angst in the story is mostly self-imposed and mostly Clay. I didn't feel the depth in the characters that I've come to expect from this author and although the story was nice, it just didn't ring true, i.e. it seemed to be an odd premise and unlikely to really happen. But, if you're looking for a fairly short story that would make an easy beach read, this one may be ... morewhat you want. The guys engage in frottage but there's no other sex between them so if you like less, then this is the one for you.
review 2: This is a typical cowboy story about competitive rodeo bull riders that experience an unexpected attraction. This was ok, but the poor characterization and unrelenting head hopping lead to difficult reading and an overall disappointing book. Usually I slide this off by saying for anyone who likes cowboys you can get by the mistakes, but really, there are many better cowboy books out there that lack these problems. I’ve liked the author’s work in the past but don’t recommend this book unfortunately.The plot is about two heterosexual cowboys that fight a sudden and powerful attraction to each other while struggling to come to terms with their sexuality and their relationship. The writing is decent but not outstanding or anything special to call attention to the descriptions or the story building. The rodeo world is rather easy to depict with some authenticity and yet the author gives only the barest amount of detail and lets the drama and angst between the men shine through without much success. This isn’t horribly bad, but the feel, the grit, the dirt and visceral feeling to the rodeo was missing, this could have taken place anywhere else.The other unsuccessful writing element was the point of view changes. Often I comment about head hopping negatively as I don’t particularly like it, and it’s more of an inherent problem within same sex books where the pronouns are easily confused. Here the author used the pronoun “he” for the men interchangeably but did so in a way that was impossible to tell which thoughts belonged to each man sometimes. This was especially difficult as the narration jumps from Clay to Jeff and back again sometimes sentence by sentence in additional to alternating paragraphs. Unfortunately this led to a jarring reading experience.Furthermore the characterization was flawed. Part of this was due to the head hopping so the reader has a difficult time trying to discern which man was feeling what, but the general point was that neither man was comfortable with being homosexual yet couldn’t fight their attraction. Unfortunately the characters and their appropriate actions would flip between the two men, giving a disjointed picture to both instead of a full characterization to either. Clay was especially problematic as he responds eagerly and well to Jeff’s advances, going so far as to be the aggressor most times, yet in the light of day he freaks out and says he’s not gay and refuses to talk to Jeff, only returning each night for more sex and comfort. This read more as a straight man being lured by gay sex rather than someone who was truly gay.Both Clay and Jeff are willing to get each other off in the night but then are very careful not to be exposed or even identified as gay. The aggression both men have is at odds with the vulnerable need they express. While this is supposed to show a softer side to the men and support the statement they’re in love, it felt awkward and disingenuous. Just as their final declaration of love and being “boyfriends” felt out of character and untrue. This declaration and resolution prompted largely by outside circumstances rather than an emotional understanding as well.The plot is decent if not inventive but the story suffers from being poorly put together. Taken in pieces it’s not bad but together the point of view changing and lack of thorough characterization left this as a miss. As I’ve liked the author in the past, I can only hope future editions will be more polished and readable. less

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