Release Date: October 21, 2016
Length: Novella (90 pages)
Genre: Contemporary M/M Romance
Cover Art: Winterheart Design
Links: MLR Press Amazon Goodreads
Blurb: Shawn Carlisle has dedicated his life to rescuing horses. Having grown up around the Thoroughbred racing industry, he knows for every champion racehorse, there are thousands more who end up broken and forgotten. When he rescues a mare named Heart’s Gamble, he’s heartbroken over her poor condition and he sets out to find her former owner to hold him accountable.
Grant Arrington inherited a horse farm that’s deep in debt from his father. He left years ago, not in agreement with his father’s harsh training methods, and is now trying to decide how to move forward. When he’s confronted by Shawn, he wants nothing more than to do right by Heart’s Gamble, and in the process, get closer to the passionate horse rescuer. The only problem is, he has to convince Shawn to take a gamble on what they could have together.
Review:
3.5 Hearts rounded up. A cynical horse rescuer falls for a more optimistic racehorse trainer with shades of enemies-ish to lovers and opposites attract along with a quite a bit of insta-love. S.J. Frost is too good of an author for this to be anything less than a perfectly readable and enjoyable story, but there was so much potential for this to be even more.
In many ways, this story was personal for me, hence the rounding up. I’ve been involved with breed rescue for dogs, not horses, a long time. Dozens of foster dogs have come through my house on the way to their forever homes, whether it be here on earth or somewhere over the rainbow bridge. The cynicism and misanthropy is a very real byproduct of having to face the worst of human nature over and over and over again. It’s the hardest part of doing rescue and why so many folks burn out. In defense, I keep a quote by Fred Rogers pinned to the wall over my desk. “Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.” Keeping one eye on the helpers is the best way to combat the pervasive darkness.
In any case, the horse rescue subplot is the most successful part of the book. Because Heart’s Gamble is a novella, the time spent on the horses is taken directly out of the romance. The story desperately needed more relationship development. Another five thousand words focused on slowing down the beginning of the relationship would have been well spent. The sex was definitely steamy, but I wanted to see more points of connection between Grant and Shawn.
The cover is okay if a little too photoshoppy. As with the book, the different elements needed more subtle blending to pull everything together into something more cohesive.
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