About Riding Heartbreak Road
Written by Kiernan Kelly
111 pages / 51000 words
ISBN: 978-1-934166-48-2, 1-934166-48-0
Available file types - html, lit, pdf, prc, paperback
Jake Goodall is a Texas bull rider who's used to keeping his preference for men under wraps. Brent Miller is as wealthy New York businessman who has never had to hide. When Brent's car breaks down in Jake's hometown, the two of them begin a romance that might be hazardous to their health.
From the prairies of Texas to the lights of New York and back again, from western rodeos to big city gay bars to a courtroom in Dallas, can the bull rider from the Lone Star State and the businessman from New York buck the odds to stay together?
Review
Alexa Snow, author of Clear Cut, writes:
Texan cowboy Jake Goodall isn't doing much with his life -- part time bull rider, part time clerk at his daddy's feed store, and the occasional one-night tryst with a stranger -- when Brent Miller walks into it. Beautiful, dark-eyed, and in the cutting-edge computer software business, Brent couldn't be more different from Jake, but somehow the two men end up head over heels for each other.
There's been just enough time for them to get a little more involved than either of them intended when some folks in town takes offense to their relationship and decide to take it out on Brent, who ends up beaten within an inch of his life. Jake knows that what's between them is the real deal because he's willing to stick it out through Brent's long weeks in recovery at the hospital, through the long process of nursing Brent back to health. But just because things seem to be settling down doesn't mean they are...
This is a great book. The two main characters are very distinctly drawn, with unique voices and ways of talking, and the sex has a desperate edge to it that makes it both hot and compelling. There's not much in the way of down time as far as plot goes -- the story moves along quickly, keeping the reader's interest without feeling rushed. A very satisfying read; don't miss it!
Sample
It was well past ten o’clock by the time Jake’s pickup crunched onto the gravel of the crowded parking lot of the Lobo, lucky to find a single spot empty around the back of the building. It was Saturday night and the boys were out in force, all looking for a barstool and a beer and a little pussy after a hard week’s worth of work on the ranch. He pulled in, threw the truck in park and turned off the engine, which sputtered and groaned – whether in defiance or relief, Jake couldn’t tell – before falling silent, and then pocketed his keys.
Walking into the bar, Jake looked around for familiar faces. Finding none - which was fine with him considering his motive for being there in the first place - he ambled over to the bar and asked for a longneck. Since the barstools and tables were all full, he found a relatively empty spot near the jukebox and leaned back against a wall behind the pool table. He crossed one foot over the other and idly watched a couple of wranglers rack and stack the balls. His eyes drifted over the room as he took a long swallow of his beer, pausing when he spotted a man sitting alone at a table near the back of the room.
Jake knew immediately that the man was not a local simply by the way he was dressed. The cowboys and ranchers who scratched out a living in these parts didn’t go out to grab a brew on a Saturday night duded up like an undertaker. The man wore an immaculate white dress shirt and a pair of pressed khaki pants, and Jake could see spit-polished dress shoes under the table and a dark blue suit jacket hung neatly over the back of his chair.
The man was the prettiest thing in the bar, in Jake’s opinion. The stranger had thick blue-black hair, spiked and tousled, and a clean-shaven square jaw. Smooth dark brows shadowed eyes that looked to be the color of melted chocolate, from where Jake stood. The stranger’s shoulders looked broad and strong under his pristine white shirt, and his fingers were long and slender as they raised a glass to his full lips. Lips, Jake thought, that made a man want to do some kissing, among other things.
Jake decided to take his chances on striking up a conversation with the stranger. At worst, he’d end up spending some time talking to somebody from somewhere other than this godforsaken, dust-blown part of Texas; at best, if he was lucky, he might not have to spend the night pulling on his pecker all by his lonesome. Pushing off the wall, he threaded his way through the crowd toward the table at the back of the room.