Review: The Lone Rancher by Andrew Grey

The Lone Rancher (Dreamspun Desires #4) by Andrew Grey 
Dreamspinner Press
Novella: 192pgs

2 Pants Off

Blurb:  He'll do anything to save the ranch, including baring it all.

Aubrey Klein is in real trouble—he needs some fast money to save the family ranch. His solution? A weekend job as a stripper at a club in Dallas. For two shows each Saturday, he is the star as The Lone Rancher.

It leads to at least one unexpected revelation: after a show, Garrett Lamston, an old friend from school, approaches the still-masked Aubrey to see about some extra fun… and Aubrey had no idea Garrett was gay. As the two men dodge their mothers’ attempts to set them up with girls, their friendship deepens, and one thing leads to another.

Aubrey know his life stretching between the ranch and the club is a house of cards. He just hopes he can keep it standing long enough to save the ranch and launch the life—and the love—he really hopes he can have.

Review

The Lone Loser 

Well here I am again with an Andrew Grey book…for the life of me I can’t figure out why his books just don’t work for me. It might be the absolute sweetness, with a mild plot that is easily solved. Something always just doesn’t work for me, and The Lone Rancher just didn’t work for me. 

Aubrey Klein is just trying to make ends meet, for his parents and to save his ranch. His parents' have gotten themselves in a whole lot of debt and with their health declining it's up to him to bring everything back into the green. Ranch stuff alone isn't going to cut it so Aubrey has to take up a side job, and that side job is dancing as The Lone Ranger. Aubrey would rather not be doing this, but he’s damn good at it and the money is well needed. When a chance encounter with a long time friend leads to a realization that he’s not the only one hiding secrets. Some secrets can’t stay hidden for long. 

There’s Garrett and he’s just there. Of course it can’t be a romance without a love interest and Garrett is that love interest but for me he was just there like boring wallpaper. There were inconsistencies with his character, and his personality was like a leaf in the wind. So forgettable I had to go back to check his name. 

I don’t even know what to say apart from none of this worked for me. I didn’t like the dialogue, the overall premise was lukewarm, and the romance just didn’t have a good feel. I wanted to believe it and just couldn’t. The plotty device with Aubrey’s dancing was supposed to be the carry all for the story, but the big deal was made about it just didn’t ring true. Mans was just doing some dancing not running a prostitution ring, it was OTT. 

The family dynamic of the infantilism of their grown ass son and Aubrey just going along with it. Nothing irks me more than that shit, it’s not cute and it really bothered me through the entire book. I can understand the need for a smooth sailing romance, the need for happy and roses, but there’s a fine line between realistic and out of this world unbelievable.  

Overall, this one didn’t do anything for me. For this one I think I’m going to have bring back my SSDB (Same Shit Different Book) though it pains me to do so. That’s my feeling right now, The Lone Ranger was a A Lone Loser for me.

FYI- I cannot stand this cover. Hate it!!