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My Review:Title: Texas Pride
Author: Kindle Alexander
Published by: Indie
Release Date: March 15, 2013
Format: Kindle Book
Pages: 289
Genres: Contemporary, LGBT, Romance, Erotic Romance
Potential Triggers: View Spoiler »
Reading Challenges: Lenoreo's 2022 Backlist Reader Challenge, Lenoreo's 2022 Bookish Resolutions DTTH, Lenoreo's 2022 COYER Spring, Lenoreo's 2022 Diversity Reading Challenge
Find it: Goodreads ✩ Amazon ✩ IndieBound ✩ Book Depository
My rating:
Blurb:When mega movie star and two time Academy Award winner, Austin Grainger voluntarily gave up his dazzling film career, his adoring fan base thought he’d lost his mind. For Austin, the seclusion of fifteen hundred acres in the middle of Texas sounds like paradise. No more cameras, paparazzi, or overzealous media to hound him every day and night. Little did the sexiest man alive know when one door closes, another usually opens. And Austin’s opened by way of a sexy, hot ranch owner right next door.
Kitt Kelly wasn’t your average rancher. He’s young, well educated and has hidden his sexuality for most of his life. When his long time wet dream materializes as his a new neighbor it threatens everything he holds dear. No way the ranching community would ever accept him if he came out. With every part of his life riding on the edge, can Kitt risk it all for a chance at love or will responsibility to his family heritage cost him his one chance at happiness?
3.5 stars — Huh. It was okay. I wasn’t blown away. I wasn’t expecting the little bit of OM stuff at the beginning, but it didn’t last long at least. And honestly? I liked our mains, but I wasn’t like in love with either of them.
I get that a big part of this story is about the difficulty of coming out as gay as a Texas cowboy/farmer/whatever…but I felt like Kitt’s reluctance and paranoia was extreme, and I never got more understanding of it. But that might just be me. I’m sure it stemmed from his childhood, but that whole thing just felt thrown in on occasion and the wrap up felt sloppy too. And besides all that, Kitt was closed off, he had zero close relationships, the ones in the background we didn’t get to see enough of to make him a more well rounded guy.
Meanwhile Austin was pushy as all hell at times. I swear, their first encounter rode the line of dubcon…but maybe I’m just sensitive? Maybe I just wasn’t expecting the roughness. I felt like Austin saw what he wanted, went after it, and damn the consequences. He had some good moments where he tried to do what he could to protect, but overall I wasn’t feeling like he was a guy to admire.
And their relationship seemed to be pretty heavily lust/physical based. I saw some other moments of connection (hence the bump up a half star), but not enough for me personally.
The other thing that kept this as just an okay book was the pacing. It felt off to me. I was super surprised when we got to the end. I felt both like things had resolved awhile ago, and like there were still things to resolve.
So yeah. A DTTH keep that maybe I should have just let go of.
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