Please welcome Z.A. Maxfield and her latest novel
My Cowboy Heart
From the blurb:
A cowboy's heart has room for anything…
J-Bar ranch foreman Malloy pretty much keeps to himself—slinking around the edges of everybody else like an old coyote, doing his job and staying private. That is until Crispin Carrasco shows up.
Lean, muscular, and with a motor mouth that won’t quit, Crispin sparks something in Malloy—something the foreman didn’t know was there. But how does a lone coyote approach the warmth of a fire? And more important, what would happen if that fire burned?
An excerpt:
The first thing I noticed was the kid looked awfully young for twenty-five and he wasn’t dressed for the cold.
You’d think a guy who worked on a ranch in Wyoming would have something warmer to wear in the kind of weather we were having that day than a denim jacket and jeans. He had some kind of homemade sweater on underneath it, and a garish, poorly knit scarf wound about fifty times around his neck but even with all that, he had to be blue cold to the bone.
His aunt Flora had driven him up to the bunkhouse in a beater car and popped the trunk, and then, before anyone said a word, he’d rushed up the porch steps with about five cardboard boxes stacked precariously in his arms. Flora waved and shrugged as if to say, “What can you do?”
“I got a suitcase too and my saddle,” he said without even looking at me. He returned from the next trip with a pilot case and a nicely worn leather saddle. The way he carried it was all cowboy, which surprised me. He was a rangy kid, taller than me, but though I’d started out thinking he was a beanpole, it soon became clear I was mistaken. He’d hefted that heavy saddle like it weighed nothing.
He ran back out and hugged his aunt good-bye just like a little boy, lifting her off the ground in his enthusiasm. She blushed all pretty and gave him a little shove when he seemed to admonish her about something. When she relented, he hugged her again.
He joined me on the porch. We watched Flora get back in her car to drive away. “She says she’ll take care of herself, but I worry since she got sick. She’s angry and depressed and sometimes she doesn’t choose to eat right or she blows off exercise. I know for a fact she thinks she has a stash of cookie dough wrapped in a bag in the freezer that says salmon on the label. I ate it last night and left actual salmon in its place. Call it a public service. She can thank me in ten years if she doesn’t piss around and get herself dead first.”
I might have said something but he’d grabbed my hand and pumped it up and down the whole time he talked.
And he talked an awful goddamn lot, just like Mr. Jenkins said he would.
“Crispin Carrasco. If you tell me where I can put my things, I’ll just stash them and you can get started showing me around. I’ve known Mr. Jenkins since I was a kid, so I know the J-Bar. I guess you don’t have much use for extra hands in winter but I promised him I’d get a running start and do whatever needs doing. Anything. Just put me to work.”
I finally pulled my hand back. “There’s always work to be done around a ranch, but—”
“Don’t I know it, and it’s not like it stops for a little snow. I like the cold anyway. It makes me feel alive. When I was in Wyoming I had to drag the hoses out and break the ice in the water tanks with an ax every morning to top them off. Then I had to empty the hoses when I was done so they wouldn’t freeze and burst. Isn’t it odd that water expands when it freezes, while everything else contracts?”
“Didn’t you bring anything warmer to wear? You’ll freeze going out to tend the animals like that.”
“Of course I brought something warmer, jefe. The only problem is I met someone on the street yesterday who needed it more.”
“You gave your coat away when the weather is like this?”
“It would hardly be necessary to give it away when the weather isn’t like this, would it?”
That made an odd kind of sense. I started to speak, but stopped myself. Sure as shit, he filled the quiet morning air with words again.
“I’m an active guy and I’ve been told I positively generate heat. I’m going to have to wait until I get paid to get another coat, but I have a hat and about fifty sweaters from my Nina Flora, and this scarf, and—”
“You can’t do work like this without the proper equipment, son.”
“Crispin.”
“Crispin?” I nearly choked on the name. “Are you really called Crispin?”
He rolled his eyes. “Crispin Glover was an actor in Back to the Future. My dad had a walk-on role in that movie and that’s where he met my mom. They liked the guy, so when I was born, they named me Crispin.”
“Your dad was an actor?” This kid’s thoughts seemed to gallop along like a herd of wild horses. I could maybe get close enough to catch one every other minute or so.
***~~~~~***
Sandra's review:
A book about two gay cowboys? Sign me up!!!
When I read the blurb, I expected a GFY romance. It wasn't. It's a very carefully written Out For You book, with a ton of emotions and very likable characters all around.
Malloy (that's his last name, and his first isn't revealed for quite a while) is the steady, quiet and rather lonely foreman of J-Bar Ranch, where he's lived and worked since he was taking in by the owners at age 14. Now in his early thirties, he quietly and steadily loves the ranch, works the land and supports the family who's given him a chance after a bad youth. His backstory comes out in bits and pieces as part of the plot, and the author did a great job showing (not telling) what made this man the way he is. He keeps to himself, partly out of choice, and partly because his deep-seated issues don't allow him to think he truly belongs.
From the start, Malloy's deep love and gratitude for his foster parents/employers shines through in everything he says and does. Even if he refuses to call Randall by his first name, after all these years. There are hints at abandonment issues, that are unfortunately not explored deeply enough by book's end, but that drive a lot of Malloy's actions and reactions.
When the owners (Randall and Emma Jenkins) take a vacation to visit their daughter in Florida, they tell Malloy of having hired a new kid (Crispin Carrasco) who needed a place to stay while he's caring for his elderly aunt.
Crispin is a shock to Malloy's system. Where he's never had any inclination to take his infrequent relationships with women to anything beyond a one-night stand, Crispin, gay, out, talking up a storm and somewhat flamboyant, throws Malloy a curve ball. He's never questioned his sexuality before, but as the story progresses, the author slowly lets Malloy explore this instant attraction and desire, while also dealing with the fact that Crispin in effect works for him.
When Crispin's backstory is revealed, I had tears in my eyes, though I wish the author had further explored the repercussions of that scene and delved a little deeper into the issue raised. And really, does that sort of thing with the sheep actually happen in real life, OMG? (You'll know what I mean when you read it.)
The author's no-nonsense writing style lends itself beautifully to this kind of romance. There's a lot of subtle touches in the writing, considering we see everything from Malloy's POV. Dialogue and narration both give insights into his feelings, how he sees the world and what he fears the most.
What impressed me most is that all the characters including the supporting cast where three-dimensional and realistic. Even Jim and Eddie, the other two ranch hands, with their own issues, were much more than simple caricatures of either homophobic or in the closet men. The reactions of Randall's daughter towards the end was also completely realistic and understandable.
I don't usually comment on the cover image, but in this case I feel the need to applaud the choice. It's nice to see a cover that doesn't depict half-nekkid men to sell the romance.
And while this book had a few sex scenes, it's not something I would consider erotica, despite the explicit language. Each sex scene is driven by the men's emotions and exudes much more than just the act. What I did question was the realism of riding a horse all day and then giving BJs without showering. Maybe these two men didn't care, but I sure did. I'm all for dirty, but not that kind of dirty.
What lost this book its fifth star was the lack of fully exploring the issues in both characters. While they discuss Crispin's trauma, and Malloy even suggests he see someone about it, the author never lets them deal with Malloy's own issues, especially not where those concern the relationship. For such complex characters as the author created, I felt let down. Neither of their issues were the kind that go away overnight or can be cured by the love of a good man. While I liked their HEA, it didn't feel realistic in the full context of this book.
In the end, this was a heart-warming, sweet romance, with a bit of angst and melodrama, but an overall message that family is more than just blood relations, that no man is an island, and that love will find out whether you're looking for it or not.
The book included an excerpt of the next one in this series, in which Jim and Eddie get their story. I can hardly wait.
***I received a free ARC from the publisher via Netgalley. A positive review was not promised in return.***
About the author:
Z. A. Maxfield started writing in 2007 on a dare from her children and never looked back. Pathologically disorganized, and perennially optimistic, she writes as much as she can, reads as much as she dares, and enjoys her time with family and friends. If anyone asks her how a wife and mother of four manages to find time for a writing career, she’ll answer, “It’s amazing what you can accomplish if you give up housework.”
Her published books include Crossing Borders, Drawn Together, and the St. Nacho’s and Brothers Grime series from Loose Id, ePistols at Dawn and The Pharaoh’s Concubine from Samhain Publishing, and Notturno, Vigil, Stirring Up Trouble, and All Stirred Up from MLR Press.
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Thanks for stopping by. Until next time, happy reading!
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