Title: The Shearing Gun Main Characters: Henry “Hank” Woods & Elliot Stockton-Montgomery Author: Renae Kaye Genre: Contemporary romance Length: 214 pages Publisher: Dreamspinner Press Date of Publication: September 19th 2014 Story: At twenty-five, Hank owns a small parcel of land in Australia’s rural southwest where he supplements his income from the property with seasonal shearing. Hank is a “shearing gun”—an ace shearer able to shear large numbers of sheep in a single day. His own father kicked him out when his sexuality was revealed, and since no one would ever hire a gay shearer, Hank has remained firmly closeted ever since. Elliot is the newbie doctor in town—city-born and somewhat shell-shocked from his transplant to the country. When a football injury brings Hank to Elliot’s attention, an inappropriate sexual glance and the stuttered apology afterward kickstarts their friendship. Romance and love soon blossom, but it’s hard for either of them to hope for anything permanent. As if the constant threat of being caught isn’t enough, Elliot’s contract runs out after only a year Me and this book: I got to say though that book cover was what turned me down when the first time I saw this back when I didn’t know who Renae Kaye yet. But now I learned my lesson big time. I learned to not judge a book by its cover, again. Review: This book was so unbelievably good and well-constructed that I guarantee there will be no questions left unanswered at the end. Let me get that out there first. Hank makes a living out of taking care of his sheep and other farm animals. He has had a rough past, being send away after his father found out he was gay. Good thing his gay uncle had stepped in and took care of him until he was able to stand on his own two feet again. Now years later, he has a large area of land where he tends to his sheep and he also makes a living out of the yearly shearing job which he excels in. Though his family is okay now with him being gay, Hank has never really had the right reason to come out as gay to the rest of the world. He has friends, good friends, he hangs out with and have a good time but there were some days where he just goes out into the city alone to satisfy himself. Other than that, Hank has been living his life well, except the fact that he can’t be gay in front of everyone though. Now then here comes Elliot, the new doctor in town. Sweet Elliot is the one who tends to Hank when he accidentally hurts himself while playing football with his buddies. Elliot feels an obvious attraction during that short brief moment of meeting that makes him very uncomfortable, since he believes that he has breached the patient-doctor line. So when they eventually meet again, sweet Elliot pushes himself to apologize for his rude and unprofessional behavior which of course Hank accepts oh so casually. Believing that Hank has truly forgiven him, Elliot gives out a hand in Hank’s everyday activities to prevent Hank from further hurting himself while he heals his injury. And we all know where that leads us, right? The two MCs started out being friends, helping each other out, having a good time which would eventually lead to them getting to know more about each other, getting closer. The fact that their relationship started from that alone /despite Elliot ogling Hank in their first meeting/ gave this book that realistic feeling it so portrays. They started from being mates to something more and the transition it took for that was smoothly done. From the beginning to the end, it made me want to read it more just to find out how their relationship grew. And despite this being told in Hank’s perspective, the feelings and emotions showed by Elliot was also palpable. Their banter and dialogues with each other were warm and enjoyable. Heck, just watching Elliot through Hank’s eyes was enjoyable. Love the mental banter that happens inside Hank’s head every single time he thinks about Elliot. It was just so fun being inside Hank’s stubborn head. Also the writing was flawless and it draws you in every time. Though it was set in Australia and there were lots of Australian lingo going on, the glossary at the beginning really helped big time. Sometimes it can be a little bit confusing but it’s manageable. And besides, crooks is a really cute name for chickens. Let the plot not fool you, this book covered all the good things. The romance, the sweetness, the tenderness, the slight angst, the sexual tension, the secondary characters, everything was included and it was all done smoothly. And let me just say that the revelation part was so casual to the point that it was very realistic. Let’s be honest, not everyone goes ballistic when they find out one of their friends is gay. Let’s be real. Plus, I love the connection being Hank and the animals, there’s something fatherly about it. He talks about them as if they were his own and you could plainly see how much he cares about them. The scene where one sheep got hurt, what he said and did, though it was only short, went straight through my heart. Oh and Ps, I found my name in there and it was amazing, I was a grey ewe with a black face. |
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February 2016
"Without a doubt, there was no place, nothing as exotic or rare, as that moment right there with him. Never again could I claim miracles didn't happen." |