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The Tin Star by J. L. Langley

Our story opens at the Tin Star cattle ranch outside a small Texas town.  Its owner 32 year-old Ethan Whitehall inputs herd information on the computer, and looks forward to getting outside to work with his livestock.

Suddenly his best friend John Killian bursts in with bad family news:  John's overbearing dad Jacob has just thrown younger brother Jamie out of the house.  Why?  Jamie has bravely, if unwisely, come out to the family.  Ironically, John adds that, as is the case with Ethan, the girls seem to love Jamie.  Whoa. So Ethan is gay, too?  And John doesn't care?

John's loyalty aside, Ethan has a lot to lose if his own homosexuality becomes known in their conservative cowboy town. He's one of the most successful and respected citizens.  But he could get ostracized or worse.  Because of this, he isn't even in a relationship with a man.  But how can he ignore 21 year-old Jamie who has no place to go?  He tells himself that Jamie can fill a vacant position on his staff.  Good for the ranch and good for Jamie. 

Of course the situation will blossom into something more with these two. Ethan is a big, handsome man at six-foot-four inches tall: well-developed muscles, broad shoulders, and dark good looks from his Mexican mother.  Jamie is lean and sinewy at five-foot-eleven inches tall with beautiful Irish blue eyes.  He has also had a huge crush on Ethan for most of his life.

Ethan and Jamie try to ignore their mutual attraction, but their chemistry scorches the pages! After teasing the readers with several smoldering almost-sex scenes, the author lets her characters get together.  Much sex ensues!  Their smokin'-hot encounters have the rough-and-tumble playfulness that you would expect from two young guys. Nothing Ladylike here! These men really seem like men.

Also good is the intriguing emotional terrain of their age difference. Jamie is only 21 years old, and his innocence and eagerness are pitch-perfect. Ethan, 11 years older, is a steadying influence on Jamie's reckless energy. He is calmer and wiser than Jamie, but never smug about it.  In fact, he conveys a subtle and delighted amazement that they are together.  He takes nothing for granted.  

Even better is the fact that these two are strong-willed guys who don't immediately dissolve into gooey mutual compatibility.  Neither one capitulates to the other's way of doing things. While their emotional bond deepens from intense mutual attraction to real love, they continue to test each other's patience.  Sometimes they argue over small things like Ethan not keeping the place as neat as Jamie would like. Other disagreements are bigger:  each man at different times wants to get out of town while the other wants to stay and make a stand.

Which leads us to the source of the novel's conflict:  it does become public knowledge that Ethan and Jamie are lovers.  Some citizens express their disapproval with snotty remarks.  Others, by shooting at them!  Could old man Jacob Killian be vengeful enough to want to get his youngest son killed? Ethan and Jamie need to find out, and their lives may be at stake. Here at ObsidianBookshelf.com, if I had any disappointment in the book at all, it was that the attempted-murder subplot wasn't explored more thoroughly. But this isn't a mystery so its focus on romance is understandable.  Plus the cover art by April Martinez is absolutely gorgeous.

Relevant Links: Contemporary Fiction Bareback by Chris Owen Which One of Two Lovers Did I Like Best and Why? The Tin Star is available at Amazon through this link:   The Tin Star

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