Title: My Heartache Cowboy
Series: The Cowboys, Book 2
Author: Z.A. Maxfield
Genre: Contemporary Romance, M/M Romance
Sensuality Rating: Erotic
Source: review copy provided via NetGalley
Published: January 21, 2014 by Penguin Group
Jimmy Rafferty and Eddie Molina go way back at the J-Bar ranch. They’ve worked together, bunked together, camped out, and drank together. So how has Jimmy failed to notice that Eddie is gay? Eddie has not failed to notice that his friend has a serious drinking problem, and he’s determined to help Jimmy kick the booze cold turkey.
Taking him up to a snowbound cabin to detox, Eddie is confronted with Jimmy’s fierce denial. But the pains of withdrawal are nothing for Jimmy compared with the heartache of denying his true feelings and his deep longing…for the one man who cares for him more than anyone else on earth.
Reviewed By: J9
In a Nutshell: Compelling read that focuses on one character’s struggle toward sobriety just as much as it does the romance between the two realistic characters.
The Set Up: Jimmy and Eddie have been best friends and fellow cowboys for years. Eddie and the boss are worried Jimmy’s drinking is killing him and making him lash out at them so Eddie kidnaps Jimmy. Eddie takes Jimmy to an isolated cabin to dry out but Jimmy’s denial of both his addiction and his feelings for Eddie may tear the men apart.
Why I Read this Book: I read book one of this series and liked it well enough. More importantly the set up for Jimmy and Eddie’s relationship happened in book one and piqued my curiosity so I was eagerly awaiting this one.
What I Liked: I loved Jimmy’s narration and his struggle for sobriety. He’s got a homespun and brutally honest narration style that worked so well for me as a reader that totally captured my attention. This book perfectly writes someone struggling with addiction and recovery, from denial to acceptance and the messy in between. The fact that this character growth slowly unfolds kept me holding my breath, along with Eddie, to see if Jimmy would embrace sobriety. I also appreciated that Jimmy’s recovery is a journey which meanders according to his personality as he learns about AA and truly explores if it will work for him. This author clearly has done research into addiction and recovery to get it this accurate and succeeds in humanizing it in Jimmy’s character.
What I Also Liked: I also loved the relationship between Eddie and Jimmy. They’re best friends but Eddie is at a breaking point with Jimmy. Their relationship must change and grow to be lovers or break them up as friends. This tension has a focal point of Jimmy’s addiction but it’s larger than that too as Jimmy refuses to accept his growing feelings for Eddie. Eddie and Jimmy’s emotional intimacy creeps along in this book but its intensity is powerful as it includes all the things they don’t say to each other but display on a daily basis.
I need to also mention that this book is very complicated. It’s not an easy romance, nor are the characters or situations they put themselves in but I loved this. Eddie, Jimmy, and the people around them are imperfect, messy and bumbling along in life. This isn’t a book that is always easy to read as Jimmy and Eddie both make mistakes and choices many of us wouldn’t. But in my opinion, all this made the book stand out amongst the 500 that I read in a year.
What I Didn’t Like: Traditional romance readers, even MM ones, may take umbrage with the sexual developments in this book. I almost did but soon found it wildly successful because it develops the sexually intimate part of Eddie and Jimmy’s relationship in tandem with the emotional growth. Is it easy? No. Is it a choice many romance readers will dislike? Yes. Does it conform to traditional romance conventions by book’s end? No. Is that all I can say without spoiling the book? Yep.
IMO: My Heartache Cowboy is way better than book one and can be read as a stand alone. MM fans looking for something different should absolutely read this complicated and compelling book.
J9’s Rating:
J9’s reviews for other books in this series:
My Cowboy Heart, Book 1
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