Review - Tyler by C.H. Admirand

TITLE:    Tyler (The Secret Life of Cowboys)
AUTHOR:    C.H. Admirand
INFO:    Paperback, Fiction, 337 pages
PUBLISHED:   Sourcebooks, 2011
SOURCE:   Received from Publisher for review

FROM GOODREADS:    Faced with a mountain of bills, rancher Tyler Garahan takes a night job with a lot of trepidation. But being a male performer at a strip club does come with at least one beautiful compensation-and feisty red-haired bookkeeper Emily Langley seems to understand Tyler even better than he understands himself...


MY TAKE:    I have come to a realization that I shouldn't read books that are about things that I have a deep personal knowledge of.  Even though it's fiction where the writer has complete artistic license, I get distracted when the subject matter is way off mark from what I know.  Real-life working cowboys are one of those subjects.  For those of you that don't already know, I grew up on a cattle and horse ranch.  Around dozens and dozens of true life, high-def working cowboys in all of their dust, manure and glory. I am still surrounded by many of these same guys to this day. This fact and my own realities of ranch life made it really hard for me to get into a book like this.  I find myself trying to picture even one of these guys I know in these situations and I fail miserably. 

In this story, Tyler is a cowboy, who along with his brothers owns a ranch that they are in danger of losing.  He decides to take a job as a male stripper in order to make ends meet.  The opening scene of the book is Tyler applying for a job and being sexually assaulted by several women.  (There is really no other description for it, sorry.)  While that sounds sexy and I'm sure really appealing to most men, I guarantee that any of the cowboys that I grew up with and around would have run screaming for the hills, even if it meant no paycheck. 

The romance aspect between Tyler and Emily was enjoyable, quite steamy.  In fact, I liked her character quite a bit.  She was funny and warm while the rest of the women, including Tyler's ex, came across as piranhas and other not so nice creatures.  Even with Emily being sweet and Tyler being sexy, I just couldn't really dig up enough feeling to care about all of these characters and their story.

I do want to say that I like the author's writing style.  Her words flow and she isn't overly-descriptive when it isn't warranted. You move quickly through the pages without being bogged down by extraneous information.  I think if the cowboy portrayal didn't annoy me, I would have really enjoyed the story.  Maybe if it had been a pilot as the main character?  (Even though I worked at an airline for a few years, several of the pilots I knew would have loved being pawed at and mauled by overly-amorous women :) 

I do think fans of western romance and romance in general, should give the book a try. Like I said above, the romance part is good, the cowboy and ranch part just wasn't a fit for me personally.  I AM looking forward to reading some of the author's medieval stories with swords and men in kilts!!  These sound good:

        

The Saxon Bride & The Lord of Merewood Keep

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Out of 5 JEWELS, I give it:

It was OK

WHERE TO BUY IT:    Amazon and The Book Depository

 
~~~~~ Disclaimer:  All opinions expressed on this blog are 100% my own.  I do not receive monetary compensation for my reviews but do utilize affiliate links.  I may receive books in  order to facilitate a review, but this does not guarantee a good review - only a completely honest one.  Each review post denotes how I obtained the book.

My TBR Shelf's New Releases

I have been in a bit of a reviewing slump lately as I'm sure some have noticed ~ lots of personal and just plain life things happening.  Due to this shift in my attention, my TBR shelf is groaning and sagging under the weight of some lovely books just waiting for me to get to them.  Three of the ever patient tomes were released early this week so I decided to feature them today and give you a heads up (along with the synopsis from Goodreads).  My reviews will come at a later date.

 

 

Tyler (The Secret Life of Cowboys)

by C.H. Admirand

 

Faced with a mountain of bills, rancher Tyler Garahan takes a night job with a lot of trepidation. But being a male performer at a strip club does come with at least one beautiful compensation-and feisty red-haired bookkeeper Emily Langley seems to understand Tyler even better than he understands himself...



Abigail
by Malcolm Macdonald

Daughter of the wealthy and storied Stevenson family, Abigail Stevenson should have been a creature of unawakened innocence. But one fateful day she tricks her maid, Annie, into telling her the facts of life, and soon Abigail comes to realize that the same shocking secret can be a glorious and life-enhancing mystery. Thus begins her path of passion and indomitable ambition that will lead her from England to the great capitals of Europe, from the passions of man and woman to those of an intellectual, artist, and creator.




Sing You Home: A Novel
by Jodi Picoult

Zoe Baxter has spent ten years trying to get pregnant, and after multiple miscarriages and infertility issues, it looks like her dream is about to come true – she is seven months pregnant. But a terrible turn of events leads to a nightmare – one that takes away the baby she has already fallen for; and breaks apart her marriage to Max. In the aftermath, she throws herself into her career as a music therapist – using music clinically to soothe burn victims in a hospital; to help Alzheimer’s patients connect with the present; to provide solace for hospice patients. When Vanessa – a guidance counselor -- asks her to work with a suicidal teen, their relationship moves from business to friendship and then, to Zoe’s surprise, blossoms into love. When Zoe allows herself to start thinking of having a family, again, she remembers that there are still frozen embryos that were never used by herself and Max.

Meanwhile, Max has found peace at the bottom of a bottle – until he is redeemed by an evangelical church, whose charismatic pastor – Clive Lincoln – has vowed to fight the “homosexual agenda” that has threatened traditional family values in America. But this mission becomes personal for Max, when Zoe and her same-sex partner say they want permission to raise his unborn child.

SING YOU HOME explores what it means to be gay in today’s world, and how reproductive science has outstripped the legal system. Are embryos people or property? What challenges do same-sex couples face when it comes to marriage and adoption? What happens when religion and sexual orientation – two issues that are supposed to be justice-blind – enter the courtroom? And most importantly, what constitutes a “traditional family” in today’s day and age?
 

 

~~~~~ Disclaimer:  All opinions expressed on this blog are 100% my own.  I do not receive monetary compensation for my reviews but do utilize affiliate links.  I may receive books in  order to facilitate a review, but this does not guarantee a good review - only a completely honest one.  Each review post denotes how I obtained the book.