Release Review: Down and Out: Parker St. John
(Down Home #3)
Parker St. John
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Release Date November 18, 2021
They were once friends…but a dark secret drove them apart.
Nate:
Healer. Savior. Cynic.
The one person Nate could never ignore was Tucker Grace. He’s as cruel as he is gorgeous, with a devastating loneliness in his cold blue eyes.
Nate ditched his hell-raising childhood for the big city and a string of disastrous relationships. He’s a man people rely on, but he’s tired of fixing other people’s problems. So when a family crisis brings him home for the first time in years, the last thing Nate wants is to be drawn to the cruel cowboy he left in the dust.
Tucker is smoke and shadows, fury and calm, and as wild as the horses he tames. He looks at Nate like he craves him.
But Nate knows better than anyone that Tucker isn’t capable of love.
And even if he was…he’s straight.
Tucker:
Villain. Survivor. Cowboy.
The only thing Tucker ever wanted was Nate Silva, so he drove him away. Hard.
He never expected he’d come back.
Tucker has spent years clawing his way up from nothing. Ranch life taught him to control his savage temper, and his talent for breaking untamable horses earned him respect. He’s found peace.
Nate’s return threatens all that.
When a traumatized stallion forces them together, Tucker’s tightly reined control starts to fray. Nate’s soft eyes and softer mouth stir a lust that threatens everything Tucker has built.
Everything in him wants to claim Nate as his own…but dark secrets lurk in Tucker’s past.
He can’t trust himself with something as fragile as another man’s heart.
Even if it breaks his own.
Best-friends-turn-enemies-turn-lovers in this 70,000 word first-time-gay romance. Old feuds, dark secrets, loyal friends, and whole-hearted redemption fill this breathtaking novel with heat and heart. HEA guaranteed!
Oh my. These broken boys ...
Nate Silva is back home to Sweetwater to take care of his family and take over a large vet practice. He has done his time in the city, had hookups and unattached relationships, but never let his heart get involved. He likes to take care of people and knows where he needs to be now. He has old friends at home, but was not mentally prepared to run into HIM...
Tucker Grace...his childhood and teen best friend and first crush. By high school their friendship was over and things changed. Tucker was always seen as the bad seed, the villain, the trailer trash, and his actions in high school had firmed up his reputation as an angry, out-of-control troublemaker with no future. While Nate was the smart, golden boy headed for big things.
Tucker now works as a horse trainer and has developed patience and skill. He is broody, cold, and a loner, but deep down he is still the unloved little boy with no self-worth and a host of other problems he tries to hide. But Nate cannot seem to stay away or stop looking closer at him while trying to unravel his secrets.
These guys just broke me. Tucker especially was so damaged and had some challenges. My heart hurt for him. He did not feel like he deserved love and was so scared of the reality or possibility of it. Denial and resistance seemed safer and pushing people away was his way of protecting them. And Nate had guarded his own emotions for years without realizing why, but he was equally as stubborn. Their connection was so bent, but they were still tethered. They wasted so many years on fear, trust issues, avoiding, and not believing in themselves or the other.
This is a second-chance, hurt-comfort story of friendship, fear, trust, redemption, survival, and taming demons. The fight or flight is strong, the passion is inescapable, and there is some drama that had my heart racing too. It is just so raw, heartbreaking, and intense. There is another subplot about a wild horse that parallels Nate's handling of Tucker and it really enriched the story. I was totally invested in them. I am looking forward to the next book as I was wondering a bit about the two side characters and I want to see what happens next for them.
Tucker Grace...his childhood and teen best friend and first crush. By high school their friendship was over and things changed. Tucker was always seen as the bad seed, the villain, the trailer trash, and his actions in high school had firmed up his reputation as an angry, out-of-control troublemaker with no future. While Nate was the smart, golden boy headed for big things.
Tucker now works as a horse trainer and has developed patience and skill. He is broody, cold, and a loner, but deep down he is still the unloved little boy with no self-worth and a host of other problems he tries to hide. But Nate cannot seem to stay away or stop looking closer at him while trying to unravel his secrets.
These guys just broke me. Tucker especially was so damaged and had some challenges. My heart hurt for him. He did not feel like he deserved love and was so scared of the reality or possibility of it. Denial and resistance seemed safer and pushing people away was his way of protecting them. And Nate had guarded his own emotions for years without realizing why, but he was equally as stubborn. Their connection was so bent, but they were still tethered. They wasted so many years on fear, trust issues, avoiding, and not believing in themselves or the other.
This is a second-chance, hurt-comfort story of friendship, fear, trust, redemption, survival, and taming demons. The fight or flight is strong, the passion is inescapable, and there is some drama that had my heart racing too. It is just so raw, heartbreaking, and intense. There is another subplot about a wild horse that parallels Nate's handling of Tucker and it really enriched the story. I was totally invested in them. I am looking forward to the next book as I was wondering a bit about the two side characters and I want to see what happens next for them.
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Parker St. John
Website | Facebook | Parker's Heroes FB group
Website | Facebook | Parker's Heroes FB group
Gay romance author living in the rainy Pacific Northwest.
I love strong alpha men, rugged working class smokeshows, icy billionaires, mortal enemies, and childhood friends who will all make you SWOON as they fall in love.
Every reader deserves a Happily Ever After.
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