Lorraine gives 8.5 /10 Pots of Gold to Waltz With A Lawman by Brit Blaise

Why I read the book: It was recommended to me and I was looking forward to reading a cowboy story which was set in that time period. I also hadn’t read anything by this author and wanted to.

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The Blurb

Lee Moore wants to fulfill his father’s final wish to start a new life in the Arizona Territory. In a drunken stupor, he ends up in bed with his best friend and her brother at the same time. Not only is his chance for a decent life destroyed, he’s forced into marriage.    

Ex-lawman Shad Flynn is ready for a change, but not if it involves getting too close to a citified Easterner with a damn nasty wife. Shad can’t control his deepening protectiveness for Lee. When it becomes clear Lee is in danger, Shad will do whatever is needed to keep him safe…even fall in love.

Lee and Shad are on a journey more perilous than their trek to the West. One man has lived by the gun and the other comes from high society, but together they will find that not everyone is who they say they are.

 

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Published by: Ellora’s Cave. April 4th 2014

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My View

Let me start by saying I don’t think the blurb does this book justice as there is so much more to the story and the blurb just gives the VERY bare bones of the tale.The book is set in the old west of Northern America and the story begins with the terrible event that shapes Lee Moores’ life. He ends up in bed with his best friend and his best friend’s sister at the same time and as a consequence is forced in to marrying her.  Lee knows he is gay and he also knows living his life as a gay man is not an option. Being a “sodomite” is against the law and punishable by death. He takes his now pregnant wife, brother-in-law and his wife, on the trip to Arizona that he had been planning with his father, before his death.

Shad Flynn has been hired to escort Lees’ party on the cross-country trip, along with many other families; his father and Lees’ father were friends, the significance of which becomes apparent further along in the book. Shad prefers being with men but knows firsthand that he cannot pursue the life he wants as it would mean certain death. An incident occurs before he meets Lee that I will not giveaway ( you’ll have to read the book!),afterwhich Shad decides he can no longer be a lawman. Upon meeting, the two men are immediately attracted to one another but go out of their way to hide the attraction from everyone. Initially that is easy to do because there is so much to do on the trip, including cooking for and feeding everyone, that the men don’t have the chance to act on their mutual attraction. Lee also has valuable horses that he breeds which need to be looked after.

It soon becomes clear, however, that Lee is in danger. Shad makes it his mission to personally protect Lee in the wake of Mrs Moores’ apparent indifference to her husband. She would much rather spend time with her brother and sister-in-law then her husband and she certainly doesn’t want to soil her hands by helping out. I found her to be a thoroughly dislikeable character, along with her brother, but there is a very good reason for that which, of course, I am not going to spoil by revealing!

Even though his life is in danger, the spoiled, rich Lee loves being on the trail and takes great delight in learning new skills such as cooking! He has no home comforts but he buckles down with no complaint and I really enjoyed this part of the book as we get to know more of Lees’ character. At this point in the story, the plot thickens and there are a few unexpected twists, one of which I would rather hadn’t been revealed until closer to the end.

The author gives some insight into the hardships of living during this period of time in the old west but also of the hopes and dreams for the future that people had for themselves. Lee and Shad are thrown together on the trail for weeks, and are forced to spend time in each other’s company. They are also forced to be extremely careful in not revealing their attraction to anyone else. This is a way of life for them, they cannot possibly consider any other way. They are forced to second guess looks or innocent comments that might be misconstrued by others. Shad is so taken with Lee that he finally does something about it, after a life-threatening incident occurs.

When, after many weeks, they reach their destination in Arizona, the story coalesces into some jaw-dropping moments that I did not see coming and which had me on the edge of my seat! For me, the multi-layered story is the main focus in the first three quarters or so of the book and the romance between Shad and Lee is almost secondary to everything that is going on around them. The last quarter of the book is centred around them working out whether or not they can have a life together and if they can, it will never be the way they want it to be. I would rather not spoil this part of the story as it was one of my favourite parts of the book. Find out for yourself if they get their happy ending and if they do, you know it won’t be conventional.

I really enjoyed this book and will be reading some more of her cowboy stories. My only other problem was some of the vocabulary she chose to use for body parts!

 

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About the Author.

Award winning, multi-published Brit Blaise grew up with a deep and abiding love for books. She believes in dark and dangerous heroes; strong, independent women who aren’t afraid to think for themselves; head-over-heels love that is blind to gender; and fairytale endings.And that it’s more fun to laugh than it is to cry, but doing both at the same time is the best of all.

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Buy at Amazon and Ellora’s Cave