Imagine being a young man from a religious family in cowboy country. You’re not exactly the smartest puppy in the pile, but you try really hard and focus on what you do know...like sheep, so you manage to get by without drawing too much attention.... except for the biggest 'fly in the ointment"...you’re also gay. The Nowhere Ranch story is told by a narrator, the cowboy that's "trying to not draw too much attention" and also trying to be invisible in his Iowa hometown, Roe. The worst thing has happened...the discovery that blows his cover...his stack of gay porn which quickly results in a "godly intervention to heal" him. The result being anger and displacement that leads to a short prison term, and once he is free, Roe makes a break from his hometown. It’s a lonely existence but he gets a job on the "Nebraskan Nowhere Ranch", working for the owner, Travis Loving. It’s the perfect job for Roe. His boss is the quiet, private and respectable type; he lets him carry on with no questions, no dramas... everything is perfect, maybe for the first time in his life. Of course, Roe is his own worst enemy...he walks into the ONLY gay bar for 200 miles... and guess who is sitting at the bar… his BOSS. Roe just stood there wishing/waiting for the floor to open up and swallow him... but then it occurred to him that there was only one reason the BOSS would be there, yep...same as him. I got many chuckles listening to Roe’s story. He tells it in his own simple farm boy way without sophistication, grandeur, and he has never learned the meaning of restraint...not an ounce of pretense. Heidi Cullinan did this brilliantly. I will say that I have read books that these kinky sex plays are featured but we get it all rolled into this one.... Pony play, puppy play, play that would probably be censored if it was even mentioned casually in writing...but through it all let's just say our Roe was "quite accommodating"...as was the BOSS. Roe was so accommodating that The BOSS gifts him with an extraordinarily original birthday present. Although you could say that his present requires an acquired taste… I have found that Heidi Cullinan doesn't have any shyness when calling a kinky spade, a kinky spade...so if you have sensibilities.... ahh, just saying. I wasn't expecting the ending to be quiet so "syrupy sweet". This was not at all in line with the relationship dynamic throughout the story. Good job, Iggy Toma. This couldn't have been very easy to read out loud:) ( )

I was a little disappointed in this one. It seemed to me that the first part of the story was primarily porn, which I enjoy, when I was looking for a story. Travis and Roe had baggage galore to dump so maybe the rough sex in the beginning was the way they dealt with it. The second half of the book was much better with a real story forming as Roe and Travis realized that they needed each other. Haley was a terrific character. I loved the way that she took on Timmy and Kayla and anyone else in her way. I enjoyed the way that Roe easily slid into a domestic life once things got straightened out. ( )

Author Heidi Cullinan made this free on inauguration day because gay romance is a great antidote to the poison of fascism. It was in my wishlist after I read the free ebook sample, so I nabbed it.

It's so much more than you think it can be.

It reads kind of simple, very in character for Roe, but don't let that fool you. And if, like me, rough sex isn't your thing, don't let that deter you, either. Some books have steep character arcs. Roe's starts slow but becomes a rocket. Rockets aren't gentle or easy. But they deliver. ( )

Audio was awesome, but the story didn't work for me this time around. Too many sex scenes for one - and I realize our MCs are not really talkative and sex was one way they communicated, sometimes more effectively than with actual words, and the scenes weren't boring or repetitive, but they still just tired me out. The ending was kind of a disappointment too, the way a newborn baby was treated like a dog or a toy, and the way the HEA was done felt kind of forced. So yeah, I liked the book, but I had issues with it too. ( )

Cullinan does it again with another alternately sweet and sexy romance. She is so good at writing emotions and making the reader relate to the characters and their struggles. The whole thing toward the end with Roe and his dad packed a hell of a punch. I did think the sudden parenthood at the end was premature since Roe was just getting stabilized with his life and himself, but ultimately even this staunchly childfree reader found it cute. ( )