He hates the ghost of his last encounter with this man, which has haunted him into manhood.
Rachel Ember
Long Winter
Format:
ebook
Publisher’s Synopsis:
It’s been a long, cold winter at Riverside Ranch, where Robbie has lived alone since his brothers moved away. Alone, that is, except for his three devious cats, four saddle horses, and the forty-eight mustangs that roam the ranch.
Robbie is preparing for yet another snowfall when he gets the last call he expected—a plea to pick up Lance Taylor from the county jail.
Lance wasn’t just his little brother’s best friend, he was a part of the family. Then, one night, after Lance asked Robbie for something Robbie couldn’t give, he ran away and never came back.
Lance was sixteen and heartbroken when he left his middle-of-nowhere hometown. Six years later, he’s at rock bottom with nowhere else to go, and no one to turn to but Robbie, the man Lance has been inconveniently in love with for most of his life.
When Robbie offers Lance a place to stay, Lance expects a guest bedroom and awkward silences. Instead, he finds himself sharing Robbie’s one-room hayloft apartment and its single bed, while realizing that the old flame he carries for Robbie might not be so hopeless, after all.
Point of view:
3rd person. Alternating perspectives of Robbie and Lance.
Rellim’s Thoughts:
This is my first time reading Rachel Ember’s work and I enjoyed it. Though this is a tough book to read, several emotional parts made me tear up. I don’t generally enjoy books that go back & forth in time – but it worked pretty well for me here. Ember’s juxtaposition of events from when Lance was a child against where he and Robbie are now was well done. There’s also a slow, SLOW burn here and a lot of internal musings as Robbie & Lance work on understanding themselves as well as each other.
I always enjoy age gap romance, but it’s not as typical to have characters who have known each other since long before the dynamic shifted. While Ember gave us lots of time to know Lance as a child and Robbie as a young adult, there was nothing creepy or taboo about it. Lance has long carried a crush on the older brother of his best fried, interest doesn’t happen for Robbie until Lance is well into legal age.
This doesn’t exactly end on a cliffhanger – it’s definitely an HFN. The next book in the series, Signs of Spring continues Robbie & Lance’s story. Though, I’m really looking forward to Johnny’s book.
About the author:
Rachel lives in the Midwest United States with her husband, two sons, and a menagerie of pets. She has always loved love stories, and having the chance to share her own tales still feels too good to be true.
You can connect with Rachel Ember here:
My Favorite Quotes
In reality, nothing is quite as fragile as it feels in Lance’s imagination. – Long Winter by @RachelEmber1 #MMRomance #Rancher #Model #AgeGap #KindleUnlimited
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If he has to be trapped, at least he loves his cage. – Long Winter by @RachelEmber1 #MMRomance #Rancher #Model #AgeGap #KindleUnlimited
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He hates the ghost of his last encounter with this man, which has haunted him into manhood. – Long Winter by @RachelEmber1 #MMRomance #Rancher #Model #AgeGap #KindleUnlimited
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Rellim Reads 