Not particularly good, but this put out BM* vibes, so I quite enjoyed that.

Spoiler

*BM is not bowel movements, which I've learned is what those in the medical profession tend to think of first when they see that acronym. Funnily enough, this meaning wouldn't be completely wrong either.... okay, I'll see myself out now. It was Brokeback Mountain, if you didn't know. The acronym. Okay, I've I've attempted a toilet humor joke that crosses over into cinema, and it's probably made sense to one (1) person (me).

**I received a free copy of this book to read and review for Wicked Reads.**

HIS FRESH START COWBOY is the first book in the Woods Ranch series. Woods ranch series is a spin off from the Clean Slate Ranch series. Anyone that has read Clean Slate series will know Hugo. Brand from Woods Ranch is the brother of Colt from Clean Slate. You don't need to read Clean Slate Ranch series before this one but I wouldn't discourage it at all!

Hugo ran from his past years ago and ended up at The Clean Slate Ranch but finding out the Woods Ranch was in trouble and needs experience Hugo knows it is time face that past head on.

Hugo and Brand share a complicated past. Brand has buried those feelings Hugo brought out all those years ago but him being there on the Ranch is bringing those feelings right back into the light. I love watching Brand and Hugo getting to know each other as men instead of the boys they once were. They had this slow angst that built throughout. Watching them grown and learn who they were and how they would fit in this new world was heart warming. Watching Hugo come to grips with his past and letting go was emotional.

I think A.M. Arthur did a fantastic job merging these ranches and creating this new world that I can't wait to get more of.

A new spin off series from A.M. Arthur following her six book series in The Clean Slate Ranch World, the Woods Ranch series of books follows one of the characters from the previous series that got introduced later on in the books, Hugo Turner. Hugo came to Clean Slate from Texas (same town as another series character Colt Woods) and has kept that hidden from Colt and the others at the ranch. When he overhears that his long time crush, and the younger brother of Colt is now the foreman of the family ranch, and that there is a job opening, Hugo decides now is the time to take the job, return home and face his demons.

Brand, in the meantime, has been struggling as the foreman at the family ranch - partially because he didn't really want the job, and also because he chafes at hiding his bisexuality from his family and the conservative community that he lives in. Though he has casual hookups with Ramie and Johnathan, his closest friends in the town, he misses Hugo that he had one encounter with years ago, and his shocked to find out his father hired Hugo to come out.

The book plays out differnetly then its predecessor with the Clean Slate series, but it still retains that rugged western feel, the blend of ranching, the outdoors, and the dismantling of fragile masculinity. One thing that was an improvement was the pacing and inclusion of drama and angst in the book - something that I have found with her earlier works Arthur does sometimes struggle with.

I appreciated that the romance was a slow burn, in part because Hugo was working on other things, and also because Brand had to work on balancing his earlier crush, and how those feelings played out now in the present. However, I feel that the temporal jumps were choppy, even in the middle of chapters and narratives, and I also felt that some things just had no follow (not sure if that is because they will play out in further books or because Arthur decided not to continue with them). I did feel that the ending and climax was rushed, and that the HEA that both men got just seemed to come into being because the book was ending.

All in all, it is def. different compared to her other cowboy romance books, and I will be interested in seeing if her pacing and timing improves with this series with the books to come (also will be intersting to see who she focuses the book on - and if the plot points that were not brought up in the first book come up in the second)

It would have cost A.M. Arthur $0 to make the age gap less drastic when Hugo was underage & forgo the creepy comments about how hot 16-year-old Hugo was to a 24-year-old, but this was otherwise a fun gay read.

Leads: Older bisexual male love interest, younger gay male love interest (8 year age gap)
Contents to be aware of: sexual assault (brief), short descriptions of past physical abuse of a child (& family denial of same), some homophobia, violence/injury,

Spoiler

severely injured, but living

dog
Sex scenes: several explicit

This was so slow, and I dnf'd at 100 pages. I just couldn't get into it much as I wanted to. 2.5 ⭐

2 stars

The stars are only for the narration (only reason I continued. Michael Dean did a pretty good job with it).. the book didn’t do it for me.. it was boring but since I bought it on kindle I pushed through.. but not worth it..

I remember kinda liking the other cowboy series but this was just not good. I was bored, didn’t connect with any character and didn’t feel the connection with them.

Wasted my time.. but didn’t have another book lined up.. so it was this or searching… I chose wrong