A Nix Cowboy Review – Gone Country by Lorelei James (5 Stars)

Gavin has moved to Wyoming, with his teenage daughter, to try to steer her on the right path after she ends up in court on theft charges.  Awarded sole custody of his wayward teen for a year, he decides that the only way to keep her out of trouble is to take her into the heart of Texas and away from existing bad influences. The rich tycoon has bought a new home for them to make their own; the only problem is that it has an existing tenant.

Rielle has lived in the house that Gavin has bought for years, making her living from growing fruits and vegetables in the garden. Now she has to find somewhere else to live but, luckily for her, Gavin has no intentions of leaving her homeless and lets her stay on for the time it takes to find the new house. They divide the house into areas and it is all very civilized…..that is until hormones start coming into play.

Now Rielle can’t help but notice how hot Gavin is looking with his new weight loss and Gavin can’t help notice the wonders that Rielle’s new haircut has done for her. What started as a simple arrangement becomes far more complicated far quicker than they imagined. But both of them are used to going it alone and the change to the status quo is easier to fight against than to accept. Throw into the mix one stroppy, love-sick teen and it’s clear that this isn’t going to be an easy relationship to keep hold of. The question is are they willing to try?

I’ve always championed the Rough Riders series but the last few have, although enjoyable, not been quite as fabulous as the earlier books. In this one, Lorelei James takes a slightly different track and it made me ADORE it. The primary plot features a more mature H/h that are both sexually inexperienced and discover the joy of sex with each other. The secondary plot is just as strong as the primary and made me reminisce those days of first love and end-of-the-world heart break…. I fricking LOVED this.

Gavin is the prodigal McKay son which means I was automatically fascinated by this book. The other McKay’s/West’s have featured in other books, I know things about them but Gavin was relatively new. I enjoyed that he found the McKay gathering’s as mystifying and confusing as me the reader (seriously, there are a shit load of kids in this series….someone, somewhere has written a guide), I loved that he wasn’t the cowboy of the relationship and I adored that he put his daughter first throughout the book. He was the typical hero I am used to in this series but with a paternal side that I’m not used to from the McKay boys.  He had very little sexual experience (I loved that he bought sex manuals) but he realised that, with Rielle, he could just concentrate on doing what they both enjoyed, not necessarily is right. He is also mega-bucks rich and I enjoyed the whole “billionaire dates a rancher” scenes throughout the book where Rielle tried to bat against his wealth and he got round her objections…..

Rielle is a good heroine. A mother at the age of 16, she hasn’t really had the opportunity for romance. She has worked damn hard to be where she is and that independence has created a few character traits that make it difficult to hold down any relationship. She doesn’t want to let Gavin do anything in her life because she’s always done it, she can’t accept anything luxurious as a gift and generally she just wants to her life to be exactly the same with some added sex.  I really like the way she and Gavin dance around the boundaries of their relationship, with him pushing until she gives him a little more space to work. It took her a while but she eventually realised that her life could change for the better if she allowed someone in to take up some of the slack. Together they were a fab and I really liked the sexual side to their relationship. They were like teenagers as they were at it literally every scene. There was shower sex, car sex, kitchen sex, hotel sex, pool sex, alfresco sex……lots and lots of SCORCHING hot sex. Seriously, ladies, you will need a fan and a few pairs of panties for this book!

The secondary plot line surrounds Gavin’s daughter Sierra and Boone West (I had to look up the origins to this kid….) Sierra is a 16 year old girl prone to temper tantrums and getting her own way, a consequence of a messy divorce. She meets 19 year old Boone on the school bus and instantly falls in lust. What follows is a tale of unrequited love and teenage angst and I LOVED it. I know these two will get their own book when they grow up a little and I really can’t wait…I’m bought into the next few in the series simply on the strength of their introduction.