Rode Hard, Put Up Wet by Lorelei James

TITLE: Rode Hard, Put Up Wet
AUTHOR: Lorelei James
PUBLISHER: Samhain Publishing
LENGTH: Novel (roughly 84k)
GENRE: Contemporary erotic romance
COST: $5.50

Rancher widow Gemma Jansen needs help in order to be taken seriously by the male-dominated cowboy circuit, so she seeks out Cash Big Crow in order to hire him on. Cash doesn’t just want a job; he wants to share Gemma’s bed, a deal she strikes with more than a little excitement. Cash is determined to bring out her wild streak, but he’s got to contend with his fledgling relationship with his grown-up daughter, the man determined to make his daughter his muse, and Cash’s own feelings for Gemma.

In spite of the extremely cheesy title, I was really excited about this book. First of all, with Halloween over, I have more time again to read longer stories. Secondly, the blurb and excerpt made this sound like a more adult love story. Gemma is in her late forties and Cash has a grown daughter. Hot sex with an older generation? I don’t get to read that very often. Plus, Cash is a Native American, which I 100% admit is one of my hero kinks. So I leapt through the first two chapters in the blink of an eye.

Then chapter 3 came along. And the story took a different path. In came Cash’s daughter Macie, and there was cowboy/artist Carter, and all of a sudden, I was getting two romances in one.

Normally, I wouldn’t knock this. The sex was hot, I was in the mood for cowboy loving, so it should have been fun. Except the problem was, I didn’t like either of the younger people. Carter was temperamental and in spite of his charm, acted like an asshole often enough for me to just want him gone. On the flip side, Macie never gelled for me as a real character. There was just too much about her personality and past that screamed, “Oh, woe is me!” She resented a father for not being there? He was sixteen when she was conceived, which, don’t even get me started on because her mother was supposed to be 26, and any adult woman who gets herself knocked up by a teenager – I don’t care how hot he is – is just dumb, especially since it wasn’t a one-night stand.

So for as much as I really, really, really liked the love story going on between Gemma and Cash, I resented each and every time the author cut to Macie and Carter. And they’re easily half the story. She even finishes the book on them, because by that point, Gemma and Cash are resolved. I’m not convinced that the author didn’t consider them the primary love story of the piece, though why she didn’t have the blurb and excerpt about them then, I have no idea.

The author’s style is dialogue-driven, meaning few tags, scanty detail, and quick pacing. It’s definitely not very challenging to read, and while the sex scenes were very hot, I found myself wanting more meat to the whole thing. That’s a personal preference, though. I tend to like denser prose than this. This style works for a lot of people, though, and I can’t fault her erotic scenes. They were hot. Even if I did have to sit through Macie and Carter half the time. :P

Readability	7/10 – Simplistic with not a lot of detail. Very easy to read.
Heroes	7/10 – I like Cash a hell of a lot more than I liked Carter, but points to the author for at least rounding Carter out.
Heroines	7/10 – Same deal here as there is with the heroes.
Entertainment value	6/10 – This would have been higher if it wasn’t for the younger romance that I didn’t care for.
World building	7/10 – Characters felt real and belonging to that milieu, but with the scanty physical detail, I never get much of a sense of the rest of it.
TOTAL:	34/50