everyone kept telling me about how this book was so much like a soap opera, . . and they were right. It had lots of drama and plots twists and turns, I could not put it down, I never knew what kind of disaster or shocking revelation was going to happen next, Lots of lies, backstabbing, betrayals, secrets, . . and a murder! You know, . . the usual in a soap opera,
I loved Jack and Riley and how they moved from long time enemies to unexpected lovers, It was a sweet romance following lots of sexual tension, My fave by the way Great cast of characters in a perfect setting, Omg, I feel like I'm describing a tv show!
Ok, so I teared up twice, once at the beginning and again at the very end.
It wasn't really a sad or funny book, but it had a lot of "omg" moments and quite a few "aww, that's so sweet" moments.
There were even some "holy shit, thats so hot" moments!
This is myst full length novel by RJ, but I will definitely be reading more! I Loved This Book
Not sure what to say without spoiling too much.
I loved all the characters, even the ones I hated I still loved hating them, I enjoyed how the characters and their relationships developed,
The story moves quick but transitions very smoothly, it is told through everyones point of view so even though the POV changes a lot I was never confused about whose POV I was reading.
The characters reminded me a lot of the old TV show Dallas I liked that show,
This was the kind of story that made me sad when it was over where I loved them all so much I wasnt ready to stop reading about them.
Even though the ending was sweet and conclusive, there were no loose ends or any questions I thought were left unanswered I still wasnt ready for it to end.
ETA Just as good the second time THIS,
This was such a solid good wellwritten page turner! The writing was witty, interesting and fluid that sucked me right in and just didn't allow me to put it down till i reached the end! The romance was palpable, beautiful and unpretentious.
The story was complex and driven with real motivation, The character development was so well constructed with their various nuances, . . just amazing!
I know all this sounds really technical but all of this is what created an awesome story! I actually lived and breathed every moment with these guys.
. i felt each and every one of their emotions with them, I don't think i have words to express how much I HATED Jeff, . . but you get the idea and that's what the author intended,
Ok so some demerits if you'd call them that, . .
Nevertheless . This is a must read Gay romance and I'd definitely happily recommend it to any and all romance readers!
My kudos and congratulations to Ms.
Scott for such an awesome work of fiction!
“Adam, may I have a glass of water, please“
Guy pours water into a glass in front of her, while Alexis addresses the board.
“Im a very direct woman, If I do not get that approval and please understand that I have a controlling interest in DenverCarrington I shall fire you all on the spot and replace you with a board that will approve of the merger.
”
I admit I was too young to have watched “Dynasty” in thes, beingyears old when the show was at the height of its fame, but even I have memorized Alexis Carringtons powerwoman speech that was later comedically reused in the Bette Midler/Lily Tomlin movie Big Business.
Therefore I do consider myself a fan of the cult series and I think this book is a glorious homage to “Dynasty” if Ive ever seen one.
Hayes Oil is the leading oil company in Texas, with the companys founder and CEO, Gerald Hayes, transferring the power over the family empire to his sons Jeff and Riley Hayes.
Things for once seem to go smooth for Riley who is the head of the Research and Development branch of the company, Having a rather strained relationship with his family and being a notorious partyboy and womanizer, he is more than ready to have his father acknowledge his achievements for the company.
His whole world crumbles to pieces once again when the family lawyer informs Riley that his father only granted a small percentage of the company to him and the majority of the power went straight to his cunning brother Jeff, who has always been his fathers favorite.
Furious and out of his mind, he reads the small print of the contract, stating that Riley will be given the same percentage of the company as his brother if he manages to settle down, marry and stay married for at least a year to prove that he has matured and is ready to carry responsibility on his shoulders.
Calling his father all kinds of names, he thinks of a way to get his fair share of the company and piss his father off in the process.
When his best friend Steve unintentionally brings Rileys attention to the Hayes rivals from when the company was founded the Campbell family Riley realizes that there is a way to get what he wants.
The Campbells lost everything after their father, Alan Campbell, and Gerald Hayes set the foundation for the oil empire, No one really knows what happened back then, but Alan was a broken man until he died and his family's only possession left is a horse breeding ranch where Donna, Alans widow, and their children live.
Jack Campbell, a typical Texas cowboy, is in charge of the horses and the land, doing his best to make ends meet and to keep his beloved farm
running.
So when Riley Hayes shows up on his doorstep, offering to bring an end to his financial struggling by acting as his samesex husband for a year, Jack still turns him down his pride outweighing the relief the unexpected money would bring.
However, Riley has some leverage over Jack that he is willing to use so the two end up married with a water tight marriage contract that requires them to stay together for a year, with no lovers, but lots of public displays of affection whenever needed and sharing the same bed.
With Jack being gay and Riley being anything but certain about his own sexual identity these guys are in for quite a ride before they realize that its not a contract keeping them together.
I loved this story, It was fastpaced, exciting and consisted of short cliffhanger chapters, It was like a screen play for a drama soap opera, I just loved it.
Jack and Riley were quite an unusual couple, since they did not get together because they loved or at least liked each other, They did not even know each other before they met for the arranged marriage,
Still, Jacks love for his family, his animals and especially his sick sister Elisabeth, melted Rileys cold heart and made him see the wrong path he was going with his life.
While the story was probably overly dramatic and a bit on the extreme soap opera side, I really liked how all the characters got their own POVs and the story was presented from all perspectives.
I might add, though, that there are some characters in there that are so purely evil it was almost comical, Usually, every character, even the evil ones, get to show their motivation and what made them the way they were if we watch them through their POVs, but not here.
Its like Dr Evil himself just walked on stage,
Still, Riley and Jack were an adorable couple, I loved their interactions and how Jack saw something in Riley even though the guy blackmailed him into marriage,
“Look Campbell“ Riley started,
“Thats CampbellHayes!” Jack snapped angrily,
and definitely a favorite,
Epic soap opera of a romance in true Dallasty style
Dallasty, that's what we used to call the American soap operas Dallas and Dynasty, their overblown and unbelievable storylines kept us enthralled as teens through thes as we discussed who shot JR or which of the Carrington and Colby clans would survive the Moldavian Royal massacre.
This epic effort from RJ Scott is all of those in book format and it's awesome, There's so many dramatic moments there'd have been newspaper column inches for days at the plot twists and jaw dropping events which keep dropping the more the story runs.
But, underneath it all, is a wonderful romance between two guys who start off not even liking each other very much, from families with a feud going back decades but with a sexual spark bright enough to light up the old Cowboys Stadium.
Can't wait to find out what happens next! I'm so mad that I didn't like this book, Pissed. All of my friends love this AND it has a GFYvirgin, The nerve of me!! Tsk, tsk,
But this reminded me why I never watch soap operas, I hate them. They are muy ridiculoso.
This book started out so strong for me, Forced gay marriage with cowboys YES PLEASE! I loved everything about the firstof the book, Then, the absurdity started.
My first clue that this wasn't going to work for me were the POV changes, Like a soap opera, the POV switches from person to person maybeorin total, It became a series of short little vignettes with minicliffhanger endings, Like, "He walked into the room and saw him holding a knife" end scene, To top it off, the plot twists became so crazy that I felt like all of the focus was taken off of the main couple, I liked that couple! I wanted more of them together, figuring out their dynamic, I couldn't give two craps about everything else, I wanted the book to be about Riley and Jack, not some fake drama, It actually became so overwhelming for me that I almost DNFed this book, I had to force myself to finish and I ended up skimming in the last,
I wish that I loved this book like everyone else, I feel so lonely out here by myself in dislikeville, .