Burning Son

by Alex Reed

Jake Weathers’ older brother Aaron returns home a hero from WWII. As their father celebrates his favored son, quiet-voiced Jake is content to work in the background on their west Texas ranch. Hampered by a lame leg, Jake figures his life has nothing else to offer. His brother’s charms and good looks fill the spotlight, but Jake grows suspicious Aaron wasn’t as heroic as he claims. Their father turns a blind eye to Aaron’s misbehavior, announcing his intention to hand the ranch over to him someday. After the arrival of the captivating and mysterious Ellie Peri inspires Jake to imagine a different future, he realizes he yearns for a partnership in the ranch. Even more, he wants Ellie to stay and share it with him. But high risk followed by devastating loss stand in the way to Jake’s desires, and he is forced to choose a rocky path to save the ranch he loves and the woman who set his heart on fire.

438 pages, Paperback

First published October 9, 2013

Reviews

[Kathy DeShong · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Burning Son" by Alex Reed was a good novel about a ranch family in Texas. The wife/mother had died, the husband/father had great difficulty adjusting to her death, one son had been in the military and just came home a "self proclaimed hero", the other son wore a brace on his leg from a childhood injury and the daughter was emotionally challenged. The handicapped son always felt inferior to his older brother, until he met a girl, Ellie, who builds his confidence. But, he became overconfident, made some errors, and fell back into his inferior state and chased her away. He has the advisement of his old ranch hand, Carl, who keeps encouraging him, but to no avail until the end of the book. It gets drawn out and wordy in places, but I guess that is to show how insecure Jake is. I encourage readers to give it a read...it's very enjoyable. It deserves more than a 4 STAR rating, but by Goodreads rating, I can't say it was amazing.