Silver Bullet Everest

Falls Chance Ranch #5

by Rolf and Ranger, Rolf and Ranger

Tom and Jake's Everest story.

Genres: M M Romance, Romance, Contemporary, BDSM, Menage, M M M, Westerns

508 pages, Online Fiction

First published January 1, 2014

Reviews

[Heller · Rating 5 out of 5]

Still ongoing. I cannot believe how fantastic this story continues to be. I constantly check my mail on Mondays for R&Rs updates. Never disappointed.

//

Final chapter came out today. I did a quick read during my break at work but I'll be curling up and re-reading both Silver Bullet and SB-Everest together. I find it hard to explain why I adore these characters and these books so much but they make me think and they make me feel.

I do wish though that Phoenix hadn't ended so badly here. I can't help but feel for the kid. He's being led and I hate the danger that he put everyone in and his complete obliviousness to his ownership of poor choices. I just want him to come to the ranch and be helped.

[Anke · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well, read what's available right now, as this is still a WIP. I'm now at chapter 9.2 and thankfully tomorrow it's Monday again, so hopefully there will be another part of this story. I'm really glad that Rolf and Roger decided to start a separate book with Tom and Jake at the Everest. Much more impact and so gripping! Love these guys :) And yes, right now hubby's not very happy as I pester him to travel with me to Nepal. LOL!

August 10, 2015: Finally finished - just read the last installment. What a wonderful book all around. For me I found they let Phoenix off the hook much to easy. But that's probably just me:)

May 27, 2017: Still as good as I remembered, still by far my favorite and this time I saw connections that had escape me before.

April 25, 2021: I need a comfort read right now



Now off to reading MEC:)

[Kat · Rating 5 out of 5]

Finished... and it's so, so good!!!! :)

[K · Rating 5 out of 5]

Re-read again July 2017

First read finished when the story posted it's last chapter in August 2015 (after about 5 years in the making)

Re-read Feb 2016

So, after five years since the first post of Silver Bullet, the off shoot Silver Bullet Everest is done.

I am struggling to put my thoughts into order on this one just yet. It's going to take a second read to go through what has been a hell of a ride for the characters and the readers they've dragged along with them.

I will write a proper review one day, but this is the first time I've read it from start to finish in one go and I'd forgotten how much I love Jake and Tom, and how much emotion there is in the ending of the story

[Pam · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved these two men together (make sure you read Jake and Tom's prequel story first), and all the details of Mt. Everest are FASCINATING. I haven't been able to stop talking about the crazy conditions real people are taking this quest in every year since I read this. I absolutely loved this one, and I stayed up way, way too late reading it because once they started their final summit attempt there was no way I could put it down.

Book 6 (The Mary Ellen Carter) is in progress on the writers' forum site and picks up straight after this one and continues Tom and Jake's story alongside the fivesome at the ranch. We get POV's from both relationships, and as of yesterday (4/24/2020) the current chapters end in a very satisfying place, so I would recommend going ahead and starting what they have available if you're interested.

There's also an in-progress novella on the forum that takes place after The Mary Ellen Carter called Boundary to Boundary that's a Dale and Riley story that I also recommend.

[KatieMc]

New update today, chapter 6. Random comments...

News to me: Philip was Jake’s Godfather If it was ever mentioned before, I missed that detail.

There were times when Tom would have been very prepared to indulge him {him being Flynn} if he’d wanted to. Hmmm..

0_o... Tom going out in the night, alone. Trouble brewing.

God...someone say something.

Tom is by far the most interesting brat I have read.

So it was the ceremony that triggered this latest tantrum.

Jake, you're bloody brilliant.

Scrum :)

[WMD · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was unexpected and such a pleasure. It is part of the Falls Chance Ranch series. Falls Chance is a working ranch in Wyoming that also provides support and guidance to burnt out executives. The ranch has a long history, which we learn about over the course of the books. The cowboy lifestyle on the working ranch is the background to most of the story, but the ranch also serves as a haven for men interested in the domestic discipline lifestyle (i.e. tops and brats). The daily adventures are varied and engrossing. Ghost towns, landslides, nervous breakdowns, fantastic horses, cowboys, mm romance, drunk sheep, ghosts, lost goldmine, brats of every shape size and age, spirit quests, rocky hills of Wyoming, and sulky executives litter the pages...

And then up pops Silver Bullet Everest (a full length spin-off novel that runs in parallel chronologically with Silver Bullet Ranch). Note that the domestic discipline lifestyle can still apply even on glaciers (e.g., spanking, timeouts, top and brat). Two side characters from the Falls Chance books become central as we follow them through the adventure of a lifetime. The story focuses step by step on the dangerous, Zen, achingly cold, brutally challenging climb. Yet this story too is rich with characters, surprising plot twists, personal demons, side adventures and the particular joy of Tom and Jake. Tom is a crazy intelligent, anti social, insomniac wild man; Jake is a golden child, socially apt but also a smart man and a thrill seeker. Together they are a special couple and Everest hones them into something amazing.

"..you had to be slightly mad to not only want to do this but to actually be excited at the prospect of putting your body through two months of physical hell and significant danger, and yet Tom knew perfectly well that the excitement was as deeply riven through Jake as it was through him. This was rooted in both their dreams from boyhood, something they’d talked about for hours in the dark together, both the challenge and the magic of the legend. Two hyperactive romanticists."

This story is written with professional skill, smooth dialogue, sufficiently edited, and available for free on a well crafted website. Note that this book was developed serially online, and like many such, it is lengthy. Ebook format is available for free if you join the Falls Chance Forum, where you can also follow work in progress. I think that much of this book would work as a standalone, but the two MCs maintain internet communication with family back at the ranch, and you would need to read the earlier Falls Chance Ranch books to understand much of those communications (who people are, what's going on). Silver Bullet Ranch follows the ranch-side events that occur simultaneously to Silver Bullet Everest.

Some things I consider in an mm book
Smexy times 1-5:2
These characters occasionally go at it like bunnies (at least until the altitude gets too high and the oxygen gets low). However, note that these authors tend to a) have sex be far in the background of a story and b) to very quickly fade-to-black in sex scenes. Also, the "discipline" scenes are never associated with sex or titillation. I gave Tom and Jake a 2 simply because I really bought into their connection and there were some fan-the-fire moments when they are just looking at each other, caring for each other, and appreciating what they have.
Likable MCs scale 1-5:5
I really love them, separately and together. It's interesting to have the main voice, Tom, be such a curmudgeon. I loved hanging out with him on Everest, snarling at the tourists. And it is so great he has Jake, who firmly insists on cuddling and taking care of him.
Humor scale 1-5:3
I remember clever dialogue and tons of snark in Tom's way of thinking.
Angst Scale 1-5:4
Climbing Everest is an immensely stunning effort, deadly and destructive. The two guys suffer hugely, both physically and emotionally. Tom in particular is emotionally challenged over this adventure, and begins to lay some ghosts with the Everest experience as a catalyst and Jake providing care, love and support.

Domestic discipline (spanking, use of heat cream when not enough privacy for spanking), very non explicit mm sex, screwed up snow bunny journalists, death and near death, childhood experience of homophobia and poor parenting, a very human and very spiritual adventure.

If you end up loving Jake and Tom as much as I did, I particularly recommend the short story of when they met, 'Will you walk a little faster?,' also on the Falls Chance Ranch Blogspot website, or in the ebook of Falls Chance Shorts Volume One, which you can access if you join the Falls Chance Ranch Forum.

[Simon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Work in Progress. To be reviewed when completed.

I downloaded and started reading this directly from the "Falls Chance Ranch" Website back in June 2014. At the time and being a newbie to the website and therefore the forums, I wasn't aware that this was a work in process - chapters are released as and when they are completed by the authors and then a group discussion takes place on the relevant forum. I was having an orgy of downloading the short stories at the time, little realising that this was a work in process and not a short.
Believe me...this is not a short! It is a bloody long novel!
Two of the secondary characters from the FCR saga, Tom and Jake have their own action story in Silver Bullet Everest. This is a companion novel to "Silver Bullet" and events are of the same time period, except Silver Bullet takes place on the ranch in Wyoming and Silver Bullet Everest on the climb to the summit of Everest.
Part one is the summit climb - total action, boy's-own, adventure stuff. Very detailed in the mechanics of climbing and the dangers there-of. Thrilling stuff.
Part two is the recuperation back in Wyoming, back with the extended family.
Fantastic book. My only criticism, that it is very, very long. As a work in process, with chapters being released weekly to the website and downloadable direct to Kindle and e-readers, it obviously works. Now that the novel is complete, whilst in no way is it repetitive, I personally feel that it could do with a down-sizing edit.
I cannot praise the writing enough in these novels. Highly entertaining.

[Mandy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm sad to say, it's over. I'll save my review for after a re-read.

[Mrsgeo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Worth reading for the description of an attempt on Everest alone.

[Kimberley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tom and Jake! This was deliciously good to read and all the feels was actually more intense for me compared to the Silver Bullet (Ranch Side) especially towards to 2nd half ish of the book. You really get to delve into the minds of Jake and especially Tom which is awesome. You can really feel the relationship between the two and how Tom finally wants to open up to him to be able to really let go and receive the love, structure and affection he wants from Jake and later, the ranch family. The ending with the summit attempt and the Pheonix drama was my favourite part admittedly 😋 Always awesome to witness some wonderful asskicking by Dale to protect his family.

[iam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Second of the two companion books that make up Silver Bullet, the fourth book of the Falls Chance Ranch series.

Also referred to as "The Everest Side", it plays parallel to and extends beyond the end of Silver Bullet Ranch Side , the first companion book. They can both stand seperately their own but are best read together. Neither can be read without knowing the series first though.

Content warnings include: the extreme conditions on Everest and their consequences are described in detail: hypoxia, frostbite, bloody coughing so extreme ribs get dislocated, extreme dehydration; side character's thoughtless actions leads to another character's death, unnamed characters die due to accidents, being confronted with the reality of your spouse being about to die, series typical domestic discipline

Silver Bullet Everest is different not only in that it for the most part doesn't play on the ranch, but on, well, Mount Everest - its main characters are also Tom and Jake, not the main five from the ranch, though they appear frequently as well and get POV chapters towards the end.
Tom and Jake were introduced in Three Traders .

Jake belongs to the ranch as Philip's godson, while Tom, his partner of several years, has trouble fitting in with his partner's family - or at least he thinks he does.
The two of them are very active, spending their time as guides for archeological teams all over the world at extreme locations. Their latest goal and lifelong dreams is climbing Mount Everest. Together with friends they have prepared for over a year to take her on, but when they arrive at base camp, nothing goes as planned...
Both Jake and Tom are strongly hinted as having ADHD and being on the spectrum. Jake is diagnosed, but Tom isn't.

You are everything I thought was just fiction before I met you.

Their relationship is one of the most beautiful to read I've ever encountered. The extreme conditions and stress on the mountain, as well as corresponding with Dale opens up a lot of doors in Tom, bringing forth a TON of deeply moving character development that isn't always easy to read.

Most of it is written from Tom's POV, though there are a few parts written from Jake's perspective that are in first person, which is a first for the series. It works quite well here though. Towards the end of the book the POVs switch the the main five on the ranch again.

Highlights include:
- how often can Tom find another random bird to call Phoenix so he doesn't have to say his name
- Tom managing to convey his disdain of Phoenix without saying anything much at all
- Tom opening up 💜
- Flynn finally notices the new chair in the family room despite having taken delivery of it and using it for three weeks 🤦🏽‍♀️
- Dale absolutely DECIMATING anyone who dares to threaten the family
- Tom and Gerry actually talk!!!!
- Jake and Tom being absolutely beautiful together 💜
- the emails!!!

[Emy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the story of Jake and Tom's Everest summit attempt.

But it's also so much more than that.

It was a pretty intense experience for me emotionally, and I think I'll have to do a reread of the whole series in the future when I'm not racing through to find out what happens next so I can truly take it all in.

I can't explain why these characters and this family resonate so much with me, only that they do. The authors have a way of crafting fully formed, deep characters, whose problems and flaws can't be waved away. These men have to work hard to heal. I loved exploring Jake and Tom more, as they were a couple that really stuck with me from Dale's books.

Most of the book was told from Tom's third person point of view, which was nice because he was a very elusive man in Dale's story. Occasionally, we got first person snippets of Jake's point of view. The first time this happened was a bit jarring, but I grew to really appreciate these insights into what Jake was thinking whilst the story was happening. Later on, the third person narrative expanded to a few different characters and it wasn't jarring at all. In fact, it was great to go from the isolation and insularity of Tom/Jake's POV on Mount Everest, to the POV of different members of the ranch family when the two of them came home. I felt as though it strongly reflected the theme of family and working together that runs through all these books.

I liked the inclusion of the emails. It was interesting to see Dale's reaction to Tom's emails in Silver Bullet, and it was interesting to see Tom's reaction to Dale's in this one. It'd be interesting to read the two books side by side chronologically.

I also felt I learnt a lot about climbing Mount Everest. It really felt as though the authors had done their research. They painted a picture of the hardship but intense spiritual experience that is climbing Mount Everest in the same way they paint the ranch on Wyoming. It's obvious that they care about getting the details right. Mount Everest was as much a character in this story as Tom was, in the same way Falls Chance Ranch is a character in Dale's story.

I also feel really sorry for Phoenix and want him helped... but I don't see that happening any time soon because I don't think he wants to help himself. :(

I'm so glad I have a bunch of short stories to read about the ranch now, and I'm looking forward to seeing whatever these authors write next. :)

[Samantha · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a little different from the others in the series because instead of focusing on Dale and his men, it focuses on Tom and Jake and their attempt to summit Mount Everest.

This was a little harder for me to read and I had to stop and start it a few times because it's kind of a big detour from life on the ranch. I like following on Dale's journey, and though he plays a part in this book in various ways, more heavily in the last quarter of the story, the focus really shifts to the other couple. It wasn't until I got to really know Jake and Tom in novellas that come after this book that I really found myself willing to push through and read this one.

You learn a LOT about Everest and what it takes to summit it in this story. A LOT. I was kind of bored with it at first because it's so much information, but by the time they made it off the mountain, I found a massive amount of respect for anyone who has attempted this insane feat. It was interesting to see a brat (Tom) in conditions such as these, with an unconventional Top (Jake). I especially liked reading the few parts in Jake's perspective because the amount of patience and love he has for Tom would melt the hardest heart.

There was definitely some anxiety on my end while reading this because the conditions really were intense. The emotions that Tom went through when they were up at camp 3 that horrible night and then again in the bathroom when taking off his boots were gut wrenching. It takes a lot for a story to really gut me enough to produce tears, but this one certainly earned a few.

When I do re-reads of this series (because that will probably happen often I think), I may not always read this simply because it deviates so much from the rest of the series. But I will definitely reread it sometimes because it is a great story, and I love Jake and Tom.

[Denicemarcell · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've been adding the updates on SB ranch.
April 27 the writers are taking a break but gave us chapter 24a as incentive to donate to an agency working disaster relief in Nepal after the Earthquake.
Final chapter section 25c August 10th, 2015 a 5 year work in progress journey. Now we wait for the next book!

[4u2nv · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was such a thrilling emotional roller coaster read. It truly feels like you're at the Everest with them every step of the way. Tom and Jake has such strength in them that it takes your breath away.

This story was about them, and this is a story you won't forget.

[Ola · Rating 5 out of 5]

The most beautiful journey I ever had !!! All books in serie are incredible and so different. I'm going to read it once again - so worth it.

[Lesley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wasn't sure I was going too like this as Tom has never drawn me too him, but I LOVED this book!!!!!!!

[Helen · Rating 5 out of 5]

gave me spine tingling chills---- LOVED IT...AGAIN!!!