4 stars
Finally Aiden's book, I loved him since he appeared in come of the Triple M ranch scenes and I was waiting for his story.
Aiden is the sunshine guy, the one with big smiles, great look and quick banter, the charming man who bewitches everyone and takes nothing seriously. But he's also the man who lives in a trailer park, who's been emotionally abused by his own mother and who feels all alone in the world.
Aiden's story is heartbreaking and it's tightly tied to Seth's story.
They met when Aiden was just a boy, walking miles to go to his job, while Seth was already a cowboy helping his father with their ranch.
Aiden and Seth develops a deep friendship, they have each other's back and David, Seth's father, soon becomes the only father's figure Aiden's ever had. The McCall ranch becomes his home too.
But something happen the night Aiden turned 18: his mom kicks him out of the house and Seth, as usual, comes to his rescue; they got drunk, Seth does a terrible mistakes and, a while later, David is forced to declare bankruptcy. Seth pushes Aiden away and they don't talk to one another for a long time.
Ten years later, Aiden is the same messed up guy and Seth has isolated himself: they reconnect after an incident and start spending time togther again.
Seth and Aiden's story broke my heart: there are so many mistakes, bad decision, miscommunication, obstinance between them and even if the motivations for their estrangement are clear and understandable, it's impossible not to feel sad for the wasted time and the missed opportunities for them to be together.
Their reconnection is slow, difficult and emotional and their first time together, even if very rough, is still moving, beautiful and very intimate.
Unexpectedly, I liked very much the third time break up, it was necessary to the story and it suited the storyline very well.
What prevented me from giving a higher rate:
Aiden loves his mom, nothing wrong here; even if she emotionally and finacially abused him for years (he's forced to live in a trailer because, despite having a good job, he has to pay his mother's constant demands) he still loves her.
What I didn't like is that she never stopped doing that, she gets away with that behaviour until the end and Aiden never stands up to her, the toxic and abusive way she uses to manipulate her son is almost excused because "she loves her son in her own way".
Her involvement in the story almost pushed me to DNF the book, but I'm very glad I tried to block her out of my mind to keep reading this beautiful love story.
I'm very sad this series ended: in my opinion it was one of the best cowboy series in the MM romance world.
Highly recommended.
I received an ARC of this book from Gay Romance Reviews and this is my honest review.