As my second time reading this book, I can honestly say that I can appreciate it much more after having read the first five books. This time around I knew who everyone was and could understand the relationships and situations better.
There's nothing that I really disliked about this book, either times I've read it. The one thing I noticed this time around, though, was that I felt like this focused more on Indy and Colt's sex life than the building of their romantic relationship. It wasn't focused enough on that for me to end up disliking the book, but it was just an observation I made. It focused more on their relationship towards the end and it would have been nice to have more of that in the rest of the novel.
I love Colt even more upon reading this a second time. I loved seeing him grow in himself and accept himself for who he is. It was great to see that Colt really had changed after going to rehab and to watch him continue to grow in that. I loved his dominant, sexual side, but I liked that, just as Kade was, Colt wasn't an utter asshole with him dominance like his three other brothers (Colby, Carter, and Cord). Plus, he was just so damn adorable; I wanted him all to myself.
Probably my favorite part of this book, though, is when Cam finally defends Colt to Colby, Cord, and Carson and goes off at them about being asshats to Colt for some things that happened years before:
A beer bottle flew and crashed into the side of the barn, shattering the illusion of stillness.
All eyes zoomed to Cam.
“I’m so sick and tired of the ‘holier than thou’ attitude in this family. So Colt screwed up. Every one of us has screwed up at one time or another. How long are you gonna make him pay for it? Jesus, he hit the skids over four years ago. He’s been on the straight and narrow for the last three. During which time, he’s been busting his ass on this ranch, despite having to listen to you berate him and complain about him, or ignore him, or belittle him. None of you have ever been lily white and you’ve got no business judging him.”
“You weren’t here, Cam.”
Cam whirled on Colby. “Guess what? Neither were you! You were off rodeoin’ and playin’ cowboy while Colt was here, actually being a goddamn cowboy, day in, day out, for twelve fuckin’ years. Don’t forget you couldn’t do shit for months while you recovered from your rodeo injury—months in which, once again, Colt had to do not only his work, but your work.”
Holy shit. Colt had never seen Cam so furious.
But Cam wasn’t finished. He turned his ire on Cord. “Didja forget you got pissed off at Dad and left for a coupla years? Who picked up the slack then? It sure as fuck wasn’t Colby the rodeo king, or Carter the college boy, or Keely the baby girl or me.”
Without moving his angry gaze from Cord, Cam pointed at Colt. “It was him. But you forgot that little factoid, didn’t you? And isn’t it convenient that you all expect Colt to stick around, year in, year out, and do every shit job you don’t want to, because he doesn’t have a…family?” Cam faced Colby again. “That ‘you don’t have a family’ comment is the single shittiest thing I’ve ever heard anyone say. Ever. You’re supposed to be his family. So are you.” He pointed to Cord. “And you,” he said to Carson. “And me. But when Colt really needed his family to support him and help him? Were any of you there? No. The only person who gave a shit about him…was Kade.”
“That’s enough,” Carson said.
“How could you all rally around me, offering me support, when you didn’t do the same thing for Colt? When he was hurting just as bad? When he’s the one who’s always deserved it way more than I ever did. Because he had no choice but to stick around and live this life, when I had the luxury of leaving it behind.”
Colt’s eyes burned. Leave it to the one-legged man to make a stand for him when no one else in his family ever did.
Ugly, thick silence lingered.
“I’m not surprised you’ve got nothin’ to say. You oughta be hanging your heads in shame. I’m outta here.” Fabric snapped as Cam jerked his coat off the fence. He limped to his truck. After he opened the door he looked at Colt. “Sorry, bro, I know you didn’t ask for this, but it needed to be said. It needed to come from someone with an outsider’s perspective.”
It's about time someone opened their eyes to the horrible way they were treating their brother and son. And so I also love the parts of the book when Cord and Colby come and apologize, and then later when Carson comes to apologize to Colt.
Seeing as I'm half-dead right now, I don't know how eloquent this review is and I can't really think of what else to say. I just want to reiterate how awesome this book is and I'm glad that I read this book first because if I had started with Long Hard Ride I probably would not have continued with the series.