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Redemption

3.53 of 5 stars 3.53 · rating details · 45 ratings · 8 reviews

As a teenager, rancher Keegan MacLamore was not very well liked in the small town of Thayne. He was a motorcycle-riding, longhaired rebel. At eighteen years old, he was sentenced to thirty years to life for a murder he didn't commit. Twenty-five years later, he's released on parole and all he wants is to be left alone. He wants to crawl into a hole and stay there. But his...more

ebook, 95 pages

Published February 2010 by Loose Id

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Best Interracial and Multicultural M/M Romances

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Mar 20, 2011 xbmbgrl rated it 2 of 5 stars

The blurb for this is intriguing. A main character that has spent 25 years in prison? We don’t see that plot everyday. Essentially his whole life and definitely his formulative years were spent in prison. The ramification of that could be really interesting and compelling.

The book is short, only about 90 pages. That length doesn’t allow for any real in-depth look at the personality before, during or how it might change after spending that much time in prison. The two main characters fall in lus...more

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Aug 30, 2011 ♥Laddie♥ marked it as dnf

Shelves: bad-boy-hero, mm, excon-convict-hero

I'm going to be honest with myself; I'm never going to finish this book.

I was excited to read this story. One reason is that it's an interracial love story. The other reason is that there's an ex-con in it. I thought it would be a very outside-of-the-box story. I was wrong.

Keegan's the ex-con who's been in jail for over twenty years. he was a bad boy when he was young and then some stuff went down and Keegan was locked up. When Keegan finally gets out he's a different person. That was the one t...more

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Oct 01, 2011 Nile Princess rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: m-m-romance, wrongful-conviction, kindle-lendable

There is a five story in here somewhere.....

Forgive the in-depth review. I really think if this is revamped it would be a great book.

Even though there were many flaws to this story, some of which other reviewers mentioned, something about this story really gripped me and stayed with me. I loved the two guys. I found many parts of the storytelling and descriptions beautiful. The lovemaking is done well and I actually cared about the outcome. The opening scene where Keegan is sentenced is heartbr...more There is a five story in here somewhere.....

Forgive the in-depth review. I really think if this is revamped it would be a great book.

Even though there were many flaws to this story, some of which other reviewers mentioned, something about this story really gripped me and stayed with me. I loved the two guys. I found many parts of the storytelling and descriptions beautiful. The lovemaking is done well and I actually cared about the outcome. The opening scene where Keegan is sentenced is heartbreaking and will pull you in right away, and Chapters 1 and 2 (Jaxton's intro) are also well done. Unfortunately, it starts going downhill from there. The main problems for me were pacing and characterization. The guys' actions, at times, didn't make any sense. Keegan comes out of jail after 25 years and, on their first meeting, Jaxton (without having had any prior sexual history with him and only just seeing him around as teenagers) starts caressing the scars on his back while he stands in the kitchen. Why?? Characterization-wise, what the guys said and what they did were often in such direct contrast to each other that it gave me whiplash. I literally had to re-read things a few times to understand what the heck was going on. Was it indeed Jaxton who had just called Keegan a f*g and accused him of being gay, when he (Jaxton) was the one who had come on to him?! This made it hard to differentiate them from each other, character wise. It just seemed like they were both bipolar and, as another reviewer said, way too dramatic for two grown men.

Other problems - the buildup to the romance was non existent. I didn't understand how they fell in love as quickly as they did or why the emotions were as strong as they were, especially on Keegan's side. Jaxton had been attracted to Keegan even as a teenager so it made sense for him, but Keegan didn't know Jaxton that well. It would have made more sense to either show that they had a prior mutual attraction, or slow down the time it took them to get together. Again, the pacing there needed work.

Setting - The story needed to be better fleshed out to make it more realistic. We are told that Keegan is a rancher and, considering how much money his grandfather had, we can assume this is a sizeable property. Yet, at no point is there another person around. One man cannot singlehandedly run a ranch. Who was taking care of the horses while Keegan was in prison? Was Coulter (Keegan's best friend and lawyer) just dropping by every morning and evening to take care of things on his way to and from his office? What exactly did they do on this ranch? Nobody ever stopped by to do business, nobody ever filled or placed any orders. Keegan just fed and brushed horses and bailed hay from time to time. Again, characterization issues. I never saw him as a 'rancher'. He was a guy who owned 3 horses.

The case - Another reviewer mentioned it and I agree. Keegan's grandfather spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on his defense and nobody thought to demand to see the surveillance tape of the store? Nobody thought to bring in a big hot shot lawyer to defend Keegan, knowing the town was biased against him? Yet, we're supposed to believe that his grandfather not only spent all this money on his defense, he was wealthy enough to sell a winery and leave Keegan 17.5 million dollars?? Really?? Again, not realistic.

The backstory - We never really understand WHY Keegan is so hated. We know that the town hated Keegan's father and it filtered down to him. But it seems like Keegan's parents hated him even before they knew he was gay. Why? And was there no one in the entire town who liked Keegan even though he had never been arrested prior to the night of the murder? As with so many other parts of the book, it was just an easy out with no real explanation. It also wasn't realistic that Keegan went to prison as a very goodlooking 18yr old, did a 25yr sentence, and was released from prison without having ever 'been with a man'. Where is this prison?? I'm not saying it's impossible. I'm just saying odds are very low.

Secondary characters - Coulter was an awesome friend and one of my favorite characters. He was also the voice of reason many times. Marlon was also great, but strangely, a description of what he looked like came about 10 pages after we'd already been introduced to him. More issues with characterization.

People may be wondering what the heck was good about this book. :-) There are a lot of things to like, as I mentioned in the beginning. I would read it again. I did like the relationship between the two men, the friendship between Coulter and Keegan, and Jaxton's insistence at being there, supporting Keegan and forcing him to see that he was worthy of love and societal acceptance. Jaxton's story is also done well and the fact that the relationship is interracial didn't hurt. :-)

Bottom line, there is a five star story here but the author needs to go back to the drawing board, get a beta and editor and really revisit this.
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Jul 09, 2011 Kiera Nightroad rated it 3 of 5 stars

This author is know for his interracial stories, of which this is one. The races of both characters was made evident early in the story, but was overstated from that point on. I don't need the constant references to "chocolate dick" to keep this in mind. There were multiple other opportunities to make the interracial aspect clear. Commenting on the contrast between the one man's hand on the other's skin, even just in the speech patterns of both men. But stop beating me over the head with it. I d...more

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May 06, 2010 Elisa Ramblings added it

Keegan is a 43 years old man who spent the last 25 years in prison for a crime he didn’t commit. When he was 18 years old, openly gay and totally bad boy, he was the sore eye of the small town where he lived, and so, when he was framed for a murder of another young man, no one, from the judge to the police to his lawyer to his same parents believed in his innocence and he was sentenced to life. The only one who believed in him was his grandfather, a very wealthy man, who apparently couldn’t do a...more Keegan is a 43 years old man who spent the last 25 years in prison for a crime he didn’t commit. When he was 18 years old, openly gay and totally bad boy, he was the sore eye of the small town where he lived, and so, when he was framed for a murder of another young man, no one, from the judge to the police to his lawyer to his same parents believed in his innocence and he was sentenced to life. The only one who believed in him was his grandfather, a very wealthy man, who apparently couldn’t do anything for him if not preserve his inheritance. Now 25 years later Keegan is out on parole, and he is also rich, but the only thing he wants is to go back to his ranch, and live in peace, as far as possible to the folks who convicted him.

Jaxon was an orphan two years younger than Keegan; to his teenager eyes, Keegan was a forbidden fruit, someone he desperately wanted. Jaxon was also in the same gang who killed the boy Keegan was accused to, and he knew the true. Only that at the time, Jaxon was too scared to loose the only family he had, the gang, and so he said nothing. Growing up, Jaxon managed to become a famous professional baseball player, but almost as a penance, off season he is back home, and helping Keegan’s grandfather to preserve the ranch for his grandson. Even now that the old man is dead, Jaxon is going home to do his work, but this time it’s Keegan who opens the door, of both his home than all the forbidden desires Jaxon tried to forget. Jaxon is openly gay, but it’s not the gay thing that is forbidden, it’s the love he has for an ex con and also the guilty that weights on his shoulder: how can he fall in love with Keegan knowing that he stole 25 years of his life?

Even if both men deny the feelings they are having for each other, the desire is stronger, and they always end in each other arms. It’s like a play of pull and push, but in the end, it’s more Jaxon who is trying to reach out for Keegan: even if 25 years later, even if more experienced and successful, Jaxon probably is still that boy who was looking upon Keegan, waiting for the bad boy of the town to notice him, Mr Nobody; and yes, maybe it’s also a way for him to re-pay Keegan of his lost years, Jaxon for sure will do everything to make the man happy.

Overall I liked the story even if sometime it was “too much”: Keegan’s grandfather who dying left him multimillionaire? If he had so much money, probably he would have been able to help his grandson before that; it’s more believable that he asked Jaxon to help him out, since, even if it’s not said, maybe he noticed Jaxon’s interest in his grandson; a little less believable is that a professional baseball player is able to live as a rancher during off-season, and even less that he can be openly gay without the media give a fit. It’s instead quite understandable that Keegan doesn’t want to be involved with Jaxon, there are many reason for that: Keegan wants to be left alone and in peace, and a relationship with a public persona will not help; Keegan’s imagine is not help for Jaxon’s professional career; at a time the author hinted also to the interracial issue, Jaxon is Afro-American, but sincerely this was the last of their problem.

The mystery side of the story is pretty simple and the most enjoyable part is probably the hot sexual relationship between the two men, both of them well out the inexperience age, and quite aware of what they like and want.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003IKMO62/?...(less)

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Mar 07, 2010 JenMcJ rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: e-books, mm-mmm-a-few-mmf-too

This story was much too short to tackle the potential weighty subject. To add to the problems the plot left a lot of questions, took turns that were silly and was resolved much too quickly and easily considering the 25 years that built up behind it.

I was surprised to be so disappointed in a book published by Loose ID. They usually have much tighter beta reading. Much of the issues should have been caught and dozens of questions asked before releasing this title. It just had way too many questio...more

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Dec 14, 2012 Whitney rated it 2 of 5 stars

This was too short for all that was going on. I also found it odd that someone who was supposedly his good friend would call him the n-word so quickly. I also found the use of the n-word unnecessary and wonder why it was put in there other than for shock value.

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Sep 04, 2011 Indigo rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: m-m

3.5 stars good theme for a story, but rushed and too centered on a happy ending. Lots of too good to be true events.

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About Remmy Duchene

Remmy Duchene is a Canadian-hockey-watching-baseball-playing kind of guy. He loves walking in the rain and bugging his friends about his latest story ideas. Remmy believes that true love comes in all shapes, sizes, and sexualities. He is always saying "I'd rather see two gay people in love get married than two straight people that hate each other."

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