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Cowboys of Snow Lake #1
Rivers Of Wind
A gay city boy looking for rest and escape. A mourning cowboy with grudges.
Jayden Frost has been through an ordeal and finds himself staying at a relative’s bar/diner in the mythical Midwest. He’s been gay all his life, but lately he’s been forced to question many aspects of his life, and there are hungry ghosts from the past haunting him.
Mal Ryder co-owns a local horse ranch. His kind sister invites Jayden to stay with them for the duration of the local customary horse and cattle auction. Mal finds himself drawn to Jayden, whose past is catching up to him. Inexperienced and unsure as to how to deal with his newfound emotions, Mal must find peace within himself to help Jayden be free from his demons.
Together they must overcome burdens of the past and dangers in the present to find true love.
Jayden Frost has been through an ordeal and finds himself staying at a relative’s bar/diner in the mythical Midwest. He’s been gay all his life, but lately he’s been forced to question many aspects of his life, and there are hungry ghosts from the past haunting him.
Mal Ryder co-owns a local horse ranch. His kind sister invites Jayden to stay with them for the duration of the local customary horse and cattle auction. Mal finds himself drawn to Jayden, whose past is catching up to him. Inexperienced and unsure as to how to deal with his newfound emotions, Mal must find peace within himself to help Jayden be free from his demons.
Together they must overcome burdens of the past and dangers in the present to find true love.
251 pages, ebook
First published September 14, 2011
2 people are currently reading
138 people want to read
About the author
Susan Laine
91 books220 followersSusan is an award-winning author of LGBTQ erotic romance. She writes for Dreamspinner Press, DSP Publications, Siren BookStrand, Evernight Publishing, and Less Than Three Press. Susan is a Finn writing in English. She likes action flicks, pop music, saunas, and the seasons in Finland. Join Susan's newsletter HERE.
Coming soon new M/M and F/F erotic romances....
Sorry but... I'm taking a bit of a hiatus from writing at the moment. Will keep you apprised of any changes. Huge thanks to anyone who has read my stories and, hopefully, liked them <3
Merry Christmas!
Coming soon new M/M and F/F erotic romances....
Sorry but... I'm taking a bit of a hiatus from writing at the moment. Will keep you apprised of any changes. Huge thanks to anyone who has read my stories and, hopefully, liked them <3
Merry Christmas!
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
July 29, 2012
Susan Laine writes a long, slow buildup for Jayden and Mal in RIVERS OF WIND, and I have to say she paced it just right. Jayden arrives in Snow Lake seeking respite from a past lover who hurt him in more ways than one. His aunt introduces him to Mal and his family who own a horse ranch.
Mal at first appears to hate Jayden for reasons Jayden can’t understand. In fact, Mal is a closeted gay cowboy who is conflicted about his feelings for Jayden. His family things he is sad because his fiancé died in a car accident a year ago but there is much more to that trauma than anyone knows.
Jayden and Mal help each other overcome their past as well as a hateful man who vows to destroy their happiness just as Mal is ready to come out to his family and community. There is also a planned robbery to throw another monkey wrench in their future plans.
RIVERS OF WIND is a good beginning to a contemporary western series and I’m certainly looking forward to reading the rest of the books.
Mal at first appears to hate Jayden for reasons Jayden can’t understand. In fact, Mal is a closeted gay cowboy who is conflicted about his feelings for Jayden. His family things he is sad because his fiancé died in a car accident a year ago but there is much more to that trauma than anyone knows.
Jayden and Mal help each other overcome their past as well as a hateful man who vows to destroy their happiness just as Mal is ready to come out to his family and community. There is also a planned robbery to throw another monkey wrench in their future plans.
RIVERS OF WIND is a good beginning to a contemporary western series and I’m certainly looking forward to reading the rest of the books.
December 30, 2011
I'm not normally a big fan of slow build romance. Usually I find myself thinking "come on already, get to the point" but this book was different. The pace was absolutely right and I loved watching the relationship between Jayden and Mal grow. Plenty of plot plus plenty of romance made this an excellent read for me :) The only questions I have are - Is Jamey gay and are we going to hear his story?
July 10, 2014
This story had everything, yet somehow missed the mark for me. I wasn't a fan of the writing style of the Author. The way Mal kept calling Jayden "Youngling" was pretty annoying. While I am a huge fan of hot steamy MM sex there is such a thing as too much!
February 3, 2013
Too LONG!!! too much narration... hahaiz.. good story but very long..
February 13, 2014
Really enjoyed this book. Great start for the series.
September 30, 2017
Rough Around the Edges
This one has a number of eyebrow raising moments, ranging from time lines to insta attraction gone wild to very bizarre concepts of trust and justice--but in the end it worked for me.
Jayden Frost is a mid 20s openly gay hottie who arrives at his aunt's restaurant-bar in off-the-beaten-track Wyoming with a deeply buried past and a secret plan to escape that past (which we are not really told about until the middle of the book). Mal Ryder is an extremely hot, probably extremely straight, and deeply scowling 30-something cowboy owner of a ranch where Jayden eventually winds up as a guest.
Yeah, yeah, Jayden and Mal eventually get together in some very steamy scenes but their road to romance always has road blocks that might cause you to roll your eyes and twists of fate that will have you scratch your hairline. But, in the end, this worked for me and I will go onto the next in the series with open eyes and heart.
This one has a number of eyebrow raising moments, ranging from time lines to insta attraction gone wild to very bizarre concepts of trust and justice--but in the end it worked for me.
Jayden Frost is a mid 20s openly gay hottie who arrives at his aunt's restaurant-bar in off-the-beaten-track Wyoming with a deeply buried past and a secret plan to escape that past (which we are not really told about until the middle of the book). Mal Ryder is an extremely hot, probably extremely straight, and deeply scowling 30-something cowboy owner of a ranch where Jayden eventually winds up as a guest.
Yeah, yeah, Jayden and Mal eventually get together in some very steamy scenes but their road to romance always has road blocks that might cause you to roll your eyes and twists of fate that will have you scratch your hairline. But, in the end, this worked for me and I will go onto the next in the series with open eyes and heart.
May 19, 2013
2012 Review:
Hn. Wrote up a huge amount of text while reading this and it will seem disjointed. But it’s hot, I am tired, and I need to get this done. :3
Right off the bat way more introspective than people, especially most men, really are. So much inner workings and wonderings in a language that did not really seem to fit normal human beings. On the other hand, the conversations showed a variety of topics and heaps of intelligence too, so maybe I am just not used to any of that on display in a book. (And in any case, that semi-good first impression lessened considerably over the course of the book.)
That said, the tone felt exceedingly melancholy. On the upside, the love stayed extensive and exaggerated (which is a good thing, I guess).
It got annoying fast that Mal kept thinking of Jayden as “the young man”, though. He did this all the time and it was especially disorienting when it happened three times within a single paragraph while they are having sex. Repeatedly. The phrase, I mean. The sex was not so much repetitive as drawn out and overly emotionalized. (And I’d never thought I’d complain about that. Much. Except for when I do.)
Also, redundant expressions, words not always used entirely correctly.
Going into the actual plot for a moment, Jayden’s motivation seemed forced and unconvincing from the start.
In the end, I was not at all happy with how things played out in that regard. Mal behaved like a real jerk there. Oh well.
The time scale given for the separations did not add up, either. I don’t care, but it’s just a little irritating to have to backtrack to figure out what is going on.
And when we did get to the end, things were just drawn out needlessly.
Eh, I like to wallow in the happy ending as much as the next person (likely more), and in this case it’s probably a good thing to make clear how things have worked out for the two. But. This was all for more sex, basically. Detailed and lengthy descriptions of it with more reflection and blubberings of love.
I’ve come to realize that this author still needs to go a long way.
Her perspectives are messy too. Once again we have someone trying to keep them clean by inserting dividers after every few paragraphs, but even then the other guy’s thoughts tend to sneak in now and again.
It’s all right, acceptable, but I can’t help but wonder if she should have just kept it as omniscient viewpoint anyway.
Going back to time issues for a second, the protagonists’ ages were odd too. Mal was portrayed to be in his mid-thirties, but his younger sister has to be thirty-six, given what we know of her daughter’s conception and age. He insists on calling Jayden on his age all the time as well, as though he’s way older than Jayden’s early twenties. It was a bit weird. I wish the book had outright stated how old Mal was supposed to be. I realize this sounds nitpicky but it kept niggling at me while I was reading.
So yeah, some major flaws made themselves known after a while of reading this, but overall it wasn’t as awful as I am sure I make it sound now. I stand by all of the above but it’s still a friendly book.
I am just not sure now if I want to read the next in this series or switch to something wildly different for a bit. After all, this did have its endearing qualities.
Decisions.
Hn. Wrote up a huge amount of text while reading this and it will seem disjointed. But it’s hot, I am tired, and I need to get this done. :3
Right off the bat way more introspective than people, especially most men, really are. So much inner workings and wonderings in a language that did not really seem to fit normal human beings. On the other hand, the conversations showed a variety of topics and heaps of intelligence too, so maybe I am just not used to any of that on display in a book. (And in any case, that semi-good first impression lessened considerably over the course of the book.)
That said, the tone felt exceedingly melancholy. On the upside, the love stayed extensive and exaggerated (which is a good thing, I guess).
It got annoying fast that Mal kept thinking of Jayden as “the young man”, though. He did this all the time and it was especially disorienting when it happened three times within a single paragraph while they are having sex. Repeatedly. The phrase, I mean. The sex was not so much repetitive as drawn out and overly emotionalized. (And I’d never thought I’d complain about that. Much. Except for when I do.)
Also, redundant expressions, words not always used entirely correctly.
Going into the actual plot for a moment, Jayden’s motivation seemed forced and unconvincing from the start.
In the end, I was not at all happy with how things played out in that regard. Mal behaved like a real jerk there. Oh well.
The time scale given for the separations did not add up, either. I don’t care, but it’s just a little irritating to have to backtrack to figure out what is going on.
And when we did get to the end, things were just drawn out needlessly.
Eh, I like to wallow in the happy ending as much as the next person (likely more), and in this case it’s probably a good thing to make clear how things have worked out for the two. But. This was all for more sex, basically. Detailed and lengthy descriptions of it with more reflection and blubberings of love.
I’ve come to realize that this author still needs to go a long way.
Her perspectives are messy too. Once again we have someone trying to keep them clean by inserting dividers after every few paragraphs, but even then the other guy’s thoughts tend to sneak in now and again.
It’s all right, acceptable, but I can’t help but wonder if she should have just kept it as omniscient viewpoint anyway.
Going back to time issues for a second, the protagonists’ ages were odd too. Mal was portrayed to be in his mid-thirties, but his younger sister has to be thirty-six, given what we know of her daughter’s conception and age. He insists on calling Jayden on his age all the time as well, as though he’s way older than Jayden’s early twenties. It was a bit weird. I wish the book had outright stated how old Mal was supposed to be. I realize this sounds nitpicky but it kept niggling at me while I was reading.
So yeah, some major flaws made themselves known after a while of reading this, but overall it wasn’t as awful as I am sure I make it sound now. I stand by all of the above but it’s still a friendly book.
I am just not sure now if I want to read the next in this series or switch to something wildly different for a bit. After all, this did have its endearing qualities.
Decisions.
September 26, 2016
I wanted to like this book and thought that just giving it more time would make it so. It didn’t though. The book had a good concept, but it just didn’t follow through for me.
I think what I disliked the most was that you really didn’t see much of the west in the book. Sure, it spoke of staying at a ranch, but nobody did anything with the animals, and other than mentioning the view nothing much else was said.
I also had a hard time reading the authors writing style. It threw me more than once. It was a lot of little things like using words that weren’t right for a sentence or missing words altogether. I can usually let mistakes go unless they get to where I am taken completely out of the story. I also didn’t really like one of the nicknames used in the book.
I’m giving this story a three star because the storyline did hold promise and I did find myself liking quite a few of the characters. I just don’t feel that it held up to my expectations, and I probably won’t read the rest in the series, sadly.
I think what I disliked the most was that you really didn’t see much of the west in the book. Sure, it spoke of staying at a ranch, but nobody did anything with the animals, and other than mentioning the view nothing much else was said.
I also had a hard time reading the authors writing style. It threw me more than once. It was a lot of little things like using words that weren’t right for a sentence or missing words altogether. I can usually let mistakes go unless they get to where I am taken completely out of the story. I also didn’t really like one of the nicknames used in the book.
I’m giving this story a three star because the storyline did hold promise and I did find myself liking quite a few of the characters. I just don’t feel that it held up to my expectations, and I probably won’t read the rest in the series, sadly.
July 10, 2016
Whilst the story was half decent I found the writing style of Ms Laine extremely tedious - much too verbose, goind round the houses with much too much "naval gazing". This was close to being a DNF and I must admit that I had to skim read the last half or so (just to find out how the story would be resolved). The sex got to be repetative and ultimately boring when it should have been (for Mal) new and exciting. Being a fan of ranch/cowboy M/M and this being the start of a series I was really looking forward to getting my teeth into a new (to me) series but after this book I doubt if I could summon up enough enthusiasm to even look at the next book. Terribly disappointing
1.5 Stars (for the story alone)
1.5 Stars (for the story alone)
February 12, 2015
This book was reviewed for Musings of a bookworm
This is an intense and emotional story about two men and their road to happiness. Now although I did enjoy this tale it was at times very hard going, mainly because it is very wordy and also emotionally charged. It felt like peddling up hill at times but because it was a really good tale I had to keep reading. This is thee first book in this series and I think I will read the next ones but not straight after finishing this one as I feel I need a bit of a rest emotionally so it will be a few days before I come back to this series.
This is an intense and emotional story about two men and their road to happiness. Now although I did enjoy this tale it was at times very hard going, mainly because it is very wordy and also emotionally charged. It felt like peddling up hill at times but because it was a really good tale I had to keep reading. This is thee first book in this series and I think I will read the next ones but not straight after finishing this one as I feel I need a bit of a rest emotionally so it will be a few days before I come back to this series.
March 16, 2012
I really liked this story. The pace around Jayden and Mal's relationship was enjoyable and well developed. The writing style was deep into all emotions both main characters felt. But all those sex scenes at the end were a bit to much for me. - 25.09.2011
By re-reading the story I still feel the same about the sex at the end. Those scenes where pointless and boring, not even hot. Now I would give 3 stars.
By re-reading the story I still feel the same about the sex at the end. Those scenes where pointless and boring, not even hot. Now I would give 3 stars.
August 22, 2015
Jayden arrives in Snow Lake to see his Aunt but is also running from an abusive lover who raped him.
Whilst there, he stays at a ranch run by a brother and sister and is attracted to Mal, the brother, who is tecovering from the death of his fiancee.
I liked this story and there was a great cast of secondary characters. However, if anything it was a little too long.
Whilst there, he stays at a ranch run by a brother and sister and is attracted to Mal, the brother, who is tecovering from the death of his fiancee.
I liked this story and there was a great cast of secondary characters. However, if anything it was a little too long.
June 22, 2013
A really good story.
But for some odd reason I mostly jumped over the sexy time scenes. I really liked the plot and the characters, but there was something about the sex scenes that threw me off. But it didn't destroy the enjoyment of the story.
September 24, 2011
Damn good book. Love the slow pace of getting together between Jayden and Mal. Story plot has everything sadness, drama, passion, love and happy ending. Good work author "Susan Laine" done here.
July 4, 2012
I wouldn't say it was one of my favorites, but it was okay.
dnf
September 9, 2012I just could not get into this, the writing threw me all off.
June 2, 2013
too long - 3.5 stars
February 12, 2013
This book really dragged for me...I found the contradictions in the characters personalities difficult to reconcile & I didn't like them enough to keep on reading for clarification.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews