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The Silence of Lightning

Marie S. Crosswell (Goodreads Author)

3.89 · Rating details · 9 ratings · 10 reviews

Former pro-rodeo champion Smith Rose and his cousins Cooper and Christa Boone live a quiet life together in the town of Cody, Wyoming—until the summer of 2015 shakes them to their foundations.

Stuck in an unhappy rut since his retirement from the rodeo five years prior, Smith is forced to reckon with his past, present, and future when his former friend and lover John Henry ...more

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Published October 19th 2020 by NineStar Press

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Average rating 3.89 ·

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· 9 ratings · 10 reviews

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Dec 11, 2020 Althea rated it it was ok

Shelves: 2020-releases, ace-and-aro, adult, bi, contemporary, gay, lgbt, lgbt-authors, achillean, protags-of-colour

2.5/5 Stars

Overall a sweet romance stand alone that made me realise that I do actually quite like books that, for lack of a better word, are quite 'yeehaw' (aka lots of rodeos and cowboy hats lmao)! There was one part where one of the characters insinuated that bi men don't have safe sex and frequently spread STDs, particularly to women that they slept with (yikes), and, although I think the author was trying to go against that stereotype, it wasn't done very well at all. I liked the ace rep in ...more

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Oct 08, 2020 Equalityreader rated it really liked it

Shelves: netgalley

Sorry life is crazy rn I'll be back to review xx

update: ok I'm back because as of today I can finally breathe a little easier!

It's so hard to represent and get it right, especially because that can be such an intangible, individualistic thing. Ms. Crosswell did it, y'all. She did it, no joke.

Indigenous.
Bisexuals.
POCs.
Lesbians.
All with multiple, distinct POVs.

This is a big league win, especially when you consider the setting and how easy it would be to mess this up. The ending was sweet, and it l ...more

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Oct 25, 2020 Veronica of V's Reads rated it really liked it

Smith Rose retired from the professional rodeo circuit a three-time world champion rider, and settled in Cody, WY where his younger cousins, Copper and Christa Boone, have also decided to live. It’s a small town, and Smith has a honky-tonk style bar and he lives on a spread of acreage in a trailer.

Cooper has long followed Smith through the years, his biggest fan and even now she watches over him, fearing that he’s fallen into a depression. Cooper and Christa are two of the few people in the worl Smith Rose retired from the professional rodeo circuit a three-time world champion rider, and settled in Cody, WY where his younger cousins, Copper and Christa Boone, have also decided to live. It’s a small town, and Smith has a honky-tonk style bar and he lives on a spread of acreage in a trailer.

Cooper has long followed Smith through the years, his biggest fan and even now she watches over him, fearing that he’s fallen into a depression. Cooper and Christa are two of the few people in the world that know Smith is bisexual. He’s always kept his activity with men on the down-low and retired in part due to fears over being outed. Smith had one long-ish term relationship with a fellow cowboy on the circuit, a bisexual black man called John Henry Walker. And when John Henry called it quits, it broke a little something inside Smith.

Cooper is an asexual butch mechanic, and her love for Smith and Christa is great. She’s afraid that they will each find a partner and move on leaving her alone. So, she’s poised to observe the change in Smith’s demeanor after John Henry shows up in Smith’s saloon. And, she’s further troubled by an aggressively charming Nite Rodeo rider who seems to be stalking Christa.

John Henry has made it clear he’s riding in the Wyoming-area rodeo circuit this summer, and Smith doesn’t waste time tracking him down. Their sex is still mind-blowing and both men are more touched by the moment than they can let on. John Henry reveals he has a long-time girlfriend whom he plans to marry, but while he’s our on the rodeo he’s not planning to be monogamous. He’s not actually a player, John Henry has long had a love for Smith Rose, and this summer was his attempt to makes sense of his feelings and conflict, before he takes the plunge to either come out and make a life with Smith or marry his girlfriend.

There are many points of view that converge in this story, and there’s a lot of heavy lifting put into the the thoughts and reflections of each character. Cody is small, and people who fall into the quilt bag of the LGBTQIA rainbow are struggling to find family. To feel if they can be safe and out at the same time. John Henry has a double worry, of being out and black, in an area and profession that is undoubtedly white supremicist. The contrasting viewpoints allows readers to really feel the turmoil of these people as they connect and struggle to decide how to live their lives with love and joy. It’s a quiet story, and not exactly a romance. There is happiness, love and peace within, but there isn’t a real romance-y ending. I liked the story a lot, and I loved the characters. For people who love westerns, scenic reads, and deep, emotional introspection, I would recommend this one. ...more

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Nov 02, 2020 AMHH rated it it was amazing

This is a hard book to review, if only because I’m not sure how to put my thoughts into words. I’ll be thinking about this story and these characters for a long time. Crosswell’s writing brings the setting to life: the harsh beauty of the Wyoming landscape and the freedom of endless space juxtaposed against the insular, at times claustrophobic reality of life in a small, mostly straight, mostly white town. I grew up in the rural West, and this paradox triggered for me a complicated mixture of ho ...more

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Oct 18, 2020 Thieving Magpie rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Oct 18, 2020 Pauline Knox rated it liked it

A story of Rodeos, cowboys, love, family, small towns and belonging. Smith Rose has changed since he quit the pro rodeo circuit 5 years ago. He isn’t really living his life but merely exists within it, hiding so much of himself from the world around him, except those closest to him, his cousins, Christa and Cooper.
But when someone from his past walks into his bar, Smith is more thrown than he ever was while riding at the rodeo, and his quiet, uncomplicated existence begins to change.
I enjoyed th ...more

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Oct 18, 2020 Novels and Nummies rated it really liked it

4/5

*Special thanks to NetGalley and NineStar Press for providing me with a free copy in exchange for an honest review*

This was a really good book. Although the ending was not satisfying to me, I felt that it was pretty realistic.

I have never been the type of person to read romance novels before (I usually prefer it on the side), but I was pleasantly surprised by this book. It was an engaging, quick read and it did not have many boring parts.

I really appreciated the different characters in this n ...more

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Nov 15, 2020 Janom rated it really liked it

Shelves: arc, he-loves-him, what-a-mighty-good-man

Genre: Contemporary Fiction and M/M Romance
Steamy?: Yes
Cliffhanger?: No
Can be read as Standalone?: Yes
Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars

***THANK YOU TO NetGalley FOR MY ADVANCED REVIEW COPY. ALL OPINIONS AND THOUGHTS ARE MY OWN***

This was a beautiful bittersweet story. Admittedly, it took a while for me to get into it due to there being more main characters than I was expecting (this book primarily follows the lives of three cousins/siblings in small-town Wyoming). After I was able to adjust to following ...more

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Oct 23, 2020 RACHEL REED rated it really liked it

This was quit a unique read.
The author has handled this story and the representation very well.
The characters are real, relatable and well fleshed out. The author's writing style worked for me and I loved that it wasn't written in single Pov.
This book has some good representation as well.
I absolutely recommend this one if you like a realistic love story with real characters. ...more

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