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Driven to Distraction
Cowboys Wyatt and Brady are competing in a team-roping event in Missoula, Montana’s annual Christmas Eve rodeo. Christmas is Wyatt’s favorite time of year and nothing is going to dampen his holiday spirit, not even his surly, no-nonsense roping partner. They’ve only been riding together for a week, but Wyatt has already secretly fallen head over bootheels for Brady, though it’s painfully obvious Brady only has eyes for the rodeo’s grand prize purse. When Brady is distracted during a crucial moment in the night’s first roping run and nearly disqualifies them, Wyatt is almost certain he is going to be another of Brady’s many rejected partners. Will Wyatt and Brady be able to sort out their differences and work together to win the grand prize? Maybe, if Wyatt can show Brady that Christmas really is a time for miracles. A story from the Dreamspinner Press 2016 Advent Calendar "Bah Humbug."
23 pages, Kindle Edition
First published December 1, 2016
3 people are currently reading
24 people want to read
About the author
Cassie Decker
11 booksCASSIE DECKER has been a writer most of her life, but only started writing love stories once she read her first romance novel in high school and fell in love with falling in love. After graduating college and entering the corporate workforce, she realized sharing those stories with her friends and coworkers wasn’t as scary as she thought it would be. She found rather quickly how much they enjoyed her steamy yet sweet tales of love and passion when they kept asking for more.
When she’s not writing, Cassie enjoys getting her geek on by making cosplay costumes, going to comic-cons, and drawing fan art of her favorite characters. Besides being a total nerd, she likes to knit, read, binge-watch the shows on her streaming list, and practice her ukulele if she can find the time. Cassie also loves playing in the Colorado Rockies with her husband and her corgi pup, Murphy, when she’s not busy obsessing over the fictional men plotting their love stories in her head.
When she’s not writing, Cassie enjoys getting her geek on by making cosplay costumes, going to comic-cons, and drawing fan art of her favorite characters. Besides being a total nerd, she likes to knit, read, binge-watch the shows on her streaming list, and practice her ukulele if she can find the time. Cassie also loves playing in the Colorado Rockies with her husband and her corgi pup, Murphy, when she’s not busy obsessing over the fictional men plotting their love stories in her head.
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
December 5, 2016
1,5 stars
This book is a perfect example for my avoiding all these calendar short novels during Advent season. I have an impression that publishers hold a contest who releases the most mediocre Christmas MM romance book on the market.
A short story doesn't mean a boring extended sex scene wrapped up in dull dialogues uttered by stereotypical characters.
Why it is about Christmas?
...because there were shimmery garlands draped everywhere, the rodeo clowns were all dressed as Santa, and even some of the horses had candy canes and snowflakes painted on their rumps.
And it is my favorite sentence from the whole novel.
Happy reading.
*** Copy provided to Gay Book Reviews by the publisher in exchange for an honest review***
December 31, 2022
Boots, buckles, and cowboy hats! Oh-my, oh-my… Is there anything sexier than a cowboy on Christmas? Hell, I go all weak in the knees at one tip of the hat.
Throw in a stoic, hard to read man and I’m all in! Wyatt and Brady were sweet and sexy as hell. Decker built up the tension between these two guys perfectly. I’m so glad I decided to dive into one more holiday read.
I’m off to find myself another cowboy. Happy New Year!
December 18, 2016
Nothing like a rodeo story to be included in this year's Dreamspinner Press Advent Calendar. I definitely have a thing for a hot cowboy and two hot cowboys? Well, that's just cream on the top of an excellent Irish coffee.
I don't know much about rodeoing and certainly less about the events although I've seen a few here and there, but it struck me how nerve-wracking it must be to do a team event when you have only been working with your partner for seven days. Especially when the size of the purse is that big. Wyatt and Brady are determined to win the steer roping, with Brady as the header (ropes the neck of the steer first) and Wyatt as the heeler (ropes the backend second), but can they do it when they barely know each other?
Their first run out of four isn't the greatest time and when Wyatt tries to console Brady, Wyatt gets some information as to why winning this purse is so important, but Brady also reveals another little piece to the puzzle that is Brady. Hmm, interesting, very interesting. It also makes it imperative now for Wyatt to do his very best so they can win and maybe, just maybe, he can convince Brady that they make great partners out of the arena too.
A delightful Christmas miracle story!
NOTE: This book was provided by Dreamspinner Press for the purpose of a review on Rainbow Book Reviews
I don't know much about rodeoing and certainly less about the events although I've seen a few here and there, but it struck me how nerve-wracking it must be to do a team event when you have only been working with your partner for seven days. Especially when the size of the purse is that big. Wyatt and Brady are determined to win the steer roping, with Brady as the header (ropes the neck of the steer first) and Wyatt as the heeler (ropes the backend second), but can they do it when they barely know each other?
Their first run out of four isn't the greatest time and when Wyatt tries to console Brady, Wyatt gets some information as to why winning this purse is so important, but Brady also reveals another little piece to the puzzle that is Brady. Hmm, interesting, very interesting. It also makes it imperative now for Wyatt to do his very best so they can win and maybe, just maybe, he can convince Brady that they make great partners out of the arena too.
A delightful Christmas miracle story!
NOTE: This book was provided by Dreamspinner Press for the purpose of a review on Rainbow Book Reviews
December 4, 2016
Driven to Distraction was a cute little Christmas cowboy tale. Wyatt and Brady had been lusting after each other since they started working together just over a week ago. A rodeo mishap lays all the feelings out on the table when Brady admits how much he’s been lusting after Wyatt and Wyatt admits that he’s been feeling the same way.
I’m not usually a fan of “country” or “rodeo” stories, perhaps because I grew up there. Too much like home for me to want to read romance novels about it, but this one was good. I liked both of the MC’s and the rodeo elements weren’t so in-your-face that the MC’s took a backseat.
I’d be interested in reading this as a full length novel, if Cassie ever decided to write it. Driven to Distraction was well written and the characters were well developed for as short as this novella was.
Reviewed by Jordan at Alpha Book Club.
Disclaimer: This book was provided by the author in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions expressed herein are my own and not influenced by the author or the publisher in any way.
I’m not usually a fan of “country” or “rodeo” stories, perhaps because I grew up there. Too much like home for me to want to read romance novels about it, but this one was good. I liked both of the MC’s and the rodeo elements weren’t so in-your-face that the MC’s took a backseat.
I’d be interested in reading this as a full length novel, if Cassie ever decided to write it. Driven to Distraction was well written and the characters were well developed for as short as this novella was.
Reviewed by Jordan at Alpha Book Club.
Disclaimer: This book was provided by the author in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions expressed herein are my own and not influenced by the author or the publisher in any way.
January 4, 2017
Tough cowboys, a team-roping event on Christmas Eve, and sizzling attraction between roping partners who have barely known each other for a week – all of the above and more is what this hot little story has to offer. With Wyatt keen to break through the wall Brady seems to have built around himself and lots of help from the Christmas spirit Brady tries to ignore, ‘Driven to Distraction’ is an entertaining tale about two stubborn men trying to deal with a passion that flares hot enough to burn them both.
They can’t even seem to work together without “distracting” each other from what they need to do to win the giant purse, so how on Earth are they going to have a relationship? Brady has an uncommonly important reason to win the money and that comes first for him anyway. Wyatt needs the money as well, but he isn’t quite as desperate. Neither of them considered a relationship – if such a thing is even possible for these two macho guys – but the more they struggle, the clearer it becomes that getting together may be their only option to make it through the rodeo with their sanity intact.
If you like stubborn, macho cowboys who are as passionate about their job as they are in bed, if you think that Christmas miracles do happen, and if you’re looking for a read that is fun, entertaining, and filled with lustful cravings, then you will probably like this short story.
NOTE: This book was provided by Dreamspinner Press for the purpose of a review.
They can’t even seem to work together without “distracting” each other from what they need to do to win the giant purse, so how on Earth are they going to have a relationship? Brady has an uncommonly important reason to win the money and that comes first for him anyway. Wyatt needs the money as well, but he isn’t quite as desperate. Neither of them considered a relationship – if such a thing is even possible for these two macho guys – but the more they struggle, the clearer it becomes that getting together may be their only option to make it through the rodeo with their sanity intact.
If you like stubborn, macho cowboys who are as passionate about their job as they are in bed, if you think that Christmas miracles do happen, and if you’re looking for a read that is fun, entertaining, and filled with lustful cravings, then you will probably like this short story.
NOTE: This book was provided by Dreamspinner Press for the purpose of a review.
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January 8, 2017 3 Hearts
Hot cowboys learning the ropes to a new possibilities & having both a successful career and each others. Brady was stoic with reason and Wyatt believes in Christmas miracles and riding stallions. The story was short but not lacking in the sexy at all, it was pretty much PWP with a small side of plot.
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We Unicorn's are reviewing the Dreamspinner 2016 Advent Calendar every Sunday, Jizzmas gang bang style on the blog with the unis who are Santa Jizzians and the Grumpicorns. Check out the rest of the reviews for this story here...
Hot cowboys learning the ropes to a new possibilities & having both a successful career and each others. Brady was stoic with reason and Wyatt believes in Christmas miracles and riding stallions. The story was short but not lacking in the sexy at all, it was pretty much PWP with a small side of plot.
*****************************************************************
We Unicorn's are reviewing the Dreamspinner 2016 Advent Calendar every Sunday, Jizzmas gang bang style on the blog with the unis who are Santa Jizzians and the Grumpicorns. Check out the rest of the reviews for this story here...
Read
November 28, 2016Full Unicorning every Sunday as the stories are released.
This is seriously my favorite time of year and I look forward to all the Merry Jizzmas so hard. I'm really loving this years stories, I'm basically having a daily squeefest of holiday overload.
**a copy of this story was provided for an honest review**
This is seriously my favorite time of year and I look forward to all the Merry Jizzmas so hard. I'm really loving this years stories, I'm basically having a daily squeefest of holiday overload.
**a copy of this story was provided for an honest review**
December 3, 2017
Reviewed on The Blogger Girls
When I read the blurb for this short story, I was really intrigued by this one so I was looking forward to reading it. The blurb does a pretty good job of describing the story without giving much away. Unfortunately, I wasn’t too impressed with the actual story. I loved the premise and how Wyatt and Brady were partners in the roping competition and how Brady couldn’t seem to stay focused when he was around Wyatt. I also loved getting deeper into who Brady was and why he was so cold and distant.
However, I was a little disappointed in the execution of the story. For one, while it was told in Wyatt’s POV, I felt like I didn’t know Wyatt at all so it was hard for me to like him. I felt like the author focused so much on the sex that it overwhelmed the story and didn’t allow the characters to be really explored. The story was just way too short for there to essentially be one long sex scene.
In the end, this story had a lot of potential but didn’t live up to it, IMO. I liked Brady as a character but there wasn’t much depth to Wyatt and too much sex for such a short story. However, I know some readers will like a story mostly of smut so if the blurb intrigues you, you should still give it a go.
When I read the blurb for this short story, I was really intrigued by this one so I was looking forward to reading it. The blurb does a pretty good job of describing the story without giving much away. Unfortunately, I wasn’t too impressed with the actual story. I loved the premise and how Wyatt and Brady were partners in the roping competition and how Brady couldn’t seem to stay focused when he was around Wyatt. I also loved getting deeper into who Brady was and why he was so cold and distant.
However, I was a little disappointed in the execution of the story. For one, while it was told in Wyatt’s POV, I felt like I didn’t know Wyatt at all so it was hard for me to like him. I felt like the author focused so much on the sex that it overwhelmed the story and didn’t allow the characters to be really explored. The story was just way too short for there to essentially be one long sex scene.
In the end, this story had a lot of potential but didn’t live up to it, IMO. I liked Brady as a character but there wasn’t much depth to Wyatt and too much sex for such a short story. However, I know some readers will like a story mostly of smut so if the blurb intrigues you, you should still give it a go.
October 20, 2017
It is short and sweet with a Christmas miracle thrown in. After a poor starting run, Brady tells Wyatt that he is distracting him and why winning is so important. Wyatt takes the edge off for both of them and tells Brady that they can have the win and them as well. They win the roping competition. Brady disappears and then shows up. His brother is out of his coma and that he accepts Wyatt is right, they can have everything.
December 3, 2017
2/2.5*
This one failed to wow me. Wyatt and Brady are rodeo partners that turn hit and heavy mid competition. Add in some hallmark heartstring moments. And thats it.
A great short story can include all the info and story required but this one didn’t suit for me.
This one failed to wow me. Wyatt and Brady are rodeo partners that turn hit and heavy mid competition. Add in some hallmark heartstring moments. And thats it.
A great short story can include all the info and story required but this one didn’t suit for me.
December 20, 2016
2.75 Rounded up. Very short even for a Dreamspinner Advent book.
December 24, 2016
Brady's distraction jeopardized his and Wyatt's possibility of winning the rodeo's grand prize. Now they have to work as a team to solve the reasons of their lack of attention on the competition.
Wyatt and Brady are new partners in the roping event at the rodeo. Wyatt feels very attracted to Brady, who seemed oblivious of his partner's lust. But a moment of distraction during the competition risks not only the possibility of winning the grand price, but also their continuity as partners.
I love rodeo, at least some parts of it, so I was very attracted by this story. I wasn't disappointed; it was really good. At the beginning I wasn't too impressed, as it felt a bit predictable. But near the half of it, the things started to get so much interesting. I ended up liking it a lot. The main characters were nice. We get to see Wyatt's point of view, which is a little odd, because I felt like I knew more about Brady at the end of the story than I did about Wyatt. There isn't too much Christmas in here, except the fact that Brady's reasons for disliking it, but in general the story was very nice and easy to enjoy.
Wyatt and Brady are new partners in the roping event at the rodeo. Wyatt feels very attracted to Brady, who seemed oblivious of his partner's lust. But a moment of distraction during the competition risks not only the possibility of winning the grand price, but also their continuity as partners.
I love rodeo, at least some parts of it, so I was very attracted by this story. I wasn't disappointed; it was really good. At the beginning I wasn't too impressed, as it felt a bit predictable. But near the half of it, the things started to get so much interesting. I ended up liking it a lot. The main characters were nice. We get to see Wyatt's point of view, which is a little odd, because I felt like I knew more about Brady at the end of the story than I did about Wyatt. There isn't too much Christmas in here, except the fact that Brady's reasons for disliking it, but in general the story was very nice and easy to enjoy.
January 2, 2017
This was a really cute story. Wyatt is Brady’s latest in a string of calf roping partners. After a week, Wyatt is continually distracted by Brady, even though Brady comes off as all business and somewhat standoff-ish. Turns out Wyatt was the distraction and Brady had a pretty big reason for his surly reputation.
Driven to Distraction takes place in basically one evening, when the guys are competing for the latest big prize. In between rounds, Brady makes it clear why they must win and that there are no room for distractions. Wyatt is more than willing to help out in both departments and manages to break through some of Brady’s barriers.
I don’t generally read holiday themes and am not a huge fan of short stories either, for the mere fact that I find it hard to connect to characters and the story in general in such a short span of time. But, this turned out to be quite enjoyable and a nice afternoon feel-good quickie. It felt well-rounded and covered all the basics, not leaving me feeling as though something important was missing. I found it to be a positive example of this author’s work, and having not read Ms. Atwood previously, I will definitely be looking to read more in the future.
Review written for Love Bytes Reviews.
December 1, 2016
Wyatt and Brady are fairly new partners at team roping. They are both doing a special holiday rodeo. Brady is standoffish and goes through partners quickly. Wyatt finds him attractive and wants to get to know him better. When he finds out why Brady is so standoffish he finds his attraction even deeper.
Cassie Decker is a new to me Author but also now on my radar. I fell in love with both Wyatt and Brady. I loved how the story was complete In so few pages. I would love to see a full-length story on these men. There was so much compassion and passion in such a short piece.
This is a must read if you like cowboys, rodeos, romance and holiday stories.
Cassie Decker is a new to me Author but also now on my radar. I fell in love with both Wyatt and Brady. I loved how the story was complete In so few pages. I would love to see a full-length story on these men. There was so much compassion and passion in such a short piece.
This is a must read if you like cowboys, rodeos, romance and holiday stories.
December 7, 2016
This is a great little holiday short that could easily be reworked into a full length novel. The characters are rich and the storyline was entertaining and well developed.
Wyatt and Brady are new roping partners set to compete together, but They are complete opposites. Brady is hard, imposing and moody while Wyatt is all smiles and basking in the joy of the season. Brady has to win the competition, his family is counting on the winnings to help care for his sick brother, but he is constantly distracted by his hot new partner. Wyatt needs to convince Brady that they can be partners in life and the rodeo.
Wyatt and Brady are new roping partners set to compete together, but They are complete opposites. Brady is hard, imposing and moody while Wyatt is all smiles and basking in the joy of the season. Brady has to win the competition, his family is counting on the winnings to help care for his sick brother, but he is constantly distracted by his hot new partner. Wyatt needs to convince Brady that they can be partners in life and the rodeo.
December 31, 2016
Reviewed for BMBR
Sunday Funday Jizzmas: 2016 Advent Calendar - Bah Humbug | Week 4
October 20, 2017
This is actually not I expected a Christmas story like. This was an average story with lots of jizz, and I don't think there's nothing to do with Christmas.
This was a short story, yet made me bore easily. Maybe there's something wrong with me, because, this one was kinda steamy.
* ARC is provided by publisher for an honest and unbiased review.No high rating required for the story*
This was a short story, yet made me bore easily. Maybe there's something wrong with me, because, this one was kinda steamy.
* ARC is provided by publisher for an honest and unbiased review.No high rating required for the story*
December 18, 2016
What's not to love. Too hot cowboys who are on their way to finding a wonderful Christmas. Miracles happen and Brady and Wyatt finding each other is just one wonderful part.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews