Ranch Hands Reharvested in Q&A with S.L. Danielson

Aug 12, 2010 S.L. rated it really liked it · (Review from the author) · review of another edition

Shelves: i-wrote-it

It's back!!! due to a publisher snafu...it is back in my hands and on those virtual shelves! ...more

3 likes · Like · see review

Jun 24, 2010 Elisa Rolle added it · review of another edition

Ranch Hands is a novel with the taste of an homemade apple pie. Sid Rosen is the only owner, and worker, of a ruined ranch in an farm county. He has no money to hire an help and neither to pay the mortgage, but he doesn’t want to give up. The only one to answer his ad for a ranch hand is Roger: not much experience, but willing to help in exchange of only border, Roger is Sid’s only chance.

They start a cohabitation that is at the same time easy and awkward: it’s clear that both of them have secr Ranch Hands is a novel with the taste of an homemade apple pie. Sid Rosen is the only owner, and worker, of a ruined ranch in an farm county. He has no money to hire an help and neither to pay the mortgage, but he doesn’t want to give up. The only one to answer his ad for a ranch hand is Roger: not much experience, but willing to help in exchange of only border, Roger is Sid’s only chance.

They start a cohabitation that is at the same time easy and awkward: it’s clear that both of them have secrets to hide, and it’s also clear that they are drawn to each other, but neither of them is willing, or able to do the first step. I had the feeling that both Sid and Rog are quiet men, plain and homely, not really the hard core type; together they are able to do something and go on, but alone they would probably give up. Due to their submissive character, they are also easy prey, for unscrupulous men; their past history is quite similar, and for this reason they have in common also a future development; I’m not sure to find believable that both of them had almost the same “accident” with a past lover, but then, that is also a point that bond them together, so maybe it was a necessary twist in the plot. For sure it gave me the idea that Sid and Roger have to be really careful in the future, since, as I said, together they can face adversity, but alone they are not much of an opposition against fate.

I wondered also on the place where they live; it was a throughout idyllic farm place, and for idyllic I’m not referring to the life condition, that were hard and dry, as most of the farm town nowadays, but on the acceptance that both men find with townsfolk and families: I’m not sure that is possible, at least not in US, not even in those countries where same sex marriage is legal, but at least it didn’t distract the reader from the relationship between Sid and Rog; acceptance was not one of their problem, building a common life in an difficult environment, when both of them were not exactly “macho men”, that were their obstacles.

Ranch Hands is a nice and sweet western romance, but two unexpected main heroes: those cowboys are not your usual imaginary of Marlboro man, but they are more, as the title says, ranch hands, simple, and average, men.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003DZ1M2E/?... ...more

3 likes · Like · see review

Aug 07, 2011 Julie Hayes rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Sid Rosen’s in a world of trouble. The farm is mortgaged to the hilt thanks to the gambling habits of his late father, and the payments are six months overdue. A terrible drought has more than taken its toll on everyone, and Sid is a desperate man. He can’t work the farm alone, and he can’t afford to hire anyone. Catch 22—what’s a guy to do?

Sid lives alone on the ranch, with only his dog for company, and has ever since his last lover took off for parts unknown a year before, without a word or a Sid Rosen’s in a world of trouble. The farm is mortgaged to the hilt thanks to the gambling habits of his late father, and the payments are six months overdue. A terrible drought has more than taken its toll on everyone, and Sid is a desperate man. He can’t work the farm alone, and he can’t afford to hire anyone. Catch 22—what’s a guy to do?

Sid lives alone on the ranch, with only his dog for company, and has ever since his last lover took off for parts unknown a year before, without a word or a note of good-bye. Forced into the only solution that he can see, Sid places an ad for a live-in ranch hand, whose only recompense will be room and board: it’s all that he can afford. Not surprisingly, he doesn’t receive any takers, until Roger Laramie spots Sid’s ad and calls.

Roger and his own dog join Sid at the ranch, and the two men start working to salvage the farm. Roger’s a hard worker, but the trouble is, he’s also more than a pretty face—he has ideas about how to bring the ranch back to life. Sid resents his ideas, and resents being told what to do with his land, so they butt heads. But with time comes wisdom, and the two form a partnership—in more ways than one—working together to bring the ranch to fruition once more.

A loud-mouthed slutty town drunk, the hardships inherent in farming, unwelcome blasts from the past as well as the trials of beginning a relationship where trust is essential but also hard to give push Sid and Roger to the limits. Will they work past their issues, or will they succumb to them, and the ranch as well?

Ranch Hands is a love story, but it’s also a story about survival, and doing what you have to do to get by. Nothing comes easy, and everything has a price. S.L. Danielson draws her characters in broad strokes. She isn’t one for details, more of a cut-to-the-chase kind of writer. So if you’re looking for finesse, or subtlety, don’t look here. But if you like a story that gets to the heart of the matter, and doesn’t waste time with getting there, you’ll like her style.
Sid and Roger could be any other two people in love. Love stories are universal, and it doesn’t matter what gender the couple involved is, whether two men, two women, or a man and a woman. It’s what’s in the heart that counts. S.L. shows us what is in the hearts and minds of Sid and Roger; by the end of the book we feel as if we’ve come to know and like them, and you’ll find yourself cheering them on through all the difficult times and difficult people.

I give this 4.5 ☆s.
...more

1 like · Like · see review