Leaving Home (Home, #4) in Totally Bound Publishing

May 02, 2013 Crissy Morris rated it really liked it

Shelves: joyfully-jay, contemporary, cowboys-ranches-rodeo

3.5 stars

Originally reviewed for Joyfully Jay

“Leaving home was an integral part of growing up. It was an important step to discovering who a man was to become.”

Bringing drunk, strung out men home is not Peter Skinner’s regular practice, but something about Chaz leads Peter to do just that. Peter leads a quiet life on a ranch owned by his best friends who have become his family in the past several years. And now Chaz, the beautiful broken bullfighter, has rushed into his life and Peter doesn’t kn ...more

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Apr 05, 2013 Nic rated it really liked it

Shelves: mm, series, cowboy, zz-amazon-yes

This series has a really strong message about family. "..the best families were the ones they built for themselves." and this continues in this book.

The story focuses very much on Peter, who has been rejected by his family, and now lives at the Hardin ranch and works as an accountant for Les. The story starts with Peter collecting his belongings but more importantly being ready to start over in a new home. "It might not be the family he'd been born with, but it was the one he'd chosen, and, to b This series has a really strong message about family. "..the best families were the ones they built for themselves." and this continues in this book.

The story focuses very much on Peter, who has been rejected by his family, and now lives at the Hardin ranch and works as an accountant for Les. The story starts with Peter collecting his belongings but more importantly being ready to start over in a new home. "It might not be the family he'd been born with, but it was the one he'd chosen, and, to be honest, the men and women Peter was going to see in a few minutes were the people he felt the most real with. They had opened their hearts and homes to him, even when his grandfather had treated Les so poorly."

Peter and his friends, are all good people. They go out of their way to give people a second chance and are not judgmental. It was nice to see the introduction of a character who had flaws, someone who was battling demons and making wrong decisions.

Peter finds Chaz in a alley - collapsed, dirty and strung out. He rescues him (he's one of the good guys) and takes him home to the ranch. Peter actually feels an immediate attraction to Chaz which has him puzzled. "He needed to get a handle on this weird attraction. There was no way in hell Peter could want a dirty druggie who was more than likely homeless."

The story follows the development of a relationship between Peter and Chaz. They face obstacles, including Peter's friends protectiveness and of course, Chaz's dependence on pills. However, it is easy to feel sympathatic towards Chaz (while at the same time wanting to shake some sense into him). He desperately wants to do the right thing by Peter "He was a good man who saw something worthwhile in Chaz, and Chaz wanted to live up to Peter's expectations. but doesn't not have the faith in himself "He'd screwed up enough times in his life that he wasn't the kind of guy to make vows to people."

This story was well-paced, the characters were fabulous and there was some great drama. Les' interference at the end of the book annoyed me slightly as it delayed the happy ending I was hoping for, but there was a level of realism to the conclusion of the book that gave confidence that Peter and Chaz were definitely destined for happy ever after!

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