Title: The Retreat: A Roughstock Story
Author: B.A. Tortuga
Length: 3,400 words
Publisher: Torquere Press
Genre: m/m contemporary romance
Rating: D+
Blurb:
When Coke finally gets to invite his lover Dillon to the annual bullfighter retreat, all manner of mischief is on the menu along with the barbecue. The guys have three days before all their families show up. Can they get enough team-building done in seventy-two hours?
Review:
These Roughstock books can be a bit hit and miss for me. On one hand I liked the pared down, mainly dialogue orientated narrative and the cowboys, but on the other hand they can be nothing but a flimsy excuse for a sex scene. Unfortunately that was the case with this very short story.
Rodeo cowboy Coke has finally been asked to bring his lover Dillon (who’s a rodeo clown) to the annual testosterone fueled weekend retreat. They get there early and have sex. Then the other guys arrive and they all get drunk.
That was about it, and if you’re a huge fan of Coke and Dillon then this will be a tasty treat peek at their HEA. Otherwise I just thought it was OK – possibly because I wasn’t as invested in the characters as some readers may be. The writing had a mildly amusing tone and I liked both characters and how pleased they were that Dillon was being accepted by the other guys. The end also had a humourous moment when Dillon has to face up to his overindulgence from the previous day.
There’s not actually that much more to say about the story. It was short and sexy but didn’t really add anything much to the Roughstock canon. As such, I can’t really recommend it as a story to spend your money on, unless you really love these characters or can’t bear to miss a story in this series.
Hey Jen, do you know if there’s a list somewhere with the proper reading order of these? I find for these convoluted series that I can’t trust GR and I think I might light to read some of them.
Hi Cole
If you go to the author’s website she has a list of the books, although you have to dig about a bit to get the exact order. The first one is here: http://www.batortuga.com/fiction/books/blindride.html. Then it’s this one: http://www.batortuga.com/fiction/books/andasmile.html. I’m not sure what comes after that!
Thanks Jen!
🙂
Not really my thing. Much as I like the idea of cowboys, I’m finding that I don’t care for reading them that much.
Ah well, you’re allowed not to like absolutely everything :).
I’m with Tam about cowboys. 🙂
Aw, poor rejected cowboys. They’ll be sobbing into their stetsons :).