Review of The Cowboy Way by Tori Richards

The Cowboy Way is a novel I downloaded on Smashwords.

Lacy Owens returns to her father's ranch for a long-overdue visit to find some changes have been made. One is the installation of her father's ranch hand and partner Chase Saunders. Animosity flares and tempers ignite between them, but it only uncovers the sexual tension between them.

Complicating matters is the escaped convict bent on revenge against Lacy's father--the man who put him in prison.

This book was a big, fat DNF--did not finish. I struggled through about two-thirds of the book before giving up. I will normally push through unless I really hate the book or it's very triggering of my PTSD.

Toxic masculinity, a toxic relationship, and insta-love scream from the pages.

For me, Lacy was an entitled, spoiled girl who only thought of herself and sex first, then her father's safety. Chase was completely unlikeable, reminiscent of Christian Grey in the worst ways, only without the BSDM. His temper is constantly flaring, he has a caveman mentality when it comes to Lacy, and he is very controlling. The only male character in the book I remotely liked was Chase's brother, Brian. Actually, he was the only character I liked at all.

The plot itself was barely there, and only seemed to serve as a vehicle to propel the couple to their next sex scene so the author could vary them enough to not make them boring. The scenes themselves were okay, but the one where they had sex naked in the dirt made me cringe for all the dirt embedded in the scrapes I knew would be all over her back.

Tori Richards's bio on the book and Goodreads says she writes erotica with a plot. Well, it felt like she was trying to write erotic romantic suspense and not succeeding. There was no romance because there was no emotion except frustration and anger, and the entrance of "love" between them was insta-love on her part and him saying he was going to marry her because they'd been having unprotected sex and he seemed to think it would prevent her from getting an abortion if she got pregnant (which totally baffled me and telegraphed later "plot twists" that I never got to). There was not much suspense because half the book was sex scenes. So, she got the erotic part, but nothing else.

I can safely say I will not be reading any more Tori Richards books despite her being quite prolific on Smashwords.

Photo Credit: Markus Spiske