Guest Reviewed by Morgan
Title: Cutting Out
Author: Meredith Shayne
Heroes: Shane Cooper/Lachlan Moore
Genre: M/M Contemporary
Length: 222 Pages
Publisher: Bottom Drawer Publications
Release Date: October 11, 2014
Available at: Bottom Drawer Publications, Amazon and Barnes & Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads
Blurb: A twenty-year veteran of the shearing shed, Aussie Shane Cooper loves his job, and the home he’s made for himself in New Zealand. If he’s a little lonely, he’s got good mates to keep his spirits up. When a hot, cocky young shearer named Lachlan Moore catches his eye at a competition, he’s content to look but not touch, knowing the young man is out of his league.
Lachie wouldn’t mind a piece of Shane, but the gorgeous gun shearer from Australia is soon forgotten when the Christchurch earthquake hits, and tragedy strikes Lachie’s family. Lachie deals with it the best he can, cutting himself off from all he knows. A year later and he’s back in the shearing shed, out of practice and lacking confidence. That Shane’s there to watch him flounder doesn’t help his nerves.
As Lachlan struggles to re-acclimatise, Shane can’t resist giving him a hand to get back on his feet. As they move from friends to something more, Shane finds himself wanting to know everything he can about Lachie. But Lachie’s got secrets he desperately wants to keep, and when things come to a head, those secrets might just mean the end of them before they’ve truly begun.
Review:
The book starts with Lachlan “Lachie” and Shane at a sheep shearing competition where both win in their respective categories, Lachie a junior and Shane a senior. Both are a bit intrigued by the other, but have reason to believe nothing will come of it.
That night, Lachie’s life changes dramatically when his dad dies in an earthquake, leaving Lachie in charge of his family and his depressed mother.
A year goes by where Lachie is out of the shearing world, taking care of the family. When things seem to be settled, he re-joins the circuit and is pleasantly surprised by the helpful hand Shane offers to get him back in the swing of things.
Many months go by with Shane and Lachie forming a solid friendship, even though both know the other is gay. Neither thinks the other would be interested, so they leave it be. Until one night, the stars are aligned, and Lachie is brave enough to make a pass at Shane.
The next several months fly by as Shane and Lachie hook up repeatedly at various jobs, but they never connect outside of work, despite Shane’s yearning to do so. Lachie keeps himself aloof, too worried about his family to do more than a casual thing.
When things get rough at home and Shane begins to ask for more, Lachie has to make a decision. Does he want to bring Shane into the mess that is his life or risk losing him forever? Fortunately, he makes the right choice and we have a lovely epilogue to show their HEA.
**
This is a new author for me. After having read another sheep shearing love story, I was quite intrigued by this one. This story is nothing like the other, in that it spends a lot of time dealing with Lachie’s personal issues and a lot of time looking at the Maori culture and life in New Zealand. In fact, we get mostly glimpses of the relationship between Shane and Lachie as they spend so much time apart.
When the two are together, it is clear they are a match made in heaven, but it takes a lot for them to get to that point.
On the whole, I really enjoyed their story. I liked them both as characters, I was particularly impressed with Shane. He was a solid, confident, caring man and definitely good for Lachie. I learned a bit about shearing and life in New Zealand, so that was interesting too.
Lachie’s mother’s depression was hard to read about, but touching as well.
I would have liked to spend more time with the couple as a couple, we spent so much time with them apart. I think some of the waffling and the battles with the family could have been shortened and the time the couple spent together broadened, rather than telling us that they met “again and again and again”.
I recommend this book to anyone interested in sheep, shearing, New Zealand, or if you are looking for a book low on sex, but full of family and eventually, love.
Overall Impression: I really liked it!
*I received a copy of this book from the publisher in return for a fair and honest review.*
The Blogger Girls 