Audio Review: Pickup Men by L.C. Chase

Reviewed by Morgan

Title: Pickup Men
Author: L.C. Chase
Narrator:  Dorian Bane
Series: Pickup Men #1
Heroes: Marty Fairgrave/Tripp Colby
Genre: MM Contemporary
Length: 4 hours, 54 minutes
Publisher: Riptide Publishing
Release Date: November 16, 2015
Available at: Amazon, Audible and iTunes
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: It takes a pissed-off Brahma bull named Shockwave to show rodeo pickup man Marty Fairgrave the cold hard truth about champion bull rider Tripp Colby: Tripp will never leave the safety of his closet or acknowledge Marty in public. Sometimes loving someone just isn’t enough, and after a year of hiding what they are, Marty finally sees the light—and it’s no longer shining on Tripp.

Tripp Colby would do anything for Marty. Well . . . almost. He’s never loved anyone before, and isn’t quite sure how to handle it now. But he knows Marty is his everything, and in order to win him back, Tripp will have to overcome his darkest fears and step into the light.

But no matter Tripp’s intentions, the cost might be too high and the effort too late for these two cowboys to ride off into the sunset.

Review – Book: Marty is out and proud in a world where that’s just not done. He’s been secretly dating Tripp – the hottest bull rider on the circuit and thinks he’s pretty happy – though he’d rather be out of the closet. When Marty saves Tripp’s life, and ends up critically injured and Tripp doesn’t even come over to thank him for his troubles for fear of looking “too gay”, Marty knows he can’t keep being the “dirty little secret” for Tripp anymore.

After Marty breaks up with Tripp, Tripp starts to re-evaluate his life and his priorities and realizes that he has a lot of past history to reconcile before he can be the man Marty needs.

After clearing some old ghosts from his past, Tripp decides he’s finally able to be the man Marty needs, but a lot can happen when a rodeo star outs himself in a bigoted world…

**

This was an excellent book. I had read book two in the series and heard good things about book one, but from reading the blurb, I didn’t know if I could handle the angst and … there’s a LOT of angst in this book.

It’s definitely not an easy read and there are a lot of melancholic moments, but the love story between Tripp and Marty is very sweet and romantic and the coming of age part of the story as Tripp grapples with his past and present is very moving.

Review – Audio:  OMG. Dorian Bane just moved up from “unknown to me” narrator to one of my favorites! He is AWESOME! He has this fabulous “western” accent for Tripp and a slightly different one for all the other cowboys. He does the growly alpha male perfectly and the sweet and sexy parts are swoon-worthy! His dialog is my favorite part – he does the humor, the twang and emotion perfectly.

Overall Impression: It was amazing

*I received a copy of this book from the publisher in return for a fair and honest review.*