Dark Horse by Kate Sherwood

Dark Horse by Kate Sherwood, MMM Romance

Dan thinks about just driving, leaving the whole mess behind. He's got enough money. He could just arrange to get his stuff and his horse shipped to wherever he's going. Taking off is what he used to do when things got to be too much, and it worked pretty well, really.

Dan Wheeler thought he'd found lasting love and stability with his life and work partner, Justin Archer. But when Dan finds himself alone again, still working as a horse trainer for Justin's parents, he has to find a way to accept that his perfect life is gone forever.

Then he meets billionaire Evan Kaminski, who arrives to buy a horse for his younger sister, and Evan's lover Jeff Stevens, a horse trainer who seems to understand more than just Dan's job. Struggling to deal with all the upheavals in his life, Dan finds himself drawn to both Evan's mercurial passion and Jeff's quiet wisdom. Is Dan strong enough to take a chance on new love, or would it be better—safer—for him to be alone?

I'm giving this 4 1/2 out of 5 and here's why:

The first half or so of this book is heart-crushing. It may break your heart, even if you think you don’t have one.

Dan trains horses and he is one of the best. His life was bliss until a riding accident destroyed his world a year ago. Now his lover is in a coma and has been declared brain dead. Dan can’t let go and wants to keep Justin around just to be near him. When he is forced to let Justin go (due to circumstances out of his control), he has to reluctantly rebuild his life. Oh my heart. This part is so painful.

The rest of the novel is all about Dan attempting to start over with the horses he and Justin loved and forcing himself to slowly step into building new relationship.

It’s painful and it’s messy. Don’t pick this book up thinking you’re too hard-shelled to cry. You will. It may destroy you for a while. I had to take a few breaks from all of the sadness. But don’t worry it’s not all grief and tears. Dan eventually begins to move on and meets a nice guy he’s attracted to as well as a couple who are both attracted to him. It’s a situation that Dan is certain he is not ready to enter but Evan and Jeff are gorgeous and Evan is very persistent. Jeff is older and he befriends and supports Dan as a friend when he needs it most.

“I’m too old to think a broken heart is romantic.” Awww, Jeff, he always knows just what to say.

This book doesn’t follow your typical m/m romance formula where two guys meet, fall in love/lust, have a few (usually silly) fights and live happily ever after. I never quite knew how things were going to end and if Dan would ever be able to open his heart to someone new. I liked the not knowing.

The pace is rather leisurely and there is a lot of time spent on the day to day ins and outs of horse training. I loved all of it but you might not. It is character driven and I prefer those types of stories, when they’re written well, over an action driven plot/convoluted plot any day. The only “action” going on here is action of the sexy kind and it comes late into the book so hang in there if you think it won’t ever happen. It’s worth the wait.

This book stands on its own and doesn’t end with any huge cliff-hanger but it is the first in a series. I’m looking forward to reading the other books in the series to see where these guys take things.

Add to Goodreads, Buy @ Amazon

View all my reviews