Stealing West by Jamie Craig

[reviews_and_ramblings]

In the Old West, Leon is a outlaw, but not one of importance; where the big outlaws have rewards on them of 10 thousand dollar, Leon is worthy more or less 500 dollars. Nevertheless when Thomas, a bounty hunter, sees him on a train leading in California, he decides to kill two birds with one stone and take Leon to the marshall while he is searching another more dangerous criminal.

It's not the first time that Leon and Thomas meet; usually Leon travelled with a partner, a younger man who was both criminal fellow than sexual partner. But where Leon has to admit that he prefers male companionship, Kenneth, is partner, fell in love for a woman and Leon realized that he has no more a place beside him. When Thomas saw Leon for the first time, he was giving a blow job to Kenneth in an alley. So Thomas knows what are Leon preferences, and they are the same as him. Once he catches the man, without too much trouble, he decides to "play" with his captive, above all since the captive is not so against the idea. On their way to the city, and the marshall waiting for Leon, Thomas takes advantage of Leon everytime he can, and Leon sometime even stirs up trouble to be "punished" by the man.

It's obvious that Leon is a small criminal, a man most of words and lively will, than a real danger for the society. I don't know if men like him really existed in the Old West, but he is nice to read and steals the sympathy of the reader. Instead at first I was not fond of Thomas: he behaves in a very selfish way with Leon, but he is also a smooth talking man, and so he is safe from appear a really bastard. But then, luckily for him, he changes his attitude and becomes almost a nice man, full of attention and tender caring for Leon.

I like the idea of the criminal and the bounty hunter who fall in love, one of my favorite romances of all the time was Satan's Angel by Candace Camp, where a criminal falls in love for an innocent girl and drags her from brothels to saloon to the desert, but I doubt that the story is historically accurate, above all since the two men indulge in some sexual activities that I believe in that times were not so common, and also quite unpractical without the right equipment.

But if you decide to close an eye on the historical details and enjoy the characters, I think you will like Leon as much as I liked him, and the story is the right lenght, 100 pages, to not leave you unsatisfied.

http://www.amberquill.com/AmberAllure/StealingWest.html

Amazon Kindle: Stealing West

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Comments

[erastes.livejournal.com]

GREAT cover, though. JC seems to be very lucky with covers - Hidden Beauty was fabulous too.

It's getting to the stage where I can hardly keep up with the new m/m historicals (which is great, in a way) and the only way I find them is seeing them on your LJ.

[elisa-rolle.livejournal.com]

Yes the cover is quite good. I always like to read an historical romance, they always have priority in my reading list :-)