City Slicker At The Horny Goat Ranch by Daisy Harris

Hey everyone,

Currently on an impromptu trip to Yorkshire for a few days and as I’m in the countryside I decided to read a book with a rural setting. Therefore Daisy Harris’s City Slicker At The Horny Goat Ranch shot right to the top of my To-Be-Read pile!

The book:

Keith Kelley doesn’t normally take kindly to strangers, but his flashy new neighbor has long legs, lips made for kissing and might prove too much temptation for a boy hiding his sexuality in rural Idaho. Unfortunately, between working his mom’s goat ranch and land disputes with his wealthy father, Keith has enough problems. He doesn’t need the best sex of his life threatening to expose all his secrets. 

Real estate developer Max Levin vows to turn the one-stoplight town of Pookataw Valley into a vacation destination…and then leave before the dust clears. With his next assignment in five months, Max shouldn’t start loving the quaint little town—the ranchland, the mountains, even the goats. If only Max could stop thinking about his sexy neighbor and the time they shared in the front seat of Keith’s truck. Because he especially shouldn’t fall in love with a guy who can’t openly love him back. 

In a town the size of Pookataw Valley, nothing stays secret for long. If Keith wants to hold onto his birthright, he’ll have to fight for his land and his pride. Most of all, he’ll have to fight for Max before he slips through Keith’s fingers.

My thoughts:

As mentioned before I’m a huge Daisy Harris fan and have in fact reviewed some of her previous books on this site. As usual I thoroughly enjoyed City Slicker At The Horny Goat Ranch and if that’s a title you enjoy you’ll probably like the book as well!

Set in a small town in rural Idaho this book is a meeting of opposites between country-boy Keith and city-bred Max. The chalk to each others cheese and in typical Daisy Harris style they’re hopelessly drawn to one another.

“The kid had a certain je ne sais quoi, and his obvious interest was sweet, but hick goat farmer’s weren’t Max’s type”

In many ways the book is extremely typical of Daisy Harris’s usual style, with the slightly quirky humour, a sweet and relatively uncomplicated relationship between the two main characters with some minor family drama thrown in for added spice. Although I enjoyed reading City Slicker At The Horny Goat Ranch it didn’t wow me. I haven’t come away from it with massive feelings of fulfilment but instead a pleasant glow from an entertaining few hours.

“So, friends with benefits?” Max heard the hitch in his throat and hated it. This was why Max hadn’t had a boyfriend since college. He despised the feeling of nervousness he got when someone mattered”.

Having said that I do think Daisy Harris did a wonderful job of portraying a character whose in the closet and therefore uncomfortable with his sexuality. She managed to show how Keith’s fear of being true to himself not only affected his own self-worth but also the lives of those around him. Keith is understandably afraid of how his mum will react to him being gay and therefore has kept it a secret all his life; and I’ll be honest when she does find out it’s a fairly tense moment. Yet overall this is still a light-hearted and humorous book. These themes are explored but not the focus of the story, instead they are just an obstacle towards Keith and Max’s HEA ending.

Similarly I found the portrayal of being gay in a small-town community interesting and not an area of the M/M genre that I had previously explored. Probably a solid three-star read for me. Not bad, not great, just good!

My rating:

Happy reading everyone and see you next time!