Title: Canyon Creek Love Story
Author Name & Publisher: C.A. Blocke (Less Than Three Press)
Publication Date & Length: June 22, 2016 – 107 pgs
Fifteen years ago Robert left Canyon Creek behind, and has made a life as a junior detective in Brooklyn. When he returns home to attend his mother’s funeral, however, circumstances make it difficult to leave again.
Stuck in the place he once tried to leave behind, helping his pregnant little sister, Robert meets Charlie, the sheriff’s son now turned sheriff. He’s kind and sweet, but also divorced with a young daughter to raise. But the more time passes, the more Robert wonders where he’s really meant to be, and if that place just might be the home he once left behind.
This was my first book by this author and I really wanted to love it but sadly this book was only okay and I would really call it a love story. A part of it was but a lot of the story focused on Robert and his sister Maggie. There, to me, a lot of mistrust in this book. I also did not connect with Charlie or Robert and that makes it hard for me to give this book anything more than a 3.5 star review. I really have to have the connection with the MC’s to really enjoy a book. The author writing was good which made it a really easy read. I just think that there should be more character development to be able to bring up the star rating.
When Robert returns to his hometown for his mother’s funeral, he is a bit of a mess. His professional life in the big city is tanking and he left too much baggage behind in his hometown.
This is a slow, gentle story. The pace drags at times but Robert’s developing character is
I enjoyed watching Robert begin to repair the relationship with his sister and reassess his feelings about both his career and his small town.
I still can’t completely decide how I feel about the romance aspect of this story. While Charlie is a great character and a great father, the closeted nature of the sheriff’s life makes it difficult for me to believe in the possibility of a true HEA. Robert’s prejudice against bisexual people also makes it difficult for me to imagine him committing a lifetime to a bisexual man. There are times in this book that I really don’t like Robert and I don’t trust Charlie. Unreliable characters work in literary fiction, but the don’t necessarily make for a convincing romance.
Charlie’s daughter is cute, and Robert’s pregnant sister is sweet, but if, like me, you read m/m to avoid conformative heteronormative family structures you might find this all a bit sickly sweet in parts. At the same time, readers who enjoy sweet white picket fence stories with cute kids don’t usually want their leading men to enjoy sex with other partners during a story. So I’m not entirely sure who the target audience for this story is.
I enjoyed parts of this story, but I wasn’t completely sold on the central romance or the two leading men.
Amazon US
Amazon UK
Amazon CA
Barnes & Noble
Kobo
