Review: All a Steer Can Do Is Try by J.D. Walker

Title: All a Steer Can Do Is Try

Author: J.D. Walker

Publisher: JMS Books

Pages/Word Count: 34 Pages

At a Glance: Good for a short read but could have been better.

Reviewed By: Carrie

Blurb: Clifford Ames is almost forty years old, and his ever-patient dog, Bambi Turgelson, is his only friend. Why? Because his egotistical boss and former closeted lover, Lambert Morton takes fiendish pleasure in working him to death, twenty-four-seven. Clifford knows he should leave the company and his unrequited love behind, but he keeps punishing himself by staying and taking the abuse, thinking things will be different, one day.

A wedding invitation from a far-flung cousin gives him the impetus to make a change, even if it’s just for a three-day weekend. Enter Jetson Briscoe, son of the owner of the picturesque resort where the wedding is being held. His own personal Paul Bunyan come to life, Jetson gives Clifford a glimpse of the kind of life he could have, without the stress and crippling headaches and possible ulcer he deals with day-to-day. Will it be enough to make him change?

Review: Clifford Ames is thirty-nine-years-old, and lonely. His boss and one-time lover from college, Lambert Morton, has overtaken his life…and not in a good way. The business that they started together has taken off, and now Cliff handles everything while Lambert sits as a figurehead only. They were good together once, they were friends, but that time has long passed and now Cliff has to find a way to stand up for himself or die an early death from the stress of it. An invite to a distant cousins wedding seems a chance to get away from it all, gain some perspective, and make some decisions about his life.

Jetson Briscoe helps run a picturesque resort with his mother. Instantly attracted to the handsome man who checks in, Jet is cautious after noticing the dark circles under Cliff’s eyes, and his care-worn demeanor. Patience and some TLC win the day, however, and Cliff and Jet get the HEA they both long for.

I have to say All a Steer Can Do Is Try fell flat for me. The story premise was a good one and we get a good arc from beginning to middle to end, but the writing style left me a little distanced from the characters and I just never got invested. I didn’t understand the title and what it had to do with the book as a whole, either, and then setting us up in the beginning with all of Cliff’s childhood pets dying just to introduce a great character like Bambi, his Welsh Corgi—who was my favorite of the whole book—was confusing.

This novella is a sweet little story without much angst, and a HEA. Good for a short read but could have been better.

You can buy All a Steer Can Do Is Try here: