"Ranch Hands 2" Jerry's Season"

Review - "Ranch Hands 2: Jerry's Season" by S.L. Danielson

Fine sequel to "Ranch Hands"

Highly Recommended

Jerry Evans is turning his life around.  After having caused more than his share of trouble, heartache and grief, he turned the corner when he saved Roger's life.  That one act of selfless caring made him wake up and realize there's more to life than drinking, boozing and whoring.

When Roger's partner Sid asks him to marry him, the couple ask Jerry to be their best man.  So begins Jerry's quest to be the man he used to be.  The one that loved Patrick, his boyfriend in high school.  The man who cared about his friends.  Who rose above the tragedy of his parents' deaths.

Sid and Roger have taken him under their wings.  Helped him by giving him a job on their farm, fixed his teeth, given him hope.  So when Patrick returns to town, and a large farming conglomerate wants to buy out all the farms in the area, Jerry is turned up side down and inside out.

Will the two lovers be reunited, or will the past be too much to overcome for Jerry?  And will he have his greatest wishes in his hands, only to lose them all?

S.L. Danielson has written a worthy and fun sequel to Ranch Hands.  I loved Sid and Roger, and hated what Jerry did in the first book in the series.  That he was the one to save Roger from his ex was ironic, and the first step in his redemption.

But what is so good about this book is the slow path Jerry takes in his redemption, and how realistic it was.  His self doubt, while wearing, was done well.  There is no way a man who had done the amount of drugs and partying that he had would be able to turn his life around in a day.  And that showed in his actions.  He constantly questioned himself, his worth, and why people would want him.

That took a lot of guts.  Ms. Danielson didn't make him easy and loveable and whole right away.  She let us see his struggle, but at the same time, gave us his happy ending.

And that's what we really want when we read a good romance isn't it?  A happy ending? 

We get one here -  a nicely told story of a redeemed man.  Good for him.  And good for us!

Tom