Country Boys by Peter Styles

Country Boys Reviews

• 
  Trio

  I have so many books by Peter Styles on my to-be-read shelf I couldn’t resist giving this author a try when the opportunity to listen to the audio version of Country Boys came up. The blurb caught my attention right away: opposites attract and hot, angsty cowboys… yes please.
  
  (I couldn’t help but notice in the blurb that the name of one of the characters is Allen Hale, Jr. I’m a big fan of the old timey TV shows, and thoughts of Alan Hale, Jr. - the Skipper from Gilligan’s Island - immediately sprung to my mind! I was intrigued. Alas, the character in this book is not the same person at all. Still I’ve got to give the author props, I love this hook and it made me want to read the book.)
  
  Coming back to his hometown broke, lonely, and homeless, Kyle is at an all time low. He has so much guilt, I was glad to see him healing, gradually, over the course of the story. Kyle is a complex character, well written by Mr. Styles. Kyle works through his problems and faces them head-on which serves him well and makes his transformation very realistic.
  
  Allen is absolutely adorable. His continual dedication to his gruff and difficult father is admirable and just one more reason to love him. I was glad to see him find his happily ever after and that Kyle ends up being worth of Allen’s love.
  
  The narrator, Barney Parkwynne, is new to me. The two voices he uses for the main characters fit them well and are different enough from each other. Allen’s southern twang had me chuckling a few times, and Kyle’s voice was citified with a bit of his accent peeking out (as described by the author).
  
  Just a note about the blurb. This is not a first time, virgin romance. I was a little disappointed by that, but in the end it was okay. These two men do find love for the first time, and the story is well written, so that’s a good enough reason to give Country Boys a try.
  
  I received an advanced copy of this book and this is my honest review
• 
  SoCalBookReviews

  I feel like the Blurb was a little misleading, I would not consider this a "First time gay romance" It is more like the characters were given a second chance at love. But overall I liked the story and the characters. I liked how much Allan stood by his dad through everything, family first and all that. I really liked the relationship that formed between the two main characters Allen and Kyle. Their character traits and personalities were slightly conflicting and that worked perfectly for me. They weren't "serious adults" and acted younger than their ages at times which I really appreciated. And Cowboys.... Yumm.. I totally dig stories with Cowboys.. I do think though... I might have liked this book a lot more if I had read it and not listened to the audio.
  
  Audio - I hate to say that I wasn't super impressed with the audio. I felt like this book was being more read than it was being Performed.. This is the first time with this narrator Barney, and his voice was a little more monotone than I would have liked but I would still be willing to give him another chance on his next audio to see what else he's got..
• 
  Don Bradshaw

  I do love my cowboys! The only thing that kept this story from being a five star read is that both Kyle and A.J. acted and seemed more like teens than grown men. I enjoyed the friction between them buy would have liked for them to act more like thirty year old men. Claire and her family were a very pleasant surprise that rounded out the family. Well done!
• 
  Katheryne Tyra

  The titles is misleading.
  
  Neither were virgins and both had been gay since high school. Both had multiple male sexual partners over the years. So I’m kind of confused as to why it was called a first time virgin gay romance. Barely any back story. Their life stories were both told mostly off page. Kyle was a depressive man. Not very nice and full of anger. He pretty much treated AJ like crap for 70% of the book. AJ was nice and accommodating. He was way too perfect. No flaws at all. I didn’t get the chemistry between the two. I feel like a lot of information was left out. Not that it really matters if the story is good, but the sec scenes were very short and amounted to a blow job and hand jobs. That’s it. Over all I kind of feel like I wasted my time. I gave it 3 stars simply because the writing was decent and there were little to no mistakes or errors.
• 
  Nic

  Okay
  
  This was an okay story. A somewhat friends to lovers but more so second chances. It's a story of young man disappointed by life and holding on to those disappointments while almost missing out on the good stuff in his life.
• 
  Julianne Macneil

  i read this book as part of an arc program. This was a second chance romance between high school friends Kyle and A.J. Kyle is returning to his home town to take a job at A.J.'s ranch as a ranch hand after losing his job in the city and not being able to find work. Kyle has had a hard time lately after his mother died and his sister left for France. Kyle and his sister are barely talking to one another and Kyle is depressed. When Kyle sees an ad on facebook for a ranch hand at A.J.'s ranch, he thinks it could help him get back on his feet. Kyle used to tutor A.J. in high school and he always had a crush on him, but he thinks A.J. is straight. A.J. and his father have been working the ranch, but his father is getting old and they need help. A.J. hires Kyle and wonders where he has been for the past ten years. A.J. is in the closet and always had a crush on Kyle and is looking forward to seeing him again. When Kyle shows up at the ranch, it is clear he doesn't know much about ranching and A.J. wants to show him everything he loves about it and hopes he will stay and they will have a chance. Kyle is confused about his feelings about A.J. and thinks he is unworthy of love. When A.J. and Kyle act on their attraction, Kyle panics and pulls away emotionally, leaving A.J. determined to give Kyle time to accept his feelings. I liked this story and thought Kyle was depressed and having a hard time with feeling worthy of love. He was scared of hurting A.J. and losing his friend and his new start. I liked A.J. and thought he was a good guy who wanted to be loved. Good one.
• 
  ☆☆Hannah☆☆

  Overall this was an enjoyable read. It's basically like all the other rancher books I read except it's an LGBT book. I did like both A.J and Kyle. I loved how even after all that time they could still have fun and be friends. I was of course happy in the end that A.J's dad was supportive and they got to have a HEA.
• 
  Kirsty Mckenzie

  This was a great book, I really enjoyed this alot. I do love a good cowboy book something about horse's and cou try air does wonders for one's imagination.
  I loved A.J what a total sweetheart he was, and I also loved Kyle Robbin's (mostly called Robbin's in the book). I am so glad they had each other.
  This was a beautiful story about one person forgiving himself and finding happiness along the way. Truly brilliant book, super sweet in all the right places, but sad in others.
  This is a book worth getting asap you won't regret it. You will love the characters just the same?
  If you haven't read Peter Styles before you will happy to find he has an easy style of flow to his writting that keeps you enthralled.
  
  I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
• 
  Kendra T

  I’m really struggling with this review. On the one hand, it had an interesting overall concept. Kyle’s mother recently passed, he has some guilt or depression (or so I assume) surrounding that, and his relationship with his sister is poor. He’s having trouble finding a job and sees an comment posted by a high school friend looking for a ranch hand. He goes to work there, falls in love, and all is well in the land of cowboys.
  
  Unfortunately, there were too many things that threw me out of the story. In the beginning, Kyle calls AJ “Allen Jr” all the time. AJ tried to correct him, but it takes time for him to get it right. I feel like he was calling him Allen Jr to distinguish him from the father who was Allen Sr, but I have a hard time believing that he was called Allen Jr all through his youth. Since they were supposedly friends in school, you’d think he’d be able to nail the nickname. Another thing that bothered me was that AJ called him Robbins the WHOLE TIME. Now, I get that you grow up with nicknames and that you use them forever. Totally get that. It did, however, seem a little impersonal during intimate moments.
  
  I also had a very hard time liking Kyle. He was rude for no reason, especially to the father. He was a guest in their home and was not pleasant. I didn’t like his attitude most of the time, primarily toward AJ when he was pretending nothing was happening.
  
  What I did like was AJ. He was such a sweetheart. He bent over backwards to make Kyle comfortable and happy. He was always happy and doing whatever he could for everyone else. He was a stand up guy who deserves all the happiness in the world.
  
  I listened to this in audio, and perhaps that is one thing that made me not love it as much. The narrator did a great job of differentiating voices and telling the story, but I wonder if I would have read some of Kyle’s responses and reactions a little less rude without hearing attitude. Im not sure. The narrator was new to me, though, and I would listen to him again.
  
  I am voluntarily reviewing an ARC provided by LesCourt Author Services
• 
  NeRdyWYRM

  Dichotomies
  
  I enjoyed the second-chance schtick, the dual POV, the UST, and I got the feelz.
  
  I had problems with understanding WHY Kyle was such a damaged, closed-off, wishy-washy dickhead. There was no real background there except his perceived sense of failure after the death of his mother and a poor career choice (for the times).
  
  I didn't see how that translated to an anti-people, anti-relationship, anti-ANYTHING, resentful attitude, especially after it was clear A.J. was into him. Had it been framed as a case of mild, non-clinical depression, I'd have believed it more. As it stands, the anxieties and internalized anger seemed...convenient instead of natural.
  
  And while the setting on the ranch was 'homey', the layout, size, or any other particulars besides the types of animals etc. were sadly lacking. There was also no real sense of where or how the ranch fit into the community, and no elaboration about the community itself besides an aborted intended sort-of date at the movies.
  
  You've got a newly 'coming out' fixture in the community with no "community" to speak of, and no pressures or worries about what that would entail for two home-grown boys ending up together.
  
  It was well-written, very well-edited, the MCs were relatable, and the character development was surprisingly good given some of this title's weaker points, but on the whole, it was unfortunately two-dimensional as far as the plot and setting were concerned. There was too much unexplained, and therefore seemingly unnecessary, angst on the part of (one) MC, Kyle. A.J.'s character was, perhaps intentionally so, much more open in his POV, but it left the overall dynamic slightly lopsided in hindsight
  
  I would read another title by this author, because I did like it, but would also keep my expectations fair to middlin'.
  
  
• 
  Diane Dannenfeldt

  So the story was okay. I’m not sure I get why Kyle felt like such a failure after his mom died. I would have liked more of his background. I liked A.J. and his dad. It took forever before they really got together and then the story was over. I would have liked to have seen more of the ranch and the day to day stuff.
  
  Audio ARC provided by LesCourt Services in exchange for an honest review.
• 
  Jen

  The audiobook was provided by the author via LesCourt Audio Review Team.
  
  Country Boys was my introduction to Peter Styles as an author and Barney Parkwynne as a narrator, and it's basically the story of two high school acquaintances--Kyle Robbins and Allen Hale, Jr.--who lost touch with one another over the years and had no clue that the crush they harbored was quite mutual. When Kyle's dreams of having a successful career as a journalist fall to the wayside, he finds himself returning to his hometown thanks to an unexpected job offer from AJ. Working on a ranch isn't Kyle's dream, but he's willing to put in the work for as long as it takes him to save up enough to do something else with his life. But he's struggling back in his hometown, both with ranch work and his feelings for AJ. While Kyle's sexuality isn't a secret, no one quite knows AJ is gay, and as if things aren't complicated enough, it looks like Kyle wishes he were anywhere but at this ranch which AJ loved.
  
  I have such mixed feelings about this audiobook, and a lot of it had to do with Kyle's treatment of AJ. Here was this man who had offered him a way to earn an honest living, and yet Kyle seemed ungrateful most of the time. Add to that how he did the whole back and forth thing, almost like he was playing with AJ's feelings. It was okay the first couple of times, but it got to the point where it was such a constant thing that it became tiresome. The saving grace was times three and came in the forms of AJ, his dad, and Kyle's sister. I mean, sure, Kyle does redeem himself much later on, but by then, I found myself wishing AJ had turned his affections towards someone else to spare himself the constant heartache and wondering if he and his family ranch was enough for someone like Kyle who preferred city life and went to such lengths in order to truly distance himself, literally and figuratively, from their small town. As a side note, this is NOT a "First Time Gay Virgin" romance. Neither Kyle nor AJ were virgins nor was this their first time to be involved with someone of the same sex. As far as the narrator is concerned, I appreciated his efforts in providing distinct enough voices for these characters. I'm giving Country Boys three stars. ♥
• 
  Felicia (Ferishia)

  Audiobook given in exchange for an honest review.
  
  Audiobook Narrator: Barney Parkwynne is a new to me narrator. I think he did a good job with all of the character voices. They were all distinctly different. The voice he performed for Allen I thought was perfect amount of country twang.
  
  Story: Kyle is down on his luck when he happens on a post from a high school friend needing help on his ranch. Allen Jr. succeeded in talking his father into hiring ranch hand to assist him with chores. Luck has it that his high school crush, Kyle asked for the job. Allen Jr. Is deep in the closet but Kyle is not. The two of them dance around an attraction to each. Kyle’s advances towards Allen Jr., always in secret, confuses them both. There was a lot going on in this story. Kyle and Allen Jr. seemed like the oddest couple in the beginning. It was interesting to see how they would work out the relationship since Allen Jr. was in the closet and his father Allen Sr., seemed like he disapproving of hiring Kyle. The ending is rather surprising but not unpleasant.
• 
  Barbara

  Kyle is struggling financially and emotionally. He needs a job really quick or he is going to be out on the street. Coming from Texas, he now lives in the city, but has so far been unsuccessful in getting and keeping a job after graduating from college. An advertisement later and he is back in his hometown working on the ranch of his past crush. A.J. has had a crush on Kyle Robbins since high school. Now he runs his father's ranch and needs help and is quick to hire his old crush. A.J. is in the closet, but wants nothing more than a relationship with Kyle. There is plenty of angst, emotional turmoil, closeted gay, learning to work on a ranch, family conflicts, tons of animals, a vegetarian, and love. An excellent read that I would recommend to anyone to read. I voluntarily read and reviewed this ARC book.
• 
  Toni M Richard

  Good Read
  
  I really enjoyed reading this story. I liked how the MC's love came together at the end. I however I feel like the author could have explained more about the insecurities that each of the MC's had about each other and in their life in general. He touched on it in a big way but it just seemed to easy and the MC's never really talked to each other about it. Or if they did the author just hinted at it but didn't go into the details i would have liked. I also would love to read a continuation of this story. By the end the MC's are together and I would love to see that love between them grow. Maybe add a child in there. Over all it was a good story but could use more to it.
• 
  Kathryn Manzella

  AJ places an ad for help at his family Cattle ranch.when his high school teammate and crush Kyle responds to the Facebook ad, AJ immediately hires him on. Kyle left his hometown a decade ago but circumstances have him coming back home to work on a ranch. When the two men reunite, AJ realizes his crush is back but is he willing to get out of the closet and confess his feelings to Kyle and risk running him off? Or does he need to confess and grab hold of everything he ever wanted.
  A good love story with great characters to root for their HEA.
  I received this book as an Advanced Readers Copy and am voluntarily leaving my honest review and recommendation.
• 
  Jessica Wannamaker

  AJ was a friend he went to high school with and the very person who came to his rescue now. He needed a job, and place to stay- even if ranching was Kyles forte.
  
  This story is both a coming out story and a story about acceptance, new life, and love. Not letting insecurities, fear and the past dictate how the future rolls out.
  
  Well written, a little slow for my personal tastes but good. Steamy without being a full erotica. Would have loved to see more with his sisters family, and the future for Aj and Kyle.
  
  I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
• 
  Shelley Chastagner

  AJ and Kyle. Lovely friends to lovers romance. AJ is a happy person and I liked his sunny outlook. His pursuit of Kyle is slow and steady. Even when Kyle has distanced himself, he sees it as a time to wait until Kyle is ready. Kyle spends a long time angry and frustrated with his life. I liked who he became when he opened himself up to AJ. I was impressed that Kyle made the effort to mend his relationship with his sister and build one with AJ's dad. The ending was sweet.
  
  The audio version is nicely done. The narrator's deep Texas twang was just right for AJ. I liked his clear voice and pace as he read the book.
• 
  SJ

  Kyle, or as AJ called him throughout the book, Robbins, was the downer who has me stopping at 45%. He hooks up with wonderful, sunny AJ in a very well written bj scene, super hot. Then he walks, dashes away, leaving a confused and wanting AJ. I myself would have been dishing out the ‘WTFs?’ to weirdo Kyle. He was the one who initiated that scene and a previous heavy make out scene. The next scene is a time jump that now it’s becoming autumn and Kyle is still an a**hole. I’m not sticking around to see what his problem is. Poor AJ, he deserves better. Disappointed, as AJ and Kyle were young and hot and I thought the story would keep moving upward. Reading this has left me irritable!
• 
  Alison Edmunds

  I always liked this book and had no problem with reading it from start to finish, but I didn't fall in love with it, or the main characters, until almost the end.
  
  What I particularly liked is the lack of instalust and that the relationship is given time to grow. It is a friends to lovers story with little angst...a quite gentle read.
  
  I didn't like that Kyle blows hot and cold, nor his "poor me" attitude, at times. It took me longer to warm to him than it did to Alan Jr. (and even Alan Sr.). Then at the end, it all came together in the way that this author writes so well.
• 
  DENICE

  LOVE CANNOT BE HIDDEN IN THE CLOSET
  
  This story is of a closeted farmer, AJ Hale, in Texas and his high school crush, Kyle Robbins, who reunite after Kyle’s life has gone to the brink of him almost being homeless. The two have different dynamics and can’t seem to get the notion across to each other that they are gay. Kyle has his guilt about his mother and sister and AJ has his about his sexual preferences. I was intrigued that the only way the two would admit what they felt for each other was when tragedy struck. This one is not as well written as the Worth It series stories.
• 
  Kitt

  I really enjoyed this latest story from Peter Styles. The characters of Allen are Kyle are complex, with internal conflict - guilt, angst, and uncertainty. I liked the way that, even though they feel attraction to each other, the romance plays out slowly and realistically as the two men find their way to what is most important to them. This is a well-written story and I recommend it.
  
  I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.