Jasper's Mountain

I always wanted to live out in the middle of nowhere with a little property, a log cabin, and a bunch of dogs and cats to keep me company. Kind of like Jasper's ninety acre ranch. Of course I am a city girl, born and bred, so it was always just a dream. I can say, though, that was part of the appeal for me when I read the description of this story, not to mention I had read another of this author's books and enjoyed it. I was not disappointed with the writing, at all, as Mr. Inman showed, once again, how to meld sarcasm with very, very dry wit.
Jasper lives in his cabin on his property with his four-legged companions. He's mostly content and happy with his life although he's tired of the cold and unemotional hookups he has once in awhile when he drives into town. He's a published author although money his father left him allows him to live his meager lifestyle which is all he ever really wanted out of life. He's a pretty simple guy. Honest, straightforward, hardworking, and basic, which I don't mean as a criticism; Jasper is a nice guy.
Timmy is not a simple guy. He grew up in foster homes, he's streetwise and has an unhealthy love affair with nice cars. Everything Jasper is, Timmy either isn't, or has no experience with. Timmy has spent his life doing what he had to, whether it's lying or using people, in order to survive. Timmy is trapped now, though. He wants to tell the truth but he fears that Jasper will hate him and send him on his way. Too many people have sent him away already in his short life. Timmy doesn't have too much experience with nice people, mostly he's known users and abusers.
It was fun watching these two tip-toe around each other, Timmy trying to figure out how to prevent Jasper from knowing his secrets and Jasper knowing he's lying and trying to get the information out of him any way he can. Granted, because it's two guys, their thoughts run immediately to sex as they are both insanely attracted to each other. I swear, I think only men believe everything can be cured by an orgasm. *snort* The interesting thing is that Timmy uses sex to distract Jasper from taking him back to the city and though that isn't surprising, the colossal amount of guilt and shame Timmy feels about it is. Timmy isn't used to being treated with such kindness so he's really thrown for a loop on how to behave.
The men looking for Timmy finally find him and Jasper and it's not so pretty when they do. The ending turned out way better than I thought it would, however, so that made me happy. I liked this story, although, for me, it might have had some moments where it dragged a little and the mental ramblings of each character were a little too verbose. However, all in all, it was an exceedingly interesting story with strong characters and two pigs. Don't ask. It was also a very sweet love story filled with hope and redemption.
NOTE: This book was provided by Dreamspinner Press for the purpose of a review on Rainbow Book Reviews