Bully for You by Catt Ford

Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.Title: Bully for You
Author: Catt Ford
Publisher: Dreamspinner
Length: 22,732 words
Genre: m/m Contemporary Western Rom Com Romance
Heat: 4 – Spicy & Smutty
Sex Frequency: 3 – Average Sex to Story
Keywords/Tags: 2013 Daily Dose – Make a Play, Bullriding, Femme Men, Twinks, Opposites Attract, Washington DC, Funny Guys, Best Friends
Rating: Really Liked It
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.

BLURB

What could be hunkier than a cowboy? Not much, according to Martin Du Bois. He convinces two friends that a visit to the rodeo is every gay man’s wet dream, and so the three of them gaily (and I do mean gaily) set off to watch cowboy asses in action.

A visit to a bar after the event gets Martin closer to the action than he ever thought possible, and he meets Jesse Cumberland, the man who caught his eye in the ring and made his rhinestones sparkle. Instant attraction leads to a one-night stand that gets under Martin’s insouciant skin and causes him to rethink his determination not to get involved emotionally. When Jesse invites Martin to his ranch, the visit is almost derailed by Martin’s realization that they lead very different lives. As a flaming city queer, he sees no way to fit with the solid, athletic Jesse. It’s up to Jesse to see if he can change Martin’s mind.

REVIEW

You know… I’ve read probably 1/3 of the Dreamspinner 2013 Daily Dose stories so far and this is by far my favorite of them. It’s the longest story of the bunch, but that really doesn’t have much to do with it, other than the fact that it followed the story to it’s natural end, which was satisfying. No, the characters and their dialogue are what makes this story so great. It’s not perfect, but this story has a lot of personality and charm, and that carries it a long way!

“Marti” (Martin Du Bois, LOL, I love that pun — sounds like a gay stripper name), is the the ringleader of an incredibly fabulous trio of guys. He’s getting close to the BIG 3-0, which is devastating, of course, to his twinkdom. Who is he really? What will happen to him as he makes the transition to a real grown up, now wanting more than the dick hunting that he and his two best friends are famous for.

Marti is thinking on those issues as he carries on with his friends. Marti finally convinces his friends that the tight asses in the rodeo are worth it to come with him to a bull riding event in their city of D.C. He’s never seen anything like it in his life, but the men down there riding those bulls are swoon-worthy. It doesn’t matter to him and Curt and Dale that they don’t understand the sport at all, they’re making a scene just like they always do, loudly arguing the assets of the riders.

Marti is the only one brave enough to enter the cowboy bar after the event where all the riders congregated to drink and celebrate their wins. Refusing Curt and Dale’s emphatic statements that he was an idiot going in there with all those straight guys, Martin wants to take his chances that at least one of those guys have to be gay. And he’s looking for that diamond in the rough. And he finds him — a star of the rodeo circuit named Jesse — when the man comes to his defense (though he can mostly take care of himself) from a really drunk rider making derogatory comments and lewd suggestions.

Their meeting leads to a fabulous whirlwind affair, but when real feelings start to evolve, can Marti reconcile his city life with a man who lives on a Virginia ranch? Even if he has to ride a horse?!?!

This story was really a delight to read. It’s funny from page one, where we get to know Martin, Curt and Dale so well just by their dialogue. They’re super flamboyant and their energy builds and builds between the three of them until they’re almost trying to out-camp the others. They’re like so many friends that I know and the dialogue is dirty and soo real life. It’s also pretty brave of Catt Ford to write such a trio of so obviously femme characters because it’s a touchy subject with some readers, who want to see more flamboyant, feminine characters… but not too feminine. Of course, that would be politically incorrect… But honestly, I like when fictional characters seem so real and lets face it, it may be perfectly stereotypical to have such a campy gay male character, but that doesn’t mean that Martin and his friends aren’t genuine and totally life-like. The story, in no way, suggests that all gay men are camping it up around the world, LOL. And really, this is one of the main parts of this story — the dichotomy between the über-flaming gay guy and the horribly termed “straight acting” dudes, who are super macho because they ride bulls for a living Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view. We’re presented with two gay archetypes that over the course of the story shed their skins to show that who they are is different from the image they might present to the world. In Jesse’s case, this is natural because of his job. In reality, he’s quite forward about his gay sexuality and doesn’t have any hangups about his sexuality. Martin, on the other hand, very purposefully wears that skin. He hides behind it because it’s much easier to not be taken seriously when he’s not sure he can live up to having a real life. Part of that is his mid-life transition. He may only be turning thirty, but to him that’s old age. For so long Martin has identified as a twink, which made it easier to find men. Not being taken seriously means that he doesn’t have to commit. Seeing the mask come off of Martin behind closed doors made him so real. Watching Jesse slowly obliterate his distorted self-image and help him build it back up through a solid relationship was touching. They shown to us as opposites, which make their initial interactions interesting and funny. But really, their opposing qualities go much deeper. Seeing them work around those issues made my interest in the characters change to a love for them as a couple.

My only complaint was the ending. It is a satisfying ending in the sense that I felt as if the story needed to end where it did. Still, that didn’t completely change my wish that I knew more about the direction these two were heading, especially with Marti. They’re on shaky HEA ground and a little past a solid HFN.

Honestly, I wasn’t really that interested in this story. I didn’t request it for review until a few days after I’d gotten all the other stories from the Daily Doses that TAR had requested. But I’m so glad that I finally did. It’s turned out to be my favorite and once again shown me what a great author Catt Ford is.

Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.

Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.