The Texas Soul series by Sara York
The Texas Soul series:
This review is for the series and as such, does not contain a lot of detail about the plot because it would be way too spoilerish! If you want to know more about the specifics of each book, check out the blurbs.
- Texas Rough – (book #1)
- Texas Hard – (book #2)
- Texas Twist – (book #3)
- Texas Branded – (book #4)
- Texas Desire – (book #5)
- Texas Legacy – (book #6)
The Texas Soul series consists of six books which I pretty much read back to back.
The series starts with Texas Rough which focuses on one couple, Lane and Gresham, and is largely set on Gresh’s family ranch where Lane is the foreman. It also introduces another main character, Riley, who falls hard and fast for Lane. This first book is fast moving with lots of multiple story lines. There are themes of coming out and comfort/hurt with large amounts of drama and even larger amounts of sex!
The second book, Texas Hard, focuses more on Riley as he deals with his feelings for Lane but meets and falls for Connor who is a Texas Ranger. This story brings in some elements of bondage as Riley takes a more dominant role in his relationship with Connor. Falling in love happens so quickly, as in the first book, that it is hard to believe that Riley really knows his own heart and it is amazing how open these men are in discussing their feelings! Once again, lots of drama, largely driven by insane amounts of jealousy as the story and relationships get complicated. I liked the story but did find the edition of the book I was reading had some annoying editing/spelling issues. There was also reference to speaking “Brazilian” in Brazil. I thought they spoke Portuguese.
Texas Twist sees things get even more complicated. We are introduced to a new romance as Connor’s Texas Ranger partner moves to the ranch to recover from the trauma of his abduction. He falls for Sterling, one of the ranch hands. Sterling finally acknowledges he may be gay as he has such as strong reaction to Erick. The believability is a bit lacking as his actions don’t seem those of a reluctantly gay man. He is pretty physical with Erick, demonstrative and once again discussing feelings. This new relationship is not the primary focus of the book. The Lane/Gresh/Riley/Connor relationship plays a really key role in this book.
The soap opera feel continues as Jung-Hwa “Jump” joins the story in Texas Branded. Jump comes to the ranch in search of his father. He not only finds family but finds love with the local deputy. The love in the story is sweet and gushy with poetic language and once again this couple are very open with their emotions, articulating their feelings for each other. The relationship development also continues the theme of fast, fast, fast – love and proposals all happening really quickly. The relationships of all the previous couples continue to weave in and out of the book and things really ramp up with a cliffhanger ending! Luckily I didn’t have to wait and could launch into the next book straight away. If I’d read this book when it was first released and had to wait for the next book I would have been really annoyed as I don’t have the patience for this kind of thing!
Texas Desire is the fifth book in the series and the drama hit new heights. Lots of heartbreak and angst, hospitals and deathbeds, emotional declarations, rejection, pain and loss. The new couple, Kip and Jamie, play a role but largely take a backseat to the more emotional story line being played out between the original four characters.
And finally, Texas Legacy concludes the story. Once again, there is very much a soap opera feel to the story with the overlapping stories of each of the characters. There is lots of heartbreak but also happiness as new love is found and families started. It was nice to see the final conclusion and know what happens to each of the couples. The epilogue jumps ahead ten years and provides closure. My main issue with this final book was the resolution of the story line introduced in the prologue. The prologue deals with the previously unknown and unrelated Wild Bluff Ranch and then the character from the prologue turns up later in the book in a relatively stand alone fashion with a story line that is unresolved. I now understand from the author’s blog that this will be a spin off series but when I first ended the book the inclusion of the story line seemed a complete mystery to me.
So overall I actually enjoyed the series. It was pure escapism and really over the top at times. I have mentioned a soap opera feel but I think I must have been in the mood for reading something like this and I quite enjoyed the drama, the romance and the complications. Probably my main complaint (not that it is really a complaint as such) was that it was too full of sex. There seemed to be sex on every second page! The guys just seemed to alternate between sharing deep emotions and then doing each other.
I was also totally impressed with the price point, each book in the series only being $0.99 from Amazon.
3.5 stars for the series
To find out more about Sara York and her books visit her website.
Buy the Texas Soul Series from Amazon.