Review: Wounded Hearts by Remmy Duchene and BL Morticia

Authors: Remmy Duchene and BL Morticia

Pages/Word Count: 256 Pages

At a Glance: What a terrific start to a new series.

Reviewed By: Maryann

Blurb: Zane Ashford’s stint in the NYPD comes to an abrupt halt when he is injured in the line of duty. After waking up partially blind in one eye, all he wants to do is crawl into a hole, but his friends and family won’t leave him alone. Reluctantly, he lets his best friend talk him into time away on a ranch in Montana. But the moment he gets there and meets Cyrus Abrams, Zane begins to contemplate murder.

Cyrus Abrams is vulgar, ornery, stuck in his ways, and not about to change for anyone, no matter how good Zane Ashford looks in those jeans. The more they lock horns, the more Cyrus begins to see Zane in a whole new light. But Cyrus has a past, one that left him in big trouble and more broken than he cares to admit—a past no one told Zane about. Cyrus fears that when Zane finds out, everything will come to a screeching halt.

Review: What a terrific start to a new series. Wounded Hearts is such a great collaboration by Remmy Duchene and BL Morticia. I really loved this story; lots of humor, sexy talk, ranching, a cop, and a cowboy. And watch out for the mud wrestling! There’s no mysterious plot or outrageous secrets, just a young, beautiful man from the city, and a crazy, gorgeous, older cowboy, who get so wound up in each other they just keep putting those important conversations on hold. And that certainly leads to some head-butting.

Cyrus Abrams is such a wonderful character; older, grumpy but not vulgar. I just don’t like that word for him, though. Unrefined is more like it. He just says what he feels, and he is very funny at times. He is definitely from another decade, as his previous lover was a gangster, who took Cyrus from bouncer to shady businessman. Even though all that is in his past, Cyrus still carries a lot of grief and guilt about his lost love, and he thinks no one can replace him. When things start to heat up with him and Zane, that guilt becomes a big weight on his shoulders.

Zane is African-American and was adopted by a Caucasian family. After almost facing death, his good friend Renford (Renford is a district attorney, best friend to Cyrus, and like a brother to Zane. He spends some time at the ranch too, and I hope he’s going to get his own story as there seems to be something going on with him) talks him into going to the Montana ranch owned by Cyrus to recuperate. Zane is also very talented with his art, music and photography. He’s not without his issues: can he be a cop again? He feels like he’s not a whole man because of his his injury, and he really wants to find someone special to be in his life.

Brian Daystar is a Native American, younger, and adds a lot of sexy fun to the story. He works for Cyrus on the ranch, and has really bad timing! We also get to meet Cecily, Zane’s older sister, and who could resist Zelda and Woofer? They bring the sweetness to this story!