Review: Showstring by Jon Keys

Title: Showstring

Author: John Keys

Length: 39 Pages

Category: Contemporary, Western

At a Glance: Showstring is what I’d call a very sweet, short, light read, but it could have been better if certain areas had been more developed.

Reviewed By: Kim

Blurb: Beef and beefcake, tight Wranglers and a lifetime of anguish, cattle and competition. Can Jayden and Ben mesh their wildly different backgrounds?

Jayden Laine has spent his life in the city, dreaming of cowboys and cattle ranches. He looks forward to each fall when his real life is exchanged for his dreams at the state fair.

This year, as he steps into the barns, he’s greeted by everything he’s come to see, along with the additional sight of Ben Ramos fighting to move a two-thousand-pound bull that’s decided he doesn’t want to cooperate. What happens next starts a juggernaut of emotions in Jayden that turn his world upside down. Now all he has to do is reevaluate his entire life and decide who to believe. And he has only a few days to do it.

Publisher’s Note: This book has previously been released elsewhere. It has been revised and re-edited for re-release with Pride Publishing.

Review: Showstring is what I’d call a very sweet, short, light read. I liked the two main characters. I had a sweet spot for Jayden, with all his shyness and inexperience, and Ben turned out to be a good guy who takes Jayden under his wing and teaches him about showing cows, among other things.

This could have been a 4 or 5 star read, if certain areas had been more developed. Jon Keyes could have touched more upon the conversion therapy that Jayden went through, and what it was like to be brought up by people who could do this to their child. As it was, there were brief mentions of conversion therapy, and a brief guest appearance by a righteous father.

I would have also liked Jayden and Ben’s instant relationship to been more fleshed out. It all happened too fast for it to be true love, especially with Jayden being mess up by the therapy. It left some questions open that may be answered in a following story.

You can buy Showstring here:
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