Review: ‘Rough Country’ by Kelly Fox
Rough Country
by Kelly FoxSeries: Central Texas #1
Published by Self-Published on September 18, 2024
SubGenres: Contemporary Romance, LGBT Romance, MM Romance
Format: eBook
Pages: 306
Source: Kindle Unlimited
Audience: 18+/Adult
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Good fences do NOT make good neighbors, especially when that neighbor is a city boy with more dollars than sense.
Emery McAvoy is a walking disaster who should never be allowed to step foot on another ladder. Heck, I’d bet my favorite Golden Girls T-shirt that he rearranged his entire life because his ten-year-old daughter likes ponies.
It’s rather inconvenient, then, that he’s one of the hottest, sweetest men I’ve ever met. I regret looking him up on that dating app because now I have photographic evidence that he’s exactly my type.
Not that I’d ever fall for the city boy next door.
Rough Country is a grumpy sunshine romance that features a burnt-out city boy with a knack for trouble, a surly, brokenhearted cowboy with an enviable T-shirt collection, and a ten-year-old girl who loves horses, boots, and swirly skirts.
Kelly Fox is a new author for me, and I was excited to read Rough Country, the first book I’ve read by her, especially since it features some of my favorite tropes. One trope that I really enjoy reading is the Grumpy/Sunshine dynamic, and Kelly Fox executed it wonderfully in this book. Woody is the grumpy country boy in the story who is not too happy that a city boy, Emery, is living next to him, especially one who is always putting himself in risky situations. Not only that, but the city boy has a daughter named Stevie, who is determined to crack the grumpy country boy’s exterior. (Stevie frequently stole the spotlight in this book with Woody. I adored her bluntness because it reminded me of my daughter.)
Now, there is an instant attraction that happens and several open-door spicy scenes between the characters, but of course, one of the characters is going to be resistant due to personal reasons that the other is determined to find out. I loved how the secondary characters, Emery’s mom, Woody’s cousin, Rowdy, and Emery’s daughter, Stevie, played significant roles in helping Emery and Woody’s relationship, but it took time. There is something that happens in the book that has Woody almost running because he feels he’s at fault for what happened to Stevie, which isn’t the case. This here drove me crazy with Woody because he definitely had nothing to do with what happened, and he should consider himself a hero. He saved Stevie.
I admired Emery’s character because he was a loving and devoted father to Stevie. He was also determined to get to know the grumpy country boy next door, who had been giving him a hard time. Don’t get me wrong; I liked Woody, too, but he drove me crazy with his issues, which stemmed from a difficult experience in a past relationship.
I will say this about Woody: he may seem like a grumpy country guy all the time, but he’s actually a big softie. He cares for animals and rehabilitates them, particularly unique ones like a zonkey, whom Stevie is very protective of in the book.
Rough Country is a fast-paced, steamy story featuring an amazing cast of characters, though the secondary characters occasionally stole the spotlight. One character who particularly stood out is Rowdy, and I’m excited to read his book next. Overall, I found this to be an enjoyable read, and I give it 3.5 stars.
Single/Dual POV: Dual POV.
Standalone or Part of Series: An interconnected standalone in the Central Texas series.
Would I recommend this book? Yes. If you love reading MM Romance with a spicy Opposites Attract storyline featuring a country boy and a city boy, then this book is for you.
What to Expect:
✓Small Town Romance
✓Opposites Attract (Country Boy/City Boy)
✓Neighbors to Lovers
✓Grumpy/Sunshine
✓Single Father Romance
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About Kelly Fox
I write contemporary gay romance, which is to say that I curse way too much, drink exactly the right amount of red wine, and sleep far too little. I’m also lucky enough to live in Central Texas with my wife and two dogs, where the astonishing diversity of humans and landscapes and tattoo shops serve as my muse.
Want to know what projects I have coming up? Check out my Facebook reader group The Fox Den for giveaways, first-look cover reveals, and more, and follow me on Amazon to be notified of new releases by email.
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My obsession with reading started over 30+ years ago when I went to my first Scholastic Book Fair and found R.L. Stine's Fear Street series. Later, I came across Anne Rice's novels at my public library when I was fourteen when my obsession with vampires started. I was the girl who preferred to be a vampire over a princess any day. My husband says I would leave him a heartbeat for a vampire that looked like Spike or Angel (from Buffy the Vampire Slayer) or Damon Salvatore from The Vampire Diaries. (It's true, though, and he's accepted it.)
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