Wrestling with Destiny by Jon Keys

Fresh out of college, Tyler is ready to take on the world—or at least the world of steer wrestling. But after meeting Micah, he knows he will have to choose.

Tyler Lang was a champion steer wrestler at the collegiate level, and now that he’s returned home, he has his sights set for the National Finals in Vegas. His hometown Independence Day parade and rodeo gives him the chance to play the role of town hero, even though it wasn’t an honor he would have pursued. But later, while enjoying a celebratory drink, he runs into Micah Vella, a local rancher who had been a few years ahead of him in high school. Their evening together starts out as two friends watching the Independence Day fireworks. When Micah confesses he is gay, too—Tyler’s careful plans are thrown to the winds.

The couple work to build a relationship, but it’s feeling as if the world is conspiring against them. The pair battle setbacks from a continual plague of problems with Tyler’s gear, attacks that come close to getting them hospitalized and the diagnosis of Micah’s father with an illness that doesn’t have a good prognosis. With so many things going wrong, they know their romance is not on the most stable of foundations.

Book 2
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Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team

Sarah – ☆☆☆☆
There is much to love about this cowboy romance. It is the story of the romance between a champion bulldogger and a rancher. Despite Tyler’s daredevil career, his finds himself drawn closer to home as he develops feelings for his neighbour.

I loved the connection between Tyler and Micah and I really loved the supporting characters in this book. This is a family and community story at its heart and between Micah’s father, Ty’s mom, and the delinquent teen who attaches himself to the two ranches, the community that supports Ty and Micah is wonderful.

There is some action in the book with Tyler and Micah taking on homophobic assailants and an attempt to sabotage Ty’s rodeo performances, but the action scenes are slightly disjointed and a little bit over the top. I feel like the best moments in this book are the quiet ones between Tyler and Micah as they slowly fall for each other and work their ranches together. The story is relatively low heat and relationship focused. I really enjoy Jon Keys’ writing and the author is quickly becoming an auto-buy for me.

Jon Keys’ earliest memories revolve around books; with the first ones he can recall reading himself being “The Warlord of Mars” and anything with Tarzan. (The local library wasn’t particularly up to date.) But as puberty set in, he started sneaking his mother’s romance magazines and added the world of romance and erotica to his mix of science fiction, fantasy, Native American, westerns and comic books.

A voracious reader for almost half a century, Jon has only recently begun creating his own flights of fiction for the entertainment of others. Born in the Southwest and now living in the Midwest, Jon has worked as a ranch hand, teacher, computer tech, roughneck, designer, retail clerk, welder, artist, and, yes, pool boy; with interests ranging from kayaking and hunting to painting and cooking, he draws from a wide range of life experiences to create written works that draw the reader in and wrap them in a good story.

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Reviewers on the Wicked Reads Review Team were provided a free copy of Wrestling with Destiny (Leather and Grit #2) by Jon Keys to read and review.