REVIEW: The Cowboy and the Hacker by Jackie North (Farthingdale Valley #5)

THE COWBOY AND THE HACKER

Farthingdale Valley - Book Five

by Jackie North

Release Date: November 26, 2024

Review

Zeke can calm a skittish horse, and it turns out a skittish man too.

Cal’s story is tragic and you can understand why he’s jumpy and hard to trust, but in Zeke’s presence he’s in safe hands.

It’s sweet to watch them work through their pasts and find a way forward together that includes acceptance and trust. They are beautiful together and they have a wonderful happy ever after.

The whole series is amazing, I love all these people finding second chances, along with kindness, understanding and love. One of my favourite scenes in every book is when the parolee gets to go get their boots and hat. It never fails to make me smile.

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Synopsis

Will you go with me? Yes, to the ends of the earth and back again.

Cal

Cal made a coding mistake that got him arrested and far away from Preston, his horrible boyfriend.

After over a year in jail, he’s touch-starved and afraid. Not of doing his parole in the wilds of Wyoming, but that Preston will come and force him back to Denver.

In the valley, when Cal is assigned to Zeke Malloy’s team, his luck starts to change because Zeke is patient and kind, both with the horses and with Cal.

Cal doesn’t trust anyone now, except Cal’s crush on Zeke starts with a single word of kindness. A warm touch. And the smile in those green eyes.

Zeke

After a horse fell on him, Zeke’s bronc riding days are over. His girlfriend wants a buckle-wearing man, not a broken one, and leaves him.

Zeke finds he doesn’t care that he’s alone now. But he can’t stop thinking about the time Galen Parnell asked him out, as if there was something Galen saw in Zeke.

Was he gay?

When Zeke starts to work with Cal Tamalin, the only parolee on his team, he begins to think maybe Galen had been on to something.

Getting close to Cal can only spell disaster, and surely Zeke’s had enough of those, right?

He shouldn’t take the risk, but doesn’t think his heart can resist the biggest blue eyes Zeke has ever seen.

The Cowboy and the Hacker is a story of forbidden love with hurt/comfort, bi-awakening, mutual rescue, only one tent, moccasins, a bear, maybe two bears, two men and three ponies on a long, lonesome ride, and of course an HEA. It is book 5 in the Farthingdale Valley series but can be read as a standalone.

About Jackie North

Jackie North Pic

Jackie North has been writing stories since grade school and her dream was to someday leave her corporate day job behind and travel the world. She also wanted to put her English degree to good use and write romance novels, because for years she’s had a never-ending movie of made-up love stories in her head that simply wouldn’t leave her alone.

Luckily, she discovered m/m romance and decided that men falling in love with other men was exactly what she wanted to write about. In this dazzling new world, she turned her grocery-store romance ideas around and is now putting them to paper as fast as her fingers can type. She creates characters who are a bit flawed and broken, who find themselves on the edge of society, and maybe a few who are a little bit lost, but who all deserve a happily ever after. (And she makes sure they get it!)

She likes long walks on the beach, the smell of lavender and rainstorms, and enjoys sleeping in on snowy mornings. She is especially fond of pizza and beer and, when time allows, long road trips with soda fountain drinks and rock and roll music. In her heart, there is peace to be found everywhere, but since in the real world this isn’t always true, Jackie writes for love.

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