Red Dirt Heat 4 (Red Dirt Heat #4). N.R Walker
Rating: 5 Stars
Publisher: Self Published
Genre: MM Romance
Tags: Australian Outback, Established Couple, Contemporary
Length: 266 Pages
Reviewer: Paul
Purchase At: amazon.com
Blurb:
Moving from a Texas ranch to an Australian Outback station was a life changing decision for Travis Craig. Though it wasn’t really a decision at all. Something in his bones told him to go, though he had no clue as to why.
Until he met Sutton Station’s owner, Charlie.
Loving Charlie shouldn’t have been easy. The man was stubborn, and riddled with crippling self-doubt. No, it shouldn’t have been easy at all. Yet somehow, falling in love with Charlie was the easiest thing in the world.
Loving him was easy. Living with him, teaching him how to love in return and, more importantly, how to love himself, was not.
But Travis knew all along it’d be worth it. He knew the man with the red dirt heart was destined to be his. Just like he knew the red dirt that surrounded him was where he was supposed to be.
In the final instalment of the Red Dirt Series, we see Charlie through Travis’ eyes. We see how much he’s grown and how much he loves. We go back to Texas with them, and we see Charlie get everything he truly thought he never deserved.
Red Dirt Heart 4 is Travis’ story.
And this is the story of not just one red dirt heart, but two.
Review:
I thought it was a brave move for N.R. Walker when I heard the final novel in her incredible Red Dirt Heart series was being switched to Travis’ point of view for the last instalment, Red Dirt Heart 4.
That thought left my mind half way through page one and NEVER returned. This is one brilliant and shining piece of writing that glows so bright it will make your eyes water with pure joy.
Aside from being an Australian who doesn’t have red dirt flowing through his veins, this outstandingly beautiful book rendered me speechless, with a huge smile on my face while I had tears flowing freely and constantly down my cheeks, with a few sobs thrown in for good measure. It has utterly exhausted me and I’ll tell you why.
There has never been a love story that has encapsulated my entire being so deeply, that I feel like it is now ingrained under my skin. I know I said I don’t have red dirt flowing through my veins but some may now spill forth from a shallow scratch. I also feel like it’s one of the most realistic love stories I’ve ever read and I think that’s why it’s so special to all who have read it.
This is now my all time favourite M/M romance series I have ever had the honest pleasure to read and I don’t think it will be topped, if ever, for a very long time.
The raw beauty of Charlie and Travis hasn’t been exposed to match the exact raw beauty of the surrounding outback until this final chapter. Not only that but it finally exposes that Travis has just as much red dirt flowing through his veins as Charlie does.
Watching the downtrodden Charlie through Trav’s eyes is almost a religious experience during this book, as the ever present patience of Travis’ love is revealed to its full extent. You finally get to meet Charlie Sutton and Charlie Sutton gets to meet the world as his mind, body and soul is finally unravelled and he opens his eyes for the first time.
Charlie finally allows himself to be set free of the prison cells he’s strategically had to
place in his mind to survive his predominant abandonment issues – and others – to survive. Travis is the man who stepped up to take on this monumental challenge, not that he sees it that way, or ever did, it’s just his total love of Charlie allows this to happen and Charlie’s love and trust in him in return. There are just no words to describe this intimate moment that is so profound that you almost feel like you’re spying on them.
Not that there is any doubt of Charlie’s love for Travis but it’s also the end of some unrequited love, ONLY in regard to Charlie’s public acceptance of Travis and himself, being peeled away slowly during the series but you get to see the band-aid ripped off raw in book four and it’s masterfully done.
To N.R Walker, thank you. I didn’t know it was possible to be left feeling so spent from reading one book so full of so much unadulterated love. To reveal this last piece of the incredibly amazing journey through Travis was a masterful stroke of genius. I, like many others, put if off for only a day because I couldn’t believe it was coming to an end, but to all the fans out there waiting, don’t hold back. You need to see the merging of when two red dirt hearts become one.
Photo © Paul Tyrrell. All Right’s Reserved.
Like me, Paul is an Aussie, and he is also a very talented photographer. He kindly supplied this picture for his review. It’s a picture of the Wimmera, NW Victoria, and depicts the skies and sunsets here in marginal country really well. He did not ask me to do this but I thought it fitting given the book and the fact we are all Aussies on this particular post – if you are interested in Paul’s website, it’s here
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Great layout Karen and thank you so much for allowing my review and photo 🙂
It’s a terrific review, Paul. Lots of passion about this book. Makes me want to pick it up myself 🙂
It’s a beautiful pic, Paul. It captures our sky and the colours beautifully, and suits the book.
Paul.
I really enjoyed the review.
Great photo albeit probably a few less trees where Charlie is.☺
Thanks.
Thank you for another great review, Paul. I love when a book pulls you in so much that you feel the emotions of the characters and are sucked deeply into their story. I love stories like that. I also love your photo. Stunning.
Great review.
thank you again both so much, it was my pleasure.
Wow… Just wow. Thank you so much for this review. What you have explained here, what my writing made you feel, is the very reason why I write. So thank you…
<3
🙂 It was the books, so thank you for writing them.
I finished this at the weekend. Charlie’s love of the red dirt and Travis is never ending. A perfect HEA.
I agree with Paul totally the move to Travis as narrator was seamless and his love for Charlie shines throughout the book in his thoughts and understanding.
As an aside, I laughed out loud at his disgruntlement with cricket, he has my sympathy.