Book Review of Longhorns by Victor Banis

Longhorns By Victor Banis On a scorching day on the Texas prairie, Buck rides into the Double H camp where the crew is rounding up steers. Buck, a young half-breed Nasoni Indian, is looking for a job as a cowpuncher, but when he gets an eyeful of Les, the ranch foreman, he quickly decides he wants to wrangle more than just steers. Buck is a cocky, fun-loving, rambunctious, in your face kind of cowboy, and once he’s chasing his bull, he almost always gets his lasso around the horns.
Once Buck is hired, he fits right into this tough, gritty bunch of cowboys who are not afraid to satisfy their natural urges with each other. And out on the vast and lonely prairie, they have a saying: if it don’t scare the cows, who cares? But Buck wants more than some bareback riding under a blanket around the campfire. He finds himself falling hard for Les, and he unabashedly goes about letting everyone know how he feels, especially Les.
Les is in his forties, blond hair graying at the temples, and still tough as nails. He has lived the solitary cowboy life for as long as he can remember, and he is uncomfortable letting anyone, least of all a cocksure young Indian, get too close to heart. But Buck’s flirtatious advances soon have Les flustered, sometimes fuming, and often questioning his own sexuality. The real question is, will he let down his guard long enough for Buck to steal his heart?

Longhorns is not a Brokeback Mountain knockoff. Victor Banis has created a heartwarming, companionate, witty, love story that stands in a class by itself. It is a sexy romp through the old west. The plot may be a simple seduction, but Banis’s consummate skill at crafting prose and his well-researched details keep the reader fully engaged until the last word. If you like fun-loving characters, hot sex, humor, and good writing, lasso this novel and snuggle up with it beside your next campfire.