Hugo and Brand is are absolutely Electric, HOT together. I Loved them like crazy. It's another level when there are two cowboys fighting for second chance at love.

Highly Recommend it to all readers.

I’ve always been a sucker for cowboy tales. I’m a sucker for coming home tales. I’m a sucker for tales with lots of personable, wholesome, likable people. This one hits the trifecta. Here we have Hugo, Texas born and bred, who fled his rural Texas town to avoid an untenable living situation with an abusive step-brother and to get some distance from his best friends big brother who he’d made the mistake of kissing.

Brand, the big brother in question had been surprised by that kiss but unable to forget it. And though he’s since had sex with both men and women, somehow he still yearns for what he was too surprised and afraid of back in that barn years ago.

Coming back and helping his best friends ranch stay in business, means Hugo may get a chance to mend fences with his mom. If it means that he’ll be working for his former crush, well, maybe that’s to the good as well. He’s not the scared young kid he was when he left and maybe this time he’ll be better able to deal with it all.

This sweet, only slightly angsty tale has some great realistic depictions of what a gay man in rural Texas might feel, and the guys’ feelings for each other after years apart is fascinating. It also makes for some great fantasy fulfillment. Their prickly natures and careful renegotiation of their relationship is so much more interesting than all the insta-love prose so many of these types of stories are rife with.

This is the first in a new series but is actually a spin off of the earlier Clean Slate Ranch series by the same author. With six books in that series and another in this series already announced, it looks like I’ve got some reading to do.

This is a spin-off series from the Clean Slate Ranch series…I don’t know that you necessarily need to read that series but there are a lot of characters from it in this book and we get to know Hugo in the last couple of books from that series. The premise is a little different but still sort of the same…a struggling ranch that is trying something new that offers help to those who need it when they need it most. And there is a lack of communication between characters which seems to be the theme for all these books.

A couple of times Hugo said he should have stayed in California and I’m kind of with him on that one. He did get to reunite with his childhood friend, Rem, which was good for him. But honestly, he just continued to get kicked while he was down. The Woods family does stand by him when he needs them, like when he was a teenager going through his original troubles.

As for the romance…it was kind of blah. Brand was kind of just blah. He repeatedly reminded Hugo he was an employee and that he was doing what he could to take care of said employee. When his friend tells him what he’s done…he sort of apologizes but it’s all very befuddled and even the lifetime crush thing didn’t feel right. Brand was caveman-ish when he claimed he’d do whatever it took to protect Hugo, but it just didn’t work for me with these two.

And the way Brand was brought out of the closet by his dad and the way his dad reacted was a lot.

I read this because I got it from Netgalley and I’ll read the next one because, same, but I probably will be done once I get through that one because I’m sort of over it.

I really thought this book was for me, but sadly it wasn't.
I LOVE m/m books, and when I requested it, I was so excited to read a romantic cowboy story, but I honestly couldn't find myself wanting to read it after the first chapters. I forced myself and tried to enjoy it because it excited me but in the end I didn't like it.

The book is so long...
I wanted to read the first half in the first week I got accepted, but it seemed endless! No matter how much I read, I felt like I was never going to get to the end of the story and believe me, I really wanted to. The whole first part was so full with information that I just wanted to get to the point where all the characters were familiar to me but I had a hard time moving on.

Also, in the entire book I never felt any connection between Hugo and Brand, which made the book even harder to read.

Hugo is so in love with Brand and notices it whenever he is in the same room as him, but even though Hugo thinks about Brand a lot, to this day I can't figure out why.
Why are they so in love with each other? I read this book for almost 4 months (maybe longer) and not even once did I feel like I understood why they feel the way they do. There was drama, there were secrets and misunderstandings between the two, but from everything I read at no time did I feel like I could understand why they had fallen in love because there was really no chemistry between them.

For me, if the main couple doesn't have chemistry, I can't enjoy it, and sadly that was the case with this book.
I really wanted to enjoy it, love it and give it a try, but I couldn't do it.

Maybe someone else loves this story but unfortunately it was not for me.

The best friend's brother's trope is one of my favourite trope to read about, especially if there was a childhood crush on each other involved. So this book had me from the premise, this just sounds like a perfect book premise to me and the really delivered on a super sweet romance that I really enjoyed reading.

I loved this book

It had a good and strong storyline that flowed really well.

The characters were brilliantly developed and they were good together and they had some brilliant interactions as the book progressed

It was a change to rekindle a friendship, and maybe more - it was a romantic and sexy read

It is 5 stars from me for this one, very highly recommended - a great story

Brand & Hugo's story is a take on the best friend's brother trope with a modest age gap and a teenage crush then a ten year separation and it works on the surface, but I found myself wanting more depth from the characters...

It's a slow burn, as the characters spend large chunks of the first part of the book in angst and avoiding each other... and even some of the second half... the side elements of hurt/comfort and past abuse help to elevate the story and give the characters new things to focus on.

Hugo's character is pretty straightforward - he left town to escape and left loose ends that he wanted to see if he could pick up again... Brand's character is more complex and also more frustrating... which builds tension, but for me sometimes takes a little away from the story...

His Fresh Start Cowboy will appeal to those who love a slow burn, angsty romance with a fair amount of internal struggle and the boss/employee push and pull...

His Fresh Start Cowboy is the first in a new series by AM Arthur. That said, this one is kind of a spin-off from her Clean Slate Ranch series, so there is some crossover in the beginning. Once Hugo gets to Woods Ranch, this series is off and running with a second chance for Hugo and Brand. The romance is a slow burn, and the storyline is intense and emotional, especially on Hugo's part. His backstory as well as some things that happen in the present absolutely broke my heart. Brand's insecurity about coming out as bisexual is the source of relationship angst for this pair, but the chemistry is there in spades, and both these guys are so darn lovable.
The book is well-written, the characters are likable, and the story is a mix of emotional, sexy, and sweet. We've been having a cold spell around here, which is perfect for curling up with a good book. What better way to do that than with a hot cowboy romance?

This book and I were not meant to be. I was quite excited when I requested the book at Netgalley and got approved by the publisher, Carina Press. But we started out wrong and it never got better.

This is the first book in a new series, but it appears it's a spin off from another series about cowboys and ranches, one I haven't read yet, and that was part of the reason I got annoyed quite quickly.
There's a lot of info in those first pages/chapters. A lot of names, a lot of people whom I didn't know yet, but were apparently main characters from the other series. It was really confusing to figure out who was who and whose names I should remember and whose I shouldn't bother with.
Maybe that was also part of the reason I had a hard time connecting with the two main characters, Hugo and Brand. This book is about a second chance, since Hugo has had a crush on Brand (who's his best friends older brother) for as long as he can remember. But Brand is still in the closet, and when Hugo returns home after an absence of ten years and he goes to work on Brand's ranch, Hugo can't help but pick up on the attraction he's always felt.
As I did not feel any connection with both mc's, I also had a hard time feeling theirs. For some reason it just didn't work for me here. The constant push and pull - even though I understood Brand's reasons for staying in the closet - was doing no good for my level of enjoyment, and eventually I started skimming from about 50-60%.

I wished I would have enjoyed this more, because I really wanted to. The cover is hot, and though I know better than to judge a book by it, I do feel a bit betrayed by the fact that, for me at least, this book should not be promoted as one you can read without having read the Clean Slate series. I felt lost from the beginning and I think that's the reason I enjoyed this less than I would have if I'd read said series first. So, I think it's fair to say it's not the writing. That was okay. But this book just didn't work for me. I might come back to it after I have read the Clean Slate series, because it is my intention to read those.

We’ve moved on from the Clean Slate Ranch to Woods Ranch. We will miss seeing all familiar faces there but looking forward to what happens here. A.M. Arthur really made the first book in the Woods Ranch series interesting.

Hugo and Brand. Two men who have a lot to lose but even more to gain if they follow their hearts. Hugo took a big risk going back to Texas. With hopes of mending fences and possibly having the life that he wanted, he took the risk. Disappointed in one regard and hopeful in the other, Hugo could only hope that Brand will open his eyes and his heart to him. Brand has to face his feelings, let go of his fears and face the future head-on. He’s tried to repress his bi-sexuality and deny that his heart was owned by Hugo from the first kiss so long ago. Now, he’s here again and it’s time to own up. Does he follow his heart or allow society to dictate how he lives his life?

I love reading A.M. Arthur. Her stories always have a meaning behind them. She doesn’t write all love and roses but brings real life choices and consequences into her stories. I know, when I pick up her book, that I will get a complete story. There may be some complications but she always brings her stories to beautiful conclusions. She writes characters that you understand and brings their feelings and thoughts through in a way that you can’t help but feel for them, understand them and hope that they find their way to their HEA.

The first books by A.M Arthur I read were from her Clean Slate Ranch series set on a dude ranch in California and telling the stories of the guys who stayed and/or worked there, the ‘magic’ of the place putting people in the right place at the right time to find new lives and loves. Those books were solid, B grade reads, so when I saw the author was embarking on a new series, I decided to give His Fresh Start Cowboy a read. I hadn’t realised it’s actually a spin-off from the Clean Slate series – or at least, that this book starts there – so while readers coming to it without having read any of the others might need a little time to work out the family/friendship connections, it’s easy enough to do.

Hugo Taylor left his home in Texas some ten years earlier to get away from the constant bullying and physical abuse meted out to him by his stepbrother Buck. Now twenty-seven, he’s been working at the Clean Slate Ranch for the last couple of years; he’s good with horses and he likes the work and the people, finding among them a sense of belonging and family he hasn’t experienced since his dad died and his mum remarried. It wasn’t until he’d been there a while that one of the ranch hands, Colt Woods, actually realised who he was – that Hugo had been his younger brother Rem’s best friend at school. Hugo knows, deep down, that Clean Slate was never meant to be his final destination, no matter how much he likes it there, so when he hears Colt talking about his father’s problem in hiring new hands, Hugo starts to wonder if maybe it’s time for him to go home. Time to build bridges with his mother now Buck is out of the picture (he’s in prison) and maybe see if it’s possible to build anything with the man who gave him his first kiss and then promptly broke his heart a decade earlier – Brand Woods.

Brand has a lot on his plate. As the second Woods son, he was never meant to take over running the family business, but when Colt up and left, Brand set aside his own dreams to take over as foreman at the ranch. Now, with his father semi-retired, Brand is in charge – although some days, he can’t help wondering if his dad completely trusts him with the business and whether he’d still be as hands-on if Colt had stayed. When his father tells him he’s hired Hugo Taylor, Brand is thrown off balance. He’d known of sixteen-year-old Hugo’s crush on him for some time and had tried to ignore it until the night Hugo kissed him – the night everything Brand had thought he knew about himself had been upended. Hugo is one of the only people who knows that Brand is bisexual and he can’t help being apprehensive about seeing him again. Although Brant’s family was supportive when Colt came out as gay, Brand has never told them about himself; not because he fears their reaction (although he does think his father will be disappointed if Brand doesn’t have a son to pass the ranch on to), but because it fears it could damage the business if some in their conservative community refuse to do business with someone who’s queer. Brand doesn’t plan on coming out – and in any case, as an employee, Hugo is off limits.

Hugo and Brand are complex, likeable characters with very real problems and issues to contend with, but their chemistry is lukewarm at best and Brand’s move from being determined to keep his distance from Hugo to deciding to disregard his own rule is really sudden and comes from nowhere. It seemed I was expected to accept he and Hugo were attracted to each other because of Hugo’s old crush – and when Hugo admitted to having loved Brand since he was sixteen, I just couldn’t buy it because I’d seen very little to back it up. They don’t spend enough time together on the page, Brand’s blow hot/blow cold attitude towards Hugo became very frustrating very quickly, and I didn’t like that he was prepared to talk to other people about his relationship with Hugo rather than talking about it with Hugo himself. Plus, stories where one protagonist has to be clued-in to the way the other protagonist feels about them by a third party are a personal pet peeve.

But I did like a lot of other things about the book. The setting is well-realised, the characterisation is strong throughout, and I liked Hugo’s determination to face his past and try to reconnect with his mother; so often characters running from their past are forced to face it, but Hugo chooses to and I appreciated his courage in doing that. Of all the characters in the story, Hugo is the most sympathetic and well-written, and the author conveys his complicated family situation, his insecurities and heartbreak very well. I liked that, despite his on/off attitude towards Hugo, Brand is there for him when Hugo really needs him, and I appreciated the way the Woods family so quickly accepts him into the fold.

Ultimately however, I read this for the romance, and although there are a lot of things about the book that work, the romance isn’t really one of them. I may pick up the next in the series, as there are characters in this one I’d be interested in reading more about, but I can’t quite offer His Fresh Start Cowboy a recommendation.

Grade: C+ / 3.5 stars

I really enjoyed this first book in the new Woods Ranch series which is a spin-off from Clean Slate Ranch.

I liked Hugo a lot and really felt for him, all he'd been through with his family and having to leave because the situation became untenable. When he applies for the job back in Texas at his old friend's ranch, he knows returning home after a decade away will be hard, I thought it was a brave move, both to try and rebuild a relationship with his mother, knowing it might not go as he hoped and facing his teen crush who would now be his boss.

I liked Brand also, he's been hiding his sexuality from everyone but a couple of people his whole life and Hugo's return could put that in jeopardy, or it could free him to live a better life.

There's a bit of toing and froing about whether they would get together or try to have any sort of relationship that isn't boss and employee and at times I wished they'd both just wake up to themselves, especially Brand because Hugo knows what he wants.

There was some off-page (past) and on-page family abuse, mainly emotional and verbal and I really felt for Hugo at these times. It is during these times he will find out who his true friends are and it will help with the decisions about where his life is going to go.

I liked the chemistry between Hugo and Brand and enjoyed them getting to know each other and seeing what happened between them.

I'm looking forward to the next book.

Thanks to NetGalley and Carina Press for a digital copy in return for an honest review.

In His Fresh Start Cowboy A.M. Arthur gives of an intense, heartfelt, emotional , slow burn second chance mm romance . I found it to be moving, thought provoking and deep.

I just reviewed His Fresh Start Cowboy by A.M. Arthur. #HisFreshStartCowboy #NetGalley

I’m a big fan of AM Arthur’s Clean Slate Ranch series, this is a spin off but I think you can read this as a stand-alone and not be lost. AM knows how to write well developed characters! I loved the journey Brand and Hugo went through to get their happy ending!

There was a lot to this book and for the most part I really liked it. There is a potent combination of deep emotions, drama, tension, angst, inner turmoil and heat flowing across the pages and that made for a very engaging read. I found Hugo and Brand easy to like and root for. The challenges and the adversaries that they faced were realistic and relatable. There's an elaborate back and forth dance between these two that on the one hand I understood and on the other I felt it just got too annoying, because they were locked in that holding pattern and spinning their wheels forever. That was the one big issue I had with this romance. It was pretty much all about the getting there and hardly any of them just being a real couple, and for me that was a bit of a letdown.

I like how Arthur uses characters from Clean Slate Ranch to springboard into this new series. And a new series it will be. There are lots of boys mentioned who are clearly potential new main characters, and the ending wasn't wrapped up neatly (with the almost obligatory set-in-the-future epilogue that is so trendy these days).

The premise of these two boys, Hugo and Brand having had 'a moment' when Hugo was still a teenager works really well. We don't have to go through the whole are you gay thing. But Brand is so uptight about coming out, that acts as a strong obstacle to them working into a relationship.

Nice side stories with the development of the organic farm, and whether Brand really wants to stay, and with Hugo nemesis, Buck, making a dangerous nuisance of himself. There were another couple of twisty bits of surprise and I hope they follow through with one of them (spoiler: <spoiler>Brand's secret child</spoiler>).

I was immersed and interested. Arthur is an auto-buy for me. Book came out a couple days back. Thanks to Carina press and Netgalley for providing this copy for review.

His Fresh Start Cowboy is the first book in the Woods Ranch series by A.M. Arthur. A sweet, sexy, slow-burn romance that is sure to leave you wanting more.

Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team

Shannan – ☆☆☆☆
HIS FRESH START COWBOY is the first book in the Woods Ranch series. The Woods Ranch series is a spin-off from the Clean Slate Ranch series. Anyone that has read the Clean Slate Ranch series will know Hugo. Brand from Woods Ranch is the brother of Colt from Clean Slate Ranch. You don't need to read the Clean Slate Ranch series before this one, but I wouldn't discourage it at all!

Hugo ran from his past years ago and ended up at the Clean Slate Ranch but finding out the Woods Ranch was in trouble and needs experience, Hugo knows it is time face that past head on.

Hugo and Brand share a complicated past. Brand has buried those feelings Hugo brought out all those years ago but him being there on the Ranch is bringing those feelings right back into the light. I loved watching Brand and Hugo getting to know each other as men instead of the boys they once were. They had this slow angst that built throughout. Watching them grow and learn who they were and how they would fit in this new world was heartwarming. Watching Hugo come to grips with his past and letting go was emotional.

I think A.M. Arthur did a fantastic job merging these ranches and creating this new world that I can't wait to get more of.


Ruthie – ☆☆☆☆
This is the first book in a new series, but anyone who enjoys A.M. Arthur's Clean Slate Ranch will find we start out in a familiar world. I am looking forward to seeing how life at Woods Ranch progresses.

Hugo is ready to face his past, so when he hears that Woods Ranch needs some experienced help, he applies for a job there. Thus he reveals his identity to his boss, Colt, who had left his family ranch before Hugo started hanging around with his youngest brother.

We get the story from both Hugo and Brand's perspective, and it helps to flesh out the past as well as the present and even their fears of the future. I greatly enjoyed the immersion into cowboy ranch life, as well as the tentative steps of a now grown man dealing with his ongoing feelings for a man who once kissed him as a teenager.

There are lots of side characters who I am hoping get to feature in future installments, although I want more Hugo and Brand too!


Veronica – ☆☆☆☆
Hugo decides to return to Texas after 10 years away. He takes a job working on the ranch of the family of his childhood best friend. He is also returning to face things he’d run away from. A bad home life, an abusive stepbrother, and Brand, his best mate’s brother who he has been crushing on for years.

This story is written from the point of view of both Hugo and Brand but for me, Hugo was the star. He was the one that I connected with. I thought he was so brave to go back to Texas to see his mum, who he left behind, and to confront his demons. There are some really difficult and heartbreaking scenes that had me crying my eyes out more than once.

The tiny glimmer of hope for Hugo is that there might be a possibility of a relationship with Brand. But there are obstacles in the way, not the least of which is Brand himself not having the courage to actually go after what he really wants. I liked Brand but there were a few times that he made me crazy.

While this story takes its time but is never boring. I really liked the pace and simplicity of life on the ranch. I really loved Hugo. He goes through a lot of ups and downs, and it was an emotional rollercoaster for me. But it was all worth it to see Hugo happy. HIS FRESH START COWBOY is a great first book in a new series and I look forward to reading more stories from Woods Ranch.


Angie – ☆☆☆
This is a spin-off of the Clean Slate Ranch series but you don't have to read that series to read this one. I loved most of the books in the Clean Slate Ranch series, so I was excited to start this one. Honestly, I struggled with this book. I thought it was slow and I found myself skimming at times. I couldn't really connect with either Hugo or Brand and that might be why I didn't love this book. The hot and cold, back and forth, and the slow burn just wasn't working for me. I will read the next book in the series; just because this one didn't hit the mark doesn't mean I won't love the next one.

3/5 stars!

This second-chance romance features a cowboy hiding his sexuality and the younger cowboy who shakes his world. The younger hero returns to Texas to face his past, especially the situation with his crush. Said crush doesn't want to face his own feelings for the younger hero at first, but love has other ideas. How can this couple get their happy ending when personal issues and other obstacles are tearing them apart?

This is my first A. M. Arthur book and the first in the Woods Ranch series. I liked the ranch setting and the small-town vibes. Out of all the characters, my favorite ones are the younger hero and the pets. There was a good mix of likable and detestable secondary characters that helped move the story along. However, the story needed some more details about this particular couple to satisfy my preference for a good book. And some details pertaining to the older hero made me not like him as much as the younger hero. So with me not clicking with the older hero it definitely affected my reading enjoyment. Yet this A. M. Arthur book has a good start to this Woods Ranch series and features complex characters that readers will enjoy.

**Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the review copy. All opinions and thoughts in the review are my own.**

Before I rip this book apart, why don't we focus on the Pros?
* Loved the sex-positive Ace representation in Ramie (...wait for the but...)
* Quick read though I did feel a bit forced
* Characters are likable

So, obviously this Woods Ranch series is a spin-off from the author's Clean Slate series. Which I did not read. Maybe it would have helped me like this book more? I can't really tell. I have no particular inclination to pick them up after reading this one. So, let's just get down to the brass tacks, eh?

1. I know this was an ARC, but holy cripes there were a lot of really strange typos and issues with the timeline that should have been caught and fixed by even the most amateur of editors
2. This premise is not unique and the storytelling is not unique. At all. I've read this book, from Harlequin, a dozen times before. Nothing about this was new --not even the story being two gay guys. Which is why I doubt that the Clean Slate (and the author's other series) are worth reading. I'm guessing it's a formula, which is fine --but once you know an author's formula, their books become infinitely less interesting. ESPECIALLY when it's the same formula being used by dozens of other authors...
3. I don't want to nitpick here and YES everyone should use whatever label they are most comfortable with IRL. BUT, Brand isn't a real person, so let me inform you: Brand is not bisexual. He is pansexual. I know a lot of people use those terms interchangeably but here's the thing: when a pan person is referred to as bi --that's pan erasure. The same thing that bi people have been complaining about for generations. Brand says himself: his attraction is more about the *person* than the genitalia. That is TEXTBOOK pansexual. And YES Pan people do this to themselves all the time AND I FIND IT INFURIATING as a fellow pansexual. So please, please, please, can we do better?
4. So, I appreciate Ramie as a sex-positive aro ace, but...I'm not sure that's how you portray sex-positive ace. Particularly it was the "Ramie loves sex". Well, yeah, okay. That's fine, but SP aces usually *enjoy* sex. It isn't that they *love it*. They don't necessarily seek it out --if it happens, that's cool. Saying that an asexual "loves sex" is kinda gross, IMHO. I also say that as someone who is a bit on the demi-side.
5. The timeline was messed up in a couple of places. It's lazy storytelling to skip ahead days or weeks at a time, and then "well, just yesterday...". and then refer back to when the previous action was. The most glaring issue I found was toward the end when Brand offers to sleep out in the Bunkhouse that first night and Brutus is back. They had LITERALLY left the dog w/ Rem and Alan the day before (again, wonky timeline!) and they were not set back to be back for at least another day. So, unless the dog came home on his own...
6. The "flashback" and the switch from past to present tense. I have never been so repulsed by a section of fiction in my ENTIRE LIFE. I get that the tense switch was supposed to "pull you back" but honestly...I almost didn't read it. I absolutely loath reading present tense. Hate it with a fiery passion. There was absolutely zero need for it. Italics would have signified the timeline change just as easily and would have irritated me far less.

There were also several spots where I literally had to put my phone down, sigh loudly, call the characters a few choice names, and then resume reading. They were just...so dumb. Immature. Childish. All while also supposedly being "big powerful men". No. No, they were juvenile and showed very little growth.

So...no, I was not impressed with this one. This was also not the quality that I would have expected from an author with so many books under their belt. This was First-Book effort if I ever read it. And honestly, I am more than a little disappointed in Carina for picking this one up too. I have come to expect more from the line, including breaking out of the stereotypical romance boxes. And this one failed on all fronts for me.

Ultimately, I gave this 2 stars because while I didn't like it, I didn't *hate it*, and I did manage to finish it. So...if you're just looking to kill a couple of hours, go for it.