Review- From the Boots Up by Andi Marquette

From the Boots Up

By Andi Marquette

March 8, 2013

Contemporary, Lesbian romance

35 K  words

110 pgs

Publisher: self /Kindle

 Meg Tallmadge has more than enough on her plate. She’s finishing up a college degree, getting ready to apply to vet school, and working another summer with her dad, Stan, on the family ranch in southern Wyoming. He’s managed to get the Los Angeles Times to send a reporter out to do a story on the Diamond Rock, which doubles as a dude ranch. Meg knows the ranch needs all the publicity it can get to bring in more customers, but she’s not looking forward to babysitting a reporter for a week. When the originally scheduled reporter can’t make it, Meg worries that they won’t get a story at all, which is worse than dealing with a city slicker for a few days. Fortunately for Stan and the ranch, the Times finds a replacement, and Meg prepares to be under scrutiny, under the gun, and the perfect hostess. She knows what this opportunity means to her father, and she’s hoping that if it goes well, it’ll ease some of the distance between them that resulted when she came out a few months earlier.What Meg’s not prepared for — and never expected — is the reporter herself and the effect she has on her. In spite of what she feels, Meg can’t risk the fallout that could result from overstepping a professional boundary. But as the week draws to a close, it becomes clear that not taking a chance could be the biggest risk of all.

I’ve only read one other of Andi Marquette’s books, Some Kind of River, and I really liked it. From the Boots Up also is a cute, warm and fuzzy feel good love story. While it’s not a deep book, the author still managed to convey quite a bit about both protagonists.

You know all those feelings and fears, butterflies in your stomach, racing thoughts about words and actions that could be taken in different ways, and all that awkwardness that happens when you have an attraction to someone but are not sure about what’s going on with them? Well that’s what Andi Marquette captured extremely well in this story.

Meg is a down to earth, funny, easy going kind of girl. She loves her life as a cowgirl in Wyoming working with her father and helping out with guests at their dude ranch. She’s young but has had a few heartbreaks so she’s kind of freaked at her instantaneous and intense attraction to a reporter who’s come to do a story on their ranch.

This story is mainly told from Meg’s POV, so all that internal angsting is about her attraction to Gina. There really isn’t much conflict going on except in Megs head and heart. But that was enough to keep me interested as the story progressed. Andi Marquette does have an amusing way with words and there were some pretty funny lines and character banter.

We don’t get to know too much about what Gina feels until the end. But I liked her light, flirty, but slightly mischievous way. She plays just enough with Meg to keep the communication lines open and be provocative without actually letting on how she feels. The main thing keeping them separated is that from both sides, professionally, they can’t fraternize in a more personal way.

There’s no big surprise here. From the get-go you know what’s going to happen. And it’s a short book. But I liked Meg and Gina’s little dance, the secondary characters, and the setting. So it was a gratifyingly light, fun read for me.

I’d say if you’re looking for a meaty love story, this is probably not going to satisfy. But for me, after coming off of a more weighty and lengthy book, this was a perfect quick little story. Two people meet, they find out fairly quickly they’re both attracted and go for it. Very satisfying!

Heat level: 3- two semi graphically written sex scenes.

Grade: Really Liked