Book Review: 760 Miles
Former outlaw Jimmy Downing is trying to live an honest life but upon running into Oscar Yates, a starving scamp, his life is turned upside down… except it really isn’t even though it should have been.
Official Summary
The very last thing Jimmy Downing needed was a skinny traveling partner who acted half his age with a chip on his shoulder and no idea how the real world worked, because Jimmy had a lot of experience with the world and he wanted no part of it anymore.
He was trying his best to be an honorable man after two decades of being outside the law. He'd stolen things. He'd killed people in the name of survival. He'd helped other men do horrible things. But now he was keeping his head down and trying to live under the radar. T'wasn't his fault that Oscar needed someone to show him right from wrong, give him something to eat on the regular and try to keep him out of trouble, so he didn't end up making a mess of his life the way Jimmy had. Maybe that was what being a good man was all about.
Except the things Jimmy wanted from this twenty-one-year-old man were far from respectable, and he couldn't stop thinking about them, especially when Oscar Yates of the big brown eyes, cackle of a laugh and insatiable appetite for anything grilled over an open fire insisted on pushing all his buttons.
How was Jimmy going to last the 760 miles to Port Essington without giving in to those needs Oscar called to with the hint of a smile and a smart-assed curse? Because if Jimmy did give in, it would mean both of them living outside the law and never having the chance at a decent life again.
Quick Information
Author: AE Lister
Published: March 15, 2022
Genre: M/M Romance, Western, Romance
Review
Back before we had the internet, we had no way of telling what a book was about except the summary on the back cover. Reading the summary, I thought it was going to be a very, very different book with more longing and will-they-won’t-they moments. Instead, the summary feels like it was a leftover outline that the writer threw out once they started writing and changed their mind about the direction of the book. What unfolds is significantly different from the summary.
From the book’s blurb, you would think this book was about an escort mission: Jimmy reluctantly takes Oscar to Port Essington, pure business, and that his attraction to Oscar is something he resists until he can’t resist it any longer. This is not the case. The story speeds into an instalust dynamic and drags the characters to different locations so that they can have sex.
There is no plot or motivation moving characters forward and dictating their actions other than sex. Any introduction of stakes or conflict is quickly resolved. For a summary that emphasized Jimmy's internal struggle about “giving in” to his desire for Oscar, this conflict is wrapped up within the first few chapters. We are told by Jimmy’s own POV that he considers himself a bad man, a man who “doesn't deserve” someone as pure and innocent as Oscar. Yet, we are never shown any instance of him being a “bad man”. His so-called haunted past felt more superficial and a medium for giving the character the occasional bout of angst rather than a complex character trait. I found myself rolling my eyes every time Jimmy professed to be a “bad man trying to be an honorable one” because it happens so many times. I would have liked to see more of Jimmy's past, perhaps through flashbacks to show rather than tell us why he feels this way. For being a former outlaw, it doesn't affect Jimmy at all. No one notices him as a former outlaw, he’s not wanted, there’s no pushback to him having a job (and there’s no risk of him losing it if this fact came out). There is nothing “outsider” about the two characters other than their sexuality, but even this faces no pushback as both society and luck are on their side constantly. There is no character growth from the beginning to the end of the book aside from Oscar becoming healthy and prettier.
Typically I enjoy westerns and historical fiction and the unique settings they provide; however, this book doesn’t really explore its historical settings. It's more just checking boxes to give off a feeling rather than providing any details with significant depth. For example, the characters travel a great distance throughout this story, however we only see a mountain range named once and a few city landmarks. Then, it’s just a glossy background description of a forest environment with some water, rocks, and animals. The author briefly describes the gold rush that ended about a decade before the story starts but besides some city names, we are not shown anything specific to the Yukon or British Columbia. There is nothing immersive in this setting for the reader. We don’t feel like the journey is dangerous, or all that strenuous, which it would have been given the great distance and difficult terrain of that time period. I’m not a historian but this was an area of the book that felt very weak to me.
Therefore, I would say this book has the veneer of a historical fiction: surface level romanticization but none of the realism or historical groundwork to go with it. To me, my expectation of historical fiction as a genre is to feature environmental storytelling along with the interpersonal relationships between the characters. There is no realism in this book in the way of the harsh realities of its setting. There are brief references to danger, but the characters overcome these issues within the same page. There is no conflict too great for these characters, but instead of feeling triumphant with this knowledge, I felt disappointed and cheapened by the story.
For the romance fans, yes you will find plenty of sex scenes, to the point it was far too many and disruptive to the pacing of the overall story. The dom/sub dynamic was written well, but it does feature a modern spin on it. For example there is a safe word established. There is a significant age gap between the characters which is constantly brought up as well as the feminine features of Oscar. At first, the age gap is a problem for Jimmy, but like all other internal conflicts in the book, he overcomes this “crisis” quickly.
This book also features switching at the end for those who would rather know in advance.
Questionable travel distance and circumstances aside, if you are looking for a book devoid of plot that features one of these specific kink tropes, then you will probably be entertained by 760 Miles. For those of us who are looking for a good story, complex characters, and a romance that feels earned, this book is probably not for you.
Comments