Raising The Bar by Leigh Dillon

Raising The Bar by Leigh Dillon
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Genre: Contemporary
Length: Short story (91 pages)
Other: M/M
Rating: 4 stars
Reviewed by Fern

Destin Bellingham has inherited a problem. Thanks to his late playboy father, Destin faces putting a For Sale sign on his family’s historic horse farm. Getting his talented stallion, Black Sambuca, into the Grand Prix show ring would put Bellmeade back on the map—if only someone could make “Sam” behave like a show horse.

Disgraced top rider Tonio Benedetto has his own problems, but he can work magic with difficult jumpers, so Destin hires him despite his bad-boy reputation. The street-smart, openly gay loudmouth from Miami and the closeted, buttoned-down son of Old Dominion Virginia make a rocky pairing, but time is running out to save Bellmeade from bankruptcy.
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Opposites attract, sparks of tension grow into flames of passion. But if Tonio fails to tame Sam, will true love become a lost cause too?

Destin has a serious problem. Before his death, Destin’s playboy father had run the family horsing farm into the ground, whittling it away to practically nothing. Destin wants to do right by the farm, but with only one decent stud left that nobody can tame or connect with it feels hopeless. Tonio doesn’t have the best reputation personally, but with his equine work he’s the best with problem horses. Destin is desperate enough to give Tonio a chance and hope they can both win in the deal they make.

I found this to be a really enjoyable, heart-warming story. While Destin and Tonio are two very different men, I loved how the exact point they were both at in their lives made them absolutely perfect for each other. Destin and Tonio both needed someone willing to take a chance on them, and when they each decided the other was worth a trial-run for a month I knew it was going to be a wild ride.

My only (very slight) disappointment with the story was it was told pretty much from Destin’s perspective. This made sense – as it’s Destin’s problems, Destin’s farm and Destin’s horses – but I really found Tonio to be an equally interesting character and in some ways more complex than Destin. A part of me would have really enjoyed seeing some of these scenes from his perspective, as this would have let me get to know and understand Tonio even better.

Tonio was out and proud in a fairly snobby, old-fashioned group of people, Destin was still so closeted he’d not even told his childhood best friend his true feelings and inclinations. I really enjoyed how Destin and Tonio were both such different characters, but in a few critical ways they were not only extremely compatible but practically made for each other. Destin had only been running the family farm a few months, he was still learning and finding his feet. Although he had an enormous willingness to do whatever was needed he didn’t have a lot of experience – or room for mistakes considering the state his father had left the farm. Tonio, on the other hand, had enormous confidence in himself and his riding, willing to take on any challenging horse and prove himself over and over.

Overall I really enjoyed this story – finding it plot-heavy and the characters complicated and delightful. I loved the slow and almost sweet romance that blossomed between Tonio and Destin. With just a few steamy scenes readers looking for something strongly erotic might find it a little tame, but personally I was too busy enjoying the verbal sparring and chemistry between the two men to bother about in-the-sheets action. A fun and lovely story – I really enjoyed this.