Book Review: Red Dirt Heart (Books 1 – 4)

By N.R. Walker

Blurb: ~~ Welcome to Sutton Station: One of the world’s largest working farms in the middle of Australia – where if the animals and heat don’t kill you first, your heart just might. ~~

Charlie Sutton runs Sutton Station the only way he knows how; the way his father did before him. Determined to keep his head down and his heart in check, Charlie swears the red dirt that surrounds him – isolates him – runs through his veins.

American agronomy student Travis Craig arrives at Sutton Station to see how farmers make a living from one of the harshest environments on earth. But it’s not the barren, brutal and totally beautiful landscapes that capture him so completely.

It’s the man with the red dirt heart.

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Red Dirt Heart by N.R. Walker

Review: To say that I enjoyed this series would be an understatement.  I knew I had to read all four books, once I started book one.  Walker captured my attention as she described the Australian Outback.  Farming or cattle ranching is not one of my ideas of an exiting life, yet Walker made it mysterious and even somewhat sexy.

Charlie, the son of a homophobic father thought he had to give up on life when he returned to the Station (farm or ranch as we say)  After all, how would he find love when it takes three hours drive to get into the nearest town?  Yeah, I tend to agree with that thought.

When Travis Craig, and American, landed at Sutton Station as an exchange student, he found himself in a world he only knew existed from books – and he fell in love.  He fell in love with the red dirt, the heat, the cattle, and Charlie.  But was Charlie gay?  He had no idea and thus these two young men dance the dance of insecurity.  Their feelings and lust for each other, yet not knowing if the other was interested.

Walker managed to write a great series about something as simple as two men falling in love.  Placing these men in a harsh, dangerous setting gave it something special.  Adding fear and insecurity made it more real.  She showed their feelings, inner weaknesses, physical strength, and their lust in a manner that kept me reading.  I wanted Charlie to open up and live again.  I wanted him to realize that life could be worth living.  But most of all I wanted him to relinquish the feelings of guilt, doubt, and unworthiness so ingrained by his father.

It’s interesting that Travis needed Charlie as much as Charlie needed him.  These two men learned to allow their feelings to become a major port of their physical and emotional existence.

I give this series five stars and recommend it to anyone craving a simple yet complex story about love.