The Longest Stride - T.A. Chase This started out as a story of two men realizing they’re attracted to each other, taking their time in getting to know each other, and building a relationship together. Although their mutual attraction is supposed to be fierce early on, and although Branimir thinks that he loves Austin after their first day together, they don’t act it out until Austin is healed from his injuries. (apropos, this was the first little bewilderment for me – I couldn’t help thinking, what, you can’t have/give a blowjob when you’ve twisted your ankle? ;-) ) The romance proceeds slowly, they talk a lot before jumping into the sack together, they’re very mature about it. A little too slow for me, but that’s a matter of taste IMO, others might love this aspect of the story. At least it was almost completely angst-free since both are out and confident in their sexuality.The equine business which I think was supposed to make the backdrop for the romance actually took up center stage for a big part of the story. There are detailed renderings of training sessions for riders and/ or horses, blow-by-blows of horse grooming, hoof picking, saddle-and-bridle-training of a horse, we even get to be inside a horse’s head a few times. While this was nice in a way, it also reminded me of the “Poney Club” books I used to devour when I was little. To me, it was overdone and felt repetitive, but again, this is probably a matter of taste.The shifter aspect of this book was very interesting. I’m generally not overly interested in the old were-whatever-finds-his-mate-theme, but a horse shifter? I found myself intrigued, but ultimately, also disappointed. Branimir is a horse shifter, but aside from his “above-average” cock, a tendency for dominance in bed and a few scenes where he runs through the night in shifted form, this didn’t really feel as if it mattered much. Starting with Branimir’s interactions with horses, for example. He IS a horse, after all, but he can’t communicate with them any better than other people with good horse sense. You’d have thought horses would trust one of their own instinctively? Particularly when he’s allegedly a dominant herd stallion? Generally I’d have wished to see more significance to the fact that Branimir is a horse shifter. As it is, this fact could’ve just as easily been left out without changing the story overly much.But where this book lost me for good was during the last part, from the time where Branimir’s father comes into play. Not only does he act unreasonable and illogical (which he should, as he is crazy after all), there’s an internal inconsistency to his craziness which I just couldn’t wrap my head around. And then, well, Drahomir’s friend Mirek -there is one revelation about him that struck me as so totally out of place and ridiculous… if I’d been reading this as a paperback, I’d have thrown it across the room for sure at that point.So this story that started out as a decent, if slow romance, somewhat dragging due to being fraught with details went downhill for me during its last third or so, in a way that I can’t recommend it without reservations. Then again, I’m only one reader with one opinion, and others might very well feel differently.originally written for reviewsbyjessewave.com