Rivalry turns to desire as a young aristocrat falls for a legendary horseman on the eve of the Mexican Revolution…
IGNACIO, the overlooked son of THE GOVERNOR, has spent his life failing to live up to his father’s expectations. When EL CHARRO, the most famous horseman in Mexico, arrives and effortlessly tames Ignacio’s wildest horse, the cowboy wins the admiration Ignacio has never received.
A living symbol of machismo and discipline, El Charro is everything Ignacio is not. Humiliated and desperate, Ignacio challenges El Charro to a contest on horseback – and loses.
Now bound to train under the very man who eclipsed him, Ignacio is forced into close quarters with El Charro. But nothing matters more to Ignacio than earning his father’s respect: not pride, not safety – and certainly not the dangerous attraction he feels toward the man who humbled him.
As the horseback lessons grow harsher and the stakes higher, so too does the tension between them – until rivalry gives way to something neither of them can name, let alone control.
But in a world ruled by reputation, politics and rigid masculinity, exposure would mean ruin – for them both. As desire deepens into something more dangerous, Ignacio must decide what defines him: the approval he’s chased all his life, or the man he’s not supposed to love.
Set on the eve of the Mexican Revolution, El Charro is a queer romance between a Mexican horseman, known as a charro, and a young aristocrat. A short novel of 36,000 words, El Charro uses the popular folk figure of the charro – a paragon of macho masculinity – as an allegory to explore ideas of masculinity, privilege and same-sex desire.
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Looking for readers to feedback plot, character, pacing, etc. but especially keen for horse girlies and gays to review the horse riding content for accuracy and authenticity. DM me for link.