Book 54, 2025

The Rivals of Copper County by May Archer

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


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I took Tuesday off work and used my free day to read The Rivals of Copper County by May Archer. It’s the second book in her “Copper County” series of male/male romance. Main characters are Watt Bartlett, single father and owner of an apple orchard, and Jasper (Wrigley) Lancaster, divorced former model.

When they were teens, Watt and Jasper were best friends and friendly rivals, daring and challenging one another each summer that Jasper spent in Copper County. After one awkward kiss, Jasper left town and didn’t return, never reached out, and seemed to have shaken the dust of Copper County from his heels. Now, twenty years later, he’s back in town to settle his great-aunt’s estate. He’s also taken on the dual roles of history teacher and hockey coach, which infuriates Watt. His son, Derry, has a chance at a scholarship, but not if the new coach can’t even skate. When Watt gets roped into co-coaching, he and Jasper end up spending more time together and what they learn is that things aren’t always black and white, and sometimes a second chance is all you need.

Once the two idiots main characters cleared the air between them, the story was surprisingly low-angst. From there, it was a matter of dancing around their long-time attraction to one another and then wondering how to handle it once they took things to the next level. I loved how supportive the secondary characters were, not to mention how zany many of them were, as well. There was also the conflict of Jasper’s looming return to LA and how that would impact his renewed relationship with Watt. If I have any complaint at all, it was the overused trope of “youthful romantic feelings-misunderstanding-reunion-reconciliation” with a side of “dastardly ex puts in an appearance”. It didn’t lessen my enjoyment of the story, but it did make me wish for something more original.

Favorite lines:
♦ I’d craved solitude and a chance to mutter under my breath without anyone wondering whether I’d gone crazy.
♦ “You can’t tell a story like that to a pregnant woman. I’m made up of ninety percent hormones and ten percent chocolate right now. I need happy endings only.”
♦ “Sometimes you need to take a wrong turn to get where you’re supposed to be.”
♦ I released a breath that sounded a little too much like a marmot hiss.
♦ “Chris and I will be your gay sherpas. Together, we will help you summit Gay Sex Mountain. The climb will be hard.”
♦ “Labels are for cheese.”
♦ “You brought me a cheese skate and a flying groundhog? As a Mature Friendship Peace Offering?”

Excellent characterizations, lively banter and humor, spicy times, and a hard-won HEA. Five stars.