Very enjoyable m/m romance with some western style themes (ranches, bars etc). I enjoyed this.

I was unable to read this book. It just did not click with me and is based on personal reasons. I am marking it a DNF - thank you for the opportunity. If I am able to read in the future, I will come back and edit my review. Please disregard the star rating, Netgalley makes us rate with a star even if we did not finish the book.

Noah and Lennie get together in the Dusty Hat bar on the night of Lennie's 21st birthday. Noah has previously worked for Lennie's father, but was fired, and now there is bad blood between the two, and when he finds out that Noah 'made his son gay' he tries to split them up.

The Dusty Hat Bar is a novella about two gay cowboys, and the novella paints a pretty bleak picture on being gay in Texas. The MCs do worry about that, but there are surprisingly few issues with their relationship. I kind of hoped to read about that since the issue weighs pretty heavily on their minds, but it was all (more or less) peachy except with Lennie's dad. The writing style wasn't really my thing - the present tense, the third-person narration, and the small amount of shared thoughts/inner monologue created a distance between the reader and MCs so I didn't really connect with them. Short, straightforward story with a moderate level of steam.

The Dusty Hat Bar is a short novella about two gay cowboys living in small-town Texas. Lennie's father Earl is a big landowner and is very protective of his five daughters and only son to the point of being very controlling and rigid. Noah used to work at Earl's ranch and was fired -ironically - because Earl thought he was messing around with one of his daughters.

On Lennie's twenty-first birthday, Noah sees him at the Dusty Hat Bar and having heard some rumors that Lennie is gay, briefly entertains the idea of getting back at Earl by seducing his son. But what develops between the two cowboys is a deep sustaining relationship that makes them decide to take their chances together in a town (and state) that can be very hostile to gay men.

The Dusty Hat Bar is a sweet story and I really like how, when it would have been far easier to make Lennie's father Earl a complete villain, there is growth and acceptance. 4 stars.

I enjoyed the setting and the basic story of this book. It painted a realistic if a little bleak picture of what it means to be gay in the more rural parts of the world. 
The characters were likeable and relatable though there wasn't much depth or development. 
The writing was easy and flowing for the most part but also a bit on the simple side. Lots of short sentences and some awkward passages. 
The timeline was also a bit messed up with quite a few logic errors. 

Still, it's a fast, romantic (but not overly so) and entertaining read that's fun while it lasts.