One hard fall in the rodeo ring.
One maddeningly gorgeous cowboy.
One chance at love she swore she’d never take.
Billie Wallace has spent her whole life trying to prove she’s more than the Wallace Ranch’s “wild” only daughter. All she wants is a shot at barrel racing—and a purpose beyond crunching numbers in her daddy’s office. But when her very first run ends in disaster, Billie lands flat on her back with Ryder Rivers—her childhood crush, her brother’s best friend, and the town’s notorious heartbreaker—hovering over her.
In all the years she's known him, Ryder has never entertained Billie's shameless flirting. But after her fall, he's suddenly everywhere—showing up to help her when she’s hurt, staring at her across the honky-tonk when she’s trying to move on with a bronc rider, and encouraging her to explore her dream career.
Before either can really register what’s happening, their partnership sparks into much more than just dust and arguments.
One maddeningly gorgeous cowboy.
One chance at love she swore she’d never take.
Billie Wallace has spent her whole life trying to prove she’s more than the Wallace Ranch’s “wild” only daughter. All she wants is a shot at barrel racing—and a purpose beyond crunching numbers in her daddy’s office. But when her very first run ends in disaster, Billie lands flat on her back with Ryder Rivers—her childhood crush, her brother’s best friend, and the town’s notorious heartbreaker—hovering over her.
In all the years she's known him, Ryder has never entertained Billie's shameless flirting. But after her fall, he's suddenly everywhere—showing up to help her when she’s hurt, staring at her across the honky-tonk when she’s trying to move on with a bronc rider, and encouraging her to explore her dream career.
Before either can really register what’s happening, their partnership sparks into much more than just dust and arguments.
Late nights turn into stolen kisses. Stolen kisses turn into something that feels dangerously like forever. Ryder swears he’s not the staying kind, but the way he looks at Billie like she’s the only woman in the world makes everyone start to wonder if he’s ready to stop running…
RYDER is an interconnected standalone book the Lucky River Ranch Series.
There were so things I really enjoyed about Billie and Ryder. I love a good forbidden romance, and dating your best friend's younger sister is one of the more popular ways to make a relationship forbidden. That part of the story worked for me, as did the connection between the characters although at times I did think Billie and her reactions to Ryder were a little immature.
The sexy times are definitely spicy, but they also served to move the story forward as the attraction between them being something neither could fight was actually an important part of the development of their relationship.
That said, the inner dialogue in this one was a struggle in places. I see why it was there, as a way of getting the important parts of the story into the narrative without bogging it down with too much heavy emotional content. But, the result of doing it in this manner left my feeling like a lot of the important parts of the story were told rather than shown and bringing the reader along on the journey.
I still enjoyed the title, but I think this one lost me a little in the way the development of the rather serious undertones of the story was handled.
That said, the inner dialogue in this one was a struggle in places. I see why it was there, as a way of getting the important parts of the story into the narrative without bogging it down with too much heavy emotional content. But, the result of doing it in this manner left my feeling like a lot of the important parts of the story were told rather than shown and bringing the reader along on the journey.
I still enjoyed the title, but I think this one lost me a little in the way the development of the rather serious undertones of the story was handled.
