Blurb:

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.
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 in the Lucky River Ranch Series.

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Narrated by: Lila Winters & Stephen Dexter

*****

Review:

Poor Ryder has been suppressing so much of himself, living basically numb since the death of their parents. The prospect of losing Billie has him reexamining his life, realizing that maybe life isn’t worth living without emotions. He fights it because it’s hard giving up his coping mechanism after so many years but once he lets himself go for it he is ALL in. Not just with Billie, but with his family and getting help for his issues. (I saw where some people thought it was a bit much, but the man has a lot of years to make up for 🙂 )

Billie is sassy but also a pleaser when it comes to her family. She’s slowly losing herself as the family ranch’s accountant but is struggling with figuring out what to do and how to tell her parents. But being seen by Ryder, spending time with him, with his attention and support, she finds herself gaining the courage to go after all the things that she wants. With him and for herself.

Ryder is pretty low angst, with a few moments of trouble getting the two to their happy ending, but it definitely doesn’t scrimp on the heat. I felt like it was doing a lot of work tho – giving Ryder & Billie their HEA, finishing up the Lucky River Ranch series, and setting up the next series with Billie’s family. It helps that Ryder & Billie already have a history so we don’t have to spend a lot of time setting up their relationship. And I do love them together, they are a great complement to each other. It was a treat to see the Rivers family all together and getting to know Billie’s family, seeing the two families intermingle, and getting updates on what’s happened & a preview of what’s to come.