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cassidy_rain's review against another edition
emotional
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.0
“She’s looking like a whirlwind of things right now but the two that stand out the most are really fucking beautiful and really fucking off limits.”
Nash Carter the man that you are! I am a sucker for a small town cowboy romance and this did not disappoint. Holding the Reins is the first book in the Silver Pines Ranch series. It follows Cece, who moves back home to small town Kentucky after a difficult break-up and starts putting the pieces of her life back together. Yes it’s a little cringey at times, but aren’t they all? This is a fun time. I love the characters. I love the town. I love the storyline. I love a man who yearns.
Tall ☑
Hockey player ☑
Cowboy ☑
Hot boss ☑
Brother’s best friend ☑
Tattoos ☑
Touch her and I’ll bury you ☑
Secret dating ☑️
Found family ☑️
Nuff said.
“Your dad told me I have two choices, let it consume me or keep holding the reins. So, I keep holding the reins and wait for the next day to come.”
Nash Carter the man that you are! I am a sucker for a small town cowboy romance and this did not disappoint. Holding the Reins is the first book in the Silver Pines Ranch series. It follows Cece, who moves back home to small town Kentucky after a difficult break-up and starts putting the pieces of her life back together. Yes it’s a little cringey at times, but aren’t they all? This is a fun time. I love the characters. I love the town. I love the storyline. I love a man who yearns.
Tall ☑
Hockey player ☑
Cowboy ☑
Hot boss ☑
Brother’s best friend ☑
Tattoos ☑
Touch her and I’ll bury you ☑
Secret dating ☑️
Found family ☑️
Nuff said.
“Your dad told me I have two choices, let it consume me or keep holding the reins. So, I keep holding the reins and wait for the next day to come.”
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Grief, Car accident, and Death of parent
Moderate: Infidelity and Toxic relationship
Minor: Cancer
macyboston's review against another edition
emotional
lighthearted
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Thank you to Netgalley and Random House Publishing for the advanced readers copy of Holding the Reins by Paisley Hope.
This novel was pitched as a cowboy romance. But....I had trouble finding the cowboy part. It's an alpha male who is an ex-hockey player. This book had a slow start for me. But by the 50% mark it's pure spicy for those that enjoy that. However the spice was a bit of a turn off for me. I'm really not into men who repeatedly call their lover a "C U next Tuesday". The male main character raised red flags for me. I also wasn't into the the idea that he's so huge that he barely fits which was referenced constantly during the last half of the book.
So while this book wasn't bad, it's definitely not going to be everyone's cup of tea unless they really like romance novels with alpha males.
This novel was pitched as a cowboy romance. But....I had trouble finding the cowboy part. It's an alpha male who is an ex-hockey player. This book had a slow start for me. But by the 50% mark it's pure spicy for those that enjoy that. However the spice was a bit of a turn off for me. I'm really not into men who repeatedly call their lover a "C U next Tuesday". The male main character raised red flags for me. I also wasn't into the the idea that he's so huge that he barely fits which was referenced constantly during the last half of the book.
So while this book wasn't bad, it's definitely not going to be everyone's cup of tea unless they really like romance novels with alpha males.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Grief, Car accident, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
belreadsbooks's review against another edition
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Car accident and Death of parent
Minor: Cursing, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Grief, Pregnancy, and Alcohol
abidavisf's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
reflective
relaxing
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
You know a book is going to be good when its dedication makes your jaw drop. Holding the Reins is an emotional, romantic and hopeful story of grief, trust, and new beginnings.
CeCe and Nash grew up together under the wise eye of Wyatt Ashby, CeCe’s father. Following his death, Nash’s retirement from the NHL and CeCe leaving her awful fiancé, both characters find themselves back in their hometown, trying to build a life and, more than that, a future. They aren’t kids any more, and their attraction is obvious from the start.
Both CeCe and Nash have been hurt and, frankly, traumatised in their lives. Holding the Reins explores the difficulty that comes with wanting to break down the walls that you have built for yourself, while being utterly terrified to do so. Holding the Reins teaches you that just because something awful happened once doesn’t mean it will happen again.
Holding the Reins is life-affirming: “if you’re struggling, you’re living.” Nash experienced the worst possible thing that could happen to somebody as a fifteen-year-old, making him terrified to love or let anybody into his heart. CeCe’s acceptance of his fears and will to offer him whatever comfort she can, while so importantly understanding that she may not always be able to, was gorgeous, and is everything somebody needs in a support system when living with their trauma.
Aside from the love story, Holding the Reins features a gorgeous family and a beautiful community, one that is wholly accepting of everybody and just wants to love. CeCe’s mother holds a Monday night dinner each week so that, even if your week has started badly, you still have something to look forward to. That aspect of love, comfort and community is everything you could hope for, and so many of my favourite scenes in this book featured the entire Ashby family (and their found family). I adore a story in which we come to learn about each of the side characters and build relationships with them too. I hope we can learn more about these characters as the series continues, and that they all get their happy ever after.
Nash maintains perfect control of the thin line between possessive and protective. Flags that may appear red quickly become clear to show that his actions have always been made with CeCe’s best intentions in mind. He never seeked recognition for this and, in fact, actively allowed CeCe to believe that he was being cruel and territorial in order to save her feelings.
Watching CeCe learn to accept the love that she deserves is another big positive of Holding the Reins. From her father to her brothers to Nash, she enables herself to recognise real love and stops allowing herself to be mistreated by her long-term partner. Even through his emotional abuse and enforced control of her, CeCe uses the words of her family and her respect for herself to maintain boundaries and protect herself, something that is not easy to do. She is an inspiration to victims of toxic relationships everywhere. In turn, she also teaches readers that just because you can do something alone doesn’t mean you have to. You can set boundaries and maintain control of your own life while accepting help from others, a very important life lesson that many of us need to learn.
Elements I would have liked to explore more with Holding the Reins were Nash’s day-to-day when he is on his own, more backstory about Olivia and Ginger and how they and CeCe grew up, as well as more of CeCe’s relationship with her brothers. We dip into all of this, but I’d like to have explored them in more depth. There were also a couple of scenes/plot lines that I felt were slightly rushed, e.g.CeCe’s return to Seattle and what happened after that in relation to her condo.
CeCe and Nash grew up together under the wise eye of Wyatt Ashby, CeCe’s father. Following his death, Nash’s retirement from the NHL and CeCe leaving her awful fiancé, both characters find themselves back in their hometown, trying to build a life and, more than that, a future. They aren’t kids any more, and their attraction is obvious from the start.
Both CeCe and Nash have been hurt and, frankly, traumatised in their lives. Holding the Reins explores the difficulty that comes with wanting to break down the walls that you have built for yourself, while being utterly terrified to do so. Holding the Reins teaches you that just because something awful happened once doesn’t mean it will happen again.
Holding the Reins is life-affirming: “if you’re struggling, you’re living.” Nash experienced the worst possible thing that could happen to somebody as a fifteen-year-old, making him terrified to love or let anybody into his heart. CeCe’s acceptance of his fears and will to offer him whatever comfort she can, while so importantly understanding that she may not always be able to, was gorgeous, and is everything somebody needs in a support system when living with their trauma.
Aside from the love story, Holding the Reins features a gorgeous family and a beautiful community, one that is wholly accepting of everybody and just wants to love. CeCe’s mother holds a Monday night dinner each week so that, even if your week has started badly, you still have something to look forward to. That aspect of love, comfort and community is everything you could hope for, and so many of my favourite scenes in this book featured the entire Ashby family (and their found family). I adore a story in which we come to learn about each of the side characters and build relationships with them too. I hope we can learn more about these characters as the series continues, and that they all get their happy ever after.
Nash maintains perfect control of the thin line between possessive and protective. Flags that may appear red quickly become clear to show that his actions have always been made with CeCe’s best intentions in mind. He never seeked recognition for this and, in fact, actively allowed CeCe to believe that he was being cruel and territorial in order to save her feelings.
Watching CeCe learn to accept the love that she deserves is another big positive of Holding the Reins. From her father to her brothers to Nash, she enables herself to recognise real love and stops allowing herself to be mistreated by her long-term partner. Even through his emotional abuse and enforced control of her, CeCe uses the words of her family and her respect for herself to maintain boundaries and protect herself, something that is not easy to do. She is an inspiration to victims of toxic relationships everywhere. In turn, she also teaches readers that just because you can do something alone doesn’t mean you have to. You can set boundaries and maintain control of your own life while accepting help from others, a very important life lesson that many of us need to learn.
Elements I would have liked to explore more with Holding the Reins were Nash’s day-to-day when he is on his own, more backstory about Olivia and Ginger and how they and CeCe grew up, as well as more of CeCe’s relationship with her brothers. We dip into all of this, but I’d like to have explored them in more depth. There were also a couple of scenes/plot lines that I felt were slightly rushed, e.g.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Car accident, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexism, Blood, Gaslighting, and Alcohol
Minor: Cancer, Emotional abuse, and Terminal illness
lilhappyhermit's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I absolutely loved following CeCe and Nash's story. Seeing the growth that CeCe makes after coming out of a toxic relationship and returning home, while simultaneously learning to trust again after being betrayed in her previous relationship was so beautiful. With Nash, learning his back story and how that has contributed to his fear of being close to anyone intimately, yet choosing to take hold of his fears and embrace his relationship and love with CeCe got me so emotional.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Car accident, and Death of parent
Moderate: Cancer, Emotional abuse, and Infidelity
Minor: Toxic relationship and Vomit
redheadbookgirl's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
I am fully in my romance era right now + this was book PERFECTION 🙌🏽 The plot, the characterisation, the spice, the emotion.. PHENOMENAL. This book is everything. From page one I was completely hooked and I loved every second.
Both the main, and supporting, characters are beautifully curated and are authentic, relatable + fun. Smart, witty, sweet but sassy Cece was so much fun and fiercely independent, and Nash; well Nash is a grumpy, dirty talking part time cowboy, part time bar owner and part time hockey place. Are you convinced yet? The perfect amount of protective; plus he’s tall, dark, handsome AND he’s tattooed. He reminded me a lot of my partner 🫶🏽
There was plenty of banter and chemistry but also some exploration of grief + moments that pulled on my heartstrings. If you’re looking for an all-consuming, sweet and spicy romance with a small town ranch setting, brother’s best friend + the perfect mix of hockey player and cowboy, this is your book!
This was Hope’s DEBUT NOVEL and she smashed it — I absolutely cannot wait for book two!
Content Warnings
Minor: Toxic relationship, Car accident, and Death of parent
vj_thompson's review against another edition
The book started out great. There were parts that were cheesy and cute. The romance piece fell flat. As a reader, I picked up on things the characters haven’t. I’m not a fan of the miscommunication trope or the lack of communication that is.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Car accident, Death of parent, and Alcohol
Moderate: Cancer, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Terminal illness, and Gaslighting
Minor: Vomit