4.2 rounded down to 4/5

"The Ride of Her Life" by Jennifer Dugan is a delightful sapphic rom-com that brilliantly captures the grumpy-sunshine dynamic, set against the backdrop of a struggling horse farm. Fans of enemies-to-lovers tropes and western romance will find much to enjoy in this engaging and heartwarming tale.

Molly, a wedding-obsessed city girl with dreams of starting her own wedding planning company, is thrown for a loop when she inherits a run-down horse farm from her estranged late aunt. Between juggling two jobs and crushing student loans, Molly sees this unexpected inheritance as a potential financial windfall rather than a new beginning. Her initial plan to sell the land and use the profits as seed money for her business faces a significant obstacle in the form of Shani, the barn's dedicated farrier.

Shani, who took care of Molly’s aunt in her last days, is fiercely loyal to the barn and deeply skeptical of Molly's intentions. Their interactions are filled with tension and chemistry, as Shani's judgmental and grouchy demeanor clashes with Molly's city-girl naivete and dreams of a quick escape. However, as Molly begins to understand the barn and the mismatched family it brought together, she starts to feel a connection to her aunt and the life she never knew.

Dugan excels in crafting likable, multi-dimensional characters. Molly is endearing in her clumsy attempts to adapt to farm life, and her journey of growth is both realistic and relatable. Shani’s toughness masks a kind and thoughtful nature, making her a compelling counterpart to Molly. The chemistry between them is palpable, and their evolving relationship is beautifully portrayed, filled with moments of conflict, miscommunication, and undeniable attraction.

The story is fast-paced and engaging, though some readers might feel the lack of resolution in Molly's relationships with her mother and best friend leaves a bit to be desired. These threads are left somewhat hanging, which may be frustrating for those looking for a neatly tied-up conclusion. However, the main romance and Molly's personal growth are satisfying enough to carry the narrative through.

"The Ride of Her Life" is a quick and enjoyable read, perfect for those who love a good hate-to-love romance with a touch of western charm. Dugan’s writing is vivid and bright, bringing to life the quirks of farm life and the complexities of human relationships. While the constant conflict and frequent miscommunications might be a bit over the top at times, they add to the dynamic and keep the reader invested.

Overall, "The Ride of Her Life" is a heartwarming, fun, and emotionally resonant romance that showcases Jennifer Dugan's talent for creating compelling, character-driven stories. If you’re looking for a charming grumpy-sunshine romance with a western twist and plenty of heart, this book is definitely worth a read.

Thank you to Avon and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review

I would recommend if you're looking for (SPOILERS)

-f/f contemporary romance
-cowgirl romance
-forced proximity
-frenemies to lovers
-insta attraction
-opposites attract
-city girl/country girl

"Wear the hat, ride the cowboy."

This was fun, great chemistry and a great premise of what happens when you inherit a forse harm, know nothing about horses but have a thing for the cute horse girl.

I really loved this book until about the last 20% when things got far too messy and then needed to be wrapped up a little too quickly. I would still recommend this one just because I enjoyed the majority of it so much. I will say that the main character was a little hard to root for many times throughout this book, but I did enjoy the relationship. I just would have liked a little bit less drama/more closure at the end.

This was a super fun, fish out of water, opposites attract Sapphic romance that sees bisexual city girl, Molly, inheriting a run-down farm from her estranged aunt only to find herself getting off on the wrong heel with her lesbian tenant/horse expert/ferrier, Shani.

There was lots of great chemistry between the two female leads, I loved seeing Molly blunder her way through adjusting to life on a farm and falling in love with both it and Shani. I think this is one of my new favs by Jennifer Dugan and it was also great on audio narrated by Lindsey Dorcus!

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital copy in exchange for my honest review. Highly recommended for fans of Schitt's Creek or authors like Ashley Herring Blake. A great choice for Pride Month and the cover is just too cute!

Steam level: some spicy/open door scenes

"Ride of Her Life" by Jennifer Dugan is an enjoyable read that blends romance and comedy in a charming, albeit imperfect, package. Dugan's writing shines in its humor and the quirky, endearing community Molly builds around the barn. The narrative voice is funny and contemporary, though at times the frequent references to TikTok and the pandemic felt overdone. The progression of the characters' relationships, especially between Molly and Shani, is handled with care, making their eventual romance satisfying to witness.

However, the book's biggest drawback is the constant conflict and miscommunications that pervade the story. The numerous arguments and misunderstandings between characters made it difficult to fully immerse in the romance without feeling anxious. Molly's occasional self-centered decisions, particularly a major one towards the end, added to the frustration and detracted from her likability.

Despite these issues, "Ride of Her Life" offers plenty of laughs and heartfelt moments. The enemies-to-lovers trope is executed well, and fans of the romantic comedy genre will likely appreciate the playful banter and developing chemistry between Molly and Shani. Overall, it's a decent read with some memorable elements but could benefit from a bit more harmony and less conflict.

Dugan does it once again for me, just as she always does. The snarky banter between Molly and Shani straight from the beginning made my heart thunder. But the miscommunication between them with every passing page was making my blood boil 😂

“I’m drowning, dying, trapped in this little oasis of confusion.”

Same Molly, same. That’s exactly how I felt. 😂 but gosh.. the looooovee that these two were trying to continuously deny made me flutter through the pages. Gosh I loved it so much. The writing was beautiful and made me giddy. That last 30% I sped through. It was perfection in every way. Every side character played their part with ease.

“Missing you bothered me. Seeing you? Never.”

God Shani! She made it so easy to fall in love with.

Thank you to NetGalley and Avon and Harper Voyager for providing me with an e-ARC in exchange for my honest thoughts <3

The Ride of Her Life is the sapphic city girl x cowgirl romance of my dreams! I was immediately tuned in to the book because Molly's life is a straight up mess and she falls way too quickly and ends up hurt every time (me as a character yikes!). I'm also a sucker for a romance with an inheritance because inevitably the mc is completely unprepared to take on such a huge responsibility and it leads to chaos. I'm always ready with the popcorn!

Molly and Shani start off on the wrong foot (read: Shani can't stand Molly) but they are idiots and desperately attracted to each other. They go back and forth for most of the book because the sale of the farm is constantly hanging over their heads. Honestly, I was so in for the drama and loved the bit of tension it added to the plot. Jennifer Dugan's romances are so easy to fall in love with, because the character arcs are heartfelt and the characters are perfect for each other.

Looking for a hot lesbian cowgirl? Desperate for a queer western romance? Love messy, dramatic, hilarious, heartfelt romances? Does Nate the Hoof Guy keep popping up on your TikTok fyp? If you answered yes to any of these questions, you may be entitled to compensation in the form of another amazing Jennifer Dugan novel!

It’s the last Wednesday of May, so it’s book review time! Somehow, I ended up with a lesbian romance that promised a grumpy/sunshine trope. That’s probably how it lured me in. Anyway, The Ride of her Life by Jennifer Dugan was released yesterday (the 28th) from Avon Books (an imprint of HarperCollins). As usual, I must thank them and NetGalley for access to an ARC in exchange for an honest and unbiased review. Let’s do the thing.

The Ride of her Life follows Molly whose life is stagnating. She works two jobs in an attempt to stave off crippling student loan debt, but neither of those jobs include event planning (what she actually went to school for), and she’s low-key miserable. When her estranged aunt leaves her a horse farm, Molly is all set to sell the place and start up her own business. Until she falls for the farrier who lives on the property. The farrier hates her, but when has that ever stopped love. Between non-stop misunderstandings and a mountain of debt, things seem impossible, but can everything work out?

It’s a romcom. The plot demands everything work out. That’s literally the only reason Molly and Shani get together. There are far too many forced misunderstandings that make them either the biggest idiots ever or prove they’re deliberately dense. It’s kind of like the author was told to never let the tension die and they took that advice to heart. But not all tension needs to be negative. Romantic tension is a thing that should be in this book, but it’s not really. The plot was very much a series of overused tropes with no twists. It all felt super forced and far too dramatic and ridiculously cookie-cutter. It doesn’t feel like something that would actually happen.

It doesn’t help that 99% of the characters are completely unlikable. Only Lochlin was remotely pleasant and he’s still a dipshit. Maybe I’m just bitter because I was promised grumpy/sunshine, but all I got was two whiny little children who could’ve sat down and had an honest conversation and been in a much better place. The mother came off as greedy and manipulative and all around gross. The bestie acted high and mighty, but she was unsupportive and also manipulative. Everyone in this book was basically a giant red flag. It was annoying. Also, it took them far too long to realize that a farm with barns and a couple of houses and riding trails and space for… I don’t know… events, would make a great event space for a new event planner! It was literally my first thought when she was left everything. Ugh.

As far as the writing goes, it was fine, but it felt like an ad for Taylor Swift. I’m not particularly into books that date themselves like that, but a lot of people are.

Ultimately, I was not a fan of The Ride of her Life. The false advertisement of grumpy/sunshine means I won’t grab another book by this author either.

Overall, I gave it 2 out of 5 stars. Okay, one and a half. It was written and got published. That much work deserves that many stars. But, personally, I don’t recommend it. There are too many better romcoms to read out there.

here's a case of it's me, not you.

i think for fans of romances and stories like Late Bloomer by Mazy Eddings, you'll really get a lot from this one. i did not and ended up dnfing this book about 30% in. what i'm learning myself is that romance isn't my genre and in this particular case i think this is a perfectly serviceable romance, perhaps even a great romance for some, but didn't vibe with me personally.

this is a story about molly, with heaps of student debt and lofty aspirations of becoming a wedding planner. an estranged aunt suddenly dies and leaves molly her horse ranch. molly's wheels start turning - she foresees a quick unload of the ranch for cold, hard cash that she can use both to pay off her student loans and perhaps set her up for her own apartment outside of her mom's house. but a wrench is thrown into the mix when shani, the ranch's farrier, is massively upset that after years of working the ranch and spending time with molly's aunt, the ranch is being passed over to a stranger that doesn't know a horse from an anthill.

like i said, this is a me thing. i think jennifer dugan's writing is good and easy to consume. i think romance fans will love the set-up and love shani's snarliness.

i think the issues readers might have is with molly. like i said, i didn't get super-far into the book, but a scene where shani is in the barn shoeing a horse includes molly physically pushing shani down because for some reason instead of asking questions, she assumes that shani is physically harming the horse. then again, i do live in the south and molly is the kind of person that wore spike heels in dirt so i'm not sure if that kind of ineptness is authentic or not.

i gave up during a scene where molly goes to shani sobbing her eyes out because she doesn't want shani to be mad at her - she <i>has</i> to sell the farm because she's got student debt, you see - and basically acts like she's a victim despite the fact that molly's selling of the property means that shani will be out of work and out of a home.

i'm sure that molly probably grows from this experience, but between this and one of molly's city friends making jokes about questioning country people where they were on january 6th and accusing them of being trump voters i decided not to continue. i get it, it's quippy, it's meant to be funny, but as someone living in the very rural south it truly doesn't feel good to be stereotyped as either stupid or republican by virtue of where i live.

anyway, not going to rate this one. i don't think it committed any sins, really - i think it just wasn't a book for me.

perhaps you don't need three taylor swift references (or any) within the first 17%, too.

Unfortunately, this romance novel was not for me. The romance between main character Molly and love interest Shari felt rushed, forced, and fluctuated on-and-off with no attempt at clear communication like adults. I liked Molly and Shari individually as characters, but their dynamic was just off.

Likewise, the “conflict” of the novel is annoying because it could have been addressed immediately. Person who wants to have an event company doesn’t even think of how a large, outdoor venue could be used to her advantage? It was the first thing that came to mind, for me, and so to see Molly have to come to the same realization over 3/4s of the way into the novel was beyond frustrating.

I thought the descriptions of the horse farms, various riding events, and supporting cast were all good, which is why I’m not rating this book lower.

🐴 The Ride of Her Life 🐴
Jennifer Dugan
Pub Day Review!!!

Saddle up cowgirls this was such a fun and heartfelt read! I know we all love the cowboys, but cowgirls are just as fun! This is a sapphic cowgirl x city girl, enemies to lovers, grumpy sunshine and more! I loved Molly's journey to finding herself and what she was truly meant to do and how she also learned to fight for what she wanted as well.

Molly McDaniel's life is teetering on the edge of collapse, juggling a barista job, a call center gig, and suffocating student loans. Her dream of launching a wedding planning business feels like a distant fantasy, especially when she inherits a dilapidated horse barn from her estranged late aunt. With no expertise or resources to save it, Molly sees selling the land as her only hope for financial salvation. But as she immerses herself in the barn's world, she discovers unexpected connections and a potential for a new beginning. Yet, amidst the chaos, the one person she can't seem to navigate is Shani, the barn's caretaker, whose prickly demeanor and undeniable allure pose a threat to Molly's carefully constructed plans and her heart.

Read if you enjoy:
🐴 Cowgirl x City Girl
🏳️‍🌈 Sapphic Romance
😈 Enemies to Lovers
🌤️ Grumpy x Sunshine
🗣️ Banter
🧲 Opposites Attract
🏠 Small Town
⛓️ Strong Community

The Ride of Her Life by Jennifer Dugan is a sapphic small town romance. This is the story of Molly and Shani.
 
Molly is working several jobs to make ends meet and to pay her student loans. She is obsessed with weddings and her dream is to start a wedding event planning business. She is a city girl who slowly works on getting closer to her dreams and I really liked her. Everything changes when she inherits a run-down horse farm from an estranged aunt, but this might also be a good chance.
 
Shani is the local farrier and she helped Molly‘s aunt and the farm is very dear to her.  At first, she is quite skeptical of Shani and doesn’t want her to ruin the farm, but she also sees her good qualities and is the one who falls first. Shani is such a great heroine and I especially loved seeing more of her job.
 
Molly and Shani are very opposite in a lot of ways and that’s also why they don’t like each other at first. The enemies-to-lovers vibes in the beginning created the perfect tension and the more these two work together, the more they appreciate each other. The romance was absolutely precious, and I loved how they became such a good team and their love bloomed from there.
 
Overall, if you like small town and sapphic romances, this is such a good one. 4 stars.
 
(ARC kindly provided in exchange for a review.)

The Ride of Her Life sends you on a second/adulthood coming of age story, in a refreshing new way! I loved the characters and their arcs!! I read this book in less than a day and would recommend it to all sapphic romance readers. I wish we had seen a little bit more of her mom getting called out (especially [spoiler]: how there was a mention of Christina sending money/cards in the beginning and then Molly never saw them/never finds out more?) I would have loved a little more closure to the story line with her mom and also with Nat & Kiki, but even without, I highly enjoyed the book and will greatly look forward to Dugan's future works!!

The Ride of Her Life follows Molly after she unexpectedly inherits her late aunt's horse farm and starts to clash with the local farrier as she learns the ropes of the business.

I enjoyed the love interest of this book, Shani, and there were some sweet moments between the 50% and 80% marks after the MCs finally got together. Unfortunately, that is where my positive feelings about this book begin and end.

The narration style irritated me from page one. The corny, unfunny humor detracts from every part of the story that actually has a chance to be compelling. The forced inclusion of terminally online in-jokes makes the narration soulless and irritatingly quippy. The endless references to TikTok and Taylor Swift are nauseating. Even the name drops of modern romance novelists at one point feel forced and inauthentic. The close first-person POV is unenticing and completely devoid of life. I think this book could have benefitted greatly from being written in third-person dual POV.

The story is full of weird montages that skip over crucial moments of character development. For the majority of the book, the central conflict between Molly and Shani, and Molly and the horse farm, repeat over and over without any real plot or relationship development to show for it. Like I said, Shani was hot, but aside from the bare minimum info dumping about her deeply interesting yet traumatic childhood, we never learn enough about her as a person to understand her motivations or feelings. Instead, we're trapped inside the mind of a stereotypical contemporary romance lead nearly devoid of personality.

The horse ranch setting has so much potential to be cute and interesting, but fails to deliver. Instead of aesthetic descriptions and charming western cliches between the MCs, the book makes Molly's new life on the farm sound plain boring. There are far too many side characters with far too little development to stand out or make any sort of impact on the story.

All of the finance- and business-centered plot lines are an absolute head ache to read about. I cannot for the life of me understand why the author spent valuable page space on legal and financial jargon instead letting the two MCs interact. The romance is hardly even what drove the story forward. At its core, this book is about Molly learning to care for horses and get a small business loan.

And lastly, this book commits the crime of not including an epilogue. Multiple conflicts between Molly and important side characters are left unresolved. Overall, not enough time is spent with the two heroines on page together, and way too much time is spent on tedium and irritating side conflicts.

I ended up not being a big fan of this book. (warning: lots of spoilers ahead)

I read romance novels for escapism (to an extent) and for a guaranteed happy ending. But this book felt somewhat stressful to read. There were lot of themes that felt heavy: Molly’s difficult relationship with her mom; Shani’s fear of abandonment and losing her home; Shani’s father’s problem with alcohol; Shani’s brother’s injury; mentions about a horse possibly being euthanized if Molly was unable to afford to take care of it; and more. There was also a lot of conflict and miscommunication.

I normally don’t mind a few heavy themes in my romance novels – some of my favorite romance novels have made me cry.

I think the reason this book didn't work for me is that the story felt off-balance. The heavy themes weren’t outweighed by the light, happy aspects I associate with romance. I think that was partially because I didn’t find the romance between Shani and Molly very convincing.

Molly also felt like an unreliable narrator at times. The reader is told that Molly has a history of impulsively falling into relationships that don’t end up being healthy for her and that involve her losing her sense of self. I didn’t feel like we got an adequate explanation for why/how Molly’s relationship with Shani is different. I think it would have been more believable if we got to see their relationship play out and how Molly was able to be in a relationship while keeping her independence. Instead, we got a third act break up and a reunion right before the book ended.

I really wanted to like this book because the premise sounded cute, but it ended up not working for me.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of this book.

The Ride of Her Life by Jennifer Dugan is just the best story ever! And I mean that!
Dugan never disappoints and she freaking delivered with her newest title.
I had so much fun reading this one. She just has a way of pulling you in and you fall in love with the characters, setting and book.
This book has heart, humor, and a romance that will leave readers swooning.
Overall, it was an enjoyable read with realistic and lovable characters.
A fun enemies-to-lovers, grumpy/sunshine queer romcom.

Thank You NetGalley and Publisher for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!

As someone who grew up working at the rodeo, I’m a sucker for a cowgirl romance. This book was a delight to read!

First of all, a huge thank you to NetGalley for the early e-copy in exchange for an honest review!

Let me start by saying that it did take me awhile to actually get into this book. I kept trying and trying, and there was something about the writing that just didn’t immediately pull me in; however, I pushed through and I’m glad that I did.

It really did feel like I was reading a Hallmark movie, and that was the whole reason that I wanted to read it; so it definitely delivered on that. I did find that a few of the characters just weren’t likable for me and the writing wasn’t spectacular in a lot of places.

Overall, it was an enjoyable read! Nothing phenomenal but still a very entertaining romcom.

When Molly inherits her late aunt’s horse ranch, she also inherits Shani, the grumpy farrier who expected to receive the business. Molly plans to fix up the farm and sell it to fund her event planning business, much to Shani’s chagrin.

This is a cute enemies to lovers spicy romcom. While I don’t usually like enemies to lovers as a trope, this one really worked for me. I think it also helped that Molly was out of her depth but still fought to make things right. My only issue with the book is that Molly’s best friend did something unforgivable, but it was never resolved, but that didn’t detract from the overall story. I still highly recommend it.

Thank you to Netgally and the Publisher for a copy of this for a fair review. I very much enjoyed Jennifers previous book Playing for Keeps so is was looking forward to giving it a read but I did enjoy parts of this book but it didn't gel with me as a whole. I liked the leads molly and Shani but i didn't really get invested in their romance. i do think people will enjoy this if the writing style and tropes appeal to them it just missed the mark for me.