This was a fun sapphic read just in time for summer! I loved seeing Molly transform throughout her time on the ranch and learn to stand up for herself and to pursue her life goals, even if those around her didn't support her. There was a LOT of miscommunication throughout Shani and Molly's relationship, and that definitely impacted my enjoyment of this since that's not a trope/conflict I enjoy. Also, can I just say how terrible of a friend Nat was?? I was rooting for Molly to see her worth and see the found family she had on the ranch was a much better fit for her. I always ALWAYS eat up the "what letter?' trope it's gonna get me every single time!!

I do recommend this if you're looking for a fun, western, queer romance (:

Thank you to NetGalley, the author, & the publishers who sent me this ARC to read & review! <3

despite the cheesy title, this ended up being an unexpected delight! i’m not usually a fan of western romances (although perhaps i just needed to read a sapphic one), but i DO love a hate-to-love romance, which i thought this book did really well. the setting and premise were both really fun, and i loved the little misfit found family molly was thrust into when she took over the barn. i also really liked shani as a love interest and felt bought into the romance despite the quick timeline.

the one critique i have is that, while the ending overall was satisfying and all the big things get resolved, there felt, to me, to be a lack of resolution in the molly’s relationships with her best friend and her mom.

overall, though, i had a blast reading this and couldn’t put it down! if you’re looking for a quick sapphic romance to blow through this summer, look no further. save a horse, ride a cowgirl, etc. 🤠

thank you to the publisher for sending a digital review copy my way via netgalley!

While I was excited to read a sapphic cowgirl romance, I did not enjoy this book. The main character, Molly, has a history of jumping headfirst into new relationships and making the other persons interests her whole personality. And she proceeds to do exactly that over the course of this book while doggedly denying that’s what she’s doing. She eventually figures out a way to combine her dream of event planning with keeping the horse farm she inherits (also I knew the second she stepped foot on the property it would be a good venue for events so I don’t understand how it took the characters the majority of the book to figure it out). But up until the very end she was basing her decision to stay or sale on how things were going with the love interest.

As a former horse girl, queer woman, and Jennifer Dugan fan, I really had the time of my life reading this book!

TW for grief, injury, and betrayal.
Molly is at a crossroads in her life. Working multiple customer service jobs to pay off her student loans and constantly going all in on relationships that don't last, she's stuck in a rut. When Molly inherits her estranged aunt's horse farm, much to everyone's surprise, she finally has the opportunity to pursue her actual dream of starting her own event planning business. But what happens when Molly's dreams are at odds with the expectations of her family and friends, the farm's current boarders, and her aunt's legacy?

I appreciate that Jennifer Dugan's books feature flawed, messy characters. While Shani appeared rather one-note at first, it was lovely to watch her push past the anger and grief as she got to know Molly. It took me a bit to warm to Molly as she operates so differently from me and makes many questionable choices. Yet you can't help but root for her as she is at this crossroads in her life with a shaky support system. Which brings me to my two main qualms with this book. I did not understand Molly's friendship with Nat. Her betrayal came as no surprise as Nat was never a particularly good friend to Molly. The lack of resolution with Molly's mother also irked me. Finally, the conflict resolution regarding the barn felt obvious from the beginning and it drove me crazy that Molly never thought of how she could incorporate her event planning into the space. It felt disingenuous that someone with the desire to be a wedding planner would not immediately jump to the ultimate conclusion and it was frustrating that it took her so long to make that connection.

That said, so much of this book worked for me. It has a lovely balance of tackling some heavy subjects while remaining lighthearted and includes many of my favorite tropes (enemies to lovers, grumpy x sunshine, found family). The setting was also refreshing - I grew up riding horses and performing many of the farm tasks discussed, which added a lovely bit of nostalgia for those familiar with horses. The supporting characters were especially delightful. All in all, a sweet and solid read with strong queer rep.

I didn't know I needed a sapphic cowgirl romance before reading this book, but it was just pure fun!

I have been known to enjoy a Hallmark / Lifetime movie in my day, and this book had a lot of elements that reminded me of those. City girl inherits a farm from a long lost relative, disgruntled employee who is mad she didn't inherit it, lots of fighting and miscommunication - you get the picture. But the difference between those silly movies and this book was the characters felt like real people with real problems. I was genuinely invested in their careers, their relationships, their goals. And while the romance did have a HEA, the book didn't end with everything tied up in a perfect bow.

This book had a lot of heart, some fun spicy scenes, and a donkey named Edward Cullen. What more do you need?

Thank you NetGalley for giving me an advance copy in exchange for an honest review!

One day Molly McDaniel gets a phone call that her estranged aunt has passed away, and she is invited to the funeral. Turns out she was left the horse farm her aunt owned and ran. She figures she has hit the jackpot because now she can sell the farm and fund the job she really wants to do. Trouble arises when the resident farrier, who took care of Molly’s aunt and everyone expected her to inherit the farm, clashes with Molly.

This was a fun read! I went in with low expectations because of the setting being on a horse farm. I’ve been around horses, both riding and owning, for more of my life than not, and I am no stranger to poorly researched horse stories. Luckily, either the author did her research or has been around horses because only minor things were inaccurate. I felt that the horses and the storylines around them felt natural rather than shoehorned in.

This story is definitely the epitome of found family if that is a trope you enjoy. Stables tend to be small and close-knit because of their size. While the main character and her love interest are white, the author doesn’t shy away from diversity in her supporting characters who play a big role in the plot and reflect real life with their struggles. Unfortunately, the riding world is still mostly white, privileged riders and oftentimes there are only a handful of riders at any given barn or show that aren’t white. Their struggles are still widely ignored by the riding world.

Now onto the romance aspect. Molly and Shani, the farrier, have both an instant love-hate relationship. The attraction is there, but Molly wants to sell the property while Shani doesn’t. Most of their relationship for the book centers around this battle of selling and attraction. While I liked Molly and Shani just fine, I enjoyed the non-romance aspect of the books the best. The characters, especially the supporting characters, were all well-written, and the storylines around running a farm were my favorite, but I’m probably biased because of my love of horses.

I’m looking forward to reading more by the is author, and I recommend this cozy read to anyone.

#netgalley #avonbooks #harpervoyager #therideofherlife

Trademark Jenn Dugan with hilarity, unforgettable characters and sizzling chemistry. Loved it loved it

Mehhhh I don't know if it's me or the author but something has been off with how I vibe with their work and it makes me sad. This was not bad at all. Just not a fav. I wanted to like it more than I did and it took me forever to read.

This book really appealed to my inner horse girl. With small town western romances being such a big thing right now I’m frankly shocked this is the first sapphic one I’ve read. I’ll be honest I was worried about this book cause I didn’t like the other Jennifer Dugan books I’ve picked up. However, I’m happy to have been proven wrong. Dugan was able to craft a somewhat flighty main character in a way that didn’t make her infuriating to read. This book also has a solid execution of contemporary enemies to lovers. I often feel that the trope makes no sense in modern contexts, however, Shani’s anger feels entirely justified because of her grief and abandonment issues. The main thing that kept this from being a five star read for me was that the miscommunication was a little much at times. So if you really hate miscommunication as the crux of the conflict in your romance this may not be for you. Though I will say that the big act of miscommunication is not the fault of the couple. I hope that Dugan considers writing more in this setting, I’d really love a Tyler and Lochlin book if she’s down to write it.

This was a new to me author but the blurb intrigued me and I enjoy a grumpy/sunshine with enemies to lovers spin.

The two MCs took a little time for me to warm. Molly is coming into a situation completely unaware of the dynamics behind most of it. She doesn’t know the specifics of her mom and aunt’s relationship and why they fell out, she doesn’t know why her aunt decided to leave the farm to her and not the person who was essentially the only family the aunt had and stuck by her through to the end. And she’s at a crossroads in life being unhappy with her current job and financial state and not having any way to achieve her dream of being a wedding planner.

The one thing I kept thinking was Molly, you in danger girl! While reading, I just got the sense that her character was surrounded by possibly well-meaning but slightly toxic family and friends who kept trying to stuff her into a box that she didn’t belong into. It took some time for Molly to get herself sorted but I enjoyed seeing her come into her own character through the book and eventually take care of some of those toxic relationships.

Molly and Shani hit a number of bumps in the road and there is a fair bit of miscommunication between the two of the throughout the book but I was glad to see Molly and Shani get their HEA.

The Ride of Her Life was a meet cute story. Molly inherited her aunt Christina's horse farm. Her first inclination was to sell it and use the funds to pay off her student loans and to start her own business. And then she met Shani. She was the farrier. And Molly was instantly taken with her. But Molly's best friend, Nat, wasn't having any of it. As far as she was concerned, Molly always fell hard and left it to Nat to pick up the pieces.

Molly had contacted a realtor to sell the property. When she told Shanti It didn't go over too well. She had dedicated her life to the farm. But Molly couldn't see anywhere around the sale. And then she decided she wasn't going to sell after all. She told that to Shanti and she also told her that she loved her, but she was drunk when she told her. Her best friend Nat was there with her. Shanti told her that they could talk about it the next day because she didn't want to discuss it with Molly being drunk. But Molly gave her an ultimatum. Shanti couldn't handle it so she took off. She left the key and a note from Molly and she gave those things to Nat. Nat gave her the key but not the note. Molly was devastated.

It was at that time that Molly met with the realtor, Ashley, who told her that there were liens against the property, and that if Molly couldn't pay them off, the property had to be sold. By then. Molly had come up with an idea how to save the property. The only problem was she didn't have the funding. She tried to get a loan from the bank but with her student loan debts, that wasn't possible. She knew she needed an investor.

I thoroughly enjoyed following Molly through the ups and downs of her love life and the transitions around whether or not she was going to keep the farm. This story was light and easy to follow. While I'm used to plots with more bite, I found myself really getting into this one. The author made it such that I kept coming back from more. The characters were well developed, both the stars of the story and the supporting cast. I gave this book five stars.

You’ve heard of cowboy romance, but I raise you sapphic cowgirls!

The Ride of Her Life is a cute romance between Molly, a young woman trying to get her event planning business up and running in the wake of student loan debt, and Shani, a farrier for Molly’s estranged Aunt Christina. When Christina dies, she leaves her nearly bankrupt stables/adjoining property to Molly, who she hasn’t spoken to in years after she and Molly’s mom had a falling out. Shani is immediately resentful of Molly, as she’s been living on Christina’s property for most of her life, and was the one to take care of her up until the end. Despite their differences, and much to each of their dismay, Molly and Shani are now living on the same property.

The subplot between Shani’s brother and his best friend was also super cute and I'd love to read their story one day.

My only complaints about the story:
—There was nearly constant conflict and miscommunication between Molly and Shani. I'm not a huge fan of the miscommunication trope to begin with, and every time things started to move forward, there seemed to be another miscommunication to revert the two FMCs development back to where it started.
—I wish that the plot line with Molly’s best friend, Nat, came to a resolution. Much of Molly’s character development centered around the realization that Nat seems to treat her like a child and make decisions for her, but we never saw that fully play out towards the end.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Voyager for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

This book is good if you like a Hallmark movie style rom-com. However, it took a long time for any major character to become likable and a lot of side characters that start out unlikable never really hit a moment of redemption, so I honestly never stop feeling bad for Molly, even after her redemption as a character since the people she should have on her side are kind of awful.

As someone who is all about character driven stories, I feel like an HEA rom-com should have a happier ending than this one did. I left it feeling disappointed.

Jennifer Dugan is an all time favorite YA author. Her contemporary adult romance works are a triumph in their honesty as well.

Dugan's latest work is for that Hallmark, horse loving girl that hides in all of us. Her ability to write love amid the characters turmoil is always refreshing especially when the romance elements add to the overall character growth.

Molly and Shani find a kindred spirit in the other once they finally confront the obvious from the start attraction. I was looking forward to an enemies to lovers storyline, but what I got was a sexy as hell will they wont they. This was a pleasant surprise.

Read this is one afternoon. Had to have a fruity cocktail after to solidify what a good time I had. Overwhelming enjoyed!

Thank you to Avon and Harper Voyager | Avon and NetGalley for providing an eARC for a honest review.

The Ride of Her Life was definitely a fun ride! Five star read purely because I loved rooting for the characters we root for, loved being frustrated with the characters that are supposed to frustrate us, and loved seeing Molly come into her own and find her chosen family and home. Overall it was a very good time and brought joy to my day each time I read it, and I live for romances that make me feel that way. I may be terrified of horses in real life but I really want to go visit the barn and give Otis a hug.

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC- all opinions are my own.

I’m a big Hallmark fan and the plot of this sounded very Hallmark to me in the best way - City girl Molly inherits a horse farm and goes there with the intent to fix up the farm to sell - only to be met by a hot tenant who doesn’t want her to sell and clashes with her at every step. Only in this one, it’s a sapphic enemies to lovers between Molly and Shani, the hot tenant who knows everything about horses.

I had mixed feelings about this one. I loved the premise, the setting, Shani, and all the supporting characters at the farm. They have such a great found family centered around the stable where they board their horses. There was a lot of humor and a bit of steam and I loved that we got a character who is a farrier, which is a career I’ve never read about in a romance novel before.

Molly, on the other hand, was a bit of a struggle for me. When you watch a Hallmark movie, you’re rooting for the small town to win, for the developer to go away, for the festival to raise enough money to save the library or whatever. In this, she’s the only POV and she was the city girl come to ruin everything and I just couldn’t root for her. It was like rooting for the bad guy but not in a fun morally gray way. She was selfish and immature and only cared about her best interests and I just never warmed up to her. Her best friend and her mom were assholes, which didn’t help either.

Overall though it was a cute read, I was curious to see how it would all unfold and work out between them, and like I said I did enjoy the rest of the characters.

I got an ARC of this book.

Do you like a book where the main issue the couple faces is not talking? Then this is for you. So much of the drama and plot of this would have been solved with communication. So normally that is hit or miss with me, but in this case it showed something deeper. The couple both had backstories and trauma that made talking difficult. It also meant that talking needed to happen more than it did. So even when they did manage to talk, they didn't cover everything so things would flare up again. It felt less like a gimmick and more like a normal queer relationship. So it got a bit grating by the end that it was still happening, but it also worked really well.

The MC was a hoot. She was both likable, but awful at the same time. I wanted to shake her so often so she would think things through. So did everyone in her life and all her new friends on the farm. It was clear that it was a common feeling. I wanted them together so bad and I wanted them to just listen to the people who were clearly smarter around them. Then that twist at the end I was not expecting. I was impressed and annoyed at it. It felt like it wasn't resolved at all, but also it being more open felt more real. It was an odd combo. I liked it, but wanted more of a feeling of closure for this story.

This is by far the best sapphic cowboy romance I have read. It was not pulpy, not that there is anything wrong with pulp, it just doesn't stay with me as long. It was funny. It was cute. It had high stakes like the gay cowboy romances, but without relying on one of the cowboys getting injured for the relationship to actually exist. Instead it had more going on. The saving vs selling the farm plot worked really well. It mixed well with the side characters and made the story feel full. It worked as more than just a romance, which I really appreciated.

Overall, I really enjoyed this one. It was in stark contrast to the horror I was also reading so it worked on a whole other level.

This review contains spoilers.

I've been longing for a sapphic "horse girl" story, and this absolutely did not disappoint. The setting and the cast of minor characters at the farm were charming and lovely -- distinct enough to be interesting without distracting from the main plot. I really enjoyed the level of "horse/farm" information and background. There was enough to make it feel authentic without being overwhelming to someone without a background around horses. You definitely don't have to be a horse girl to enjoy this horse girl story!

I really liked and was rooting for both of the main characters. Molly was clueless as she stumbled into this new lifestyle. But I liked the way she was respectful to those on the farm -- including Shanni -- from the beginning and wasn't a stereotypical "city slicker" who thought she knew better than them or looked down on them. And Shanni was prickly at first, but for reasons that seemed perfectly reasonable. Often I struggle with single POV romances because I feel like the love interest isn't fully developed and is just a device for the main character, but I really loved Shanni and felt like readers understood her motivation well even though we were only seeing her through Molly's POV.

There were only two aspects I didn't love:

1) I was not fully sold on Molly's friendship with Nat. There was background given about how long they had been friends and how Nat had nursed her through multiple breakups. But since we didn't see any of that in real time, I never really warmed up to Nat. She seemed condescending and rude the entire time and I had a hard time understanding why Molly was such good friends with her. When she ultimately turned out to be the source of the miscommunication between Molly and Shanni -- because she stole and disposed of Shanni's love letter making Molly think Shanni had run off and abandoned her -- I was neither shocked not sympathetic. It was a gross betrayal of trust between best friends and I didn't have any sympathy for Nat. I wish there had been more buildup of their friendship and we could have been more invested in their relationship so that the betrayal would have been more shocking and higher stakes.

2) The resolution to the conflict around the farm's financial situation and Molly's dream of running an event planning business seemed blatantly obvious from the moment with the will was read. So obvious that I was annoyed it took so long for Molly to come to that conclusion. And if not Molly, SOMEONE should have been like, "Wow, what great luck. You want to run an event planning business and you just inherited a giant horse farm with a rustic barn and multiple homes on it. I bet you could host some awesome weddings there!" The fact that it doesn't even OCCUR to anyone until the last quarter of the book and then she's scrambling to implement it under a time crush felt really unrealistic.

That said, even with those two elements considered, this was a solid 4 stars for me. It was a fun, light read that hit most of it's marks. The chemistry and tension between the characters was fun and authentic. I like the evolution of the rivals to lovers without it veering into enemies territory -- even when they were at odds, they were respectful to each other. I read this in a single day and would definitely read again/recommend to friends.

THE RIDE OF HER LIFE picks up with Molly learning her estranged aunt Christina has passed away and that she is named in the will. Molly is beyond shocked to learn that Christina has left her horse farm and property to Molly, a city girl with no knowledge of running a farm, caring for horses, or dealing with the farm's resident attractive farrier, Shani. Shani was like a daughter to Christina and is determined to keep Molly--who she thinks unfairly inherited the farm--at arm's length. But the two can't quite stay away from each other, adding a delicious "will they/won't they" element to a book packed with a lot of heart and humor.

This is my second Jennifer Dugan book and I can now say I've enjoyed both that I've read. Jennifer creates characters you want to cheer for. Sometimes, like real people, they're frustrating, but that only added to my wanting to turn the page and keep going. There was so much at stake! Would Molly keep the farm or try to sell it? Could she fight her attraction to Shani? Could she keep herself at arm's length from the boarders at the farm? Secondary characters like JJ, Lochlan, Tyler, and others were so much fun and watching Molly form genuine friendships with each of them was awesome.

Something else I enjoyed was the queer rep and how casual it was. It's so refreshing to see a book where the internal or external conflict isn't about a character's sexuality; in this case, it involved some miscommunications and misunderstandings between Molly and Shani, but I liked the way it played out, with both of them learning to listen to and trust the other. I did feel like they each grew a lot as individuals and as partners by the end of THE RIDE OF HER LIFE and isn't that what it should be about? Two people helping each other become better.

All in all a sweet and endearing book, THE RIDE OF HER LIFE was a read I really enjoyed.

I struggled quite a lot with this book. While I enjoyed the premise, I felt that the character development was very shallow, and the relationships developed in a way that felt very inauthentic. The enemies to lovers trope was hollow — truly, there were many more instalove elements than the synopsis led one to believe. I did enjoy the inclusive nature of the book, but would've loved to see more diverse identities in the main characters rather than just the side characters. The dialogue felt a bit stilted but not altogether unbelievable. In general, this one was just an average to 'meh' read for me.