DNF @ 25%. A cute premise, but I couldn't get into this book unfortunately. I found the two main characters to be a little unlikeable from the jump which made me lose interest. If you're a fan of sapphic enemies to lovers, this is right up your alley! I don't think the enemies to lover trope is for me, or I would've continued. Thank you to NetGalley and Atria for the ARC!

I like the idea of this book, but just like the author’s other release, I found this one lacking and I struggled to get into it. It’s fine, just not really great in the romance department.

Thank you to Netgalley as well as HarperCollins/Avon for providing me copies to review.

First off, I identified with Molly a lot and not just for the obvious reasons. The single POV provided an insight into why she was the way she was. We got to see how and why the issues that she dealt with affected not only her relationships but also how she went through life. Her fears and doubts felt real even when she was indulging in her self destructive tendencies. Shani’s hesitancy felt truthful from what we learned about her and I could feel her at war with herself when her and Molly started to develop their relationship. The miscommunication didn’t feel like a gimmick to keep them apart. Instead, it felt believable and grounded in reality which is rare these days. I really enjoyed this book and had a fun time reading it. Each time I opened it I was eager to see how the story would propel Molly and Shani forward. If you’re in a mood for a yeehaw romance that is unabashedly sapphic, I wholeheartedly recommend this one.

This was my 5th book by Jennifer Dugan, and most of them have been very middle of the road and unmemorable for me. I can already tell this will be the same. I did mostly enjoy this, but it also just didn't quite become as good as it could have been. So much of this left me wanting, and the main characters annoyed me a lot at times.

This was a fun summery read set on an inherited horse farm! I really enjoyed the characters and the small town feel. I also loved the idea of the love interest being a female farrier especially since every one I’ve seen in other books have all been men.

The actual romance felt a little lackluster. It just felt more like the enemies / rivals started getting along and then were suddenly in love but also not communicating that to each other.

Overall, I really enjoyed the book & fills a perfect space in the sapphic book space!

Thank you to Harper Collins, Avon Books, NetGalley, and Jennifer Dugan for letting me read an early copy (ebook & physical)!

Loved this book! The farm inherited by protagonist Molly reminded me of my barn…quirky, a bit ramshackle, and a home-away-from-home for an array of diverse animals and humans alike. A little island of misfit toys who love their community. Of course, the sapphic romance was just a cherry on top for this queer horse girl. The casual first person writing style isn’t my favorite, but it certainly helped me understand Molly (as much as I could while she struggled to understand herself). Hyped to purchase a finished copy for my bookshelves and to read more of Duggan’s work.

The Ride of Her Life is a sapphic western/romance with a wonderful narrative voice and has several modern references for enjoyment.

I love the community Molly has created and enjoy the progression of the story. I will say there seems to be constant conflict and the love story was more anxious than I think it needed to be.

Needless to say I do enjoy Jennifer Dugans writing style and would highly recommend this book to those who are into contemporary modern romances with an LGBTQ bend.

3.5 stars out of 5

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC. This review will be discussed on my podcast The Books and the Bees Episode 19 (released May 28th 2024)

When a city girl inherits a horse farm from her estranged late aunt. she never expects to fall head over heels for the grumpy hot farrier who dislikes her. Molly McDaniel's life is not going great, her crushing student loans haunt her, her back to back jobs to just get by take up most of her time, and her dream of starting an event planning business has been put on the backburner. When she gets news that she has inherited her late estranged aunt's run down, struggling horse barn, this could be her chance to finally get her life back in track if she can sell it.... yet when she gets there she meets Shani, the hot cocky farrier who was close to her aunt and who dislikes Molly for being the one to inherit the horse farm. Shani refuses to give up on the barn and dislikes Molly for even thinking about wanting to sell it. Molly knows she can't take care of the horse farm, she has no experience, yet the longer she spends there getting to know all the people who were working on it with her aunt and actually spending more time with Shani, she begins to fall in love with both the farm and Shani. Will Molly risk it all and keep the farm and try and convince Shani that she means to stay, or will she finally chase after her dreams and take the easy way out? This was a really easy to read cowgirl romance, but it just felt like it was missing something for me. I was hoping for some further development in the romance or some actual chemistry, but it just wasn't there for me. I really wanted to like this one but just felt like it was okay at best and that it could have been better. I would say out of all the Jennifer Dugan books I've read, this was the best one. Molly and Shani are opposites and dislike each other from the start but work to overcome their differences and stop fighting their attraction to one another. It's a easy contemporary farm girl x city girl romance and I think anyone who enjoys a sapphic romance should definitely give it a go.

*Thanks Netgalley and Avon and Harper Voyager | Avon for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

5/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Ride Of Her Life
Author: Jennifer Dugan
Romance

Thank you so much Avon Books and Netgalley for this ARC! Amazing debut from Jennifer Dugan! I loved this western sapphic romance. Sign me up for all books with horses please. Molly is in a rut financially and somewhat emotionally. She is living with her mom and barely making ends meet working at a coffee shop. She desperately wants to get her event planning business off the ground but is having a hard time pulling it off. Her estranged aunt unexpectedly passes away, leaving Molly her entire barn and business. What comes with it is Shanti who hates Molly instantly since she thought the barn would be going to her. Grumpy x sunshine, enemies to lovers, cute sapphic romance. I loved it! Can’t wait to read more by her. 🐴

Thank you to NetGalley, Avon Books, and Jennifer Dugan for the advanced physical and e-book copies of The Ride of Her Life!

Cowboy romance? Meh. Sapphic cowboy romance? YES.

The Ride of Her Life follows Molly as she inherits her late aunt's horse farm and all of the nuances that come with it, including a cute farrier, Shani, who hates Molly and an old, picky horse named Otis. Molly struggles with the decision of selling the property and using the funds to launch her own startup event management business, or staying and continuing her late aunt's legacy as a horse boarder.

I really loved the enemies-to-lovers relationship between Molly and Shani, especially the initial conflict when Shani discovers that the property was not left to her in the will. I also loved the conflicts that occurred between Molly and her friend Nat, and the ending argument between them truly made me gasp. I personally loved the unresolved conflict between them.

Molly and Shani go back and forth a lot over the course of the novel. There is a lot of miscommunication and assumptions between the two, which became a little frustrating for me as a reader. I felt as though they weren't able to get very close because of the constant back and forth.

Overall, it was a great read and I'd recommend to anyone that wants to dip their toe into cowboy romance.

this had so much potential to be a great summer read and yet? it didn’t. how did sapphic cowgirls not HIT. anyway thank you netgalley and publisher for allowing me to read this arc
not going to lie i had fun some moments had me twirling my hair but towards the end i just had to round it down.

3.5 ⭐

The Ride of her Life was my first sapphic western romance, and was overall a good time. I'm a sucker for enemies to lovers & grumpy x sunshine tropes, so I absolutely ate up the banter and chemistry between Shani and Molly! That being said, I hate the miscommunication trope, and these two could have cleared so much up if they had just talked to each other, but it was nothing but constant drama and bickering. It was so frustrating and made me want to strangle them both lol

YESS cowboy romances but make it sapphic!! My dream come true. This did not disappoint. Molly inherits a commercial barn from an aunt she hasn't seen in 10 years only to find Shani, someone who was basically a daughter to Molly's aunt and took care of her in her last days lives on the property and was the person everyone locally was expecting to inherit. This is totally a fixer upper novel in a lot of ways. As Molly renovates the place for potential sale and frantically learning how the heck to take care of these horses she also gets a new outsider perspective on her own life and aspirations. This may very well be the shock she needed.

There's definitely dislike to lovers in this especially from Shani's side. This is single POV so you have to believe in the journey and trust me all will make sense and these have so much instant chemistry they even acknowledge it through their dislike. Also there are side characters you will love and will also side eye. Again, just trust the story, Molly may be a bit of a people pleaser and a pushover but it is all fair in the end.

The realistic descriptions of the barn were so interesting to me! I feel like this had a bit of grit to horse and barn life without going to overboard or over explaining. I really felt the hard work Molly was putting in and the impossible decisions she was making.

The romance- I just have to say this has the cowboy hat trope iykyk and it was done SO well. When it's the catalyst for a pivotal point in the plot I was eating it up, Also, this has a couple of open door spicy scenes and they were amazinggg. Thank you so much to Avon for this ARC!

This novel is an enemies to lovers romp. A grumpy, country girl meets a sunshine-y, city girl. Both of their futures are uncertain. This book features a lovable cast of characters including—some of whom happen to be equine.

The only thing missing are a soundtrack with perhaps the latest Orville Peck and Beyoncé country tracks and also an epilogue. I really would have loved to see a snapshot of where these characters and their complicated relationships landed down the road (especially after the protagonist spent so much time working on herself and her goals). Like the bronco riders, she hangs on and picks herself up when life gets messy. A reminder for us all.

I wanted to love this adult sapphic contemporary romance more, but as someone who strongly dislikes the miscommunication trope, it was a little disappointing.

City girl Molly has inherited her aunt's horse farm out in the country. She has every intention to sell it off the developers and be done with it so she can finally get together the money needed to officially launch her event planning business. That is, until her enemy at the will reading turns out to be attractive and her new crush.

I liked the concept well enough and I really enjoyed most of the side characters, but Molly and Shani couldn't communicate effectively at all and it was so frustrating. And instead of just a small conflict here or there, it was constant and had me itching to finish the story. While the main plot is supposed to be deciding what to do with the farm, it's completely overshadowed by the constant bickering. Molly's friends were also pretty toxic as well as her mom (although I think we're supposed to dislike her?). The ending was rushed (and the ah-ha moment totally predictable and was the same conclusion I had at the beginning), but I did really like the comradery between most of the characters and how willing everyone was to help each other and accept Molly despite her cluelessness regarding horses and was a little chaotic.

It's an okay read if you don't mind miscommunication throughout the entire book, but it just wasn't quite for me. I do love that we're getting some sapphic cowgirl romances and I hope that continues to become a thing, but I really do hope future characters can have adult conversations and hash things out maturely.

4.5 ⭐️
🌶🌶🌶

The Ride of Her Life is a fun, horse-filled Sapphic romance!

Molly wants nothing more than to start the event planning business of her dreams. When she inherits her aunt's stable, she'll finally have the seed money. But while fixing it up, Molly starts falling for the gruff farrier Shani and the community of horse lovers.

I've enjoyed Dugan's books before, and this is no exception. Molly was kind of adorable with the way she approached things, and I loved her growth and how she worked to learn how to take care of the ranch. The end solution was obvious to me, but I forgive it because Molly was stressed. The side characters were mostly really fun (except the mom and best friend). I really wish there had been an epilogue. I had a good time overall while reading this.

Thanks to NetGalley and publisher for the opportunity to read and review!

I had never read a sapphic cowgirl/western romance before this, so I was really excited to pick up The Ride of Her Life. Unfortunately, I didn't enjoy it as much as I thought I would.

My biggest issue with the book is the constant conflict. Everyone was always fighting, and there were so many miscommunications that it was hard for me to feel anything other than anxious about the love story. It also didn't help that Molly (MC and narrator) would make decisions without realizing that sometimes things were bigger than her (don't want to spoil but there's a big issue that arises at the end that stems from this).

I did, however, appreciate the community that Molly created and enjoyed seeing the progression of that. The narrative voice is funny, though a little too contemporary for me (TikTok and the pandemic were referenced one too many times), and definitely earned this book a spot in the romantic comedy genre.

Overall, I didn't love The Ride of Her Life but would recommend to fans of western romances and the miscommunication trope.

⭐️⭐️⭐️.75/5 (Romance)
Release Date: May 27, 2024

Synopsis: Molly’s life is fully in shambles. She works a day job as a barista, a night job at a call center and has horrific student loan debt. All she can think about is opening her event planning business. Out of the blue, she gets a call that her aunt has passed away, and as it turns out, left Molly her horse farm. Molly has absolutely no idea what to do. Shani, the resident farrier and person who took care of Molly’s aunt has other plans, and is not happy that Molly is raining on her parade. As Molly tries to fix up the farm to sell, will her and Shani get to know each other? Will they stop hating each other and work together to get the farm together?

My Thoughts: I really liked this book! I have this issue where if I don’t like side characters, I can have a very hard time reading the book. In this book, Molly’s mom and Nat just did not seem to care what Molly actually wanted, but only what they wanted for her and that made me really annoyed. However, I really loved the romance between Molly and Shani. And I loved the setting of the horse farm. I liked that Molly finally got a backbone and did what she wanted in the end. I also really loved the found family at the farm, all of the characters seemed real and like actual people. I will definitely be reading more from Jennifer Dugan!

Thank you to NetGalley and Avon for providing me an advanced copy of the book in exchange for my honest review. Special thanks to Tess at Avon for sending me a physical copy of the ARC!

If you love enemies to lovers or queer romances, you’ll love this book.

2.5 stars. Thank you to NetGalley, Avon, and Harper Voyager for this advanced copy. You can pick up The Ride of Her Life on May 28, 2024.

I can understand why this book will definitely appeal to some romance readers. It's a queer, cowgirl romance, with bumbling shenanigans, hot makeout scenes, and hate-to-lovers energy. And while I appreciated several individual moments from this book, as a whole, it didn't hit the way I wished it would.

The main character, Molly, was perfectly fine. I didn't feel particularly attached or unattached to her while reading, and I wish we'd SEEN more of her loving event planning and the wedding industry to make her dreams feel more believable. Shani, our love interest, was also a closed book until almost the end. While the author laid a great foundation for the animosity between Molly and Shani, the jump from hate to attraction felt very jarring, which I think was a running issue I had with this book.

The entire middle was a muddle, mainly because Molly and Shani were very back and forth on their feelings for the other person, until suddenly they were ALL IN all at once. We also learned a lot of information about horses and competitions and whatnot that felt slightly significant to the plot but overall wasn't completely necessary? It felt like the author struggled to navigate this being a cute, breezy romance with it being informational and accurate about the intricacies of running a ranch. The research felt half-complete, and I would've appreciated a more concentrated effort in either direction.

The entire ending and third-act breakup was,.. a mess. And not the good kind of mess, but the kind where I can't even care what decisions the characters are making because it all feels so absurd. Solutions would come in out of nowhere, and then new problems would emerge, and the whiplash the main character felt almost translated to me as I was reading it.

Also, the best friend was the WORST. This simultaneously made me more interested in the book and more fed up with it, just because I wasn't sure if the main character would forgive her or kick her to the curb.

All this to say that while this book definitely wasn't my cup of tea, I can see why others would love it. The chaos, the horses, the Hallmark feel of it, and the queer representation lead to an overall good time for readers who don't take issue with the writing choices as I did.

Sapphic enemies-to-lovers goes country! This novel does such an amazing job at showing a main character that finds herself in an impossible situation and perseveres because of her own determination. She finds career success AND love in this turbulent, swoon-worthy novel. Must-read!