⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

I’m 10000000% in my hot swoony cowboy era and I’m not mad about it one bit🥵 I’m giving this one 4.5 stars!

This story opens with CeCe coming back home to her roots after a broken engagement. In comes Nash Carter, her brothers’ best friend and an integral part of her family ranch. She grew up with him, but something is different this time around, and it leads to a spicy, swoon worthy, swept off your boots kinda love that I haven’t been able to stop thinking about!

First of all let me just say I absolutely LOVED this book!!!! In the beginning, it did take me some time to get into the story and I think it had to do with the set up of the story being so similar to Done and Dusted by Lyla Sage (which if you liked that book then you’ll def love this one) but once the story started coming into its own and really delving into the characters and their stories, I could not get enough! I would say it took me a quarter of the way through the book to really get hooked!

I actually really liked CeCe and even though there were times that her communication or decisions drove me CRAZY (hellooooo obviously the man’s in love with you LET HIM GO TO SEATTLE MAAM) I understood her reasonings and also loved how she wanted to be independent and really make a new start for herself on her terms. I feel like I would legit be friends with her and her friends in real life (the group chats had me LOLing) and know we would have a damn good time at a honky tonk together (Shania music exclusively included of course).

Nash Carter is the epitome of book boyfriend. Example A and B and C:

“I could suffocate like this. I could die right here, right now, and I wouldn’t have one regret. I’d be happy to bid this world farewell between CeCe Ashby’s thighs.”

Excuse me while I recover for eternity from the SPICE this book was serving👏 The bed chem was off the charts! Their relationship grew so naturally and the love between them was so genuine and raw, getting into the weeds of real life issues and traumas and I think that was handled so well here. CeCe’s support for Nash with all he’s gone through was beautiful and his growth was my favorite part of the book🙌

Absolutely recommend this one if you love:

🤠Brothers Best Friend
❤️Cowboy Romance
🤠Age Gap
❤️Found Family
🤠He Falls First
❤️Small Town
🤠Reformed Playboy
❤️Hockey Star
🤠Protective MMC
❤️Crawl to Me🥵

Also I just have to say I absolutely LOVED the side characters in this book and it had me so so excited for the rest of the series! I’m officially a Paisley Hope fan and she is for sure an auto buy after this book for me🫶 Cannot WAIT for the next one!!!

**Thank you NetGalley, Random House Publishing and Paisley Hope for sending over an arc in exchange for an honest review!**

Thank you to NetGalley and Paisley Hope for providing an ARC for review!

Holding the Reins follows CeCe and Nash. CeCe moves home after she ends her engagement. She moves back to her family ranch and finds employment in her hometown. Nash is a retired NHL player that has moved back to his hometown and has opened a hockey center. CeCe becomes the accountant for the center. When his parents passed away, Nash was taken in as a teenager by CeCe's family. He's best friends with CeCe's older brothers and has always been close to the family.

This book is small town romance done well. The family, friends, and townspeople feel like genuine people and add so much to the story. In a small town romance, I want to feel like everyone knows everyone and everyone knows (to an extent) each other's business. Meddling family and townspeople tend to lend a comedic element that I love.

The book also handles the brother's best friend trope well. I want the relationship to feel a bit taboo/forbidden. I want there to be at least some fallout when the relationship is out in the open. I liked that CeCe's brother had an opinion. CeCe and Nash are a big part of his life and the relationship should mean something to him.

I don't typically like third act breakups unless their done well. This third act "breakup" made sense. We all get in our way sometimes!!

I liked the introduction of the other potential couples in the series. I'm looking forward to getting to their stories and getting back to Silver Pines Ranch.

This is the first in a new western/cowboy series set in Kentucky! I'm a big fan of Elsie Silver so I was very intrigued by this series. However, I might prefer Canadians westerns more! I still loved this, but the over the top Sothern idioms was a bit much for me. The tropes in this book were common but always gold, brother best friend/playboy falls for best friends little sister. I'm excited to see the side characters get their own books, especially Ginger and Cole!

I enjoyed this book. It was a quick read but if smut isn't your thing-this may not be the book for you. There were times I found myself blushing and thankful that no one could see what was on my Kindle! All in all a great read-can't wait for book 2!!!

I was initially drawn to this arc for the cover art and enjoying the author’s motorcycle romance. This was fine. Didn’t pull me in and also didn’t hate it.

The southern-ness was appreciated and felt legitimate. I had a hard time getting invested in the story. Found myself not wanting to pick it up and continue the rest.


Read if you like:
Cowboy romance
Brother’s best friend
Forced proximity
Ex hockey player
Small town

I LOVED this book.

The main characters were so likable and I was giggling and kicking my feet the entire time. I really enjoyed how Cece brought out Nash’s more emotional side and got him to handle his feelings head on rather than avoiding them like he had been. The banter that these two had was so good and just added to their overall chemistry.

My ONLY complaint is that at times Cece was a little stupid and naive. She knew what Nash had been through and even understood the types of feelings he had and the way he was acting but would have these “woe is me” moments that were just so irritating and irrational. I’m glad those moments were super short and passed quickly because I wanted to slap the woman.

It was very spicy but still had such a strong storyline. Overall 10/10 would recommend!

Received an e-arc from Netgalley

I really enjoyed this book and it gave me chestnut springs feels. It was a fun experience and I can’t wait to see what the author comes out with next

Petition to join the Not Angels and Starting a motion to make sangria Sunday and casual Monday a thing everywhere. The book does start out a tad slow because it’s setting up the entire town for the series, but once you start to get into the story and the relationship between Cece and Nash…it becomes magical. The banter between the two of them brought laughter and many “aww” moments. Cannot wait for the next book in this series!

I've really been in the mood for cowboy lately and enjoyed this glimpse into Cece's family, but truthfully I was hoping for more cowboy life.

But on the flip side I really loved Nash and how dedicated he was to his 2nd family. I also loved how Cece got him to open up about his struggles.

Overall a good story. Very spicy.

This was a cute, easy read. I think it would make a great plate cleaner - it was cute but nothing really grabbed my attention. The romance felt more lust driven than anything else, and the FMC gets drunk an awful lot, but I did love the family moments.

What you get:
🤠 age gap
🤠 small town
🤠 found family
🤠 ex hockey player
🤠 cowboy romance
🤠 brother’s best friend

Thank you to NetGalley and the author for providing an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review!

⭐️3.75

I enjoyed this book, I liked it but didn’t love it.

I feel like I was waiting for something to happen throughout the book, it wasn’t necessarily low drama but I did feel like something was missing.

I did really like the two MCs, actually I like all the characters we’ve been introduced to, I love found family and feel like this book did that really well.

As much as this book didn’t quite hit the mark for me, it definitely wasn’t a bad read and I will be sticking around and reading the rest of the series.

This book was super cute!

Tropes:

*Hockey Player / Cowboy (this is a full blown trope at this point, right!?
*Found Family
*Forbidden Love
*Small Town
*Brother's best friend

I loved the setting and the chemistry between Cecilia and Nash.

This was definitely giving me Elsie Silver Chestnut Springs vibes. It was a little bit of a slow starter, but it was definitely cute and fun and lots of spice.

Thanks to NetGalley for the eARC.

Let me say I have read A LOT of cowboy romance books and this has been one of my absolute favorite! I laughed, I cried, I smiled A LOT and it was hot as all hell.

Paisley did such an amazing job writing such complete characters that you really felt and rooted for, with a family and friends that you just wanted to hang out with.

Nash, part-time cowboy, part time hockey player and philanthropist is a retired NHL player who moved back to his small town to revamp the sports center and coach hockey to kids. Cece moves back to town after a bad break up with an absolute douche canoe and starts working for Nash. They’ve known each other their whole life and Nash is practically family, in a not creepy way, but more an older brother’s best friend way. They both have their own baggage to deal with and it’s truly heart melting to see the way they help each other. This is also one of the spicier cowboy books and guys, Nash can GET IT 🙌🏻🥵

-Older brothers friend
-Small town
-Alpha Cowboy who crawls for her 🥵
-Grief over death of parents (in past)
-Hidden relationship
-Top tier dirty talk

I cannot wait for the rest of this series!!! So grateful for the arc 🙌🏻

Story-5⭐️
Spice-4🌶️

Thank you Netgalley and Random House Publishing for an e-arc of this book in exchange for an honest review!

I really enjoyed this book! At times it did feel similar to other cowboy romances I have read but I think that has more to do with the genre itself than it does this authors writing!

I enjoyed this story and how devoted the mmc is, despite past things in his life that would make anyone break down. I do wish that his internal issues were dealt with a little more on the page but overall I enjoyed his growth alongside the fmc!

Overall this was a very sweet (and spicy) read! I am very excited to read the next installment in this series!

cute, solid cowboy romance…but i do have to dnf 41% through. absolutely nothing against the book itself, i just expected more from the writing and couldn’t sit through it. this sounds so harsh and it’s definitely personal preference rather than a deterrent, but i simply wanted more development for me to be fully behind these characters as well. will def recommend for anyone who needs a fresh, fun and one sitting read!

3 ⭐️
3 🌶️
0 💧

This was an easy, fun read, perfect for a palate cleanser between the more emotional reads I've been doing lately. A lot of spicy scenes (felt like they were banging everywhere), but nothing too attention grabbing from the book, and seems quite similar to a lot of cowboy romances. I did feel sometimes the MMCs behaviour was a bit questionable, especially out of a dark romance context.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!

Holding The Reins by Paisley Hope
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️
💗💗💗💗💗

I absolutely loved this book. It’s cute, funny and spice all wrapped in 1.

CeCe Ashby has returned to town after breaking up with her fiancé.

Nash grew up close with CeCes parents and siblings. CeCe is his best friends little sister but Nash can’t keep his eyes of her.

The small town setting and swooney characters were great. I cannot wait to read more of the Ashby brothers

This just became one of my favorite reads of 2024. My first book from Paisley, and I am already so eagerly anticipating the rest of this series.

If you love: brothers best friend, reformed playboy, grumpy sunshine, forced proximity do not look at another book until you’ve finished this one - trust me.

This book has the best small town family x found family vibes, and I absolutely adored the way it came to life with Paisley’s writing. Such an excellent book!!

Thank you to NetGalley and Paisley’s team for the ARC!

I couldn’t put this book down! CeCe and Nash had amazing chemistry and I loved the tension leading up to them getting together. The side characters were great as well and I knew early on I’d want to continue this series! It was a solid brother’s best friend, cowboy/hockey player romance.

This story is a second chance, brother’s best friend romance. I enjoyed the small town, family ranch setting but wished for more from the female friend group and the relationships in general. I was rooting for the happily ever after and for the main female character to get through the challenges she’s facing with her ex throughout the story. However, the poor decision making of the characters made it tough for me to feel invested entirely in this story. I’m glad that I could give it a try and visit this small country town in Kentucky throughout the course of the story. Many thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

Read if you enjoy:
🩷 brother’s best friend
🩷 small town
🩷 family ranch
🩷 former NHL player MMC
🩷 healing from grief
🩷 nights out at the bar

Romance: open door scenes
Language: frequent adult language