Rider's Block
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Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of Riders Block. Riders Block hooked me with the setup already – combine two of my favourite things, literature and country life, and that might just make me want to read your book. Sometimes there also is a little bit of curiosity in it, if the life in rural areas is portrayed in a believable manner and this book definitely put gasoline on this little fire burning in me, by presenting me with a female main character whose book just got denied by every publisher because it clearly showed she had no clue of life in the countryside. Call me curious! We follow Amelia, an accomplished author who is trying out new styles and genres to write, descend into the ranch life in Colorado including living on a farm with a friend’s family. Found family, a ton of new friends on two and four legs later, she does find a little more than she bargained for. The male love interest is of the grumpy, silent sort, who has some hilarious slip ups and weaseled his way into my heart a lot faster than into Amelia’s, that’s for sure. The reader gets a glimpse into the country way of life, including rodeos, the work and perils around a farm and of course the absolutely over-romanticised version of everything. Granted, I’m not an American country gal, but having grown up on farms, around every barn animal you can think of and riding more than walking, there were some things I found to be a little too over the top, even for a romance that is just trying to get you to feel that cosy, home-y feeling. One of those things is claiming that sharing a saddle with two grown ass adults is any sort of comfortable. Let me tell you, it is not and that’s a hill I’ll gladly die on. Ditch the saddle and we’re talking, but no one in their right mind and over the age of … let’s say, 8 years old, will ever say this is a comfortable thing. Another thing a little too on the nose for me personally was the avoidant behavior of the female main character, as, granted, she did struggle with a lot of past experiences and while I do get the hesitancy she showed towards the love interest, the back and forth of her mind gave me whiplash: Either the MMC was doing way too much for her liking or a few seconds later, did not even show difficulty saying goodbye, which subsequently was not enough for her taste. The repetition of the same struggles over and over again without resolving any of this got a little bit on my nerves. Repetition is a good keyword, as some of the phrases the author (the real one, not the fictional one) used, were a little to frequent for my taste. At times scenes I would have loved to experience with the characters were just skimmed over by giving a tiny summary within an internal monologue or just in a paragraph instead of actually taking the reader there. Furthermore, the parts where the female main characters just voiced her thoughts in an internal monologue but just putting a ton of short sentences into a paragraph did hinder my immersion at times. This is, overall, a very cute country romance without spice but with a ton of lovable characters that will take your heart with ease. The author wants to provide a safe space with her books, where you get exactly what you expect and for me, she nailed that home-y, found family feeling, even if some parts did not work out for me perfectly, I would pick up another book of hers, anytime.
Posts
Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of Riders Block. Riders Block hooked me with the setup already – combine two of my favourite things, literature and country life, and that might just make me want to read your book. Sometimes there also is a little bit of curiosity in it, if the life in rural areas is portrayed in a believable manner and this book definitely put gasoline on this little fire burning in me, by presenting me with a female main character whose book just got denied by every publisher because it clearly showed she had no clue of life in the countryside. Call me curious! We follow Amelia, an accomplished author who is trying out new styles and genres to write, descend into the ranch life in Colorado including living on a farm with a friend’s family. Found family, a ton of new friends on two and four legs later, she does find a little more than she bargained for. The male love interest is of the grumpy, silent sort, who has some hilarious slip ups and weaseled his way into my heart a lot faster than into Amelia’s, that’s for sure. The reader gets a glimpse into the country way of life, including rodeos, the work and perils around a farm and of course the absolutely over-romanticised version of everything. Granted, I’m not an American country gal, but having grown up on farms, around every barn animal you can think of and riding more than walking, there were some things I found to be a little too over the top, even for a romance that is just trying to get you to feel that cosy, home-y feeling. One of those things is claiming that sharing a saddle with two grown ass adults is any sort of comfortable. Let me tell you, it is not and that’s a hill I’ll gladly die on. Ditch the saddle and we’re talking, but no one in their right mind and over the age of … let’s say, 8 years old, will ever say this is a comfortable thing. Another thing a little too on the nose for me personally was the avoidant behavior of the female main character, as, granted, she did struggle with a lot of past experiences and while I do get the hesitancy she showed towards the love interest, the back and forth of her mind gave me whiplash: Either the MMC was doing way too much for her liking or a few seconds later, did not even show difficulty saying goodbye, which subsequently was not enough for her taste. The repetition of the same struggles over and over again without resolving any of this got a little bit on my nerves. Repetition is a good keyword, as some of the phrases the author (the real one, not the fictional one) used, were a little to frequent for my taste. At times scenes I would have loved to experience with the characters were just skimmed over by giving a tiny summary within an internal monologue or just in a paragraph instead of actually taking the reader there. Furthermore, the parts where the female main characters just voiced her thoughts in an internal monologue but just putting a ton of short sentences into a paragraph did hinder my immersion at times. This is, overall, a very cute country romance without spice but with a ton of lovable characters that will take your heart with ease. The author wants to provide a safe space with her books, where you get exactly what you expect and for me, she nailed that home-y, found family feeling, even if some parts did not work out for me perfectly, I would pick up another book of hers, anytime.