I have been in a serious cowboy romance phase this year and was so excited to receive this arc. It took a little while for me to get into this one and see the chemistry between the characters but once it was there it was very entertaining and I loved the self reflection and changes they made for each other in order for their love to grow and blossom.

Unfortunately I tried reading this so many times and did not love it. I’m thankful to the publisher for letting me have an eARC in exchange for an honest review though!!

3.5 🌟
I really enjoyed Back in the Saddle by Maggie Eckersley. Thank you Net Galley for the ARC



Back in the Saddle had me feeling all the emotions. Such a sweet love story with a whole loads of emotions thrown in.

Tropes:
- Small Town Romance
- Slow Burn

Whilst on the whole I did enjoy Caroline and Hunters story, I did struggle not to cringe in a certain spicy scene where all the technical language was used. Gave me the ick! Also, the time jumps in the story sometimes gave me whiplash.

2.5⭐️

I really hate to say this, but Back in the Saddle just wasn’t for me. I’ve enjoyed Elsie Silver’s cowboy romances in the past so I thought I’d give this a go, but it just didn’t work for me. If I’d known cancer featured so heavily in this story, I probably wouldn’t have picked it up in the first place. I read romances like this for an escape, and the subject material here does not work with that.

I appreciate that the story took place across a year/two years, it made the love story a little more believable. However, it meant there were loads of time jumps between chapters where a month or more would pass and we would just get told what happened, which is never a fun way of viewing a developing relationship.

I wasn’t a massive fan of Caroline’s backstory with her ex-husband. I really can’t underhand how you could be with someone for so long while literally knowing that you’re completely incompatible.

Miscommunication is my least favourite thing in the world and I hate when books use it, especially with charters who are a little bit older and should know better.

To be completely honest, I just found the story a little boring. It took me almost a month to finish it because nothing was making me want to pick it up. I could see where the story was going, and I didn’t care enough about the characters to see them get there. Also not a fan of the ending, sorry. It was over too quickly and didn’t feel satisfying at all.

And I don’t know how other people feel about this, but I hate the continued use of the title being used in the text. I think it happened 6 times in this book and it just completely took me out of the moment each time.

It's my fault for thinking I would've liked a Cowboy romance like this one. I wasn't overall bad, I was just bored. Like so bored.

I love me a cowboy romance! They can do no wrong in my eyes, though I'm not a huge fan of a miscommunication trope. I still loved this book and enjoyed disappearing into it! Would definitely recommend it to fellow cowboy romance fans.

An okay cowboy romance.
I went through a bit of a cowboy romance phase last month, and read five different cowboy romances and this one was probably my least favourite.
This was just okay, but I felt like it was missing something.
Overall, an okay read if you are in the mood for this kind of romance, but I will probably forget all about it in a month or so.

obviously this cover immediately drew me in, but the story did not keep me interested. sadly it’s a DNF at around 70%

Caroline needs some time. Time away from her failed marriage. Time away for emergency medicine. She needs to get some distance between herself and all that she knows is over. So she leaves Scotland and moves to Oklahoma for a year to do cancer research with her aunt. It's exactly what she hoped for. Although, she didn't plan on meeting a rancher with a cowboy hat and a smooth attitude. But maybe a fling is what she needs to move on and really live for the first time...

This is a cute little western/STEM romance. The FMC and MMC are both really likeable characters. You definitely cheer for them to get together. Some of the "drama" in the book is a bit childish and unnecessary. There are a lot of side characters and none of them are very likeable except for the aunt's wife. One note that really stuck out to me was how many times the title of the book appeared in the pages. I love a good "title Easter egg" in a book, but this was overkill x 100. Someone must have thought or said "back in the saddle" in every single chapter. It was truly ridiculous. But all in all, I had fun so read it if you want. No regrets here.

Always up for a good cowboy romance and this one did not disappoint! I really enjoyed the tripes in this book, and they were a lot more serious than i first expected. I will definitely he recommending this to my cowboy lovers to read this book!

I consider myself a cowboy romance connoisseur at this point so I was very excited to read this story!! I will start off by saying that I did think this story was cute, it was an easy read but it lacked a wow factor or something to really lock me in to the characters and story. Overall, it fell a little flat for me!

Back in the Saddle by Maggie Eckersley was a fun small town, cowboy romance. This cover is gorgeous and the romance between Caroline and Hunter was fun to follow.

I loved reading the journey of Caroline and Hunter's romance. They were a really great match of personalities and their chemistry was amazing!

Hunter wanted Caroline to be honest with him, but he wouldn't tell her almost anything about himself which drove me crazy. How he acted at the funeral as well was wild.

The end of this book was the most disappointing part to me. We spent so long getting to know these characters and wanting to see them together, and instead of there being a big reunion, they moved on and forgot about each other...

Overall, the plot was nice, but I think it could've been executed better. Hunter's "best friend" wasn't the best and there was no reason for him being mean to Caroline or exposing Hunter. There were just some strange choices made in telling this story.

Based on the blurb, this book had more serious themes than I originally thought, but I really enjoyed it. I liked how strong both of the characters were despite what they’d been through and were going through. I loved how palpable their connection was right from the start. I really enjoyed this book!

Such a fun cowboy romance!! I am loving how much love this trope is getting and Maggie Eckersley’s Back in the Saddle is the perfect addition! Will definitely be recommending to all my cowboy romance-loving friends!

I am an absolute sucker for a cowboy romance, and this one did exactly what it said on the tin.
I enjoyed the characterisation of Hunter and Caroline. They felt quite honest and well thought, which helped to create likeable characters. They definitely had chemistry from the moment they met and I loved that about them.
I really enjoyed the book, but I struggled with the pace. I found it to be a bit too slow for my liking, but that is no fault of the author, just more my impatience!

A good book for a cowboy lover!

I cannot review this book because the formatting of this ARC made it unreadable - however now it is released I will buy it and read it and leave a review on Amazon.

There was a lot I genuinely liked. Caroline is the kind of heroine I always root for—smart, independent, and emotionally layered. Her passion for medicine really came through, and I loved watching her rebuild after a difficult divorce. The small-town Oklahoma setting totally won me over. I’ve only visited twice, but I fell in love with it both times. We even considered moving there before ending up in Las Vegas, so seeing that setting in a romance made me smile. The meet-cute with Hunter was sweet, and his dedication to his family really stood out.

I did have a few hang-ups. The writing felt a bit stiff in spots, and there was more miscommunication than I usually enjoy. The third-person POV made it harder to fully connect, and the spice didn’t quite land for me due to some overly clinical phrasing. I also hope the weird ARC formatting gets cleaned up by publication.

Still, there’s a lot of potential here. Caroline’s strength, her dedication to her work, and her journey made this story worth reading. I loved seeing a lead character in her 30s who knows what she wants and doesn’t settle. This debut had some solid elements, and I’d be interested to see what Maggie Eckersley writes next.

To be honest, this just wasn’t it for me. I didn’t end up finishing it. I won’t post on Goodreads. The writing wasn’t terrible or anything like that, I just didn’t mesh with the plot or the characters.

A cowboy romance and a gorgeous cover yes please !

Starting this book I absolutely enjoyed the two main characters . There was instant chemistry between Caroline and Hunter from the very start. I liked how they both had different challenges that they explored throughout the book and I enjoyed exploring that with them. There was a few miscommunications between Caroline and Hunter which made me hesitate whether I should read on or not but I liked them both and was enjoying the book so I kept reading on.

I enjoyed reading this book though for some parts I felt like the pacing wasn't right. I felt some parts were fast paced where as some were quite slow which didn't need to be. I really enjoyed reading this book up until the end. I felt it was quite rushed and I needed more to completely finish the story.

Overall, This book is 3 stars for me. I did enjoy the book, I loved both the main characters. Back In the Saddle was my second cowboy romance it was written well and a cute read for me.

*Thankyou NetGalley and Avon Books for providing me this Arc in return for an honest review*