3/5 stars, rounded up from my 2.5. Take my review with a grain of salt to be honest. I read the description and was hooked by the cover. However, I just didn't like the story. Let me be clear that this has a very strong theme of cancer and there was absolutely no mention of that in the blurb and there was no trigger warning. I understand that I am in the minority of people that have gone through cancer treatment, however I am not in the minority when it comes to knowing someone close to you that has died from cancer or has undergone treatment for cancer. This book was extremely triggering to me while reading. I also did not like the way that spicy scenes were written. Words like "vaginal opening" are not what readers want to read while enjoying a scene. I understand that the FMC was a doctor and maybe that's why the author chose that wording, but it still gave me the ick. The FMC was hard to relate to. She acted like it was crazy that the MMC fell for her after months of spending time together and blamed him. The one thing that I did enjoy was the mature way that difficult types of relationships were handled.

I was initially drawn to this book by the gorgeous cover. I adore a cowboy romance book so thought this would be right up my street.
I feel in love with Hunter’s character straight away and love how he went for what he wanted straight away with Caroline.
I enjoyed the first half of the book and the slow burn was great for the first half. However I felt like the second half was incredibly slow with very little going on. I felt on occasions that the medical jargon was a little too descriptive and heavy and I got lost.

Thank you NetGalley and Avon Books UK for the arc of Back in the Saddle.

For me, I had to stop reading due to the topics that were brought up, they were kind of triggering for me and not something I had known would be in this novel. All of this to say, this book wasn’t bad at all and is something I think so many people will truly enjoy. The writing is great, the characters are wonderful, but I just couldn’t continue because I’m not sure it’s a story I can handle.

Thank you again for this opportunity.

3.75/5

dnf @/22% sorry, I really tried, I must’ve yeed all my haws.

Thank you NetGalley for providing me with the ARC, but I just couldn’t force myself to finish it.

The cover is gorgeous, and when I saw it, I was like “they must let me get my hands on it.” And they did, but then everything took the wrong turn.

First of all, I don’t know if it’s the common issue, but my epub had random breaks in text as if I got one of the drafts and the breaks were caused by comments/notes? idk they seemed like broken hyperlinks with timestamps and that made reading distracting and off-putting.

I couldn’t bring myself to care for the main characters. There’s nothing special about them. They met at a basic bar/pub, they had a basic conversation about whisky, and they shared a basic kiss that apparently shook their worlds but it did not transfer off the page and into my brain. There was nothing special about it, and I couldn’t bring myself to believe what the author was trying to tell me rather than show me.

Caroline as a character seemed very immature and so did the way she went about the kiss.

Hunter (terrible name imo but I digress) is some sort of (former) fuckboy ready to settle down with the right woman, but honestly, I didn’t believe in his Casanova past. Also would like him to change throughout the book as he gets to know Caroline more rather than be changed in an instant by the magical kiss.

The plot also moved very slowly. I read a little bit over 20%, and the part failed to deliver romance. Caroline and Hunter interacted and talked to and about like three thousand people. Was all that really necessary? To introduce and give a backstory all colleagues, exes, cousins, neighbours, and who-not. I don’t need to know everyone’s business, and it was really overwhelming. Especially when compared to the romance part which was barely existant in the first 1/5 of the book.

Back in the Saddle is a story riddled with complex layers that explore ones own mortality.
Back in the Saddle is a story riddled with complex layers that explore ones own mortality through grief, love, and loss.
2.5⭐️
The main characters, Caroline and Hunter, hit it off right away and readers are thrown into their lives, full force! Their intimacy and compatibility is instantaneous. Through their own stories of grief, complex histories with loss, and their individual family burdens, both Maggie and Hunter demonstrate what it means to be a human in a world that is built to hurt you. They each have to learn to be open, trust themselves as well as each other, and to put themselves first. I think what makes this story unique is that the characters' stories felt like therapy sessions on grief. Some moments were so heavy that I had to take a break from reading while I sped through other parts that were more light.

I found myself feeling so much pain for these characters. While I found connection with these characters for various reasons, and I enjoyed this plot, I found the characters' actions were often misaligned with what we read previously. It was very offhand. I found the plot struggled to be a driving force for the characters--resulting in a lack of dynamic growth.

🐴 Insta-love
🐴 SA flash back
🐴 Panic attacks
🐴 death of a parent
🐴 divorce
🐴 discussions of forced sex (past experience)
🐴 epilogue
🐴 dual POV
🐴 chronological timeline
🐴 enjoyable side characters

I appreciate the opportunity to read an e-galley from Avon Books. Thank you so much! I'm glad I got to experience this story, even if it wasn't my favorite.

Thank you to NetGalley, Avon, and Maggie Eckersley for the advanced copy of Back in the Saddle in exchange for an honest review.

Unfortunately, this just fell flat for me. I have read quite a few cowboy romances in my time and I just don't think Back in the Saddle is going to be one that sticks out for me. I found myself having to push through reading and not really being interested in the plot or the characters. I also found the ending to be oddly paced and very rushed.

Back In the Saddle seemed promising in its plot but fell short in execution and pacing. Parts of this story felt rushed while parts drug on. I wish that there was more even storytelling in terms of timing. Hunter and Caroline’s romance was cute, and the back stories of both characters made me like them more. Where Hunter and Caroline fell short for me was in their lack of communication. I hate a miscommunication trope and a third act break up. This story had both! I specifically hated when Caroline went to care for her ex-husband while cutting Hunter off. I understand that plots in romance stories need to move and have ups and downs, but this specific part of the story felt maybe unnecessary and frustrating. This book has promise, but certain plot points and timing led me to decreasing my original rating.

3.75⭐️

I really enjoyed this book and I’m grateful for the opportunities to read it as arc!! This story follows two main characters, Caroline and Hunter. Caroline splits with her husband Finn and they agree to divorce; their relationship just isn’t working. Caroline fleas from Glasgow to America and joins her aunt working at a hospital in the oncology department. on her first night she meets Hunter at a bar. Hunter is forthcoming in his attraction to Caroline. She knows that as she is only staying in America temporarily that she doesn’t want to commit to anything. Hunter‘s dad is diagnosed with cancer and Caroline meets Hunter again in the hospital where she finds out that Hunter’s dad is very ill. Hunter and Caroline end up going out on a few dates where their attraction develops. Hunter’s dad gets sicker and Caroline insists the relationship stay physical as she is going back to Glasgow.
Hunter’s dad passes away and he deals with the grief badly. We find out that Caroline lost her mum as a child and Hunter deals with his grief by pushing Caroline away. instead of connecting emotionally, they stay in their physical only relationship. Hunter eventually apologises to Caroline to being absent and they rekindle their relationship. Hunter works his way up to telling Caroline he loves her and that he wants to work things out for real when Caroline gets the call that Finn has a mass on his brain she rushes back to Glasgow and tells Hunter that she can’t be with him she eventually tells Hunter why and he understands that she needs to be there for Finn. Finns mass turns out to be less serious and operable. Caroline said to Hunter before she left to Glasgow for them to delete each other’s phone numbers and not contact each other again as their relationship was only meant to be temporary. A while later we flash forward to Caroline walking somebody’s dog then returning the dog to their owner, Tom. Tom says the Caroline he’s going to set her up on a blind date which we need to find out is Hunter as he has bought the ranch where she learnt to ride as a little girl. They slip back into their relationship and a year later they are together.
This book does centre a lot around grief so is worth being mindful of before reading. It deals with it graciously I really enjoyed the character building of this book but also felt like the ending of Hunter being reunited with Caroline was a little bit rushed and would’ve liked a longer epilogue or a longer happily ever after.

Thank you Net Galley for the ARC. I’ve been reading a couple of cowboy books lately and I was so excited to read this, but it just didn’t do it for me. The 3rd person POV made me extremely difficult to connect with the characters.

This author is new to me, but I will be keeping an eye out for anything else they publish. I loved the story and the characters. The pacing of the story was great and the characters were relatable.

It was a very tame, sweet romance - not a ton of spice and pretty light on the details in the open door scenes. A lot of death and mourning. How much can two people handle? I teared up a few times. The HEA made up for it but it was a long time coming and well deserved. So if you want a sweet love story with some emotional ups and downs, a HEA and a side order of country, you’ll like this one.

Thank you to Avon Books UK and NetGalley for the ARC of this book.

I had a hard time getting into this book. Whilst it was cute I found it hard to connect with the characters. The dialogue was simplistic and there more telling than showing.

I did find the main characters to be likeable and I appreciated the writers effort to discuss heavier topics such as cancer. Whilst I enjoyed the concept of the book it just didn’t hit the spot for me personally.

I wanted to love this book but unfortunately it just didn't hit the spot for me in the way that I hoped. It started off really strong and I was fully rooting for the characters but as the book went on I just got frustrated with them.

Back in the Saddle was very character-driven and in my opinion, was more about sickness and grief than it was about romance. That being said, I loved how Hunter and Caroline were both supporting each other through everything and helped each other grieve and heal. I loved seeing both of them evolve and grow through their hardships. I really enjoyed their small moments but felt like we didn't get enough to get attached to them as a couple. I also found myself very frustrated with the frequent lack of communication between both characters.  

The beginning was great, sparks were flying from their very first meeting!! I loved how they found their way back to each other after their first meet-cute. Although, the pacing was a bit off for me. Some parts felt rushed while others felt like they were dragging on for too long. 

Overall was a cute story and had a very interesting beginning, but for me just kinda fell flat with the romance. 

Thank you Netgalley for an ARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest opinion 🫶🏽

This was labeled as a cowboy romance for those who love Lyla Sage. & I have to say, the only thing that is in common with her novels is the cowboy theme. This story was not it for me but more so, the ARC digital file made this so difficult to read.

Hopefully the book format is a better option, I’m sure someone will enjoy it but it wasn’t me.

so good, so cute, literally could not put this book down!! captivated me and i ate it all up in a day.

Such a cute debut western romance. I can't wait to see what else Maggie is going to have to offer after reading this and really enjoyed it.

This was okay. I had a hard time getting into this book. It didn't really grab my attention. I think the characters were okay nothing really stand out and the plot was decent.

Back in the Saddle was an enjoyable cowboy romance.
Hunter and Caroline almost had a kind of instalove, but their connection was believable and I enjoyed their banter together. Caroline shined in this one, I love seeing a passionate, intelligent woman who hasn’t always been lucky in love finally get her happily ever after.
The writing style wasn’t my favorite and a lot of the conflicts in this book kind of frustrated me. Miscommunication isn’t a dealbreaker to me, I find that it sometimes makes the story feel more real because miscommunication is such a huge part in real life relationships. However, the miscommunication here wasn’t necessarily the most realistic and got on my nerves a bit, especially at the end.

First of all thank you for approving my request!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book! The authors writing style had me hooked throughout this book.

I didn't want it to end, a book I really couldn't put down.