Get your sweet tea, take a set on the front porch swing things are about to get interesting between one hot cowboy and one sassy cowgirl.

Lillian Sorrow Island is a true spitfire, I enjoyed her so very much. Knowing what she wanted to achieve Lil set out to prove that a woman can participate in the Rodeo and be just as good as a man.

AJ Garza is a undefeated rodeo champion is a man who was set to retire, but when family need help he’d do anything to help. What AJ was not prepared for was spitfire cowgirl to catch him off guard.

What do you do when all hell breaks loose at the rodeo, sit back and watch the side show. The banter between AJ and Lil is priceless. I laughed so hard I couldn’t contain myself. The chemistry sparks between them, but they both have a goal in mind. For Lil it’s becoming the first PBRA female champion and save her family’s ranch. For AJ is too win, and put the prize money into the organization that saved him, The Chill Boys.

The Wildest Ride fits as the title for AJ and Lillian’s story, full of twists and a few surprises along the way Author Marcella Bell captured the true heart of the rodeo. I am looking forward to the possibility of having more books in the A Closed Circuit Series.

Rated 4 Stilettos by Deb!

I've been hanging onto this one for a while, because it's our July 2022 pick for A Bookish Affair -- and what a wild ride it was! AJ is a great hero, but Lil is the one who will truly steal your heart. Her phenomenal rodeo talent, take-no-s*** attitude, and her love for her family (including her departed granddad, who emerges as a real, vibrant personality despite having passed away before the book begins) are just wonderful. She begins the book as an amazing person and it's a treat to watch her grow. Plus -- I've never wanted to attend a rodeo before, and now I'm kind of curious!

I'm really looking forward to our book club discussion and to the next book in the Closed Circuit series, and I'll be recommending this enthusiastically to friends and patrons. Many thanks for the opportunity to read and review!

The Wildest Ride is one of those books that I read the last page and said to myself, “I really loved this book.” That doesn’t happen as often as I’d like, but going on the rodeo circuit with handsome AJ Garza and the spunky underdog Lil Island was very enjoyable to read. I learned a lot about rodeo’s and the events that can be held, as well as just how much two people who are attracted to each other can take before they combust.

Lil’s grandfather had taken out a loan on their family ranch before he died, and now the bank has come a knocking on their door. They need to make a million dollars fast to pay the money back or lose everything. Grandma signs Lil up for a reality television-meets-rodeo-circuit, knowing that Lil had been one of the best at it in the circuit she’d done when she was younger. Lil won’t go down without a fight, so she packs everything up to see if she can make it to the top of the heap. She’s small, ruff and tumble, and knows how to not let people walk all over her–and she’s just what this modern version of the rodeo needs: a strong, empowered woman who can get the job done better than the men can.

AJ Garza is geriatric in rodeo terms as a thirty-six year old, but his slow slide into retirement is taking longer than anyone thought it would. His mentor runs a group where disadvantaged youth are taught rodeo skills, and this organization is now hurting for money. Since the old man won’t take money directly from AJ, the champion figures he can win the million dollars for them–and bow out of the rodeo for good afterward. He didn’t intend on encountering an intriguing woman, so intimidating and take charge that he knows he’ll have to bring his A-game to win. But he also didn’t intend to fall for her hard and fast, no matter how resistant they both are to a relationship.

I give The Wildest Ride a five out of five. I was all in with Lil right from the start. She’s smart, funny, tough, and very practical, and totally refreshing to read about. Lil’s grandmother is a firecracker and one of my favorites from this book. The romance between AJ and Lil is slow burning and the tension simmers right beneath the surface, but once it spilled over it was hot, hot, hot. The author has written characters and events that are part of her family’s history, and I really loved to see this type of diversity and tribute to ancestors brought about through the characters and situations. This blending of cultures and strong, unique characters left a lasting impression on me, and I will definitely check out more books in this series in the future. While I enjoyed the ending, I really wanted to see a little more from AJ and Lil… Hopefully in a future book we’ll see more of them.

A fabulous debut by an author to keep an eye on. The Wildest Ride takes up the story of Lil Sorrow and her efforts to save her family's ranch by winning the grand prize in a rodeo. To do that, she must beat the man she's had a crush on for years, the undefeated rodeo champ, AJ Garza

AJ has his own objectives - he needs this win so he can fund a youth program called CityBoyz, the same one that saved him when he, too, was young and lost. .

When these two meet, sparks fly immediately. The forced proximity ensures that they spend time, feeding their undeniable attraction until something has to give. Problem is, only one person can win this rodeo and get what they want.

I loved Lil Sorrow's character. Determined, competent, and ambitious, she sets out to excel in an area where few women compete. AJ was compelling and a fitting counterpoint to Lil's strength and heart. The diversity was excellent - the type of inclusion I love to see in a romance. This novel also has one of my favorite opening lines - a taste of the sharp writing that makes this story shine. I'm looking forward to the next installment in the series.

This ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you Netgalley and Harlequin-Romance for a copy in exchange for an honest review. This was my first Rodeo type novel and I would love to visit the genre again. If you enjoy slow burn romance, competitions and reality tv. Check out this Cowgirl/Cowboy novel!

‘The Wildest Ride’ by Marcella Bell was a beautifully written, heartwarming, slow-burn cowboy romance with wonderful characters and a great plot. This one stole my heart. Highly recommended!

A slow burn of a romance with strong characters which was nice to read. This was my first experience with the author which was fun and sweet with lotsa steam.

DNF @28%
2021; HQN/HarperCollins

As you know I am a fan of small town and/or cowboy romances but this one didn't spark any investment in the story or characters. I knew where it was going and didn't want to go with it.

***I received a complimentary copy of this ebook from the publisher through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.***

this was a great romance novel, I enjoyed going on the journey with these characters. It was a interesting concept and I enjoyed reading this.

This book had me sucked right in and held me in rapt attention for the whole book. I loved Lil Sorrow, the underdog, the fighter, the girl rodeo rider from the INFR. I loved how strong she was, yet deep down she was still just a woman who needed love, and yes sometimes to feel girly. She does sometimes feel inferior to other women, but made up for it in skill and determination. AJ was from a completely different world but no less determined. I really enjoyed how he wasn’t to proud to take hints from Lil on upcoming events in the circuit. How devoted he was to his cause that helped raise him to the man he is now.

While I enjoyed so much of this book some things were repetitive, and I felt like the ending was a little bit rushed. I couldn’t get enough of the settings and the people in the book. Since this is the first book I’m going to assume there will be more about the side characters that I got to meet in this book and that makes me a very happy reader. This is listed as a multicultural romance book and it is very much that, and if I read the authors bio correctly it’s set up from her family history.

Thank you to the author for a copy in lieu of my honest review. I loved it and can’t wait for the next book.

A reality rodeo show … love it!
Lilian and AJ are both participating to use the prize to save important parts of their lives.
The ending was too sudden for me.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an arc in exchange for my honest review.

I featured this book as a Book of the Day spotlight and included it in my weekly roundup and monthly post of new releases on my Black Fiction Addiction platforms.

When offered an arc about a hot rodeo guy, who am I to say no? So, I jumped right into Marcella's wildest Ride. And it is a cute story. Lilian is a fierce woman, toughened by the ranch life with her grandparents When her grandfather dies, he leaves her and her grandmother in a big dept. In order to save the ranch, her grandmother convinces her to enter a rodeo tournament. Enter AJ Garza, the recently retired undefeated rodeo champion. After a three year farewell tour, AJ decides to sign up for one last tournament to sponsor a youth center for troubled teens.

The tournament is six weeks long, consisting of multiple rodeo challenges, all broadcasted on real live TV. And although Lil and Ay are competitors on screen, they have a wicked chemistry off screen. maybe a bit too much and too instant to be very believable. Also the background story of Lil and her unknown father is a bit far fetched. However, the story easily flows and has some funny scenes. In all, an entertaining read. Three and a half stars from me and a special thank you to Netgalley for providing the arc.

Read this one if you're into:
Closed-circuit rodeo
Black/ Native American rep
Diverse family history
Second chances at love
Competition between love interests
Cowboy hero
Heroine has personal rule of dating no cowboys
Lots of push and pull

I really loved this one!

The Wildest Ride, Marcella Bell's latest romance novel, had a lot of potential. It's the first in a new cowboy/rodeo series - which sounded really interesting - and featured a kick ass heroine. Ultimately, this novel let me down. It was too long and too descriptive, and too many plot points didn't fit or didn't come together properly. I was really bummed.

Here's the book's description:
Rodeo meets reality-TV with this never-before-seen Closed Circuit competition, where an undefeated city-boy champion goes head to head with his world-class, kick-ass female rival. Romance ensues as they battle for the million-dollar prize.
At thirty-six, undefeated rodeo champion AJ Garza is supposed to be retiring, not chasing after an all new Closed Circuit rodeo tour with a million-dollar prize. But with the Houston rodeo program that saved him as a wayward teen on the brink of bankruptcy, he’ll enter. And he’ll win.

Enter, Lilian Sorrow Island. Raised by her grandparents on the family ranch in Muscogee, OK, Lil is more a cowboy than city-boy AJ will ever be. It shows. She’s not about to let him steal the prize that’ll save her ranch, even if he is breathtakingly magnificent, in pretty much every way going.
The world watches on as reality-TV meets rodeo in a competition like no other. In front of the cameras they’re each other’s biggest rivals. Off screen, it’s about to get a whole lot more complicated…

I think I'll start with how looong this novel was. Goodreads tells me it was 400 pages. And it felt it. No romance novel needs to be that long. And to make matters worse, so much of it was because of overly descriptive nonsense. I'm not going to quote any of it because I read an advanced copy and don't have a finished copy to compare it to but also because there were so many instances of just...way too much. And it was awfully repetitive. Lil's eyes were described way, way too often (so was her hair) and if I had to hear about the size discrepancy between the pair one more time (she's so tiny, how is she a cowgirl. He's so tall and broad and massive and swoony), I may have thrown my ereader out the window.

And even with the incredible length of this book, so many things were left unfinished. There was no real drama in the reality show because they set up the top three who would battle until the end right off the top. And the third place cowboy was a total dick but it felt like there was supposed to be more to him but there wasn't. If he ends up being the hero in an upcoming novel, I would be so pissed. He faced no real consequences for his actions and there was a mention of potential sabotage that led nowhere.

Lil is very cautious about who she dates because her mother was a "wild woman" who got pregnant by a cowboy on the rodeo circuit who rode out of town and she never told her family who Lil's father was. She died from an overdose and Lil's grandparents raised her themselves. I can understand being wary about relationships. But she throws all caution to the wind and makes out with AJ in the world's most unexpected first kiss and then they end up sleeping together but, surprise, she was a virgin and this was just not a discussion that was had. At all. Ever. AJ brings it up once he realizes what Lil meant with a throwaway comment (which I don't understand how he put two and two together, to be honest) but they never discuss it. Am I old fashioned in my old age of 34 and feel like perhaps that's a thing you should mention to your partner? Or does it even matter? Also, a condom is brought out the first time they almost sleep together and I am all for these scenes in romances because it's actually less sexy for the couple to fall into bed without having discussed birth control. But I didn't notice a mention of protection in the following sex scenes. Does this matter? No, not really. But my annoyed self clocked it and it did not help my feelings.

Speaking of Lil's unknown father...and maybe this is a spoiler but I'll still try to be vague...she does find out who he is near the end of the book. And it was so ridiculous I would have yelled at the book had I not wanted to disturb my household (the boyfriend was watching TV and the rabbit was lounging...it would have been rude to scream "COME ON" and toss my ereader across the room).

So. Yeah. I was not a fan of The Wildest Ride. I think it comes down to the way Marcella Bell wrote her novel. I also think her editors let her down. This story had potential for so many reasons but I'm hard-pressed to find anything I really did like about the book and I know I won't pick up the next book in the series. I hate not liking a book but, as I always say, not every book is for every reader and I can tell from early reviews that others really enjoyed this one.

About the Author
Marcella Bell was born and raised in the Pacific Northwest. She is a registered yoga teacher, an avid reader, a honeybee enthusiast, and a lover of travel, corvids, and karaoke. A wife, mother, and child of a multicultural household, Marcella is especially interested in writing novels that reflect her family history, as well as the people and places she’s known throughout her life.

Connect with the Author
Website * Facebook * Goodreads

Buy the Book
BookShop.org * Harlequin * Barnes & Noble
Amazon * Books-A-Million * Powell’s

*An egalley of this novel was provided by the publisher, Harlequin, in exchange for a review for the purpose of a blog tour. All opinions are honest and my own.*

Maisey Yates fans will be completely bowled over by Marcella Bell’s sparkling, sensuous and scintillating single title debut, The Wildest Ride.

Rodeo superstar AJ Garza should be thinking about hanging up his boots, but the undefeated champion finds himself chasing an all-new closed circuit rodeo tour in order to win a million dollars that will help reverse the ailing fortunes of the Houston rodeo program that had saved him as a teenager. AJ’s reputation and success speak for itself. He never loses and he is sure that he will walk away with the million dollar prize. AJ doesn’t think he will have any problem scooping his big win. But he hadn’t counted on determined Lilian Sorrow Island entering the competition with one goal in mind: winning that million dollars! And Lil is not about to let anyone stand in her way…

Raised on her grandparents’ ranch in Oklahoma, Lil thinks she is going to walk all over city boy AJ! Sure, he might have a winning streak which nobody has been able to break yet, but Lil is not about to let him steal her prize from under her. With her ranch’s future hanging in the balance, Lil will do whatever it takes to save it. Nothing and nobody is going to distract Lil from her quest to win the million dollars – not even her charismatic, handsome and sexy as sin competition AJ Garza!

Sparks soon begin to fly between the two of them and it soon becomes abundantly clear that the biggest challenge for AJ and Lil is not winning the million dollars, but keeping their eyes on the prize and not letting this unexpected chance at happiness slip through their fingers!

A fun contemporary romance that perfectly balances passion, heat and heart, Marcella Bell’s The Wildest Ride is a bold and daring read that sparkles with brilliant dialog, heart-warming moments and plenty of pathos and intensity to keep readers eagerly turning the pages.

AJ and Lil are two fantastic characters who are both determined, resilient and honorable and theirs is a love story that touches the heart and sizzles like a hot summer’s day.

Fun, emotional and heartfelt, western romance fans are going to thoroughly enjoy going along for the ride in Marcella Bell’s fabulous new novel, The Longest Ride.

First of all welcome to this blog tour, a little later at night than usual by my standard but I was sick for a while so sorry for the delay !

Disclaimer: I received an ARC and this in no way affects my thoughts on this book.

This is a hard book for me to talk about, it was such a slow starting book that it does not feel like a 4 star but neither does it feel like a 2 star or even a high 3 stars. It was not one of my favorite rodeo, cowboy romances that I have read. The ending was a 2 stars, the rest a high 3.5 stars, 3 stars even. Why end a book with so much stress for the future still left, I understand this is the first book in a new series/companion novel collection, however I wanted a more definitive happiness to really feel like their ARC was over and see them as side characters in future books.

From the raging reviews I saw myself loving it and the synopsis made it sound right up my alley, unfortunately it was meh, I kept waiting for more to happen for the book to get deeper into things and really make me HOOKED as a guilty pleasure read does. All it did was really make me crave things that did not happen. The pacing was off to me and while it contained many nice scenes with our MCs it was just not as engaging as I hoped. I imagined tension and a strong FL, she was more so inconsistent to me, super strong or really weak, never an in between. A lot of reveals in the story had very little preamble to them, they came as quick as they left and the reveal was never satisfying to me. (very low angst if you enjoy it that way this might be for you though do not expect a super well wrapped ending)

Overall an unsatisfactory read at least to me.

3/5 stars Bookarina

The Wildest Ride by Marcella Bell is the first book in the Closed Circuit series. The world of rodeo fascinated me, so picking up this book was a no-brainer. Although not a fan of reality television series, the premise intrigued me and I slipped into the world and soon found myself on a wild ride.

[book-info]

This installment introduces Lillian Sorrow Island aka Lil Sorrow, and A J Garza. Lil manages the family ranch. A job she takes seriously to the point of having no social life. So learning her grandfather had taken out a reverse mortgage before he died, placing the ranch in jeopardy devastated her. To save the ranch, she enters the new PBRA Close Circuit reality television rodeo. She is determined to win the $1million dollar cash prize and prove that women have can be professional bull riders. However, there is a tiny issue: she will compete with the PBRA’s most decorated rodeo star, A J Garza.

A J retired from the rodeo scene and is looking for his next project. However, when he learns that the program that saved him as a teenager and fueled his passion for rodeo has lost its sponsor, the $1million dollar cash prize proved an attractive incentive to come out of retirement. Besides, with him being the best, this was a sure win, but he never counted on Lil Sorrow.

This was an entertaining read. The thing I enjoyed most about the story was the diversity of the characters. It was fun getting to know them. I also Like how the author highlighted the prejudices women faced on the circuit. Everyone automatically assumed Lil was a young man until the moment she got dolled up. Then out came the sexual innuendoes and many prejudices women faced being in a man’s world. However, Lil didn’t allow these incidences to distract her from her goal.

The interactions between AJ and Lil were entertaining. I enjoyed seeing their romance develop, sweet with a hint of passion. She may be his biggest competition, but he could not resist her magnetic pull. While reading, I wondered how it would all play out. Who would take home the prize and what impact this would have on their relationship?

With the story set in the world of rodeo, the reader got an intriguing view into the workings of the circuit and the potential danger contestants faced. The twist near the end took everyone by surprise, the reader included.

Conclusion/Recommendation

To conclude, The Wildest Ride was a delightful mix of diverse characters and the workings of the rodeo. For fans of cowboy romance, The Wildest Ride would make a great addition to summer reading list.

Losing her grandfather was difficult enough but finding out that the family ranch was financed and could be taken as well was more than Lilian and her grandmother could bear. By competing in a reality show that focuses on the rodeo it will allow her to realize two dreams which is showcasing her bull riding skills and saving the ranch that has been her only home.

AJ has performed on the rodeo circuit for years, but his career is coming to an end. His reasons for competing in the reality show are twofold as it will all him to help the man and the organization that was instrumental in his life and allow him to compete one last time.

Both Lilian and AJ are very talented and determined to win the prize however they might just find out that the biggest prize might be each other. The characters are strong, the plot intriguing and the romance heartwarming as even though their personalities are very different you can feel the chemistry and connection between them

This is a Slow Moving Cowboy Romance, and this is the first book in the Closed Circuit series. In this book we follow AJ and Lilian who is part of the closed-circuit rodeo tour with a million-dollar prize. I really loved this book. I loved the rodeo parts, and I also really loved all the characters. The romance was slow to get started, but I really loved the romance in this book. I was kindly provided an e-copy of this book by the publisher (Harlequin) or author (Marcella Bell) via NetGalley, so I can give an honest review about how I feel about this book. I want to send a big Thank you to them for that.