Hold the Reins by Paisley Hope is a cowboy romance set in Kentucky. Cece has returned to town after breaking off her engagement with a subpar human (to put it mildly). Nash is her brothers’ best friend and a former NHL player, who happens to a part-time cowboy at her family’s ranch. This book kept me engaged from cover to cover. The banter was incredible, the spice was 3 flames and the side characters were compelling! I cannot wait for the next book in the series!!

Tropes: Brothers’ Best Friend, Age Gap, Cowboys, Small Town, Alpha Male, Secret Relationship, Pining

CW: Death of Parent, Abuse (not between MCs).

5 stars!

Cecilia “Cece” Rae Ashby takes the reins of her like back from the beginning of the story. Starting us back in her home town, Laurel Creek, Kentucky, after leaving her good for nothing fiancé. This dual POV narrative jumps us around between CeCe, and Nash Carter. Nash Carter is a recently retired NFL player as well as a part-time cowboy. *cough* Save a horse, ride a cowboy. *cough*. Nash is the unofficial fourth child of the Ashby family aka older brother’s best friend trope coming in hot!!!! Outside of the trauma of dealing with an emotionally manipulative and cheating ex partners, the book also dives into the grief of losing family. Not everything takes a serious toll, such as casual Monday which is absolutely essential and probably one of my favorite parts of this book. Nash can be VERY overprotective and I ate up every single moment of it. I also feel like it’s extremely important to include that the country song references chosen are phenomenal.




Pub Date October 22 2024

ARC provided by Random House Publishing Group- Ballantine and NetGalley. Thank you.

review posted to NetGalley & Goodreads

3.5 stars! I read this book in one sitting, and it was a great, quick read! It had me feeling all the things - giddy, sexy, and then crying into my kindle at times. Nash Carter is king, what a man! I loved that the book was dual POV and we got to see his vulnerability and character develop throughout. I love the whole dynamic within the family, and I hope the next books focus on the brothers! Overall, a fun little western romance!

Thank you to NetGalley and the author for the eARC in exchange for my honest review.

“We’re not a phase. We’re the exact opposite of a phase. We’re always."
•

Cecilia “CeCe” Rae Ashby is fresh off a break-up with her cheating fiancé when she moves back to her family’s Kentucky ranch. In need of a job, she interviews for one that seems perfect for her. Little does she know, the boss would be her brother’s best friend, Nash Carter. It’s been a lot of years since she and the Stanley Cup-winning hockey legend and notorious playboy have been in the same place. but she’s not a little girl anymore, and he looks extra good in those Wranglers when he’s working as a part-time cowboy and bartender.

they resist for as long as they can, although it’s not long before Nash and CeCe cross the line they never thought they would. what begins as “just one night” quickly morphs into something more serious. but Nash has never wanted anything serious before, especially because his biggest fear is losing someone he loves; and Cece has no plans to fall for a womanizer that might break her heart. so what are they supposed to do when they realize it might already be too late to turn back?

Let me just say that Holding the Reins is hot, y’all. Nash and CeCe are irresistible, and so is the whole cast of characters. I’m officially in love with Silver Pines Ranch, and I can’t wait to see what’s next!
•

this and that:
♡ boy with baggage
♡ brother’s best friend
♡ dive bars
♡ family ranches
♡ found family
♡ fishing
♡ friends-with-benefits
♡ he chases her
♡ hockey
♡ hurt x comfort
♡ open door spice 🥵
♡ reformed playboy
♡ sangria sundays
♡ small town
♡ secret relationship
♡ she wears his jersey
♡ when he washes her hair
•

triggers:
☞ cancer
☞ car accident (descriptive)
☞ death of loved ones
☞ grief
☞ infidelity

bless my boots, this cowboy debut blew me awayyy! Paisley has a gift for storytelling! this one has quite literally everything we girlies love about a cowboy romance…small town big family feels, swoony southern boys, feisty females, and spicy spice! Nash-part cowboy, hockey player, boss man, brother’s BFF-is top tier book husband material. And CeCe is every southern man’s wet dream and every southern girls ideal bestie! loved it so much!

A cute small town romance with a hockey man?? Ill always gobble up.. this? Ugh I absolutely LOVED. I cant wait for the rest of the books in this series. Nash absolute PERFECTION. Cece ALSO PERFECTION. She was that girl you rooted for. She realized she didn’t deserve this crap and she GOT OUT and she stayed out! I absolutely loved she was that strong female character and Nash was nothing but supportive and that alpha take care of man ughhh drool. These two were perfect fiery and passionate when it came to each other. I LOVEDDDDDDDDDD that he FOLLOWED HER. NASH you MANNN !

This series is set up so perfect for the brothers to have some great stories next so I cant wait for books 2 & 3!!

5 stars!
This book is everything to me it's absolutely perfect no notes.

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

I loved this one so much! Holding the Reins by Paisley Hope was such a fun read! Definitely more 🌶️ than I was expecting 🤭 but the relationship between Cece and Nash was so good, and I was literally laughing out loud from the opening scene on page one! 😂 I’ll be reading book two when it comes out, for sure!

***Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the ebook.
Spice: 🌶️🌶️


This one didn't grab me right away. The first time Cece and Nash get together, my first reaction: the spice, the banter "absolutely generic and unoriginal." As they develop a relationship, I think the banter improves as well as the pacing. I thought it was interesting that the more he cared for the sweeter and more heartfelt the spicy scenes came across.

I'd like to stick around for Wade and Ivy (Book 2) and this first read was sweet overall, and is a good starting point for the series.

A little bit cowboy romance, a little bit small town, a little bit workplace romance, brother’s best friend, grappling with grief, starting over after a breakup, and much more.

It’s got found family and spice, and ugh, I loved it SO much!

A fun read, the story of Cece and Nash. He is a friend of her family, but will be become more to her now she is back.in town? I liked how it was told from both points of view and look forward to the next books in this series.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

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.