Cutie small town romance with found family, brother's best friend/secret dating, and a really great cast of side characters! I loved Cece's relationship with all of her family members, but especially the banter she had with her mom. While there were a lot of spicy scenes that were fun to read, some of Cece's inner monologue during them had me cringing. I also usually find it swoony to read about men being overprotective of the women they care about (and vice versa) but some of the things Nash says in an effort to protect Cece were SO DRAMATIC. Maybe in a fantasy book a character can get away with saying they'll rip out someone's tongue, but it just didn't feel realistic for Nash to be saying it. Still a fun read and I'll definitely be continuing the series! Thanks Netgalley for the e-ARC!

Oh man give me ALL the cowboy brothers best friend romances!!!! I really liked this one, the character growth was amazing and I loved how they were obsessed with one another for some long period of time. It was more like oh maybe I more than like you. Defiantly cant wait to continue the series!

Paisley wrote quite possibly one of my top fave small town cowboy romances of the year, if not that I have read yet. These two are pure perfection. The town and setting is magical. The character development is magical and makes you swoon all over the place. I got butterflies right along with the characters. I just love this world and I can’t wait for more and just wish she had the whole series out already so I could binge it all.

Thank you to the publisher for an advanced reader copy of this book!

This book has everything I hope for when I want a small town romance. I thought Nash and Cece were great for each other and both showed growth throughout the book. I enjoyed their story and cant wait for more from Silver Pines!

A great easy romance read! Similar style to Lyla Sage or Elsie Silver. The MMC is a part-time cowboy and retired hockey player, and it checks the boxes for so many cute romance tropes! If you’re looking for something deep with a lot of character development, this isn’t it. If you’re looking for an easy read with great chemistry between the characters, a feel-good story, and open door spicy scenes, this one’s for you!

This was 💫iconic💫

•Small town romance
•Former NHL star turned cowboy
•Found family
•He’s 33, she’s 25
•Bold, sassy FMC
•Brother’s best friend
•Shania Twain dance parties

Nash and CeCe’s story was such a fun ride! I’m dying to read the rest of the series now.

4.5 stars! I loved this first book in the Silver Pines Ranch series. Incredibly spicy and Nash is the best dirty talker around. Can’t wait for the rest of the series.

Set in a small town in Kentucky, CeCe comes home after leaving her cheating fiancé and starts seeing her brother's best friend everywhere. Nash has retired from hockey and among other things is a part-time cowboy on her family's horse ranch.

What I liked:
- Sibling's best friend is a top tier trope for me, and this delivered! Nash has been best friends with her older brothers for years and was also close to her father.
- I loved the variety of small town characters that surrounded CeCe and Nash. I especially loved her grandpa and niece as well as co-worker Sonny. Hoping Ginger gets her own book!
- I also really loved how CeCe got to use her accounting degree. She gets to stand on her own there.
- Any scene where The Ex gets what he gets is awesome.

A few parts that weren't for me:
- Overall, I did feel the spice started to take over the plot.
- Also, it centered more on their work together at the hockey arena and ended up feeling more small town romance than cowboy. I would have liked a bit more time with the festival they had worked on together.
- Finally, the cover is so cute but does mask a bit how spicy this book is. I think the author does a great job setting the tone from page 1 though.

I'm excited to see what the author does next with the series!

✨Cowboy vibes
✨Southern small town
✨Brother’s best friend
✨Age gap
✨Grumpy/ sunshine
✨Grief/ trauma

Rating: 3.5/5 (rounded up)

Spice: Open door / very spicy!

Many thanks to NetGalley and the author for providing an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review!

4⭐️

𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐈 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤: Nash, Wade and Cole! Three amazing men and I can’t wait to read the next two… Nash is a NFL star still dealing with the horrific loss of his parents years ago. It makes him afraid to love anyone again. But when the younger sister of Wade and Cole returns home after a toxic relationship, he knows he cannot help but to fall for this girl.
Cece is adorable and a bit wild, and is done with chasing men. After a bad relationship ends, she wants to heal and be happy. Nash is everything she craves and the two start a ‘no strings attached’ relationship that quickly becomes a lot more. Yet this means working out those tough spots ( Nash’s fears of relationships and facing her brothers ) to see just how solid this love can be.

𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐢𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞: cowboys, a former NFL hockey player turned cowboy, girl squad/loyal besties, secret relationship, text message banter…

Very cute in concept, but I didn't jive with the writing style - it was pretty surface level and repetitive - and the MMC was too alpha for me.

Thank you to Ballantine and NetGalley for the ARC!

I loved every minute of my time with this book! The perfect small town, brothers bestfriend, and found family.


Thank you NetGalley for a complementary copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

I wanted to love this SO BADLY. And I just didn’t. Cowboy romance is my fave. I dove in so excited. But found it to be really slow at the beginning. The writing was just a little clunky and I couldn’t ever sink into the story. Thanks for letting me try.

If Elsie Silver’s Chestnut Spring series and Lucy Score’s Blue Moon series had a baby this is it. What more do you need with a part time cowboy who is also a retired NHL player and businessman. The list of tropes is excellent, brother’s best friend, age gap, workplace, forced proximity, and more. It was very hot and southern.

An absolutely beautiful first book to the Silver Pines series. Any lover of Elsie Silver will fall in love with this series and characters. Cecelia Rae is a character any female can feel for. The way her feelings, friendships, family are described hits close to home. Paisley Hope does an amazing job describing Nash Carter and his trauma. It was easy to understand how he felt and why he is the way he is. This book is a beautiful love story that I think any lover of small town romance, cowboy romance, hockey romance should read. I have a longer more in depth review on my Goodreads.

I couldn't put this book down! I really loved Cece, Nash, and the rest of the cast! Cece's support group was amazing and so much fun! The group texts, bar scenes/ Sangria Sundays had me laughing out loud!

Cece finding her independence and her firey personality was one of my favorite parts of the book! I am a sucker for the heroine picking herself up after something happens, in Cece's case, finding her fiancé cheating.

I loved how protective Nash was with Cece from day 1 and the little things he did to show he cared. I swooned every single time Nash left coffee on Cece's porch!

There was the perfect amount of drama and spice... I didn't want the story to end and I can't wait to read more!

Holding The Reins (e-arc)
Rating: 4/5
Spice: 4/5

Quote:

“We’re not a phase. We’re the exact opposite of a phase. You’re my always. I fucking love you more than I’ve ever loved anything in this life and I came here to make sure you knew it”

“If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a thousand times. You hold the reins, baby, I’m just here for the ride, and I’ll sure have fun trying, but…”

Plot:
After a messy, toxic relationship, Cecilia Ashby decides to break up her engagement and come back home to Kentucky to her family. Now retired hockey player, Nash Carter has become a hometown hotshot known to “never settle down” and an unofficial member of the Ashby family. Nash has always been there to help out the Ashby family and when Cecelia returns in need of a job, he helps. As they work closely, the bickering and tension leads them to a heated situationship with them both wanting different outcomes from their relationship.

Thoughts:
Okay, this!! It was such a fast pace book with really good spice! Personally, I love small town romances where your business becomes everyone’s business (but only in books lol). And I also love it when he’s a hockey player, so this was perfect for me! Also, the brother’s best friend trope will always have me in a chokehold!! But let’s move on from that haha Cece and Nash’s relationship, I WANT THAT. Nash had me weak in the knees with how you supported the Ashby family and Cece. The promises he made to Wyatt before he passed away made me cry and not once did Nash not do as he promised! Also, when Cece left to Seattle to pick up her things and Andrew pulled the stunt of making her friends (more like his friends) try to convince her to stay in Seattle and act like everything was normal between them…I was ready to fight but thank god Nash was there! Andrew, it’s on sight when I see you! Oh, and let me tell y’all, THE SPICE!! I ate it up lol Now the scene of them using bourbon will live rent free in my head (thanks!!). OH MY GOD, WHEN CECE SAID “CRAWL TO ME” — I SCREAMED. I was obsessed with this!! This book had more spice than I expected and I loved every bit of it! Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this book and can’t wait to read about Wade and Ivy 🫶

After leaving her longtime fiancee, CeCe Rae moves back home to Kentucky. She's coming out of a nasty relationship, isn't looking for love, and definitely doesn't count on falling for her brother's best friend, Nash. But fate has other plans.

This is a spicy small town romance about loss and finding love despite it. CeCe Rae is a firecracker of an FMC, and you can't help but relate to and love her. Nash is a swoon worthy hockey player/bartender/part-time cowboy. Their love story is adorable, and this was a quick, fun read. I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the Silver Pines Ranch Series.

YALLLLLL I think just found my new favorite cowboy romance!!

First off I’m so mad it took me so long to read this. Not because I wasn’t liking it, because I was loving every minute of it. So how dare my personal life get in the way of reading Nash & CeCe love story. Also I’ve been reading some meh arcs lately but thank god for Ms. Paisley Hope for writing one of my favorite romcoms of the year and getting me out of my arc reading slump.

I cannot say enough good things about this book. Nash & CeCe chemistry was off the charts. They had be giggling and kicking my feet over them. Also let’s not forget about the spice. Because Lordy, the spice scenes in this book are some of the best I’ve ever read.

Let’s also not forget CeCe’s family and friends they were also great side characters and I can’t wait for her brothers to get their own love stories.

Again I cannot stress this enough please read this. I haven’t read a good cowboy romance since Elise Silver. So if your a fan of her books then you will also love Paisley Hope. Big thank you NetGalley & Dell for providing me with an arc of this book!

Cece moves back to her hometown in Kentucky after finding out her fiancé cheated. She leaves the ring he gave her in the other girls panties he cheated with on the kitchen table. It’s petty and I loved it. Upon moving home Cece starts working for her brother’s best friend Nash. The two spark a romance as they work side by side. Age gap romance between Cece and Nash which I am always down for. I also love cowboys, I will always go for a cowboy romance.
I liked this book but feel it leaned too much into the southern tropes. Like Cece’s mother called Mama Jo’s who makes the best sweet tea and the bar with Jack Daniels bottle as light fixtures at the bar named Horse and Barrel, ect. Like we get it, we are in the south in cowboy country. Yee haw. It just felt very heavy handed. Also how Nash was a cowboy and a retired hockey player. I’m not saying men can have many interests but it seems like shoving tropes in tropes.

This book was absolutely amazing. Small town cowboy romances do it for me but then add in a hockey player. Yes please.