This book is advertised for "Fans of Lyla Sage, Paisley Hope and Elsie Silver" but there was not alot of connection for me as someone who is a huge fan of all those authors. I actually kept forgetting that the MMC was a cowboy at all because it wasn't a big part of the story (and it should have been!).

Overall the book was good. There was definitely some issues with pacing and editing that need to be worked through but if you asked me if I enjoyed the book I wouldn't say no. The beginning was really strong! I loved the way we were introduced to the characters and their chance meeting that happened afterwards. I love the premise of a doctor and cowboy (not a patient but close) and how their relationship developed over time. I will say though, the pacing of this book is VERY slow. I found myself not picking up very often or only reading a few pages at a time because I wasn’t hooked.

I really enjoyed the depth we got to see with both characters. There was a lot of cute moments of them sharing their stories with eachother and connecting on a deeper level. I liked that both characters didn't really have their footing in the world, despite their education/careers. The FMC Caroline was fun and I love a smart female lead. She is going through a mutual divorce and trying to figure out the direction her life needs to go in. I did not really love the constant bringing up of Caroline being married. Finn (soon to be ex) and her MUTUALLY agreed to separate but her constant guilt over having feelings for the MMC got to be really annoying and took me out of the romantic element of the story. The MMC Hunter was very family oriented and came across as the boy next door. I felt bad for his experience with his father and the responsibilities he had to take on pretty much unwillingly to help out. Both characters had ALOT of baggage that we didn't really get to explore and I think more than anything they needed some therapy not sex. There was an ungodly amount of miscommunication/denial between the characters about their feelings / intentions it had me screaming at my kindle.

There was ALOT going on in the story. While the story focused a lot of attention on Caroline’s job and hunters new responsibilities with the ranch, there was so much side information that was just never really explored. There were so many really deep TW issues throughout the book that were briefly mentioned and kind of brushed over. We see cancer, parental death, grief, divorce, guilt over a death, anxiety/panic attacks, and sexual insecurity (honestly there is probably even more than that). I feel like this tried something a lot of new books do… needing to fit a ton of "tropes" into one storyline. There were times where I was like ANOTHER ONE? & found myself getting so distracted from the romance story.

My BIGGEST ISSUE with this book was that the medical language used in the sex scenes was atrocious. It took a fun steamy scene into a doctor appointment. The author is using terms like "labia major, clitoral hood, clitoris, vulva, vatginal opening, glans, buttock, walls of her vagina, and clavicle". WTF??? Upon further investigation into the author I saw that she is studying medicine and does medical writing. Maybe she should stick to the medical writing 😬

Honestly, the only reason I finished this book is because I don’t DNF ARCs. The ending was lackluster and part of me was hoping they wouldn't end up together.

This book was cute.

It started off a little hard fir me to read, but I’m not sure if it was be because the pdf formatting was a little messy.

But the story was cute and i enjoyed the characters.

I think to make this a 4 or 5 star book for me i would have enjoyed some more “action” or “dramatics” from the couple other than just the pushing eachother away


Thankyou so much to netgalley/the author/the publisher for giving me this Arc to read early :)

🤠 Back in the saddle - Maggie Eckersley 🤠

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
🌶️

Release date - 3rd July 2025.

Thank you to @netgalley for the ARC of this cowboy romance….. I absolutely loved it!

Blurb ✍🏻 - Caroline swears she’s done with love. Fleeing her Scottish homeland with a broken heart for fresh start in Oklahoma is supposed to be smooth riding – until a whisky-soaked night at a local bar leads to a smouldering kiss with a devastatingly handsome cowboy. Hunter’s charm stirs something wild in her, awakening desires she thought she’d buried for good after her divorce.

Hunter has no time for distractions. With his family’s ranch on the line, he has enough on his plate. But then he meets Caroline, a sultry, sharp-tongued, whip-smart doctor. Their chemistry is electric, their connection undeniable – and that kiss? Unforgettable.

As their worlds collide, Caroline and Hunter find themselves drawn together in a whirlwind of passion and longing. But both are tied to the past and neither is ready to let go.

My thoughts 💭- I absolutely loved this one, I love a cowboy small town romance anyway and this one didn’t disappoint. I’d definitely check out some trigger warnings (such as cancer) before reading. I absolutely loved Caroline, she’s such a girl next door type of character who just feels somewhat lost in the world and done with love. Hunter was a little forward for me and I’d of preferred less of a slow burn but I do think it made for good reading 😂

So my cowboy romance/ small town romance girlies this is for you!

#netgalley #netgalleyreviewer #bookreviewers #bookreviewersofinstagram #arc #arcreader #backinthesaddle #smalltownromance #cowboyromance

A cowboy and divorced doctor get together in this cute small-town romance. Slow burn, emotional, and excellent chemistry.

Positives
This cover is so cute, I love it! It really was a cute romance, and very believably written.

Criticism
The pacing was a little too slow, and it was hard at times to stick with reading

Idk… it wasn’t for me. I wasn’t interested in the characters, romance, or story, and this book was way heavier than I was expecting.

***Trigger Warning: Cancer***

I thought this book was okay. A little predictable and also I felt like the book was way too long. I got bored and I was just wanting it to end. I didn’t hate it, but I just needed to be shorter.

This was a fun and at times emotional read! This centers around a divorced doctor and a cowboy set in small town Oklahoma. The pacing in this book felt a bit off at times, and there was a lot of miscommunication between our two main characters. However if those things don’t bother you much it really was a fun little small town/cowboy romance read that definitely hit me in my feels at some points! 3 stars!

A really good cowboy romance. Very strong ‘fated to be together’ vibes and some important and sensitive topics explored. The only real negatives for me were that the tempo wasn’t super easy to follow and Caroline’s character felt a little immature for her age

The slow burn, the tension, the fate that they kept running into each other and that ending?! LOVED this book so much - what’s not to love about a cowboy romance really? This one was really well-written and kept me hooked throughout, loved that it touched on some more sensitive topics in a gentle way as well.
Thank you to the author and publishers for letting me read this one pre-release!

Thank you to Netgalley for this ARC.

This follows Caroline, who is rediscovering herself after her divorce. And Hunter, an ex-rodeo star who has had to take over his family ranch as his Father is sick.

Hunter and Caroline meet by chance in an Irish pub, on her first night in Okhalama. And Hunter can't get her off his mind, but Caroline doesn't give him her number.

Then fate keeps pushing them together and they keep bumping into each other , in their own worlds.

I really enjoy this story but did have a lot of serious themes in the story.

Oh I ate this one up!

This book was so good, I had the time of my life reading it! This was such a sweet and emotional cowboy romance that I just couldn't put down! The characters and the plot were so cute and wholesome, I loved every second of it!

Thank you NetGalley for an eARC!

This book had a lot of potential! I was into the cowboy/doctor trope, and I flew through the story, so it definitely held my attention.

That said, a few things didn’t quite work for me. Caroline, the FMC (a doctor), came across as very immature for someone in her 30s. Her reactions to things like being kissed or opening up emotionally felt more like a teenager’s than an adult’s. She just felt really childish at times, and it made it hard to fully connect with her. Her inability to properly communicate was especially frustrating. The conflicts between her and Hunter (at the end) were so so avoidable and it came down to properly communicating.

The book also leans heavily into grief. Death and loss are constant themes. While some of the emotional moments were well written and did land, it eventually felt a bit overwhelming.

Add in the typos, timeline jumps, formatting issues (scene changes with no warning, odd paragraph spacing), and small inconsistencies (like someone drinking tea, then coffee, then tea again?) and I found myself being pulled out of the story pretty often.

That said though, the plot is strong, and I did want to see how everything played out so I did enjoy it. With tighter editing and more grounded character work, this could be a really solid read. I genuinely hope these things are smoothed out in the final version!

3/5!

Honestly, Im a little bit disappointed. While the character and their issues were somewhat entertaining enough to keep me reading the book as a whole fell flat. I found It quite hard to immerse my self and connect to the characters. The cover is cute though.

Thank you NetGalley and Avon Books UK for the arc!

Rating: 2.75⭐️

I just realized this is like my fourth cowboy romance in the last four week. I don’t think this was my favorite of the ones I’ve read recently but it was fine.

There is an instant attraction and connection between Hunter and Caroline. They were cute together. I adored the banter between them right off the bat. They had great chemistry and I loved how they helped each other grieve, heal and move on from their past trauma.

I did have some issues with the book though. I found that the writing could sometimes be too simplistic and straightforward for my tastes. It just didn’t flow naturally and was kind of robotic at times. There was a lot of awkward dialogue, especially in the last third of the book as well.

While I liked Hunter and Caroline together, they had a tendency to be very frustrating leads. The amount of miscommunication between them really killed this book for me quite honestly. Their reunion at the end after the third act breakup was so lacklustre too. I needed more.

But all in all, this was like a comfort read for me and I enjoyed it. I think it helped that I read it over several days instead of in one sitting.

Thank you to NetGalley for sending me an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Thanks to Avon UK and NetGalley for this advanced copy. Back in the Saddle is a heartfelt "cowboy" romance. Knowing Maggie personally, I know how hard she's worked on this book and the amount of heart and soul she put into it. Caroline and Hunter are flawed, but beautiful, and just right for each other.

Back in the Saddle by Maggie Eckersley is an opposites attract, cowboy romance. Caroline is a physician from Scotland, currently working in Oklahoma at a Cancer Research Center on a one year assignment while coming to terms with her pending divorce. Hunter is back home working at his families ranch while due to his fathers terminal illness. Hunter and Caroline meet at a bar and they have instant chemistry leading to an amazing kiss, however she fleas. Thankfully, fate steps in multiple times to bring them back together. There were a lot of really promising parts of this book that I really loved, such as the chemistry between characters, their communication (most of the time at least), and the oh so sweet setting. I found the timing and pacing difficult at times, where I struggled to understand how things were fitting together or important to the story. I really wanted to love it, but it was just an okay read.

Thank you to NetGalley, Avon Books UK, and the author for this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

This is just as good as Elsie silver I loved it it's going to be upcoming for sure, I loved everything about this book quick from the beginning and enough detail for characters and plot

I really enjoyed this one! It’s got that small-town, slow-burn cowboy romance vibe that just hits sometimes, and I was hooked from the start. Caroline is such a solid main character—she’s smart, capable, and so easy to root for. I liked how mature she was, but also how vulnerable she felt after everything she’d been through. And Hunter? Ugh. Broody cowboy with a soft centre? Say less. I was obviously obsessed.

The chemistry between them was great—it built slowly but with just the right amount of tension (and spice, of course), and when it finally delivers, it’s so satisfying. I also loved how much heart this had. It wasn’t just surface-level romance—it touched on grief, healing, starting over… and it did it well without ever feeling too heavy.

It gave me big Elsie Silver / Lyla Sage energy, so if you’re into that kind of vibe, definitely pick this up. Warm, a little angsty, but ultimately really hopeful and romantic. Loved it!

Back in the Saddle has a solid premise—a British doctor starting over in small-town Oklahoma and falling for a broody cowboy—but it didn’t quite land for me. While I appreciated the emotional themes like grief, divorce, and second chances, the story often felt surface-level, trying to juggle too much without diving deep enough. Caroline and Hunter had potential, but I struggled to fully connect with them or their romance. Some inconsistencies and awkward editing pulled me out of the story, and the more clinical language in steamy scenes didn’t help with the chemistry. That said, the setting was atmospheric, and there were sweet, heartfelt moments.

Being a huge fan of cowboy romances, especially those from Lyla Sage, Paisley Hope and Elsie Silver, I was really excited to dive into this book. Unfortunately, this didn’t measure up to my expectations. The writing was stilted and it was hard for me to get into the storyline. Also, Back in the Saddle tackles a lot of heavy topics that I was not expecting and not looking for in a cowboy romcom. Overall, this is a quick palate cleanser read but this isn’t a story I can see myself wanting to reread.

Thank you to NetGalley and Avon Books UK for the ARC!