Live, Ranch, Love by Emma Lucy is the kind of comfort read that feels like coming home. Set against the backdrop of a rustic ranch, this story blends emotional healing, second chances, and slow-burn romance in all the right ways.

The heroine is both strong and vulnerable, making her journey toward self-discovery and love feel real and relatable. The chemistry between the leads is genuine and built with patience—no insta-love here. The small-town community plays a lovely supporting role, adding richness to the setting and side characters.

The only reason I’m holding back one star is due to some pacing issues midway through the book—it lags slightly in spots where I was hoping for more forward momentum. That said, the emotional payoff is worth it.

If you enjoy spicy romance with emotional depth, horses, and characters who feel like friends by the end, you’ll want to add this to your TBR. Emma Lucy delivers a story full of hope, healing, and heart.

I had to DNF this one. I couldn't get past the narration style. Like many others have stated, this would have been better as a duet, and not a dual. I also got a bit bored and felt like the characters were trying too hard to... I dont even know. I may like it better in print, but this audiobook was NOT for me.

Live Ranch Love

I want to start off by thanking Netgally, Harper Audio, and Emma Lucy for the opportunity to get my hands on an ALC of this absolutely lovely book.

This book had me busting up laughing and saying “aweee” so many times that I lost count. I absolutely loved that there wasn’t really any miscommunication tropes thrown in there and that the characters modeled what a healthy relationship should be, even while dealing with self doubt and anxiety.

I absolutely adored Rory and Wyatt’s story and the narrators did such an amazing job portraying them. Bonus points for the British accent since the character is supposed to be British! And that bar scene? Iconic. I really enjoyed that both characters had healthy coping mechanisms to deal with their stress, Rory with her meditation/Yoga and Wyatt with his riding.

I loved the ending/epilogue, working the title of the book in there was such a beautiful touch to this story. I also really liked that the author did touch a little bit on ranch life and the other ranch workers as well while it was transitioning to a retreat as well. The spice was great as well 💯

Overall rating- 4✨
Spice- 3.5🌶️
Narrators-4.5✨

The premise of this book was what drew me to it, but for me it fell short. I got bored about 41% in, and by around 70% I DNF'd. I didn't feel the pull between the characters. It felt like they didn't have any chemistry.

The narrators were fine, it was hard for me to switch back and forth between the accents honestly.

This is book that slowly peels away the layers of characters to show who they are and how they end together. Aurora from the outside is a lifestyle influencer who helps people through words, vision boards, and yoga. Wyatt is a grumpy cowboy who says he is not a cowboy trying to keep the ranch going and help his family. The banter and chemistry is right on the edge to the point you want more. My favorite part is when Wyatt says something to Rory that you just know he is being naughty and they haven't even kissed yet.
I love when the author not only develops the main characters, but the side characters! Emma did a great job of side character development to really bring the book to life. I'm always down to continue the series when they side characters shine in the first book.

I received this as audiobook ARC, the narrators did a good job of taking the role as Wyatt and Aurora. If you are looking for an easy sweet and little spicy book to listen to I would recommend this.

Tropes:
Grumpy-Sunshine
Small Town
Cowboy
Enemies to Lovers
Spice 2.5/5

Was this book my absolute favorite? No
But it was a cute fast fun read.
I’ll definitely recommend to friends who are looking for an easy read that involves cowboys.

I do feel like it was forced grumpy sunshine trope, though.
I had a good time listening to it however.

I was able to listen this as an audio. This had me laughing so much and pinky almost made me die this had me waiting to hear the next word that would come out of the narrators. The is a duel narrated and our FMC is an English girl that inherited the ranch from her great aunt and is looking for new start. Our MMC is the ranch hand that runs the place and doesn’t want some chick from across the pond to come and sell the place out from under him.
This is a grumpy sunshine romance with forced proximity

The book is available on Kindle Unlimited now, with the audiobook releasing later this year. I had the chance to review the audiobook early, but I wasn’t the biggest fan of the narration—it was a bit hard to listen to at times.

The story follows a London wellness influencer who unexpectedly inherits a ranch. She butts heads with the rugged rancher, and their personalities definitely clash. It's a fun opposites-attract setup, even if the audio didn't quite work for me.

✨ Thank you to NetGalley & the publishers HarperAudio Adult | HarperAudio for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review. I’m always so grateful! ✨

I listened to the audiobook version and I would recommend reading the book. In the audioversion, the main characters chemistry just does not come across. This book does have open door spicy scenes that I skipped over, but that's due to my personal preference and nothing to do with the book itself.   

The book has a good storyline.  I would say this book has more of a grumpy sunshine trope.  Rory's personality is zen-like and upbeat whereas Wyatt is just a grump. Rory and Wyatt both have trust issues so learning to trust each other doesn't come easy.

Rory inherits the Sunset Ranch from her aunt and intends to sell it thus putting Wyatt and all the ranch hands out of a job.  She comes up with the idea to make the ranch a wellness retreat so she won't have to sell it and Wyatt and everyone can keep their jobs. 

The book does have some funny scenes and I laughed out loud at times. The secondary characters are hysterical and I especially liked Cherry and Duke. Overall, this was a decent debut novel for this author. 

Thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for an ARC of this book.

I loved this book. The character growth was so important to me. RORY was awesome I love how positive she can be. Sometimes you just want a cozy book to just help you breathe. This one is it. It's so cute. I will be recommending this book to friends.

Are the enemies to lovers in the room with us? This type of writing unfortunately does not work for me. The entire book was the author telling us about their supposed chemistry instead of showing it. I did not find this believable at all. I listened to the audiobook of this and the narrators were not doing the characters justice. I was expecting a cowboy romance and the male narrator sounded more like a west coast surfer bro instead of a cowboy. It kept taking me out of the story. This one unfortunately did not work for me at all but if you are looking for a semi steamy romance then this might be your cup of tea.

Thank you NetGalley and Harper Audio for the ARC/ALC in exchange for my honest review.

I liked this story
Grumpy x sunshine is usually my jam
This forced proximity felt a bit too forced; although it may have been the audio - which really should have been duet because the accents destroyed it in dual.
Thank you to NetGalley and the Publishers for the opportunity to listen to a review this ALC

While this one sounded really cute and promising, as I love a good cowboy romance, unfortunately I could not get past 6%. The audio for this one was very tough to get into as the voices were not at all complementing each other, or how I envisioned the characters. Each narrator also doing the opposite was a bit cringey. The FMC was British, which was fine, but once she had to do the male American voice, it was not very good…

I would have much preferred to have had the ebook version of this.

This was okay, but unfortunately the dual narrators were unevenly matched, the male narrator was good but the femal narrator lost me when she did the male voice because the accent was just exaggerated and not at all what a colorado rancher would sound like, it took me out.

I ate this book right up! Charlie Albers and Alexander Cendese absolutely killed their roles here. I only wish it would have been done as a duet. That's a personal preference though, I think it would have added a nice layer.

I loved Aurora's bright personality that overflowed out of her. Wellness influencer who fled to Colorado to look after her late great aunt's ranch. She think's fixing the place up will help heel some things and help her find her footing again.

Enter our man Wyatt who adores the ranch like it's his own and is struggling with the thought of it changing. Wyatt is a broody guy who is happy with things just as they are.

While I did love this story and had a great time I did find some slow bits. I wish we had more conversations, a bit more banter. I loved their back and forth and feel like that came to a close really quickly. Otherwise, highly recommended small town ranch hand romance :)

Thank you NetGalley and Harper Audio for this ALC! <3

3 🌟I was really excited for a cowboy romance but I’m sorry to say this one wasn’t exactly what I was looking for. I was going to dnf but decided to keep listening. I’m glad I did because it did get a little better. Maybe I would have enjoyed this a little better if I would have read it instead of listened to the story. The narration didn’t really resonate with me. The way the MMC said Princess reminded me of that meme where someone says Princess with a lisp. It was hard for me not to giggle every time I heard that. Also the FMC’s take on the MMC was super distracting because the MMC didn’t talk with an accent. I would read another book from this author because there were parts I enjoyed.

Tropes:
💖Western Romance
💖Forced Proximity
💖Enemies to Lovers
💖Small Town Romance

Thank you NetGalley and Harper Audio for this ALC in exchange for an honest review.

All the stars for Live, Ranch, Love! This audiobook was absolutely hilarious—start to finish—and the narrators did a fantastic job keeping the energy high and the laughs coming. I was literally laughing the entire time! My husband kept glancing over at me, wondering what was so funny. If you’re in a reading slump or just need a good mood boost, this story is the perfect pick-me-up. It’s laugh-out-loud funny in the best way.

That said, I do have a couple of notes. The female narrator, Charlie Albers, didn’t quite hit the “country accent” mark—it leaned more rural English than cowboy twang. And while I adore Alexander Cendese as Wyatt, I wish the narration had been done as a duet. Alex voicing Rory just didn’t quite land for me. His British accent was lovely, but hearing him voice a female character felt a bit awkward and cringy at first. Thankfully, as the story progressed, I was able to get past it and really enjoy the ride.

All in all, the book and the story itself are EXCELLENT. I absolutely adore Rory and Wyatt and cannot wait to dive into more of their story in book 2.

Book: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Audio: ⭐⭐⭐

Huge thanks to Emma Lucy and the Harper Audio team for the ALC of Live, Ranch, Love. I’m so grateful to have experienced this gem!

The storyline was cute and for the most part I had a great time! The spice was good & the relationships were endearing.

However… I truly would have enjoyed this audiobook if it was done in duet. It unfortunately was produced as duel narration and it did not work for me. Each narrator did a great job either their own characters dialogue, but when it came to narrating the other MC, it was… not ideal. The FMC and the female narrator have a British English accent and the MMC has a southern American accent. When the British narrator did the male country accent, it took me out of the scene every time. Same goes for either the male narrator did the FMC’s accent. It literally sounded like a posh 70 year old gran.

Like I said above, I really enjoyed the story and the conflict in the plot, but the narration took it down a whole star for me. I am super exited to see where this series goes and whose book is next. I cannot stress enough that the writing was good and the cast of characters were extremely likable (except for the couple that aren’t meant to be lol). I am in no way saying I didn’t like the book, I just didn’t like the narration.

I did not finish this. Would be open to reading the paper back, but the narrator did not align with the character.

I thought the narrators voice did not match for the male main character like many other seem to be saying. I think I am going to read this book on my own and chose not to listen to the audiobook version of this book.