I had some problems with the narrator on this book. The accent for our MMC just felt off and had me struggling to take the romance seriously

Thank you so much to the author, NetGalley and HarperAudio for the opportunity to listen to an Advanced Listener Copy of Live, Ranch, Love.
Aurora Jones is a recently single English Wellness influencer who is the sole beneficiary of her late aunt's Colorado ranch. Fully intending to sell the Ranch, Rory flies across the world to settle her aunt's estate and move on with her life. Only she can’t. She’s uninspired in her work and lonely. Standing in her way at the ranch is a sexy, grumpy rancher named Wyatt. Wyatt is also struggling in his personal life; his ex has moved on, and his father is unsupportive of Wyatt’s desire to be a rancher. Live, Ranch, Love follows Rory and Wyatt as they learn to work together, fall in love, and find purpose in their life's work.
Overall, I would give this a solid 3 stars. It’s not a deep read, and the conflict is relatively pretty surface-level. I wish the chemistry between the characters were a little bit richer. The narrators for the book did a great job with the material. Overall, it was an enjoyable listen, and I would recommend it to someone who is already a fan of cowboy romances and wants something quick and easy to listen to.

Thank you to NetGalley and all for the ALC copy of this to review. The review is entirely my own.

First off, I enjoyed the story and the characters, both main and side, for the most part. It was a fun story of a British wellness influencer who heads to her great aunt's ranch after catching her influencer boyfriend in a lip lock with another woman. She has inherited this ranch, so she plans to find her "spark" again and reset there before selling it and heading back home.

When she first meets Wyatt, our MMC, he is a grumpy rancher and not excited about her arrival. Things change throughout the book, but there are still bumps in the road, of course.

The characters were well-developed, and the side characters were enjoyable. I hope to see them again in future books.

This is a 3.5 rounded up, only because of the narration. It would have been higher with different narrators, in my opinion.

this is a perfect palate cleanser! very cliche, typical small town romance, but it was very easy to follow along with and the audiobook kept me entertained while i cleaned all day. gave me big chesnut springs vibes! it truly just felt like every single small town romance i’ve ever read (same plot, same tropes, etc.) and while i will ALWAYS eat that up, it’s a book that feels like it would get lost in my brain and i wouldn’t remember much about it after a few weeks.

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperAudio Adult for an arc of this audiobook in exchange for my honest review.

As an avid audiobook listener, a narrator can make or break a book and unfortunately both narrators broke this book for me. I was so excited because I’ve heard great things about this book and I love a cowboy romance. I specifically waited to read this because I wanted to listen to the audiobook was especially excited because this was a duet narration.

But the narrators just didn’t fit the characters for me. The female narrator sounded like a 60 year old English grannie rather than the 20-something fitness influencer, Rory. She attempted this weird southern drawl when reading Wyatt’s dialogue and it ended up sounding more like Sam Elliott attempting a posh accent. This was especially jarring because the male narrator did not do an accent for Wyatt and his variation of an English accent for Rory came off cartoonish and quite frankly was nails on a chalkboard for me.

I will have to go back and physically read this book because the narration just took me out of the story too much for me to maintain focus. If it were possible, I wish it would be re-recorded with different narrators. Unfortunately I don’t think that would happen, so maybe stick to physically reading this one.

Well, I was expecting a romance novel, and this just wasn't it. I would say 2.5 stars is my rating. I was not a fan at all. There was no chemistry between the characters, there was only lust. It was instigated early on that they would be into eachother due to remarks made at times, but there was no attraction besides sexual attraction. I forced myself to finish the book, I wanted to stop very early on and it was very hard to stay into the book. Also, when they had "Spicy" scenes, they seemed more like they were trying too hard to make things steamy that it lost its excitement to me. Personally, I would not recommend this book to people that I know.

I love a happily-ever-after, feel good book but this one just didn't do it for me. I listened to the audiobook and I'm not sure if the narrators' chemistry didn't vibe well or if it was the characters themselves. The story felt lacking.

Enemies to lovers cute cowboy romance. I enjoyed the MMC and FMC throughout the entire book. The narration was perfect and the story line kept me engaged. Thanks to NetGalley for the early audible arc.

This was a wonderful story of finding love and believing in yourself. Both main characters had to decide to love themselves before they could love each other and the space between them closed as they grew. It was so cute and fun as they stumbled through to understand one another.
As far as narrators go I had mixed feelings, I felt like the narrators fit the main characters well but both struggled with acting the parts of other characters (it was a little cringy). I felt like the pacing was a little slow but luckily you can keep increasing the speed lol.

Welcome to Willow Ridge Ranch our picture perfect setting for this spicy romance. Our FMC is a wellness influencer so this book is filled with positive thinking, vision boards and morning yoga. She believes butterflies are a special symbol to her that she’s on the right path. Somehow it all fits together with the rugged landscape and makes for a fun ride. I found the characters likable and was really rooting for our couple. A nice take on a classic story of big city girl in the country. Thank you to NetGalley and HarperAudio for this audiobook to review. All opinions are my own.

✨ALC REVIEW✨

4.5✨

This ended up being such a cute book! I really enjoyed the overall vibes and aesthetics of this story.

For a debut novel, this was great. It had a solid plot, solid characters, solid spice, and a fun romance.

I LOVED that our FMC, Rory, is English because you rarely ever get that in a cowboy romance. It was refreshing. She was refreshing, especially considering I'm not the biggest fans of the MCs being influencers in books because it can be a tad too cheesy for me. But she was written really well and I actually loved her storyline. Our grumpy MMC, Wyatt, became a softy real quick and I loved that he was willing to give in to Rory's desires because he's just a genuinely good guy who loved making her happy.

Although I wouldn't say this was an enemies to lovers, more like dislike to lovers, I did enjoy their tit for tat. I loved that Rory challenged Wyatt whenever she could and I loved that Wyatt dished it right back.

We also get a delicious slow burn and very yummy spicy scenes. Big fan of how both were written.

There is a 3rd act...miscommunication? But I love drama built in so I was like "ahhhh NO! Explain, QUICK!" the whole time while also getting all giddy because I love the reconciliation afterwards. Was it a tad predictable? Yeah...but who cares, I enjoyed it.

This was just an overall really easy book to listen to. I found myself continuously wanting to know what was going to happen and so I found myself constantly putting the headphones in to listen to it.

My only issue was:

For me, this was a case of an audio determining which way the book goes. I won't lie, it took me a minute to get to used to the narrators. Why? Well, mostly our MMC. For a character who's supposed to be grumpy, he sounded like a Californian bro who made everything sound super chill and glass half full which...isn't Wyatt's vibe. BUT getting to see Wyatt from our FMC POV, I was able to get a different perspective and ended up really liking him. I don't think the male narrator was bad in any way - he just didn't fit the role of Wyatt, for ME.

Due to this, I feel like it was hard to tell what kind of personality Wyatt really had. It was so hard to see the grumpy side of him and so was there character growth? Was he a softy? Did he give in to everything because he wanted to or because she told him to? Regardless, I still enjoyed him in the end.

At the end of the day, this was really cute and I will definitely be reading the next one!

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperAudio for the ALC!

So thankful for the alc from HarperAudio, but Live, Ranch, Love was not it. I ended up DNFing 20min in.

I had been sold on the grumpy rancher and the ‘influencer’ which I gave a pass because eye roll at the influencer bit. I had to DNF it. The narrators and the story didn’t do it for me. It was hard to get into.

If you’re looking for a good quick read consider Live, Ranch, Love! I went into this one completely blind! To be honest the cover is what drew my attention! I really enjoyed the characters in this one. When I learned that this was going to be a series I was excited because I enjoyed the side characters as much as I did the min characters! I listened to the audio of this one and I really think that enhanced the story! I felt that the narrators did a great job adding dimension to the characters! Way more than my mind could! If you like small town, enemies to lovers, cowboy, spicy romances make sure to check this one out!

Received an alc for a honest review.

I wanted to like this book, however with the narrators I did not finish this listen.

This book has everything I would want, grumpy ranch hand with a girl looking for her new start after a breakup. I feel if I was reading this in print I would like it, but the narrators ruined it for me.

The female with her very fake British accent, when she does his country accent it makes him sound like a grandpa not a late 20s/early 30s hot ranch hand. His voice sounded frat boy with no accent and then when he did female voices it was not it. I truly wanted to like the book.

I genuinely hate to do this, but I had to DNF at 30%. I'm not saying the book didn't have potential, but the exaggerated accent of the FMC made it impossible to finish.

You’ll love this book if you enjoy:

🐎 Cowboy romances
💘 Instalove
🌾 Small town vibes
❤️‍🔥 A sweet, cinnamon roll MMC
🎬 Hallmark-y cheese

This was super cute! I’m a big fan of instalove when it’s done well, and Wyatt was an absolute dream. He’s soft, swoony, and completely head over boots for Rory.

I listened to the audiobook, and while I still enjoyed it, I think I would’ve liked this even more as a physical read. Some of the narration didn’t totally work for me, but the story itself was still sweet and cozy.

It’s very Hallmark-y, but in a way that feels comforting. The romance is soft and warm, the pacing is easy, and the vibe is just feel good.

If you’re in the mood for something light and sweet with a cowboy twist, this is a book to check out.

“Sunsets are proof that no matter what, every day can end beautifully.”

For a debut novel, Emma Lucy knocked this one out of the park!

A big thank you to Harper Audio, NetGalley, and Emma Lucy for the Audiobook ARC! 💕

Had to DNF almost right away simply because the narrators were just awful. I loved the cover & it looked like a great read but I just couldn’t make it thru much longer

More Grumpy-Sunshine than Enemies-to-Lovers

Rory, is a sunny British wellness influencer who catches her boyfriend with another woman and seeks emotional healing and inspiration by running away to the Colorado Ranch her late Great Aunt has left to her. She intends to fix the ranch up and sell it, however the grumpy ranch caretaker, Wyatt, will do all he can to prevent her from selling his home and the ranch he has grown to love. Together, they agree to fix the ranch up and turn it into a wellness retreat instead of selling it. Meanwhile, Rory and Wyatt butt heads, annoy each other, but ultimately can't deny their attraction for one another.

I thought the storyline had a ton of potential, however the chemistry between Rory and Wyatt seemed a bit forced and I didn't completely buy into it. I would not necessarily categorize this as a slow-burn, rather closer to an insta-love given they were already hooking up about half-way through the book. I wish there was a bit more witty banter and character development, and it seemed like the storyline was lacking once they hooked up; between the first hook-up and the 3rd act conflict, it seemed to just be a ton of s*x with little else going on. (I almost fast-forwarded through the love scenes because it just became too much for me.)

The biggest drawback for me was the narration on the audiobook. Charlie Albers was OK with Rory's narration, but when she slid into the voice of Wyatt with his southern drawl, it was just too over-the-top and a bit "cringy." Alexander Cendese was a good narrator for Wyatt, however he also struggled (in my opinion) with the British accent and female voice when portraying Rory in Wyatt's chapters. This could have been avoided if it was recorded in duet narration. I struggled a great deal with being able to enjoy the story while listening to the narration.

Overall, I thought the story was pretty good, but I think I would have enjoyed it a LOT more had I read the book as opposed to listen to it. I am intrigued by the other characters in the book and I look forward to learning more about them in the upcoming installments of the series. I would recommend this book to someone who enjoys the spicier cowboy romances, but I would definitely advise them to read the book instead of listening to the audiobook.

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperAudio for granting me access to the ALC.

I was so excited for this book, and I wanted to preface that I will still be reading the paperback because I LOVED the story.
But I couldn't get past the narrators unfortunately. As others have said, maybe if it was done in duet style, I would have been fine. But their imitations of eachother were a little too cringey for me.