This SHOULD have been right up my alley with the small-town/cowboy kick I've been on, but I just wasn't feeling it.

Rory, a wellness influencer, inherits her aunt's ranch, moving there with the intention to sell it. Wyatt, the head rancher, doesn't want his home sold out from underneath him. They strike a deal, working together to turn it into a wellness retreat instead of selling it, getting closer in the process.

The humor was mostly cute and I actually felt like the conflict at the end was just the right amount of dramatic. Unfortunately, that's where my enjoyment ended.
The characters and their chemistry just didn't land with me. Wyatt was alright, but I rolled my eyes at just about everything Rory said or thought. I didn't understand why they ended up liking each other.

The narration was probably what hurt the most for this book. The narrator for the FMC was fine until she had to speak for the MMC. As soon as she was doing his dialogue, I was cringing. The attempts at a southern accent were hard to listen to. It probably would have been okay if she only tried to affect a more general American accent.
This was compounded by the narrator for the MMC not affecting a southern accent (or at least keeping it super mild) himself, so her doing it was extra unnecessary.

Thank you NetGalley and HarperAudio Adult for providing me with this ALC.

This book was the perfect cowboy romance. I loved the city girl coming to ranch to find out everything is not as it seems. The fact that she is from London made it even better. My one critique is that the narrators of this book kind of took me out of the story. The female narrator when she was voicing the male gave him and every other male a southern accent and this book is set in Colorado so they do not have a an accent. Overall I enjoyed this book very much.

I wanted to love this. Cowboy romances are usually my comfort read, but Live Ranch Love didn’t quite rope me in. I struggled to connect with either main character, which made it hard to stay emotionally invested. The setup had potential—small town charm, rugged cowboy vibes—but something about the pacing and chemistry felt a little flat for me. The spice, while present, came off more forced than flirty.

That said, the writing itself is solid, and I can see this appealing to readers who enjoy a lighter, surface-level romance without too much emotional depth. Just wasn’t quite the right fit for me personally.

Thank you to NetGalley, Emma Lucy and HarperAudio Adult for an advanced copy of the audiobook. I will be giving my honest review.
Unfortunately this was a DNF for me for a few reasons. The main one being the audiobook narration. Specially when the British girl would attempt the American? accent for the guy and vice versa. It took me completely out of the story which I wasn’t enjoying much anyways to be fair. In hindsight the title of the book as well as the premise of a “wellness influencer” being the FMC should’ve given me pause when picking it up. However I liked the idea her clashing with a cowboy while hoping to revamp a ranch and I recently read Emily McIntire’s book ‘Beneath the Hood’ where the FMC was an influencer and enjoyed it soooo. The wellness/self help vibey inner monologue didn’t entice me to read further than a few chapters.

𝗙𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵𝘁:

This was a unique take on opposites attract, and I’m always down for a grumpy cowboy any day. I liked seeing the FMC wellness lifestyle blend into the story and her practicing what she preaches. The setting and small town gave all the right vibes for me. I really enjoyed this one. I do wish this AB could have been duet style. As it was a little off to have the narrators do all voices within the chapter they were reading, it just lost some of momentum of the story for me.

𝐒𝐲𝐧𝐨𝐩𝐬𝐢𝐬:

Aurora aka Rory inherited a ranch in Colorado from her Great Aunt. She also just walked in on her bf cheating on her so this is the perfect time to flee England and head across the pond. She’s hoping she can find herself and some inspiration. Rory works as a Wellness Influencer and right now she’s lost her spark.

Wyatt is a grumpy rancher and he has been running the ranch for Rory’s Aunt. He’s not happy about the change in ownership and is worried she’ll sell the ranch and he’ll loose the one place he finds peace. So he isn’t the nicest to her when she first arrives, he thinks she’s just a Princess that had the kingdom handed to her.

Rory knows nothing about running a ranch, she can’t even ride a horse. She has a lot to learn and forced proximity will throw these two together. They go from enemies to friends and learn they have a lot they can offer each other. Sparks will fly in this slow burn steamy cowboy romance.

𝙁𝙖𝙫 𝙌𝙪𝙤𝙩𝙚:

"Plus, I can't keep calling you Princess without actually treating you like one, can I?"

𝑳𝒊𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒓𝒚 𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒔 𝒀𝒐𝒖’𝒍𝒍 𝑭𝒊𝒏𝒅:

* Strangers to Lovers - Opposites Attract
* He Runs the Ranch & She Just Inherited It
* British Health & Wellness Influencer FMC
* Grumpy Head Rancher MMC
* He Calls Her Princess
* Idea to Run a Wellness Retreat at the Ranch
* He Teachers Her to Ride a Horse
* Spicy Barn Scene
* Small Town: Willow Ridge, Colorado

💕🦋🏔️🤠💕🦋🏔️🤠💕🦋🏔️🤠💕

I wanted to like this, but it fell flat. I wasn’t a fan of the narration, so I think I’ll try reading the paperback.

Who knew that crying in front of your rival would make them instantly fall in love and want to fix whatever caused the pain for you... LOL - Guess that's all it took for this FIONNNEEE cowboy to fall for Aurora.

・❥・ Grumpy/Sunshine •ᴗ•
・❥・ Small Town Romance
・❥・ Slow Burn
・❥・ Tried to be enemies to lovers (not at all), but more like... a bump in the road before it became insta-love
・❥・ Spice Level: 🌶️🌶️-- Light Bondage, Dirty Talk
・❥・ Cowboy x Wellness Influencer

Seriously such an absolute delight! It was the perfect palette cleanse between all the high-fantasy books I was reading. I'm obsessed with Wyatt, such a grumpy man trying to fight the attraction he had to Aurora from the first encounter, psh, yeah right dude!

Please tell me you are making Duke's, <I> I'm in love with my best friend's baby sister," </I>next because I CANNOT WAIT!

₊˚ෆ Thank you NetGalley and HarperAudio for the Arc! ₊˚ෆ

Thanks to HarperAudio ADT and NetGalley for this audio arc. I wanted to love this but unfortunately I didn’t finish this. I think I could actually enjoy the r physical copy, but the narrators were just too much.

Wanted to Love It, But It Fell Flat

GAH! I wanted to love this so bad—I’m a sucker for a good cowboy romance. Unfortunately, this one just didn’t work for me. The insta-love and insta-lust felt forced and rushed, and I had a hard time connecting with the characters because of it.

Also, I couldn’t quite wrap my head around why the FMC was British. It felt random and pulled me out of the story more than once. Maybe it made sense on paper, but in the audio version, it was especially jarring.

Speaking of the audiobook… I wasn’t a fan of the male narrator. Whenever he voiced Rory, it sounded like one of those exaggerated TikTok voiceovers. It really took me out of the moment.

I hate leaving negative reviews, but I always want to be honest—especially when reviewing an ARC. I appreciate the opportunity to read this early, even if it just wasn’t the right fit for me.

I received this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

loved both of the main characters! the chemistry and pacing was great. i love the communication in this story! i love a good cow boy romance and this deleivered. thanks for the arc. the narrators were great and i loved it

We enjoyed this story! A Britsh influencer becomes a cowgirl, genius! We loved both Wyatt and Rory characters and how they fell in love. It was a sweet story of two souls trying to find themselves, but at the same time fall in love with the individual even tho they hated each other when they first met. Oh the Dual POV was so fun to read! Thankyou Emma for this cute and sexy grump x sunshine love story!

The audiobook was okay, story was amazing!

Thanks to #NetGalley and #HarperAudio for an advance listening copy of #LiveRanchLove. Sweet enemies to lovers story set on a Colorado ranch. 3 stars.

I rarely do this, but I've been thinking about this for days now. I did not finish this book. I loved the story. I loved where the story was going. But the narration was just too much for me. The British accent turned to a terrible Western accent that didn't sound like Western at all and I just couldn't take. It was distracting enough it was hard to listen to and in the end, I gave up. I have enormous respect for voice artists because I could never do multiple people/accents. But this one was more than I could tolerate...even to finish a great story. So, be prepared and I hope it doesn't bother you as much as it bothered me.

Rory Jones just inherited a ranch from her great aunt and has moved to Colorado from England. There she encounter Wyatt Hensley ,the grumpy ranch hand. Rory is an influeancer and has lost her ability to write a new book that her agent is getting on her for. The move to the ranch will hopefuly get Rory's creative juices going again so that she can move on from her break up with her cheating boyfiend. The more that Wyatt and Rory work together getting the ranch ready for the yoga retreat they realize that they can't keep their feelings about each other to theirselves. This was a cute and funny audiobook that I aboslutely enjoyed. I can't wait for the other books in the series. I would like to thank both NEtGalley and Harper Audio for letting me listen to an advanced copy of this audiobook.

This review is for the audiobook version (ALC) of "Live, Ranch, Love" written by Emma Lucy. A cute romance between Rory, a popular wellness influencer, and Wyatt, a grumpy head rancher. When Rory inherits a ranch, tension develops when she has big plans for the property that do not resonate with Wyatt. This story is a classic hate-to-love romance. Many thanks to HarperAudio and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to listen to an ALC of this book.

I was excited to be given an ALC of this title, as the cover drew my attention and the summary about being on a ranch. The readers of the novel were not to my liking, there was a missed opportunity to create a duet that would have made it work better. The two readers didn't do very well at copying the other character's voice, specifically a British female voice. Also, hearing both of them say "grind my gears" seemed unusual and unlikely. Overall the British FMC didn't work for me nor the silly names like Wyatt and Sawyer which are so overused in this genre. I am in my cowboy romance era, so I devour these novels, yet this one didn't make me want to continue to listen, sorry friends! *Heads back over to Chestnut Springs* Thanks to NetGalley for the ALC and all opinions are my own.