I loved this story but there were some things that made me so mad. I cannot stand Dakota. She is so oblivious to the fact that Wyatt is in love with her even after she was told.

I was head-over-heels for this book! It had me kicking my feet in pure delight with all the witty banter, just begging for that swoon-worthy kiss to finally happen!

It was jam-packed with the most hilarious and heart-melting moments ever. Cowboy romance tangled up with hockey romance? Sign me up! A single dad with a heart as golden as a sunset? Absolutely! Fingers crossed the next book is Willie and Alanna, because I'm betting on the most hysterical enemies-to-lovers banter. Also I’m craving banana pancakes and a prickly pear margarita now.

Homebound by Meredith Trapp

Rating: 4/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Spice: 2/5 🌶️🌶️

Thank you to Atria Books, Netgalley, and the author for access to this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Homebound is such a fun read! A small town, cowboy romance that has tons of banter, heart, angst, and love. The slow burn is amazing and the friends to lovers trope was incredibly well done. Their history and memories together work to strengthen their bond and make their romance even more heartfelt!

Growing up, Dakota and Wyatt were inseparable. But a lot has changed over the years and Dakota hasn’t heard from him in years. Wyatt is now a hockey star and Dakota is a bull rider and leaves men with broken hearts. Dakota mainly has one-night-stands and avoids anything serious, but when her childhood friend comes back into town and moves into her barn with his daughter, everything changes. Wyatt’s back to get the woman he’s been in love with for years and he’s doing everything to get her to see him as more than a friend.

Dakota and Wyatt are such a cute couple! The yearning, angst, and slow burn are some of the best aspects of the story. Also, love how strong and tough the FMC is! Overall, a super entertaining, lighthearted read!

Tropes:
- Cowboy romance
- Single dad
- FMC bull rider
- Forced proximity
- Black cat x golden retriever
- Childhood friends to lovers
- “It’s always been you”

my first ARC and let me tell yah, it was gooooood, so sweet and fluffy and honestly right up my alley.

eeks
- SHE’S the cowgirl (bull riding queen)
- he’s obsessed and she’s oblivious which is just so sweet
- ooohhh I wish you could see my notes and highlights because I was giggling and blushing
- the tension throughout the whole book was phenomenal, but it was also dynamic as their relationship changed
- I typically have pretty big critiques about pacing but this one was perfect to me

icks
- he’s two years younger than her (just a personal preference)
- i’ve yet to find an author that writes baby talk well, so it just kinda brings me out of the story when a 12th month old is saying crazy things but this may also just be because I specialize in speech acquisition.
- a bit repetitive, words wise- I feel like I hear the same 3 or 4 phrases over and over. I had many moments where I was like… “didn’t we say this already? In the exact same wording?”


3.5 rounded up!! will be looking forward to more books by this author ESPECIALLY if we’re getting a sasquatch and barbie story (iykyk). This ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I’m a sucker for a good rodeo! I’m a sucker for a story about a stubborn tough woman! I’m a sucker for best friends becoming lovers! I’m starting to love sports romance and this book was just the perfect mix of rough, rugged and sweet & gentle!

First off thank you to netgalley and Atria/Emily Bestler Books for this advanced copy of “Homebound”. This book has a strong FMC who is a bull rider and a strong MMC who is a pro hockey player who is also a single dad to a toddler. In this book they are childhood friends who abruptly fell out of contact. He moves home to his parent’s flower farm in Texas where his childhood friend lives on their property. They end up having to share a living space. Wild toddler and all. Will they be able to mend their friendship? Will he finally get the girl he’s been in love with most of his life? This book is fully of witty, comedic banter between the main characters. The FMC is fiery and a little wild. The MMC is protective, goofy at times, and chivalrous. I enjoyed this read and the characters. They were well liked, and this story was a fast-paced fun, easy going read. Thank you again so much for the opportunity to read this book early!

Homebound was soooo good! Like childhood friends to lovers, obsessed man and she's grumpy? Sign me up!

I found it so cool that Dakota was a female bull rider. The FMC is always a baker or something so it was refreshing to see an FMC have a job in a male dominated sport. I also liked that they trained together (he's an NJL player). How cute is that?! I loved how down bad Wyatt was for Dakota too. He was a man on a mission to win her heart. The banter, the tension and the steam all worked for me here. Absolutely loved the romance.

The side characters were great too. Wyatt's little girl was adorable. The relationship between Dakota and his daughter was heart melting. I also really liked the world and think Trapp did a great job with the descriptions.

A very fun and romantic book! A perfect summer romance escape. Would recommend if you like friends to lovers, single dad, sports romance, grumpy x sunshine, and small town romances.

Wyatt Patterson couldn’t be a bigger green flag! I loved this childhood crush/friends to lovers. Wyatt had had a crush on bull rider, Dakota Cutler, since he was just a boy visiting in the summers. But, she’s always only seen him as a friend. They both have been estranged from each other since her engagement to Boone, who told Wyatt to stay away. Now, years later he’s returning to Texas for the summer with his baby girl and he needs a place to stay. Dakota’s engagement now ended, he sees his chance to finally reconnect and get her to see him and that the connection they had/have is real.

The pining, the sass, the love, it all got me!

- Small town romance
- Opposites attract
- Childhood crush/friends to lovers
- Sports (hockey & bull riding) romance

Closed door modifications: chapters 33, 34, 38, 44 & 47

Thank you NetGalley, Atria Books and Meredith Trapp for the ARC. All opinions and thoughts expressed in the review are completely my own.

Arc review,

This is book 2 in this standalone series, It was the first book I read and had no issues following the story.

This was such a cute book, I really liked the storyline and the pace.
I'm not the biggest fan of bull riding, but it didn't really annoy me in the story.
I loved the mmc a lot, I had some issues with the fmc but she grew on me through the story.
Which is why i rate it a 4 out of 5 stars.
But i loved the kid in the story and the storyline around her.

- Small town
- Single father
- Bull rider
- NHL (not really present in the story)
- Spicy
- Friends to lovers
- Slow burn

Thank you so much to everyone involved for the arc!

This book promised a small-town, slow-burn, cowgirl romance—and boy, did it deliver. Wyatt is the boy who only comes around in the summer, and when he’s eight years old, Dakota saves his life. From that moment on, he’s head over heels for her. But to Dakota, he’s always just been her best friend… until he shows up three years later, completely off the radar—and holding a baby girl. What follows is a swoony, heartfelt journey as Wyatt sets out to prove to Dakota that she’s the only one for him, now and always. Along the way, Dakota faces career challenges that Wyatt is determined to help her conquer—and win her heart in the process.
A PERFECT summer read 👌🏻👌🏻

Such a cozy western romance where the girl is the cowgirl. I loved that she was the player settling down and that’s he’s a single dad. Love how this book isn’t the same as others

Friends to lovers, He falls first,

The plot sounded promising but it felt flat. I felt bored throughout the book and ended up skimming some pages because of the pacing. It felt like it was trying to be a slow burn but I didn't really feel the tension. It was an okay read.

Thank you NetGalley and Atria Books for this advanced copy.

I quite enjoyed this book! I liked the small town romance and I REALLY loved the reverse grumpy x sunshine. Wyatt having blonde hair was a bit strange for me, being used to the male main characters having dark hair but I didn’t hate it. Overall it was a nice summer romance to read by the pool or on the beach.

3.5/4⭐️
A cowboy/bull rider romance where SHES the bull rider??! Absolutely sign me up!!

Wyatt Patterson has been in the “friend zone” for the past 20 summers, but this time he’s determined to break free with help from his 12mo daughter.
Dakota “cowboy killer” Cutler is a “love em and leave em” type of girl after getting her heart and spirit broken by her former fiance.

I felt like Homebound was a perfectly executed childhood friends to lovers story. Especially from Dakota’s POV, with how she’s confused by Wyatt’s advances and doesn’t take him seriously at first. And I especially liked the bull riding scenes and showing just how scary this job can truly be.

Wyatt is out here doing gods work for blond men in romance books. Golden retriever, NHL, single dad, hot af, and Down Bad for Dakota. He’s loved her from the first moment he saw her all those summers ago

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for gifting me this eARC, I enjoyed it immensely.

The slow burn felt just right given their history, and Wyatt’s all-in attitude (plus his adorable daughter!) completely won me over. I loved the banter, the flirting, and the way he helped her. Watching Dakota fall for both him and his little girl was so sweet.

So excuse me while I had to process combining a hockey player with a western romance. Somehow it worked so well? I think it's because it's not hockey sports romance but the MMC just happens to be a hockey player.

Wyatt has been in love with Dakota since he was eight years old and Dakota had saved his life. Every summer Wyatt returns home to Texas to his family flower farm and during these summers Wyatt and Dakota were inseparable. While Wyatt longed, Dakota was a wild one who was always attached, but still Wyatt hoped. But after Dakota gets engaged Wyatt decides he needs to move on with his life and cuts her off, hoping for her happiness while trying to learn to live without her. Returning for a new summer with his little girl Vi in tow (from a ONS, mom wanted no part), Dakota is single again and Wyatt is determined to prove they are meant to be. But the Cowboy Killer isn't so easily ready to forget, and in the meantime is trying to fight her own internal battles. But Wyatt still knows they are meant to be and now that they are sharing a cabin on his family farm, he has plenty of forced proximity time to show her just how perfect they are.

There are so many things I absolutely adored about this book. From Wyatt always being Dakota's champion and safe place, to Dakota being a tough strong woman in a male dominated sport. To the soft moments of vulnerability and Dakota falling for Vi so seamlessly. These two complemented each other in so many ways and helped each other not only grow but heal wounds and expectations that were set on them. Not to mention supportive families and just so much green flag energy in this book. Meredith made it so easy to fall into these characters and root for them. I honestly want Granite Falls to become it's own spinoff series just because I fell in love with this town and I want to see so much more of Wyatt and Dakota and some side characters that I think could have fun spinoffs.

You get all the fun tropes in this book with the golden retriever MMC and the black cat FMC, the forced proximity, single dad who happens to be a hockey player, childhood friends to lovers and who doesn't love a spinoff with a cowGIRL romance?

I highly recommend this book to those of you who are looking for little niche's in the popular hockey romance and cowboy romance genres. This was such a fun read and congrats to Meredith for the traditional publishing!

Thank you so much to Atria books, NetGalley and Meredith for the e-arc, all opinions are my own.

Just finished the cutest book! She’s a rodeo star and he’s a hockey player.. best of both worlds right?? Wyatt and Dakota are my favorite couple 😍 I love a good friends to lovers slow burn that BURNS. Thank you for the arc of this book! My only request is that Barbie and Sasquatch get their own book!!

I enjoyed this to start but then I lost interest. It also unfortunately gave me the ick a bunch. When he mentioned trying not to get hard while his daughter was in the bath beside him was when I kind of lost all interest in the book. I pushed through but once I lost interest it was kind of a done deal for me.

Thank you to the publisher for sending me an advanced readers copy of this book! I’m sure someone else will absolutely love this book, unfortunately I just wasn’t one of them!

Thank you, NetGalley, for the ARC of this book! Homebound was a cute small-town western romance featuring the friends-to-lovers trope and such a fun way to kick off my summer reading. I was rooting for the FMC and MMC from the very beginning, their witty banter and heartwarming chemistry kept me invested throughout the entire book. I did find myself wanting more of their backstory to really understand who they were as individuals and as a couple as they built their relationship with one another.

Overall, It was a quick read with all the swoony, cheesy moments making it the perfect for a vacation pick!

3/5 – very cute!

homebound - arc review 🌵🏜️
growing up, dakota and wyatt were as inseparable as the threads on a pair of old cowboy boots, best friends. or, at least, that’s what dakota thought. every summer, Wyatt comes home to his family’s flower farm in Granite Falls, Texas and they would stargaze in the fields, pinkies brushing and laughter mixing with the hum of the cicadas, but it’s been three summers since wyatt last came home and a lot has changed for both of them, but is their connection one of them?

cheesy, swoon worthy, and all the pining!!!! wyatt’s steadfast love for dakota made my heart so warm and fuzzy!!! i also loved getting to see the fmc get to “take the reins” and wear the hat as the cowboy in this romance. sports and cowgirls absolutely mix.

tropes and things 🌵
- opposites attract
- childhood friends to lovers
- single dad
- dual pov
- black cat cowgirl
- golden retriever NHL player