This is a steamy romance which I enjoyed, following CeCe who has returned to her family home after the breakdown of her relationship.

Nash is the towns all round good guy, he’s retired from ice hockey and has a few businesses in town and also helps out his friends at their ranch owned by CeCe’s family.

There is instant attraction between the two of them and Nash finds himself falling for CeCe. He’s closed off to any type of long relationship and slowly but surely he finds that CeCe is breaking down all those walls he has built up around himself. He’s such a caring character from the start and I love it when he falls first.

There is lots of spice in this one and it’s a romance which I enjoyed and would recommend to those who like cowboys, businessmen and ice hockey - Nash has it all !!

Firstly thank you to @authorpaisleyhope & @netgalley for my arc, I'm beyond grateful I was absolutely obsessed!! This one put me through all the emotions! I love a dirty talking cowboy/hockey player and wow is Nash top tier!!🥵🔥 Cece is sassy and such a babe who takes absolutely no crap - I love that about her! She's such a boss!! I want in on her girl gang pronto!!🤭 I love a bros bestfriend trope & throw in a found fam...I'm sold!!! The flirty banter and chemistry between these two was everything and oh my the SPICE 🔥🔥Text threads are such winners for me too!! I utterly adored this book, I read it in one sitting I couldn't put it down!! I'm so ready for the next book! Would highly recommend this most definitely won't disappoint 🫶🏻💖✨

I really enjoyed this book and I’m looking forward to reading the rest of the series! Fans of Elsie Silver and spice will absolutely love this series! A bingeable book for sure.

I thought CeCe was a great character, strong about starting over. Her relationship with her niece was so cute.

CeCe and Nash’s relationship was just absolutely perfect. The forbidden love/brother’s best friend/enemies to lovers trips were perfectly done. The clear connection they had felt so real.

Nash was the perfect MMC. One of the best I’ve read for a while. He was everything !

I’m excited to get to know her family better through the rest of the books and the ranch, as I feel we didn’t get to know much in this book. The spice was a lot, so may be too much for some people. I also found it a little strange that there was an epilogue a few years in the future but I knew other books in the series were still to come.

Overall, I enjoyed the book and I look forward to reading the rest of the series.

There are a lot of cowboy romances on the market at the moment but it’s easy to see why. It’s a sub genre that makes for great romance. This would be great for fans of Elsie Silver and Lyla Sage.

This is the first cowboy romance book I have read and it certainly won’t be the last. A good storyline with great characters which kept me turning the pages.

holding the reins by paisley hope🤠🐎☀️🍸🥞🏒🥃

i am loving the cowboy and hockey romances at the moment so this one was right up my street🤭😍

from the start i was obsessed and invested with both characters!! cece had just left her past which was full of neglect in an unhealthy engagement but was so strong and independent - all the sassy boss b energy we needed🤩

and nash…so heartbreaking😭 some moments i actually had tears in my eyes reading!! he was traumatised emotionally and physically from a past event that he’d never be able to get over, but he was so sweet and caring and protective of cece from the moment she walked back into town🥹

nash was the jealous type…touch her and die vibes - well actually, look at her and die vibes!! but i was living for it👩🏻‍🍳💋

the pair of them were just so perfectly suited, their chemistry ran through the pages and the sass between them was so fun to read, i couldn’t put the book down if i tried🤩

read this one if you LOVE…
• part time cowboy romance
• brothers best friend
• found family
• age gap
• childhood friends to lovers
• touch her and die mmc
• small town romance

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
🌶️🌶️🌶️

so if you’re loving the sound of this one, which i bet you are, it’s actually OUT NOW🫶🏼

thank you to @netgalley and @penguinrandomhouse for the arc in return of my review

Oh my dear lordy lord, well I’m down for a cowboy, even if he’s only a part time one.

Cece and Nash’s story is just how I wanted it to be, lots of friendship, banter, a bit of angst and lots and lots of spice. Ugh could he have any more of a dirty mouth?? That man knows what he’s doing and saying, I was getting really warm there!

Both their stories are beautifully heartbreaking but it’s because they’re like that that they get to be how they are together! I’m so glad they have the whole Ashby family around them, they’re just so full of life and sunshine! I also love that it’s half ice hockey half cowboy, that’s just the perfect mix for me!

So where can I find one?

Thank you to Netgalley and Paisley Hope for sending me this lovely ARC in exchange of an honest review.

I hate to do this because this book and I had a good thing going but dnf @ 76% because nash following her to seattle after she EXPLICITLY SAID she wants to do this ON HER OWN like the grown woman she is is just weird and not for me.

i loved this so much!! such a fun cowboy romance would highly recommend it to anyone who loved the chestnut springs series !!

For a debut book, this is so amazingly good! The dirty talk and the banter in this book are just perfect.

Nash was head over heels in love with CeCe from the get go, he was ready and willing to do anything and everything to make her life easier. We love a MMC who falls first and falls hard, and we adore a FMC who’s independent and knows what she wants and doesn’t let anyone tell her otherwise.

Even though some moments were a bit boring to me, I really appreciate the slow burn in this book and I can’t wait for the next one in the series!!!

Thank you Paisley Hope, Random House UK, Cornerstone | Penguin & NetGalley for an e-ARC copy.

#HoldingTheReins #NetGalley

Im so hoping to get the cute edition the works is publishing
This was ADORABLE and written really well? After Elsie Silver a lot of cowboy vibes didn’t live up to my likings, but this has surprised me in the most positive way.
It’s dirty smut and I love the secret romance!! The whole book just gets the vibe and it was written REALLY WELL!
Loved it!

This was fine but it was a bit of a confusing mix of cowboy and sports to me. I mean, he used to be in the NHL and that's brought up quite a bit but it's not really that important other than it gives him financial options to do all kinds of stuff around town.

The main couple were engaging enough but I found them a little hard to connect to. Probably didn't help that CeCe had so many different names and then you have to add in nicknames and pet names. Other than that, it felt like Nash didn't have a strong identity as he was doing so many different jobs... so he's a range hand and riding instructor, rink owner/coach and bar owner (we later found out it was just to keep himself busy).

As a story it wasn't anything new or amazing though and it took me a while to get into it. I did like the supporting characters of CeCe's family and would be interested to read others in the series in the hopes they're a little more thought out. Although with the similarities with CeCe's brothers relationship histories there will be some similar themes for those I think.

I am like the many, many others who can’t stop devouring cowboy romance right now, and will continue to do so until I’m on my death bed.
I really liked Cece, but I did think of new girl every damn time I read her name! I liked Nash but he was definitely veering into the too much side of over protective. Not controlling but it was close to the line for me which I didn’t like! I also found some of what they were saying extremely cringey! I think I’ve reached the point with romance reading where nothing really embarrasses me and I can really take it all in my stride, but I was full on grimacing and just trying to skip past some bits.
I recently read Done and Dusted and this just felt so similar! Girl comes home to her family’s ranch and gets together with her brother’s best friend. Even some set ups for future books felt way too similar - and I totally get that these books have come out around the same time and it’s totally my fault for reading them almost back to back!! But it did mean I wasn’t as enthused about the storyline as I probably would have been ordinarily.
I still really enjoyed it, of course, and am so excited for future books - especially Ginger and Cole, I need it right now!

My cowboy romance era shows no signs of slowing down and I’m completely fine with that, but I am still relatively fussy. I need strong writing, a swoonworthy romance, a strong sense of place and characters that I can get behind.

Paisley Hope’s ‘Holding the Reins’ had all of that and I’m so happy to have a new cowboy romance series to fall in love with. I pre-ordered book two before I even finished this one!


CeCe Ashby is looking for a fresh start after escaping the toxic relationship that has consumed her adult life.

Unsure of what the future holds, she returns to the small town of Laurel Creek and her family’s ranch.

Nash Carter is the recently retired hockey superstar of the Dallas Stars, Laurel Creek’s hometown hero, and notorious bachelor.

He may look good in a cowboy hat, but he is also CeCe's brother’s best friend. . .and therefore off limits.

When CeCe reappears in her hometown in need of a job, Nash knows he must have her, and not entirely for business.

As ‘just one night’ turns into many, Nash learns that where CeCe Ashby is concerned his typical rules do not apply. Now he has to figure out if he can push his past trauma aside to live the life he never dared dream of.

All he has to do? Take a deep breath and let go of the reins. . .


I really loved being in the world of Silver Pines and I devoured this book in two sittings.


This novel holds so many of my favourite tropes: returning to a small town, brother’s best friend, evil ex, and a hockey player turned part-time cowboy. I mean, come on. What more does a romance need than that.

One of the romance tropes that annoys me the most, however, is miscommunication, or just a complete failure to communicate, and that is present in ‘Holding the Reins’ but it’s short lived enough that it didn’t prove too much of an issue for me. Luckily, CeCe and Nash have friends and family around them to bash their heads together and encourage them to sort themselves out asap at the big point of conflict at the end of the novel.

The dual POV between Nash and CeCe meant that we as the reader get to know about their real feelings for each a lot sooner than they tell each other, or even they realise themselves, and get to grips with what motivates them. It’s a format I really love, especially in a fast-moving romance as it really heightens the tension between the couple, and Nash and CeCe had that in spades to begin with! Their back and forth is electric and I felt every shred of chemistry between them.

‘Holding the Reins’ is a squeal and kick-your- feet romance with a wonderful cast of characters, a vivid setting and a whole lot of heart. I’ve already recommended it to several cowboy romance-loving friends of mine and I can’t wait to read Wade and Ivy’s story in ‘Training the Heart’.


Thank you to Penguin and NetGalley for the review copy.

‘Holding the Reins’ is available in ebook now, and will be released in paperback on 15 August 2024.

Written by Sophie

Thank you NetGalley and Cornerstone for an e-ARC of this book.

Cece was finally able to leave the toxic relationship she had with her fiancé behind. Back at the ranch she calls home, she gets close with Nash, her oldest's brother best friend. The two never really got along growing up, but the more time they pass together the more their romantic feelings develop. And when Cece starts working for Nash, all bets are off.

I didn't enjoy this title. It's an identical story to Done and Dusted by Lyla Sage, just with a name change for the characters.

My Third outing into a world of Cowboy Romances and I loved reading this one. I loved the friendships, family & relationships dynamic throughout!
I would genuinely recommend this to anyone without a doubt!

I am an absolute sucker for a cowboy romance.

Imagine this: Cece returns to her hometown after breaking things off with her fiancée, to find Nash, a part-time cowboy, part-time business owner, and noticing more about him than before. Nash has been best friends with her brothers for the longest time, and practically is a member of her family, but not by blood. When looking for jobs, she signs up to an accountancy job, without realising that her boss will be none other than Nash. She accepts, realising the sheer amount of work that needs doing, thinking that it will be a challenge to work alongside him. Little does she know, he has been mad about her for years.

The narrative follows the ups, downs, lefts and rights of her learning about Nash's quirks, individuality and how much he purely cares out her. From scaring off guys in bars, to fighting an ex-fiancee, he will not settle for any less.

This narrative was romantic, engaging and very spicy at times. I found the spicy to be quite heavy throughout the book and, although I normally enjoy a lot, I found it to sometimes take away from the character development slightly. This being said, I enjoyed the journey they embarked on as they realised their feelings for each other was beginning to develop even stronger.

A good book, full of spice and action, to fulfil all your romance needs.

Steamy, spicy love story.

I’m not normally a romance reader so it was nice to step out of my usual genres. CeCe Rae Ashby has just got out of an awful relationship and gone back to her hometown. Nash Carter is her brother’s best friend, a former ice hockey star, bar owner, and part-time cowboy, working on her family ranch.

The narrative flips between the points of view of the two main characters, holding your interest as they each try to hold themselves back, unsure if they both feel the same way.

I feel like you have to look past the fact that Nash was like a brother to CeCe, with her parents taking him in when his parents were killed in a terrible car crash. But the thing that really had me rolling my eyes was the controlling manner that Nash took. Ok, I know the tragic back-story and that means he likes to be in control for fear of getting hurt, but it’s not for me
.
“My brain tells me to protest his controlling tone, but my traitorous pussy forces me to do exactly as he wants” “What even is feminism when I’m naked with Nash Carter?” Gah!

I understand the next book is about CeCe’s brother Wade. I look forward to meeting the side characters again, Ginger and Liv: the not Angels, Mama Jolene, and CeCe’s niece Mabel.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House UK for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Holding the Reins is a fun cowboy romance. I enjoyed the storyline of Cece and Nash and particularly enjoyed the input from the side characters. The group of friends was very entertaining and I can definitely see myself potentially enjoying some of the other books in the series more!
There's quite a bit of spice in these books and at points I felt like this went on a little bit too long and I would have like to see a bit more of an emotional connection between the characters. I also felt there was a missed opportunity for Cece to demonstrate her new found independence at the end of the book without Nash running in to save the day. However it is an enjoyable cowboy romance that follows the found family/small town/cowboy romance really well. I will definitely pick up the other books in the series at some point.

I will start by saying I am not a cowboy romance girly...i've read them and I have enjoyed them but I do not have a favourite and I'm not comparing this one to any other fan favourite!

This is a brothers best friend romance,small town, spicy romance (a trope i adore)


I loved Cece and Nash and their chemistry was through the roof, the banter was top notch and Nash had me giggling and kicking my feet like a teenager.

If you like cowboy romances, this is definitely one to add to your list!