Cece and Nash are couple that makes sense as they bring peace to eachother and comfort.

However the Andrew plot felt a bit rushed and a necessity for the main characters to end up together. The drama wasn't really drama but it was set up to be.

I still enjoyed it and I will read the second one. Recommend if you like a small town romance

I can’t believe this is Paisley Hope’s debut novel I loved every moment of this delicious small town romance and can’t wait to see what Paisley has to offer next with Training The Heart!

As someone who has recently got into small town romances Holding The Reins has cemented itself into one of my favourite reads. Full of sizzling chemistry with some well written spice, banter and my favourite he falls first and hard.

A brothers best friend, friends to lovers between an ex hockey player reformed bad boy turned part time cowboy in Nash Carter and Cece Ashby who finds herself returning home to Laurel Creek after a breakup from her cheating Ex and you have not just sweet romance but a story that has a depth to it within dealing with grief and learning to take take a chance on love when you’ve been through something so traumatic it also delivers on the sizzling chemistry between Cece and Nash who find that a no strings fling turns into something neither were expecting, as well as a wholesome girl friend group in the Not Angels, cute niece and just all the good feelings that comes from reading such feel good small town romance!

ARC 5/5 ⭐️ Just an impeccable brothers best friend cowboy romance 🤠 Such a good time!

The story follows Cece, who returns to her family's ranch after ending a 8 year relationship with her cheating fiancé. And Nash, who recently retired hockey superstar and is CeCe's brother’s best friend...

👉<b>little firefly</b> 👈 🥹🥹🥹

<b>Save a horse</b> - The spice was spicing so well, with such a cute HEA. And I loved Cece's love of Shania, me too, girl, me too.

I loved the whole family, and I can't wait for the rest of the groups story.

Thank you, NetGalley, Penguin Random House, and Paisley Hope, for sending this eARC for review. All opinions are my own.

I really enjoyed Paisley’s writing in this book. The characters were all likeable and the story flowed well. It was quite a fun read but characters still had some emotional backstory’s to make it more deep and meaningful.
Perfect for people who love a spicy cowboy romance. The next books in the series sound good too!

5⭐ 3🌶️

Ex-hockey player x part time cowboy = the perfect man

“If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a thousand times. You hold the reins baby, I’m just here for the ride.” - Nash Carter

The story line was amazing and had me absolutely hooked from the get go. It was emotional, filthy, cute, funny and the spice was spicing!! The characters were all so lovable and different in their own ways. Both lead characters had their own lives and problems that they had to work through but 'it's always been you' was just the sweetest thing. This had me swooning, gasping, blushing, jumping up and down, clapping and screaming, it was honestly such an amazing book! 📚

🎬 - found family, best friends little sister, age gap, small town, crawl to me, workplace romance, protective MMC

CeCe Ashby returns to her family’s ranch in Laurel Creek to start fresh after a toxic relationship, unsure of what her future holds. Nash Carter, a retired hockey star and hometown hero, is also her brother's best friend, making him off-limits. When CeCe needs a job, Nash can't resist hiring her. As they navigate their complicated feelings, Nash must confront his past trauma to build a future with CeCe. A perfect book for a lazy afternoon.

Have I ever read a cowboy romance? No.
Did I have any interest in reading a cowboy romance? Also no.
Since reading ‘Holding the Reins’, do I want to go on to read more cowboy romances? Heck yeah I do!

I decided to try something different in the romance genre and since reading this book, I can honestly say that I’ll be looking out for more to add to my library! Although there seemed to be quite a lot of tropes crammed into this story (sports, cowboy, enemies to lovers, possessive MMC, small town, brother’s best friend etc.) Whilst I think it would have been a good enough storyline without all of the tropes, it was still a very easy and enjoyable read. Nash is a great MMC and his chemistry with CeCe is everything that you would expect in a small town romance. Nash has the best dirty mouth that I have read for a while and he isn’t afraid to tell CeCe exactly what he wants from her. There are some parts of the story that I think could have been more developed (for example, when the family inevitably find out about the enemies becoming lovers).
There were some great laugh-out-loud scenes and quips from the characters, and the banter between the MC’s was fun. I can see that other characters in the story could pair up for future books by Paisley and I would definitely be interested in reading them.

Thank you to NetGalley, Penguin Random House and Paisley Hope for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

4 ⭐️
3 🌶️

I enjoyed this book! I found it an entertaining , easy and fast read who’s kept me glued at the pages and made me smile! I love all the characters and their moments of laughter, heartache, hope and love. If you look for a summer read Holding the Reins is the perfect choice!

I really felt a warm and fuzzy feeling reading this book!!
It’s set in the Wild West, namely a little town called Laurel Creek. There are two main protagonists and they are Nash Carter, a retired super league ice hockey player, famous and extremely rich. He grew up in Laurels Creek, and has come home to invest in the town and be close to his “adopted “ family the Ashby’s. They supported him and loved him like a son and still do. He loves to help as much as he can. Then we have Cece Ashby, she’s fled back home after a disastrous breakup, and is still trying to avoid her ex. Although Nash and Cece spent some of their childhood as siblings. the sexual chemistry between them now is undeniable, even though they are fighting it with all they have! They are both strong, driven people who know their own minds, so it makes for a comical narrative sometimes!! The other characters within this story are very developed too and as this is a series, I imagine that these other characters will have their stories told too?!
As the reader, you can’t help but hope these two main characters have a chance to be together! There is also the horse element as the Ashby’s have a ranch and previous derby winners, which makes it all a little more dynamic!
I gave this story five stars.
Many thanks to Random House Uk for the opportunity to read this arc copy via Netgalley. My opinion is my own.
#Netgalley, #RandomHouseUk, #AuthorPaisleyHope.

This book wasn’t for me and so it is a DNF at around 23%. I found the language to be quite vulgar (absolutely fine if you enjoy that kind of talk). I can see this would be a good love story but I also don’t think these kind of relationships are (for example Nash kept an eye on her and calls her a handful due to her revealing outfit.
If you like this kind of genre, a very sexual romance then I’m sure you will love it.

This book had a sweet love story & a heartwarming family dynamic but you will need to be prepared for lots of swearing & what some may consider graphic description sex scenes!

Probably half-filled with smut, Holding the Reins by Paisley Hope is about a woman who returns to her hometown and reunites with her brother’s best friend.

Summary: After breaking up with her unfaithful fiancé, Cecilia "CeCe" Rae Ashby returns to her hometown Laurel Creek to be with her family. She reunites with her brother's best friend, Nash Carter, a former NFL player and now a part-time cowboy, a bartender and a hockey coach.

Tropes/Genres:
• brother's best friend
• small town
• reformed playboy
• age gap (25f 33m)
• contemporary romance

Review: The book was quite enjoyable at the start but got rather boring towards the end. The smut was nice at first but eventually got too much to the point where I rolled my eyes and groaned when another smut scene popped up. There really wasn't a need for that much smut. It takes away the romantic charm of romantic books. They were literally going at it like rabbits.

CeCe is a very charming main character, but she's also forgettable. She's a bit dumb because of the whole "I can do this alone" thing even though it's clear that her narcissistic ex was dangerous and didn't really care about her well-being, and she was proven to be WRONG! Her friends Ginger and Olivia are also lame, considering they do nothing but harass her for information and make her overthink. The only good part about CeCe was probably everything going on with her father. That was really sad. Everything else could've been handled better.

Nash is supposed to be a part-time cowboy and a hockey coach, but both of them are barely mentioned. The roles seem to exist solely for the sake of making sure the author feels better about marking this book as a cowboy and sports romance. Even then, it still doesn't feel like either a cowboy or a sports romance. I appreciate how sweet and protective he is towards CeCe. I just find it funny how they agreed to have a one-night stand and he sounded like he was making love to her. The vibes don't match what it's supposed to be!

This story is told through dual POV, showing the perspectives of both CeCe and Nash. It's nice to be able to read about how the two of them feel about each other. It's just such a shame that most of what they feel about each other seems to be sexual attraction rather than romantic attraction. By the way, I don't find it weird that he fell for her even though he knew her when she was a little girl considering they were both adults and hadn't met in years while she was in Seattle and he was doing his NFL business. However, I highly appreciate that he felt bad for being attracted to her considering she was his best friend's little sister and he was trusted to protect her!

Their romance started out very strong. However, the moment their first smut scene extended past the first chapter, I started losing interest. You see, they decided to spend a day having sex, which can be cute, but the author's writing didn't hold up my interest in their sexy time for very long. It got draggy and boring even though they were doing different things throughout the night. I think the smut probably wasn't that well written, not to mention how much of it there was in the book. It took away the romantic charm the two main characters originally had before they started canoodling, which started around 40% into the book.

It felt like everything happened way too quickly between CeCe and Nash, and there were also a lot of filler scenes. In fact, even a lot of the smut scenes felt like filler scenes because the author didn't really know what to write to develop their romance and decided to throw in some smut instead hoping it would distract the readers. (It clearly didn't work for me.) There were also plenty of lines that made me need to put down the book because of how "Why did you write this? It's so bad." they were.

As opposed to how it was marketed, this book is neither a cowboy nor a sports romance. It's just a small-town brother's-best-friend romance. Just because the MMC used to be an NFL player and is now a hockey coach (which is barely mentioned) and a part-time cowboy (also barely mentioned), it doesn't mean it's a cowboy or sports romance. Seriously. Stop misleading your readers.

While there are a lot of things I didn't like about this book, there are still plenty of good things. For example, I liked the whole part about CeCe, Nash and their relationship with her father Wyatt. He honestly sounded like a great man who gave solid advice. I also thought that Nash's backstory and fear of losing his family all over again were very valid. That's one thing that the author expressed very well in this book. It didn't bring me to tears, but it made me feel sad for him because no one deserved to go through what he experienced. Nash is a sweetheart who's considerate towards women, which is a huge plus. The only trope that the author didn't mess up was the brother's best friend. That was great!

Overall, this book is okay, but people who don't read books simply for smut probably wouldn't enjoy this that much because there isn't much of a romantic connection between CeCe and Nash, while it's very obvious from a mile away that they are sexually attracted to each other. That kind of defeats the purpose of being a romance book. I recommend this book to readers who like small-town romance with way too much smut.

Thank you, NetGalley, for this book.

I couldn’t love this more 😭
Cece & Nash are just two perfectly developed characters. They are so well written with complex layers just adding to the dimension of the story.
I loved the brother’s best friend trope it was done so well and was so emotionally satisfying.
And the SPICE. LOOOOORD the spice was spicing in this one!
Honestly at this point I’m ready to move to Silver Pines because the men are just 😍🥵
I’m so excited for Training the Heart because I’m already in love with Ivy and Wade has a place in my heart 😭😭

Well, send me over a Nash any day of the week. Is there anything this man can't turn his hand to? I'm not surprised Cece eventually caved in, I would have long before she did. This whole book was very easy to read, entertaining and light. Lots of steamy scenes and all the characters were very likeable and I could see that Nash would have been worried about harming his family bonds given how tight knit they all were.
Anyway, it was delightful to read and I really enjoyed it.

This book will make you smile and keep your fingers crossed CeCe to get the love she deserves.
Returning home from Seattle, leaving a cheating ex.
Old crushes ignite and burst into flames but not without issues.
Prepare to put the rest of the world on hold whist you cannot put the book down.

Sadly unable to read this one as there was a lot of missing text (words and letters, sometimes letters replaced with symbols) and it took away the enjoyment of reading and sometimes didn’t make sense.
It’s a shame, as this book & plot is very much up my street! Hopefully pick up a physical copy soon

This is one for the Elsie Silver fans, with Nash fitting right into that cowboy, NHL, backwards cap wearing, good girl uttering, touch her & die MMC. And CeCe ticking the tiny but fiesty, off limits best friends little sister, beautiful & clever FMC boxes.

This is predictable, but in a good way, like knowing you're going to enjoy your favourite ice cream flavour. Training the Heart has emotion & laughs, as well as the family element that promises a great series with characters we've already met.

I'm looking forward to Training the Heart already & can't wait to see everyone else's story.

thank you to @Netgalley for this eBook to read and review -
all thoughts are my own.


It was meh for me

The plot was really predictable.
Relied on the smut abit to much.

If I’m being honest the MMC makes me feel sick
“Little one” 🤢 and he comes across as a controlling twit!




Alotttt of random errors instead of letters (don’t know whether it’s just my copy)

I absolutely devoured this book! From page 1, I knew I was going to love it (if you know you know). The main lead characters were amazing and I think everyone needs a Nash in their life's, but not only are the main leads amazing most of the other characters are too (except Drew again if you know you know).

The storyline was great. It had some heartache, hope, family, friends, and love. A few good moments of sadness but a few laugh out moments with Mable - I swear that girl has a bit of my heart.

I would highly recommend this book

I can't review this one as the copy I received is missing a lot of text so I wasn't able to read it properly.