Book Review! Live, Ranch, Love by Emma Lucy

Live, Ranch, Love (Willow Ridge #1) by Emma Lucy
Genre: Adult Fiction (Contemporary Romance)
Date Published: September 30, 2025
Publisher: Avon

She’s here to sell my ranch, but now I think she might steal my heart.

Rory Jones prided herself on the successful life she’d built as a wellness influencer and author - until she walked in on her boyfriend with another woman after a family funeral. Forced to run away to her late great aunt’s ranch in Colorado, Rory’s hoping that fixing up and selling the place will help her find her confidence and inspiration to write again.

But Wyatt Hensley, the grumpy head rancher, isn’t willing to hand over the reins to the job he gave everything up for. Especially not to a yoga-loving, manifestation guru who doesn’t even know how to ride a horse. Yet, with a past that’s taught him to not bother dreaming anymore, even Wyatt knows he can’t hold on forever.

Until one day they strike a deal that might just save both of their careers – help Rory turn the ranch into a wellness retreat and Wyatt can stay.

With Rory’s shattered self-confidence and Wyatt’s last drop of hope also on the line, staying professional is a must. But can they ignore the sizzling tension growing between them that could jeopardise it all?

Especially when the rocky path ahead seems a lot easier with the other riding beside them.

Live, Ranch, Love is the first book in the Willow Ridge series by Emma Lucy. Rory had her life set until her world got flipped. As a result, when she arrived at her newly inherited ranch, Wyatt's world flipped too. It started off enemies to lovers in the very beginning, but it changed to insta-love pretty quick once the characters plans started changing. Their story was cute. They were cute together. I love this kind of story, especially on a ranch setting. There was some repetition, which I can usually overlook unless it gets ridiculous, And for the most part, I did this time around too, but both characters liked to use the word GD about every other page. I'm definitely not opposed to cussing, but that one is one of my peeves. It makes me cringe internally. Especially, when it pops up every other page or so. The overall story was fun and entertaining, and I'd be curious which character's story gets told. Cherry & Duke?? There's gotta be a story there! 

Live, Ranch, Love by Emma Lucy was kindly provided to me by the publisher through NetGalley for review. The opinions are my own.

Emma Lucy is a romance author based in London who loves writing books that will make you swoon, blush, and hopefully learn to believe in yourself a little more. When she’s not writing, she’s usually reading, listening to whatever new country music artist she’s obsessed with, or trying to convince her boyfriend to go to a bookstore with her. Live, Ranch, Love is Emma’s debut novel.

To learn more about Emma Lucy and her books, visit her website. You can also find her on Goodreads & Pinterest.

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Book Review: Ashes by Ilsa J. Bick

Ashes (Ashes #1) by Ilsa J. Bick
Genre: Young Adult Fiction (Dystopian Horror)
Date Published: November 29, 2011
Publisher: Egmont USA

It could happen tomorrow . . .

An electromagnetic pulse flashes across the sky, destroying every electronic device, wiping out every computerized system, and killing billions.

Alex hiked into the woods to say good-bye to her dead parents and her personal demons. Now desperate to find out what happened after the pulse crushes her to the ground, Alex meets up with Tom—a young soldier—and Ellie, a girl whose grandfather was killed by the EMP.

For this improvised family and the others who are spared, it’s now a question of who can be trusted and who is no longer human.

Author Ilsa J. Bick crafts a terrifying and thrilling post-apocalyptic novel about a world that could become ours at any moment, where those left standing must learn what it means not just to survive, but to live amidst the devastation.

Ashes is the first book in the Ashes Trilogy by Ilsa J. Bick. This story has a big The Walking Dead feel to it, with a touch of The Forest of Hands and Teeth. But, it stands on its own completely. I’m not quite sure if we’re dealing with zombies or just people whose brains got scrambled after the big zap or what yet, but these guys are way worse than most zombies you read about. They can actually think somewhat. They are brutal and not what you want to come across in the woods. In this world, I wouldn’t want to come across an actual human either. Everything and everyone is potentially dangerous. The first parts of the book kept me completely engaged. I loved the dynamic between Alex, Tom, and Ellie. They were believable and relatable. Once we got to Rule, things slowed up significantly. Then the ending left me needing the next book now! 

Chapter 1

Four days later, Alex perched on a knuckle of bone-cold rock and whittled an alder branch to a toothpick as she waited for her coffee water to boil. A stiff wind gusted in from the northwest, wet and cold. Far below, the Moss River sparkled with sun dazzle, a glittering ribbon that wound through a deep valley of leafless hardwoods, silver-blue spruce, and the darker green of dense hemlock and feathery white pine. The chilly air smelled chilly—which is to say that for Alex, it really smelled like nothing at all. Which Alex was pretty used to, having not smelled anything for well over a year.

The cold was a surprise, but then she’d never hiked the Waucamaw in late September either. The Waucamaw Wilderness had always been a summer adventure with her parents when pesky no-see-ums, bloodsucking mosquitoes, and heat that could melt a person to a sweat puddle were her biggest problems. Now, she was crunching over brittle ice and skidding on frost-covered roots and bare rock every morning. The going was treacherous, each step an invitation to turn an ankle. The farther north and the closer to Lake Superior she got—still two days in the future and nothing but a hazy purple smear smudging the horizon—the greater the risk of bad weather. She could just make out, to the very far west, beneath a slate layer of clouds, the feathery, blue-gray swirls of rain blowing south. But for her, the way ahead was nothing but blue skies: a day that promised to be crisp and picture-perfect, and something she was pretty sure her parents would’ve loved.

If only she could remember who they were.

In the beginning, there’d been smoke.

She was fifteen and an orphan by then, which was kind of sucky, although she’d had a year to get over it already. When the smoky stink persisted and there was no fire, her aunt decided Alex was having one of those post-traumatic things and shipped her off to a shrink, a complete gestapo-wannabe who probably wore black stilettos and beat her husband: Ah zo, ze smoke, zis is a repetition of your parents’ crash, yah? Only the shrink was also pretty smart and promptly shipped Alex off to Barrett, a neurosurgeon, who found the monster.

Of course, the tumor was cancerous and inoperable. So she got chemo and radiation, and her hair and eyebrows fell out. The upside: her legs and pits never needed shaving. The downside was that the antinausea drugs didn’t work—so just her luck—and she puked about every five minutes, driving the bulimics at school a little nuts because she was, like, this total pro. In between treatments, she stopped puking and her hair, rich and red as blood, grew back. A chronic headache muttered in her temples, but like Barrett said, no one ever died from pain. True, but some days you didn’t much enjoy living either. Eventually, the smell of smoke went away—but so did the smell of everything else, because the monster didn’t shrivel up but continued silently growing and munching.

What no one warned her about was that when you had no sense of smell at all, a lot of memories fizzled. Like the way the smell of a pine tree conjured a quick brain-snapshot of tinsel and Christmas lights and a glittery angel, or the spice of nutmeg and buttery cinnamon made you flash to a bright kitchen and your mother humming as she pressed pie crust into a glass dish. With no sense of smell, your memories dropped like pennies out of a ripped pocket, until the past was ashes and your parents were blanks: nothing more than the holes in Swiss cheese.

A stuttering beat, something between a lawnmower and a semiautomatic rifle, broke the silence. A moment later, she spotted the plane—a white, single-prop job—buzzing over the valley, heading north and west. Her eyes dropped to her watch: ten minutes to eight. Sucker was right on time. After four days, she decided that it was the same plane that made a twice-daily run, a little before eight every morning and about twenty minutes after four every afternoon. She could pretty much set her watch by the guy.

The buzz of the plane faded and the quiet descended again like a bell jar over the forest. The hollow thock-thock-thock of a woodpecker drifted up from the valley far below. A trio of crows grated to one another in the pines, and a hawk carved a lazy spiral against the sky.

She sipped her coffee, heard herself swallow. The coffee smelled and tasted like nothing, just hot and brown. Then, something—a soft, tan blur—moved out of the corner of her eye, off to the right. She tossed a quick glance, not expecting anything more exciting than a squirrel or maybe a chipmunk.So the dog was, well, kind of a surprise.

Among other things, I was an English major in college and so I know that I'm supposed to write things like, "Ilsa J. Bick is ." Except I hate writing about myself in the third person like I'm not in the room. Helloooo, I'm right here . . . So let's just say that I'm a child psychiatrist (yeah, you read that right)as well as a film scholar, surgeon wannabe (meaning I did an internship in surgery and LOVED it and maybe shoulda stuck), former Air Force major—and an award-winning, best-selling author of short stories, e-books, and novels. Believe me, no one is more shocked about this than I . . . unless you talk to my mother.

To learn more about Ilsa J. Bick and her books, visit her website. You can also find her on Goodreads, Facebook, Instagram, Tumblr, BookBub, YouTube, Pinterest, and Twitter.

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Book Review: My Life with the Walter Boys by Ali Novak

My Life with the Walter Boys (My Life with the Walter Boys #1) by Ali Novak
Genre: Young Adult Fiction (Contemporary Romance)
Date Published: May 14, 2012
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire

From a fresh new voice on the contemporary YA scene, My Life with the Walter Boys centers on the prim, proper, and always perfect Jackie Howard. When her world is turned upside down by tragedy, Jackie must learn to cut loose and be part of a family again.

Jackie does not like surprises. Chaos is the enemy! The best way to get her successful, busy parents to notice her is to be perfect. The perfect look, the perfect grades-the perfect daughter. And then...

Surprise #1: Jackie's family dies in a freak car accident.

Surprise #2: Jackie has to move cross-country to live with the Walters-her new guardians.

Surprise #3: The Walters have twelve sons. (Well, eleven, but Parker acts like a boy anyway)

Now Jackie must trade in her Type A personality and New York City apartment for a Colorado ranch and all the wild Walter boys who come with it. Jackie is surrounded by the enemy-loud, dirty, annoying boys who have no concept of personal space. Okay, several of the oldest guys are flat-out gorgeous. But still annoying. She's not stuck-up or boring-no matter what they say. But proving it is another matter. How can she fit in and move on when she needs to keep her parents' memory alive by living up to the promise of perfect?

Ali Novak wrote My Life with the Walter Boys when she was just 15 years old. First a hit on the online community Wattpad, this debut novel has already been read over 33 million times and is loved by readers around the world.

My Life with the Walter Boys is the first book in the series by the same name by Ali Novak. This was a pretty good read. I found out about it through the TV series. I liked the show, but the book is much better… as they usually are. The characters were very believable, and there are a lot of them. I do get some of the younger boys confused with one another, but I don’t feel like it detracts from the story at this point. The epilogue from Cole’s point of view was nice too. It let’s you know where his head is at in the beginning. It also makes me wonder if that’s who Jackie ultimately ends up with since none of the other boys had their perspective shared. The TV show actually drags things out more and makes issues out of non-issues. There's already so much going on. Why add more? Anyway, yes, the book is the way to go. 

Ali Novak writes contemporary young adult romance and is a recent graduate of the University of Madison Wisconsin's creative writing program. She wrote her first full length novel, My Life with the Walter Boys, at the age of fifteen. Since posting the story online, it has received more than 33 million reads and is now published by Sourcebooks Fire.

To learn more about Ali Novak and her books, visit her website.You can also find her on Goodreads, Facebook, Instagram, Wattpad, YouTube, and Twitter.

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Book Review: Girl in Luv by Jay Crownover & Rebecca Yarros

Girl in Luv (In Luv Duet #1) by Jay Crownover & Rebecca Yarros
Genre: New Adult Fiction (Contemporary Romance)
Date Published: October 19, 2019
Publisher: Jay Crownover LLC

Langley Vaughn is in desperate need of a date.

But not just any date.

She’s looking for a date to the wedding from hell. It isn’t every day you’re forced to be in the bridal party while your first love marries your arch nemesis… otherwise known as the world’s worst stepsister. The entire situation is a nightmare, and Langley is sick and tired of taking orders and forcing a fake smile. She’s done being the bad guy when she was the one who was wronged.

She needs to find a date who’s not afraid of her family’s money and someone who is willing to shake things up. She needs someone outside of her normal social circle, someone ready to go to war with the well-to-do. She needs someone who won’t back down. Someone willing to play the complicated game of tug of war she’s been engaged in with her family for years.

Never in a million years did she think she was going to stumble across her very own heroic heartthrob when she set her crazy plan in motion.

Not only does Iker show up for her time and time again, he also forced her to finally fight for herself.

He says he’s only there for the money… but his actions speak so much louder than his words.

Iker Alvarez would do anything and everything to get his hands on some quick cash.

Not just any cash, but enough to make sure his younger brother gets into the college of his dreams.

Thank goodness for a desperate, pretty little rich girl with too much money and her heart set on an outrageous scheme. Being in the right place at the right time might just be the answer to both of their prayers — and this smart soldier has never let a golden opportunity slide by.

Iker doesn’t mind coming to Langley’s rescue and being her plus-one… as long as the price is right.

Only, he didn’t plan on liking the blonde socialite as much as he does. He is totally unprepared for the pull he feels toward her, coupled with his growing desire to protect her from the vultures and villains living under the same roof.

He wants to be the guy who keeps her safe and gives her the courage to fight back that she obviously needs… But someone else, someone far more powerful and influential than Langley’s wealthy family, has dibs on Iker’s time and on his future. He knows he isn’t the guy Langley can count on in the long run, but damn if he doesn’t want to do everything in his power to be that man.

Girl in Luv is book one in the In Luv Duet by Jay Crownover and Rebecca Yarros. I'm already a big fan of Rebecca Yarros and her Empyrean Series, so I was excited to check this book out. I liked Iker and Langley from the start. I don't envy Langley and her step family situation. I don't know that I'd be as nice as she is. As for Iker... I really liked him a LOT. Until the end! What the heck dude?! For such a quick, fun read, these characters were pretty believable. There's a lot of story packed in a small package with this one. I'm curious to see how things play out in the next one.  

Jay Crownover is the International and multiple New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of the Marked Men Series, The Saints of Denver Series, The Point and Breaking Point Series, and the Loveless, Texas series. Her books can be found translated in many different languages all around the world. She is a tattooed, crazy haired Colorado native who lives at the base of the Rockies with her awesome dogs. This is where she can frequently be found enjoying a cold beer and Taco Tuesdays. Jay is a self-declared music snob and outspoken book lover who is always looking for her next adventure, between the pages and on the road.

To learn more about Jay Crownover and her books, visit her website. You can also find her on Goodreads and Twitter.

Rebecca Yarros is a hopeless romantic and coffee addict. She is the New York Times bestselling author of over twenty novels, including Fourth Wing, The Last Letter and The Things We Leave Unfinished. She’s also the recipient of the Colorado Romance Writer’s Award of Excellence for Eyes Turned Skyward. Rebecca loves military heroes and has been blissfully married to hers for over twenty years. A mother of six, she is currently surviving the teenage years with all four of her hockey-playing sons.

To learn more about Rebecca Yarros and her books, visit her website. You can also find her on Goodreads, Facebook, Instagram,  Pinterest, and Twitter.

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