Swift And Saddled – Lyla Sage

Swift And Saddled is the second book in the Rebel Blue Ranch series of cowboy romances by Lyla Sage. I can’t honestly remember why I picked up the second book in the series, rather than start at the beginning, but I do recall that I was immediately drawn to the gorgeous cover art when it first started appearing in my #Bookstagram feed.

The story is set in Wyoming on the fictional Rebel Blue Ranch, an 8,000 acre cattle farm that’s about to get a brand-new guest house, with finishing touches overseen by a tattooed interior designer flown in from San Francisco. Ada spends her first night in Wyoming at a dive bar where she catches the eye of a handsome cowboy. They have a steamy make-out session in a darkened hallway… but when they are interrupted, she quickly flees, determined to leave all thoughts of romance behind and focus on her new job.

Of course, when she arrives at Rebel Blue Ranch, she discovers that her mysterious make-out man and her new boss are one and the same. Wes will be running the new Baby Blue Ranch Guesthouse. He’s the middle child of the Ryder family, and he’s clearly got something to prove. He’s instantly captivated by Ada, the (relatively) recently divorced interior designer who has convinced herself that she’s “not nice”. Will they be able to ignore the sparks that flew between them at the bar, or will they have no choice but to fall head-over-heels in love?

Swift And Saddled is told from both Ada and Wes’s points of view, about a 60/40 split between their chapters. The most important character – Wes’s dog, Waylon – didn’t get anywhere near enough page time in my humble opinion. At least that means that nothing bad happens to him, I guess.

Swift And Saddled is occasionally exposition-heavy, especially in Ada’s chapters. She spends a lot of time explaining to the reader exactly how she’s feeling and why she’s feeling that way. It’s all just a little too self-conscious and self-aware to be entirely believable. Both of the main characters are battling against stories they’re telling themselves about who they are, despite all evidence to the contrary (Ada believes she’s unlikeable, even though everyone she meets seems to immediately warm to her, and Wes has classic middle-child syndrome, even though his father is abundant with his love and affection). I’m not sure whether this disconnect between who the characters are and who they believe themselves to be is a deliberate authorial choice, or whether it’s a convenient way to get the reader to emotionally invest in their “struggle”.

I did like the matter-of-fact way that Wes discusses his diagnosis of depression, treated with medication, and the way that revelation is met with compassion and support. His family and their extended hangers-on all seem wonderful, and their unquestioning love for one another is palpable.

All told, Swift And Saddled is a good quick read, a semi-spicy cowboy romance with a great cast of characters – not to mention a great tourism campaign for the humble state of Wyoming.

Read Swift And Saddled on audiobook via Libro.fm here.

My favourite Amazon reviews of Swift And Saddled:

• “The story is great and I love Layla’s writing. The design choices however, questionable.” – Natalie
• “Even though I liked the MMC, I never understood what he saw in FMC other than the fact she was there.” – MissJonez
• “It annoyed me how people constantly tried to make an effort with her and she’d be like ‘they don’t really wanna hang out with me’ like jeez just try.” – Lauren