The Ride of Her Life by Jennifer Dugan

The Ride of Her Life Reviews

• 
  Emmaby Barton Grace

  a win for the gay horse girlies (me) i am v excited
• 
  Madalyn (Novel Ink)

  despite the cheesy title, this ended up being an unexpected delight! i’m not usually a fan of western romances (although perhaps i just needed to read a sapphic one), but i DO love a hate-to-love romance, which i thought this book did really well. the setting and premise were both really fun, and i loved the little misfit found family molly was thrust into when she took over the barn. i also really liked shani as a love interest and felt bought into the romance despite the quick timeline.
  
  the one critique i have is that, while the ending overall was satisfying and all the big things get resolved, there felt, to me, to be a lack of resolution in the molly’s relationships with her best friend and her mom.
  
  overall, though, i had a blast reading this and couldn’t put it down! if you’re looking for a quick sapphic romance to blow through this summer, look no further. save a horse, ride a cowgirl, etc. 🤠
  
  thank you to the publisher for sending a digital review copy my way via netgalley!
• 
  Stella 🍉

  IS IT TOO MUCH TO ASK FOR A GOOD SAPPHIC CONTEMPORARY ENEMIES TO LOVERS
  
  3.5 stars, rounded down | I had a lot of mixed feelings while I was reading this book. The beginning was rough, but once Molly (our narrator) got on her feet, it was a lot more interesting. Overall, the characters were likable, and I did enjoy Shani and Molly’s dynamic. However, their nearly constant conflict was a little frustrating. I would have liked more of the previous plot points/characters to have been elaborated on, but overall, this was a very enjoyable read.
• 
  Manon (bookswithonno)

  Ughh I was enjoying this SO MUCH! The end of the story just wasn’t quite what I hoped it would be. I feel like a lot was rushed. This book has so much potential but it didn’t fully deliver.
  
  From this point on, SPOILERS:
  The fight between Molly’s mother and aunt was a large part of the plot but eventually the reason for the fight was explained only briefly. I needed more details. The end of the book left me wondering if Molly and her mom would be okay, as her mom never supported her plan of keeping the farm. Further, Molly suddenly got into a fight with her best friend and it was briefly brushed over with a “we’ll probably resolve this issue eventually because we have a lot of history”. I was also left wondering if Shani will ever come to terms with her brother leaving. Actually, I think Shani’s trauma deserved a lot more attention in the book. It was also discussed very briefly. I just wish the author had taken more time to properly work out these points, especially the ending.
• 
  Skylar Merrell

  NOT CLAIMING THIS FOR THE SUMMER OF COWBOY ROMANCES!
  
  Every character in this book is unlikable, there was no plot, and everyone is just like nasty to each other in this book for no reason aside from 2 people.
  
  Ugh this had potential, but unfortunately reading this was anything but enjoyable.
• 
  Shannon

  This was a super fun, fish out of water, opposites attract Sapphic romance that sees bisexual city girl, Molly, inheriting a run-down farm from her estranged aunt only to find herself getting off on the wrong heel with her lesbian tenant/horse expert/ferrier, Shani.
  
  There was lots of great chemistry between the two female leads, I loved seeing Molly blunder her way through adjusting to life on a farm and falling in love with both it and Shani. I think this is one of my new favs by Jennifer Dugan and it was also great on audio narrated by Lindsey Dorcus!
  
  Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital copy in exchange for my honest review. Highly recommended for fans of Schitt's Creek or authors like Ashley Herring Blake. A great choice for Pride Month and that cover is just too cute!
  
  
  Steam level: some spicy/open door scenes
• 
  Anniek

  This was my 5th book by Jennifer Dugan, and most of them have been very middle of the road and unmemorable for me. I can already tell this will be the same. I did mostly enjoy this, but it also just didn't quite become as good as it could have been. So much of this left me wanting, and the main characters annoyed me a lot at times.
• 
  Brend

  I would hate to be Molly's friend; amazing for them tho! Very yeehaw of them.
• 
  Dilayra Verbrugh

  Spicy cowboy romance but make it sapphic!
  Grumpy x sunshine trope.
  This was a fun quick read that got better after the first few chapters. It wasn't mind blowing but I also wasn't bored!
• 
  Martina Barrow

  Cowboy romances are all the rage right now, but what about a city girl/cowgirl romance? Let me tell you...it works. I really enjoyed this one, the love/hate relationship, Molly having to learn how to run a horse farm, the side characters. It was overall just a fun and humor filled book. The miscommunication trope I'm not a huge fan of but the way it happened worked for me. I wish we would've gotten more of their happily ever after, I felt like once they finally figured themselves out, the book was over. I think I would have loved it even more if it would have been dual POV, I think romances really work better that way. If you're in your cowboy/cowgirl romance era, love a good city girl moves to a farm, mid-twenties trying to figure life out story, then this is the book for you.
  
  Thank you to NetGalley and Avon for an ARC in exchange for my honest review. Thank you to Goodreads and Avon for the physical giveaway copy I received.
• 
  Chloe

  reading this book was like being psychologically tortured
• 
  Gaby

  I had never read a sapphic cowgirl/western romance before this, so I was really excited to pick up The Ride of Her Life. Unfortunately, I didn't enjoy it as much as I thought I would.
  
  My biggest issue with the book is the constant conflict. Everyone was always fighting, and there were so many miscommunications that it was hard for me to feel anything other than anxious about the love story. It also didn't help that Molly (MC and narrator) would make decisions without realizing that sometimes things were bigger than her (don't want to spoil but there's a big issue that arises at the end that stems from this).
  
  I did, however, appreciate the community that Molly created and enjoyed seeing the progression of that. The narrative voice is funny, though a little too contemporary for me (TikTok and the pandemic were referenced one too many times), and definitely earned this book a spot in the romantic comedy genre.
  
  Overall, I didn't love The Ride of Her Life but would recommend to fans of western romances and the miscommunication trope.
  
  Thank you to the publisher for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review!
• 
  cerys

  if someone ever asks ‘why do so many people dislike the miscommunication trope so much’, give them this book! i felt like molly and shani were in constant conflict with zero chemistry behind it, and all of their arguments could have been solved with one conversation.
  i liked molly’s character and the way she developed and stood on her own two feet, but shani just didn’t give me the same energy, and i can’t back a relationship when i don’t like half of the couple.
  also nat?! what the hell happened to nat?! surely there should have been an epilogue with them sorting things out?! im just infuriated by the whole thing.
• 
  Mia Reads Romance

  I was super excited to read this one. Grumpy sunshine is always a favorite as is fish out of water. Unfortunately, I couldn't get past my dislike of the mc.
  
  Molly inherits her aunt's house ranch and plans to sell it so that she can start her event planning business. That is completely understandable, but she doesn't communicate her plans well to the people who live here. She spent a lot of time worrying what people would think of her, and it prevented her from giving people the notice they needed.
  
  I also felt like she had a lot of unhealthy relationships in her life, and I didn't feel like she went far enough to correct those. She decided to make decisions for herself but she still hoped to make up with everyone who had been problematic in her life. I would have liked to see her grow more. Additionally, this felt more like naive and resentful than grumpy sunshine.
  
  I know some people don't mind disliking the main characters and if that is you then you may love this one. I don't think it was poorly written or plotted I just didn't enjoy the main character and the character growth she accomplished.
  
  🌶️🌶️ - This book has one detailed spicy scene and a few other fade to black scenes
  
  Thanks to Avon for providing me with an eARC of this title. All opinions are my own.
• 
  Britt

  Look, I really liked the trappings of this book. A horse-y lesbian romance? Sign me right on up. But despite being a horse girl tween myself, I really didn't like this, and it's because all of the characters were so extremely self-centered. At one point, the main character's narcissism was so extreme that I was like...is this going to turn into a psychological thriller, actually? For example, the main character expects her best friend (and her wife) to drive two hours (both ways) like every weekend to help MC fix up a house. With no offer of payment or like any real semblance of appreciation. And then the friend's wife tries to call the MC on it and then the MC basically just shrugs and it's dropped forever. So yeah, I didn't like the main character. I also didn't care for the love interest, the mom or the best friend because they were all also extremely caught up in their own stuff. It got to the point where it was hard for me to read and I debated DNFing (after the leaving at the bar thing because WHAT and WHO WOULD DO THAT), but I did manage to finish it. Tyler and Lochlin can stay. 1 star - I didn't like it.
• 
  Mia

  This was such cute read! My biggest struggle with this book was the miscommunication. While at times it felt believable, for the most part I had a hard time connecting with the conflict.
  
  ARC kindly provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
  
• 
  Monet Daffodil

  5/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
  The Ride Of Her Life
  Author: Jennifer Dugan
  Romance
  
  Thank you so much Avon Books and Netgalley for this ARC! Amazing debut from Jennifer Dugan! I loved this western sapphic romance. Sign me up for all books with horses please. Molly is in a rut financially and somewhat emotionally. She is living with her mom and barely making ends meet working at a coffee shop. She desperately wants to get her event planning business off the ground but is having a hard time pulling it off. Her estranged aunt unexpectedly passes away, leaving Molly her entire barn and business. What comes with it is Shanti who hates Molly instantly since she thought the barn would be going to her. Grumpy x sunshine, enemies to lovers, cute sapphic romance. I loved it! Can’t wait to read more by her. 🐴
• 
  Jamie

  I enjoyed this overall!
  
  I have a mixed record with a lot of Jennifer Dugan’s books. I enjoyed Some Girls Do and Love at First Set, but was disappointed with Melt With You and Playing For Keeps. So I was kinda waiting for a reviewer I trust to read it to make a read it and report, but no one was really. So when I saw the audiobook available on Everand (formerly Scribd) I decided to bite the bullet and give it a shot. And it worked for me!
  
  I really enjoyed the enemies to lovers aspect of the book. Shani and Molly bounced off each other really well, and when they got together I felt it.
  
  I also loved the setting of the horse ranch, and all the side characters that work the ranch or board their horses there. I’m a city girl through and through but I do enjoy cowboy and horse stories so I thoroughly enjoyed all of that.
  
  My main issue with the book came from the ending, though not her relationship with Shani, but I was unsatisfied with how Molly resolved things with her mom and best friend.
  
  All said and done this definitely is among the positive side of Dugan's writing, and I enjoyed it. 4/5
• 
  momo 🦇

  yet another grumpy x sunshine troupe but another Amazing one. lost some points for all the miscommunication in it but it's still really Really good. as a southern sapphic (even though this takes place in new york apparently and i Don't know a lot about horses besides going to the rodeo) it was wonderful to read about something a bit more familiar.
• 
  ashley

  you’ve heard of cowboy romance, but i raise you sapphic cowgirls 🤠
  
  the ride of her life is a cute romance between molly, a young woman trying to get her event planning business up and running in the wake of student loan debt, and shani, a farrier for molly’s estranged aunt christina. when christina dies, she leaves her nearly bankrupt stables/adjoining property to molly, who she hasn’t spoken to in years after she and molly’s mom had a falling out. shani is immediately resentful of molly, as she’s been living on christina’s property for most of her life, and was the one to take care of her up until the end. despite their differences, and much to each of their dismay, molly and shani are now living on the same property.
  
  the subplot between shani’s brother and his best friend was also super cute and id love to read their story one day.
  
  my only complaints about the story:
  —there was nearly constant conflict and miscommunication between molly and shani. i’m not a huge fan of the miscommunication trope to begin with, and every time things started to move forward, there seemed to be another miscommunication to revert the two FMCs development back to where it started.
  —i wish that the plot line with molly’s best friend, nat, came to a resolution. much of molly’s character development centered around the realization that nat seems to treat her like a child and make decisions for her, but we never saw that fully play out towards the end.
  
  thank you to netgalley and harper voyager for the arc in exchange for an honest review!
• 
  Ayra

  I wanted to love this book so much! The plot was there and the romance SHOULD have been there too but it just was not what I expected.
  
  The main characters were all extremely self-centered and it made it very difficult for me to enjoy reading about their stories. Molly was somewhere between a love sick puppy and a stubborn asshole that presented as a teenage girl. The miscommunication between ALL of the characters was so awful I wanted to not only pull my hair out but also pluck my eyes out as well.
  
  Things that should have been such common sense didn’t get discussed or talked about until the later quarter of the book. I found myself really holding out hope that it would get better and redeem itself but this book was just not it for me. I almost DNF’d it so many times and really just should have.
• 
  Kiera

  This book fed my inner horse girl in the best way possible.
  
  This is a cute, steamy, sapphic novel set on a horse ranch. I loved the main character Molly, and of course the love interest Shani.
  
  This book uses the miscommunication trope, which I don't usually love, but I feel like it was done in an understandable way. It is an enemies-to-lovers romance as well, which is one of my favorite tropes.
  
  I've read a few of Jennifer Dugan's books, and I look forward to reading more from her in the future! Also the cover of this book is perfection.
  4 stars
• 
  Arianna ✨

  This was a fun summery read set on an inherited horse farm! I really enjoyed the characters and the small town feel. I also loved the idea of the love interest being a female farrier especially since every one I’ve seen in other books have all been men.
  
  The actual romance felt a little lackluster. It just felt more like the enemies / rivals started getting along and then were suddenly in love but also not communicating that to each other.
  
  Overall, I really enjoyed the book & fills a perfect space in the sapphic book space!
  
  Thank you to Harper Collins, Avon Books, NetGalley, and Jennifer Dugan for letting me read an early copy (ebook & physical)!
• 
  Katie BC

  gahhh I don’t understand how this book doesn’t get more praise!!
  I loved every second, maybe because the MC and I are basically the same person (a stubborn, blonde, sapphic barista swiftie with a passion for event planning and crippling student debt… yeah), but what a funny, sweet, steamy, enjoyable haters to lovers story this was!
  apparently I now have a thing for hot butch horse girls now…
• 
  asti lanc

  i’m sad that I didn’t enjoy this because sapphic cowboy romcom sounded amazing. unfortunately, our main characters are both incredibly unlikable imo, the supporting characters varied in likability far too much for my taste, and there was a lot of really weird conflict. like we have our MC’s bestie’s gf going off on our MC in a short moment that is pretty much never addressed again and then we have the bestie just straight drinking haterade for the whole book!! that’s crazy!!! these characters lack an alarming amount of emotional maturity for grown adults and overall the storyline was pretty messy with half baked concepts all throughout.
• 
  Jess Grayson (bookspastbedtime)

  Wanted to love this one SO BAD, but it just wasn't it. Both MCs were insufferable, the chemistry was not there, the dialogue was cringe, and the plot was full of holes/conveniences. So sad because I wanted a five-star sapphic horse girl romance more than ANYTHING !!!
• 
  Bekka

  2.5 ⭐️ i wanted to love this, the idea is cute but i disliked most of the characters! The pacing was off and the character development was not doing it for me! Everything felt so rushed and unfinished, at the very least this needed an epilogue, there are still a lot of loose ends
• 
  caffienatednovels

  this book would've been 5 stars if there was the povs of molly and shani
• 
  Grace

  main character suffers from silly billy and dumb bitch disease because why did she not think of putting the two businesses together in the first place like i was thinking of that by page 10 how was she not?
• 
  Dani (Daniiireads)

  3.5 ⭐
  
  The Ride of her Life was my first sapphic western romance, and was overall a good time. I'm a sucker for enemies to lovers & grumpy x sunshine tropes, so I absolutely ate up the banter and chemistry between Shani and Molly! That being said, I hate the miscommunication trope, and these two could have cleared so much up if they had just talked to each other, but it was nothing but constant drama and bickering. It was so frustrating and made me want to strangle them both lol