Done and Dusted by Lyla Sage | Book Review

Done and Dusted by Lyla Sage
Series: Rebel Blue Ranch #1
Genre: Contemporary, Romance
Pages: 356
Published by: Quercus Books on 24th October, 2023
Format: Paperback
Add to Goodreads
Buy on Amazon (not affiliated)

Book Synopsis:

She’s off-limits, but he’s never been good at following the rules . . .

For the first time in her life, Clementine ‘Emmy’ Ryder has no idea what she’s doing. She’s accomplished everything on her to-do list. She left her small hometown of Meadowlark, Wyoming, went to college, and made a career for herself by doing her favorite thing: riding horses. But after an accident makes it impossible for her to get back into the saddle, she has no choice but to return to the hometown she always wanted to escape.

Luke Brooks is Meadowlark’s most notorious bad boy, bar owner, and bachelor. He’s also the unofficial fifth member of the Ryder family. As Emmy’s older brother’s best friend, Luke spent most of his childhood antagonizing her. It’s been years since he’s seen her, but when she walks into his bar and back into his life, he can’t take his eyes off her. Against his better judgment, he wants to do a whole lot more than just look at her.

As things between Emmy and Brooks heat up, it gets more difficult for him to keep his hands off of her. Can he help her get her spark back? Or will they both go up in flames?

Book Review

Due to loving the Chestnut Springs series so much, I wanted to try another small town romance series. I had been seeing this one a lot on social media so I decided to finally pick it up. I went into this book without reading the blurb so you could say I went in blind. *I want to try a different style of review today..*

What I Liked:

✨ The small town atmosphere/setting
✨ The side characters – particularly Teddy!
✨ The ADHD representation and how it was handled
✨ Both the FMC and MMC
✨ Some cute and romantic scenes
✨ Easy to read and fast-paced

What I Didn’t Like:

✨ The MMC using the nickname ‘sugar’ for the FMC
✨ Dialogue was a little cheesy at times
✨ Slightly rushed ending
✨ The spicy scenes were lacklustre majority of the time
✨ Felt quite insta-lovey

Tropes:

🩵 Brother’s Best Friend
🩵 He Falls First
🩵 ADHD Rep
🩵 No 3rd Act Breakup
🩵 Close Proximity

I think this was a good book to start the series and I will definitely be continuing on. Although I liked both the main characters, I didn’t feel as connected to them as I thought I would. The second half was much better than the first and by the end it felt right them being together. If you enjoy a small town setting and like a romance book then I would recommend giving this one a go.