Review: Lost Rider by Harper Sloan

LOST RIDER
Series: Coming Home #1
Genre: Western Romance
Author: Harper Sloan
Release Date: April 25, 2017

In Lost Rider, the first Western romance in New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author Harper Sloan’s Coming Home series, an injured rodeo star encounters an old flame but will she be just what he needs to get back in the saddle?

Maverick Austin Davis is forced to return home after a ten-year career as a rodeo star. After one too many head injuries, he’s off the circuit and in the horse farming business, something he’s never taken much of a shine to, but now that it’s his late father’s legacy, familial duty calls. How will Maverick find his way after the only dream he ever had for himself is over?

Enter Leighton Elizabeth James, an ugly duckling turned beauty from Maverick’s childhood—his younger sister’s best friend, to be exact, and someone whose heart he stomped all over when she confessed her crush to him ten years back. Now Leighton is back in Maverick’s life, no longer the insecure, love-stricken teen—and Maverick can’t help but take notice. Sparks fly between them, but will Leighton be able to open her heart to the one man who broke it all those years ago?

Written in the vein of Diana Palmer and Lindsay McKenna, this Texas-set series is filled with sizzle, heart, and plenty of cowboys!

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She was my compass when I was lost without direction. She was the pull I always felt to come home but never had the balls to try, knowing that it might be too late.

It’s been a long while since I read a Harper Sloan book. While I enjoyed several of her Corps Security books, her others just didn’t jive with me. But being a sucker for Western Romance, I simply couldn’t pass up the chance to give this a shot, and I’m glad I did. There’s a distinct difference in the writing style that I really enjoyed. Besides that, the blurb for the book instantly hooked me

Leighton James isn’t a woman that you can have and let go.

Leighton James has been in love with Maverick Davis for as long as she can remember. But when she finally grew enough strength to admit to her feelings, he broke her heart and left it shattered beneath his cowboy boots as he ran as fast as he can from the town he grew up in. Now ten years later, after a career ending injury and his father’s death, he’s begrudgingly back. But many things have changed since he left and Leighton is no longer the little girl with stars in her eyes that he left behind. She’s now a woman that’s not afraid to tell him exactly what she thinks of him and she certainly doesn’t mince words.

All she had to do was walk into a room and I forgot it all. I forgot because she became the only thing I wanted more than my need to chase my dreams. The only thing I craved more than escaping.

The first 35% of the story had me completely hooked. I loved the unresolved tension between Leigh and Maverick. I loved their angst and I seriously loved their banter. Leigh is a firecracker and it was entertaining as hell watching her tell Maverick exactly what she thinks of him. Maverick is determined to right the wrongs of his past mistakes, the biggest being pushing Leigh away and never telling her his feelings. He’s not letting her go a second time and he’s prepared to fight for her this time around.

Then somewhere around the 35% mark, my interest began to slowly wane, and somewhere around the 50% mark I found myself almost disengaged from the story completely. I felt like the we got so much in that first 30% that everything following that was almost…dare I say…filler. There was a lot of conversations about the past. Numerous and repetitive. You get Maverick explaining why he left and the secrets he’s been hiding. But because you get that revelation so early in the story, there’s nothing really hooking you anymore. Yes, you get the development of their relationship, but it’s already fairly obvious of where it’ll go, so the rest of it kind of started to feel like mundane detail. All of the excitement is packed in the first quarter of the story and the rest is Leigh and Maverick talking, living their lives, and interacting with the locals and Maverick’s brother and sister. I really felt like the last 70% could have easily been cut down and the reader wouldn’t have lost out on much.

Did I enjoy it? Yes. For the most part. The first quarter was enough to tide me over and while I did have to push myself to finish, it was still a sweet read. The steam factor was just enough and didn’t feel like it was overshadowing the romance.

Head over boots, cowboy. Head. Over. Boots.”

And I’m hooked enough that I’d be curious to check out the next book in the series.

PRE-ORDER BOOK 2 IN THE SERIES, RELEASING JULY 18, 2017

KISS MY BOOTS

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