Title: Training the Heart
Author: Paisley Hope
Publisher: Dell
Genre: Romance
Pages: 448
My Rating: ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
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Training the Heart
Ivy Spencer is a young horse trainer who gets the chance to prove herself at Silver Pines Ranch. It’s exactly what she needs after everything she’s been through with her last relationship and her mother.
Wade is Ivy’s complete opposite and doesn’t let anyone in. He’s also coming out of a terrible relationship and is now fully focused on the ranch. Wade had to hire Ivy after his previous trainer became a mother, but that doesn’t mean he agrees with the way Ivy wants to train the horses.
Review
This is the second book in the Silver Pines Ranch series. I read the first book, Holding the Reins, at the beginning of the year, and I absolutely loved it. I’m a big fan of cowboy romances. I was already familiar with cowboy romances by Elsie Silver and Lyla Sage, and now I can add Paisley Hope as another instant-buy author.
Ivy and Wade have both been through similar experiences. They were each in toxic relationships with terrible ex-partners. At the same time, they are complete opposites. Ivy is the sunshine character in this story, while Wade is definitely the grumpy one. But slowly, he starts to open up and smile more often. At the beginning, they weren’t the biggest fans of each other. Ivy especially enjoyed getting under Wade’s skin, which was really fun to read.
Their relationship begins to develop into something more when Ivy gets hurt and Wade starts taking care of her. He does all these little things for her, and in my opinion, that was incredibly attractive. Honestly, to win my heart, you just have to be a gentleman and do those small, thoughtful things.
The story itself was interesting. It’s not just about their relationship or life on the ranch; it also explores their pasts and personal struggles. It touches on emotionally abusive relationships, the loss of a parent, and alcoholism. These are pretty heavy topics, but the rest of the story keeps it from feeling too overwhelming. Ivy’s ex, in particular, did some truly awful things to her.
That said, even though the story was good, there was also a lot of spice. Don’t get me wrong—I’m not against spice in books. When it’s well-written, it can be fun. And while it was well-written here, it was also quite a lot. I think the first 50% of the book had no spice, although there was definitely tension and anticipation. The second half, however, was full of it. In my opinion, it could have been toned down a bit. For me, the story is always the most important part of a book, not the spice; that’s not why I read romance. Still, I gave it a 5-star rating because it didn’t bother me too much.
The book was well-written, and I flew through it. The paperback has 448 pages, and I finished it in just one day. Paisley’s writing style is simple and engaging. It never felt boring, and it had the perfect balance between lighthearted moments and heavier themes.
If you’re into cowboy romances, you should definitely check out this series. I would recommend reading it in order, though, since characters from the first book make frequent appearances.