Early this year I read my first cowboy romance ever, Flawless by Elsie Silver. This was in fact my first book of the year and the start of my romance era which lasted for nearly the entirety of 2024. Now, as the year is almost over, I read yet another cowboy romance: Done and Dusted by Lyla Sage. This is the first novel in the “Rebel Blue Ranch” series and I was wondering whether I liked it as much as my earlier encounters with this subgenre. Was this indeed the case or is my romance era coming to an end?

About the book

Done and Dusted Series: Rebel Blue Ranch #1
Published by Independently published on June 6, 2023
Pages: 356
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance

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 done everything on her to-do list. She left her small hometown, went to college, and made a name for herself doing her favorite thing: riding horses. But when an injury results in an obstacle she can’t overcome, Emmy leaves behind a career, an apartment, and a boyfriend for the hometown she spent her whole life trying 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, who spent his entire childhood antagonizing Emmy, the youngest Ryder sibling.
It’s been years since he’s seen his best friend’s little sister, but when she walks into his bar and back into his life, he can’t take his eyes off her.
Brooks takes it upon himself to get to the bottom of why Emmy returned to Meadowlark and what happened to put out the perpetual fire in her eyes. But first, he needs Emmy to take him up on his offer to be friends. An offer that has nothing to do with the fact that he can’t stop thinking about her.
At least, that’s what he tells himself.
As things between Emmy and Brooks heat up, it’s getting 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?

My review

This story is alternately told from Clementine (Emmy) and Luke. They know each other for their entire life, but never liked each other. Moreover, Luke is Emmy’s oldest brother’s best friend. After high school, Emmy escaped the small town of Medowlark, and relocated to Denver. She went to college there and established her professional barrel racing career. After an accident, she is traumatized to get back in the saddle and doesn’t know what to do with her life anymore. She therefore returns home, to figure this out. On her first night back there she runs into Luke, the man who she never wishes to see again. Luke is a bad boy, but throughout the story we get to  know his protective and soft side. He is good with the horses and good with the kids he’s instructing in horse riding. We barely see these interactions, apart from Riley, his best friends daughter. Getting feelings for Emmy isn’t on his bingo card and is even impossible since his best friend is really protective over his little sister. Sage wrote his conflicting feelings really well. He knows what he wants, but he also knows his reputation and what this could possibly mean.

Apart from these mentioned conflicting feelings, I found the character development substandard for a romance. Both characters are written well, but their development feels pretty rushed. Emmy has endured a lot in the past few weeks, but the novel is too fast-paced to let her heal properly. I mean, this entire story is centred around her healing, but it happens too fast to be believable. I didn’t feel any connection or emotion and that’s something I expect in a story centred around healing from a traumatic experience. Also, Luke barely seems to grow as a character and that’s unfortunate. The other characters are written fine, but there’s not much to them in this first book. This is quite a disappointment for a character driven story.

Romance seems to be my go-to genre in 2024 and therefore I’ve read a lot of them by now. Unfortunately, Sage is not standing out with this first book in a new small town romance series. In fact, we’ve seen nearly all elements of this book in other romances. The writing and the execution of the characters falls flat, so is the backstory. I miss the backstory for both Luke and Emmy, even though Luke’s is more developed. Moreover, this book contains all the familiar romance tropes: grumpy x sunshine, small town, “forbidden love” and the female protagonist being in trouble. Whereas this makes this book a nice palate cleanser, it’s not unique in it’s genre and I’m longing for this. Is this another genre bore-out? I don’t know. The writing is okay, but nothing more or less.

Although I had spent a few enjoyable hours with Done and Dusted by Lyla Sage, it’s not a romance that stands out. In fact, it’s one of the more boring and generic romances I’ve read all year. This story is character driven, but these characters and their development is substandard for a romance. They actually fall flat and are quite forgettable. The writing is fine, but nothing more than that. This book is a nice palate cleanser with all the familiar and mostly beloved romance tropes, but I notice myself longing for more, more originality. Is this yet another genre bore-out? Who knows. I’m not sure if I’ll be reading the rest of this “Rebel Blue Ranch” series, even though the other Ryder siblings make me quite curious.