Review: A Sweet, Lighthearted, Country Romance
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 06 22, 2014
WILDE RIDERS is a sweet lighthearted country romance between a city slicker and a former country boy turned "Wall Street Wannabe" that tries to break the notion that everyone can be strictly classified by stereotypes.WILDE RIDERS is the debut novel in The Old Town Country Romance series, which details the love lives of four brothers raised in a small New Jersey town named, Old Town, and their small-town bar and country band called "Wilde Riders." As each book primarily focuses on the romantic life of one of the brothers, each can be read on a stand-alone basis.Cooper Wilde, the second oldest of the Wilde brothers, has always longed to leave his small hometown. After graduating from Columbia Business School, he takes a job on Wall Street, buys a BMW and gets the perfect NYC apartment, intent on never looking back.Then both his parents pass away, and his older brother, Jake, who is much better at seducing women than running a business, lets the family bar get into financial trouble and asks Cooper for help.When Riley Smith, also a Columbia MBA grad, is sent out to the "sticks" to investigate the potential fraudulent loan that her employer, H & C Bank, made to the Wilde family bar, Riley is excited to prove herself. Having lived all her life in NYC and determined to make her first million before turning 30, the last thing she is looking for is a relationship, much less with a country boy. Moreover, she is sick of all the "Wall Street Wannabes" who are so self-absorbed and only want to talk about their BMWs, Ivy League educations and their plan to make their own million before they turn 30, so she is convinced that there will be no romance for her in her future as her top, and only, priority is moving up the corporate ladder.Then Riley meets Cooper and they are instantly attracted to one another. Only problem is she thinks he is a small town boy from New Jersey, and what could she possibly have in common with him? Then when Cooper's younger brother Tucker, who is a veteran and suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, crashes into Riley when she is on her way out of town, Cooper offers to let her stay at his family's home for the weekend until her car can be fixed.With more time to get to know one another, they begin a passionate "weekend" stand. Cooper, however, neglects to tell her his true identity knowing her animosity towards "Wall Street Wannabes." Once the truth comes out, will Riley give him a chance for a HEA? Moreover, will she even want a HEA with anyone, given her emphasis on her career?Given the book description, I assumed there would be some suspense surrounding the fraud investigation, but other than to lay the setting for how Cooper and Riley meet, it really serves no other purpose. Instead, the story is more focused on character development and does a good job of describing country life and laying the groundwork for an understanding of the other family members who will be the main characters in the future books to come.All in all, WILDE RIDERS was an enjoyable, if somewhat predictable, love story that should be appealing to readers that like uncomplicated, feel-good, love stories.Source: Review written by me and originally published in The Romance Reviews.