Done and Dusted by Lyla Sage

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. Despite his better judgment, he wants to do a whole lot more than just look at her.

Emmy’s got too much on her mind to think about romance. And Luke knows he should stay away from his best friend’s younger sister. But what if Luke is just what Emmy needs to get her spark back? Or will they both go up in flames?

Why I Picked It Up

Thanks for reading Words Like Silver! Subscribe for free to support my work.

Subscribe Now

placeholder

The romance genre is a top seller. I forget the exact statistics, but romance books basically keep the entire book industry afloat. And why shouldn't they?

According to The Science of Storytelling by Will Storr, analysis of most bestsellers shows that 80+% of them deal with issues of human connection. That makes sense to me, personally, because you can control a whole lot in your own life—but never other people. The exact structure of a plot is throwing a character up against what they cannot control. As a writer, I also think it's important to read what people are reading and figuring out what is that intangible "it" element that makes a book or series pop off.

Plus, you know, it's fun to read.

I've been pretty hit-or-miss on popular romance novels over the last few years. I'm picky about what I like and don't like during fiction i.e. I'll definitely be eye-rolling and a cynic about "y'all barely know each other!" when it's too sudden. I tend to love what I love, but approach them with apprehension—just because there are so many that I don't have the same taste vocabulary to be able to navigate through the genre and shift for what I'll enjoy. Devout readers have a knack for it, whereas I go in blind. (As a note: is that what normal people feel like when going to the bookstore for anything?)

Anyway, I've always seen and loved these covers, but finally decided to pick it up when my library hold came in.

Atmosphere & Vibe

There is a lot that I liked about Done and Dusted, and some that I didn't.

The overall vibe and atmosphere are both spot-on for what any reader is likely seeking from the aesthetic of the series: warm small town drama, tangled-up but not Hallmark-esque. The Western emphasis is pervasive, from stomping to the waterfall in broken-in cowboy boots to buddying up to the elderly barflies at the local watering hole in the hopes of free drinks. It's comforting without losing a certain late-twenties energy, punctuation, and fun.

I'm currently on a massive country kick (and sort of always have been, but have been more prominently leaning into it over the last year or so.) I'm from the South and proud of that, and I live in a more rural area of the island, which feels familiar in that sense; you'll see tons of keep the country country bumper stickers around my neighborhood. My cowboy boots are my go-to dress-up footwear nowadays, and I'm constantly begging friends to please go to the line-dancing bar with me (I have been exactly one time, but not for lack of trying—at some point, I will just give up and go alone.) All-in-all, I'm just such a "wide open spaces" kind of gal.

Within classic lit, the stoic cowboy archetype has been what I've been leaning towards lately anyway—so other Western genres felt up my alley.

The Book's Setup

I will say: the beginning of the book info-dumps hardcore, which is usually not my vibe. Example here:

This is really not my style. I'm wired for "show, not tell" from a reader preference standpoint, and I definitely have a threshold for it. Acceptable in small doses, but it's a rare exception for me to be okay with something this obvious. I didn't love that, and I didn't love how corny group cast action could be (i.e. "Everyone groaned in unison") but I run into the latter frequently enough that I know that's just a genre staple and pet peeve of mine.

But I had totally settled in on a hot beachside Sunday, slathered in sunscreen, with the aim of knocking out a lighthearted book in the span of roughly two hours while my tanlines built.

So, the book was very calibrated with my mood, and I wasn't looking to be a brat about construction. I was just looking to sink into it, which I did.

The Romance

Admittedly, the book's description calls it slow burn, which I don't think it is?

But fair warning that I'm a bit of an outlier here, in that it takes me so, so long to feel like I know somebody, much less romantically. Although I consider myself a "romantic" in many ways, I am shockingly practical when it comes to Eros and companionship. (I don't think this duality should be surprising, but it tends to throw men for a loop.) Basically, my timeline for L-O-V-E tends to be much slower than others', in reality and in fiction, because otherwise why not just call it what it is: infatuation, a quick dopamine hit, and perhaps a subtle ego boost to boot?

I know this about myself, but even as a reader, it couldn't have been more than a handful of weeks from the beginning of the book to the end. (This not a spoiler, as "happily ever after" is a promise of the genre.)

A romance expert will have to chime in here, because I may just not know enough about how we're classifying tropes nowadays.

The book is about Emmy moving back from Denver to her small town. She doesn't want to tell anyone that the reason she's back—and hasn't told her family yet—is because she was in a bad accident that's spooked her from getting back on the horse. At the bar her first night back, she runs into Luke, who was always trouble, but seems...reformed?

And that is basically the book right there.

Usually, I like more plot and complexity, even in my romance. As noted in my introduction, human connection is one of the most complicated aspects of living so there's a lot of room to explore nuance there (as every relationship is nuanced itself) so I was hoping for a little more heft there.

Instead, Luke is pretty nice. He owns the bar now. Wow—responsibility!

That all sounds like I'm being a hater, and I don't intend to sound that way. It's just a pretty straightforward book. I feel similarly about this one as I do about People We Meet on Vacation in that there's not really much conflict, but that's okay here whereas I didn't love that quality in People. The atmosphere probably buoys that just enough for me.

(Romance readers usually want to know if a book is "spicy," which to that I'd say—yes, they hook up in the book? But it's not too much page count-wise. Got me blushing, but just about anything will. I just get sick of romance books where 100+ pages are just straight smut—with the exception of Bared to You, which I love.)

Other Aspects I Liked

• I enjoyed the family dynamics, especially with Emmy's niece. I love when a book handles kids' presences well.
• Emmy's ADHD was a relevant part of the book, and incorporated super smoothly. The characterization was nuanced and thoughtful, but wasn't too much. It impacted the texture of her daily life, but didn't feel thrown in there just for kicks. That felt new!
• I love the ranch atmosphere, and would continue in the series just for that. You could just sink into a story and hope to forget the modern world exists.
• Admittedly, sexual tension was done remarkably well. All y'all have to know: hot summer day, waterfall scene, etc,. I didn't expect to have such a strong, sudden instinct to make out with someone in the back of their truck? Props to any book that can activate such a very specific, specific instinct. I will not comment further.
• Bonus points for using the phrase "head over boots" at one point. In a Western-inspired romance, you had to.
• I think it treats a girl coming back to a hometown she didn't think she'd return to very well in showing how people change at different points in life. I know plenty of people from my teenage years who thought they wouldn't love being home and actually do, or vice versa. Emmy coming back didn't negate her decision to leave either. Life happens, people change their minds, timing matters, and Done and Dusted balances fondness and expectation in that regard well without feeling exaggerated.

Overall Thoughts

To put it frankly, Done and Dusted is an obvious book, which would normally mean I just go "eh, fine." But because of its saturated Wyoming setting, and the genuine affection directed towards the ranch surroundings and those who reside there, I totally see why the Rebel Blue Ranch series picks up traction among romance readers. It's comforting enough to satisfy Hallmark-type readers, but exciting enough to likely appease the steam-focused ones too.

I may not get around to the others for a while, or prioritize them, but I'd gladly check one out while browsing for a quick, knock-it-out read next time I'm in the sun by a body of water. Very solidly liked.

For fans of:

People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry; Right on Cue by Falon Ballard; This Summer Will Be Different by Carley Fortune; You, with a View by Jessica Joyce; Yellowstone (TV) probably, but only for setting; etc,.