REVIEW: Off to the Races by Elsie Silver

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Illustrated cover all in tones of blue showing a couple embracing on a racecourse, mountains in the background.Dear Elsie Silver,

This book (and the others in the series) was originally self-published. It took BookTok by storm and the author subsequently landed a traditional publishing deal. Off to the Races is the first book in the Gold Rush Ranch series, all of which are being re-released by Sourcebooks this year.

Vaughn Harding is wealthy and hot. He’s been helping to run the family mining business but has come to Gold Rush Ranch following the death of his beloved grandfather. Vaughn’s grandfather was accused of race fixing and the ranch has been suspended from entering any of their horses in races for three months. Vaughn would love nothing more than to clear his grandfather’s name. However, he also  needs to get the ranch back on its feet and to do that he needs to be scandal-free.  He hires a new manager for the racing and breeding program and plans to hire a new head trainer as well.  The new manager has recommended “Billy Black”. 

Billy Black turns out to be Billie (Wilhelmina) Black and Vaughn is nervous because of Billie’s youth and relative inexperience and also because Billie is gorgeous and extremely distracting. Gold Rush Ranch has a “problem horse” by the name of Double Diablo. Vaughn makes a deal with Billie – he will make her temporary contract permanent if she can get DD trained and ready to win the first race of their season in three months’ time.

Billie and Vaughn are mutually attracted to one another but do not hit it off initially. Vaughn’s mother keeps setting him up on dates in a bid to get him married off and he at first mistakes Billie for another one of his mother’s matrimonial attempts. Vaughn is also a stick-up-his-ass kind of guy and Billie is more free spirited. They tend to rub one another the wrong way at first; Billie not only stands her ground with Vaughn, she actively winds him up. There’s just something about him and she can’t help herself.

I know I fly off the handle too easily. I often feel like the ballerina in a music box, every irritable thought twisting inside me like another crank of the key. I know I do it to myself, and in the end, I’m the one left twirling around like an idiot with no way to turn that obnoxious twinkling music off.

I liked Billie very much and as a hero-centric reader, that’s saying something. She’s feisty, self-aware, wry and capable all at once. Plus she has a good turn of phrase.

As I watch Vaughn, the embodiment of everything I ran away from, enter the building, I admire the physique within his tailored suit pants. Trim waist. Incredible ass. Ten out of ten, would grab.

I stood over him, gawking like a teenager, purely for research purposes, of course. I analyzed the way his suit sleeves bunched up around his broad shoulders and then let my eyes trace the line from his briefs on his firm ass in a completely clinical fashion. After collecting data, I can now conclude that under different circumstances, I would climb the man like a tree.

Billie is also vulnerable and after a while, she lets Vaughn see that side of her too.

For all that Billie and Vaughn appear to be opposites at first, they have things in common too – they both love the ranch and its horses, they both have a complicated relationship with their families and they both have family scandal in their pasts. Over time, they bond over their common interests and their simmering mutual attraction only grows until it cannot be denied.

Of course, Billie is an excellent trainer and DD is an amazing (if previously misunderstood) horse. I am not really a horse person but I did enjoy the parts of the book where Billie was training DD and gaining his trust.

Billie has been let down by many people in her life and dearly wants to be someone’s first choice. Vaughn is aware of this and clearly sees Billie’s devotion to DD. But things get tough when Vaughn has an offer to sell DD and clear his grandfather’s name in the process.

I believe Off to the Races is the author’s first book. She clearly has an understanding of horses and the setting generally and the romance is solid, with familiar tropes and pacing. It’s a good book and I enjoyed it. I don’t think its a book I’ll revisit but it held my attention as I read it, I cared about the characters and I’m looking forward to reading the other books in the series (the future main characters have all been introduced in this book. –  I’m particularly intrigued by Stefan). It’s not a book that took me by storm – in racing terms I’d put it toward the front of the pack but not quite in my winner’s circle. That said, I’m very interested to see what this author does next.

Then he cuddled me. And I wasn’t sure what to do. So I just lay there and took it like a champ. 

Grade: B

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Kaetrin

Kaetrin started reading romance as a teen and then took a long break, detouring into fantasy and thrillers. She returned to romance in 2008 and has been blogging since 2010. She reads contemporary, historical, a little paranormal, urban fantasy and romantic suspense, as well as erotic romance and more recently, new adult. She loves angsty books, funny books, long books and short books. The only thing mandatory is the HEA. Favourite authors include Mary Balogh, Susanna Kearsley, Joanna Bourne, Tammara Webber, Kristen Ashley, Shannon Stacey, Sarah Mayberry, JD Robb/Nora Roberts, KA Mitchell, Marie Sexton, Patricia Briggs, Ilona Andrews, just to name a few. You can find her on Twitter: @kaetrin67.

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