Wild and Wrangled by Lyla Sage

5/5 stars

SPOILERS AHEAD

I am just as surprised as the rest of the people in my life that I got so attached to a cowboy romance series, and yet I am so devastated that it has come to an end.

"There's a reason that rearview mirrors are small and windshields are big."

Amos Ryder has me thinking about how often I dwell on my past and why that's the silliest thing in the world. There's no point in looking back on what was, when what could be is coming for you one way or another.

Dusty is quite literally my perfect man. Blond (I know, I know), tall, tattooed, nose piercing, slutty little crop tops, golden retriever energy, and a yearrrrrner. I'm obsessed with him and no man will ever meet the standards he has set, because he isn't real. I'm just a sucker for all of these men who love their women so loudly and proudly. That's how it should be, dammit!

I was so annoyed with Cam at the end there, trying to use the fact that Dusty owned the house as an excuse to leave, because I would have melted into a puddle at his feet if I knew that he had bought that house thinking of me but lived in the studio cabin instead because he couldn't imagine living in the actual house without me. Literally the most romantic thing in the world. And don't even get me started on how stupidly hot it was when he snapped at her parents at that gala. A puddle. An actual puddle on the ground.

I don't think this one made me nearly as introspective or emotional as the other three did, but it did make me think about the standards that I've had for the men in my life in the past and how embarassingly low my expectations have been. Again, this man was written by a woman so obviously he's going to be perfect, but there are men out there that love their partners as much as Dusty does Cam, and I've been letting these goofy ass boys treat me like shit. No ma'am, the standards are raising!

Cam is probably my least favorite of all of the female characters in the series, but the bar is really really high so that isn't necessarily a bad thing. I think she just has a lot of shit to work out, but I like the opposites attract thing that she and Dusty have going on. He's so carefree and sunshiney and she's a bit neurotic and dramatic. I will say that she does love to start a fight (mainly with herself...) which is a bit annoying, especially because I feel like if she had just done a little bit of introspection at the beginning she could have saved them both a lot of time and anxiety. I would have loved to get more detail about where he was during his escapades and what he was doing, but 15 years is a lot of time to cover.

I had anticipated that the reason they broke up the first time around was going to be absolutely world ending. There was so much build up to it being the worst thing in the world, when in reality they were just a couple of 19 year olds going on different life paths, and so she left. That's what happens to most relationships after high school. You learn more about yourself and what you want, and it either aligns with the person you're with, or it doesn't. And most of the time it doesn't, becuase what 19 year old really knows what they want their life to look like.

Normally I think it's kind of annoying when the ending gets rushed, especially when it involves kids and marriage (cough, cough, Gus and Teddy), but I think it was kind of cute that they had a little courthouse wedding so quickly. They waited for 15 years to find someone else that even slightly lived up to the other person and it never happened. I think that's a perfectly fair reason to get married, even if I'm not crazy about it.

I was absolutely losing my mind when I put together that the night Cam and Gus hooked up for the first time had to have been the night that Gus kissed Teddy for the first time and then bolted. There is no other explanation. Teddy almost fighting a huge guy, Gus being all frazzled when he ran into Cam, it all adds up. What a fun little tidbit of information to find.

Sad day for me and the end of such a fun series. On my way to hunt down some more cowboy romances, I guess.