Rivals & Riders

Rutshire Chronicles #1-2

by Jilly Cooper

Set against the glorious Cotswold countryside and the playgrounds of the world, Jilly Cooper's Rutshire Chronicles offer an intoxicating blend of skulduggery, swooning romance, sexual adventure and hilarious high jinks. This special 2-for-1 collection features two of these classic Riders and Rivals.RidersRiders takes the lid off international showjumping, a sport where the brave horses are almost human, but the humans behave like animals. The brooding hero, gypsy Jake Lovell, under whose magic hands the most difficult horse or woman becomes biddable, is driven to the top by his loathing of the beautiful bounder and darling of the show ring, Rupert Campbell-Black. Having filched each other's horses, and fought and fornicated their way around the capitals of Europe, the feud between the two men finally erupts with devastating consequences during the Los Angeles Olympics.RivalsInto the cut-throat world of Corinium television comes Declan O'Hara, a mega-star of great glamour and integrity. Living rather too closely across the valley is Rupert Campbell-Black, divorced and as dissolute as ever, and now the Tory Minister for Sport. Declan needs only a few days at Corinium to realise that the Managing Director, Lord Baddingham, is a crook who has recruited him merely to help retain the franchise for Corinium. Baddingham has also enticed Cameron Cook, a gorgeous but domineering woman executive, to produce Declan's programme. Declan and Cameron detest each other, provoking a storm of controversy into which Rupert plunges with his usual abandon. As a rival group emerges to pitch for the franchise, reputations ripen and decline, true love blossoms and burns, marriages are made and shattered, and sex raises its (delicious) head at almost every throw as, in bed and boardroom, the race is on to capture the Cotswold Crown.

Genres: Chick Lit, Romance, Fiction, Contemporary Romance

1592 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 15, 2012

About the author

Dame Jilly Cooper, OBE (born February 21, 1937) was an English author. She started her career as a journalist and wrote numerous works of non-fiction before writing several romance novels, the first of which appeared in 1975. She was most famous for writing the six blockbuster novels the Rutshire Chronicles.

Reviews

[Samantha Robinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this years ago several times & recently bought it again on my kindle. Still love it years later!

[Sarah · Rating 1 out of 5]

Read for a book group “genre you wouldn’t touch with a barge pole” challenge. Vile books, especially the first one. Trigger warnings - sexual assault and domestic violence, which are blamed on the victims by the author. And the author has a disturbing obsession with teenage girls/much older men.

[Colette Kebell · Rating 5 out of 5]

She may be British, like myself, and writing about things that are a world away from a lot of her readers, but, these books are enthralling.

[Jill · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rupert Campbell Black rides again!

I have read both of these books several times before but they just get better and better every time. I love the whole atmosphere of the books. They represent growing up for me. Nostalgic and wonderful I absolutely adore the way that Jilly Cooper brings characters, places and even the animals to life in her books. I want to be her and write stories like these

[Lmmm · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this in anticipation for the TV adaptation of Rivals coming in 2024, having been aware of my mum reading them in the 80s/90s. They are absolute 100% trash of course. Without the sex scenes, Riders reads like a YA novel for horse-obsessed teenage girls and I wish I hadn’t bothered with it, the writing is dire and regularly involves pages on pages of show jumping which drag on.
Rivals is much better and the TV franchise storyline is much more interesting - I realised I didn’t have to have read Riders first as it’s mainly new characters. Far too many secondary characters, most of them aren’t important and u didn’t need to remember them all. Another big criticism - the way women are described and portrayed is problematic but very of it’s time, I don’t think Cooper likes women much and this grates. The rape scene in riders is vile and later described as a ‘naughty foursome’ - does she even know she’s written a rape? So be aware of that if you’re going to read Riders.
Overall I’m still glad I read the books, but my advice would be don’t bother with Riders unless you’re particularly interested in horses and/or show jumping.

[Ed · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rivals - better than Riders.

‘Hunting’s like adultery,’ he said. ‘Endless hanging about, interspersed with frenzied moments of excitement, very expensive and morally indefensible.’

This book has the some of the same flaws as its predecessor but they are less glaring here. It’s still too long and I started to lose interest in the final third but at least it doesn’t have interminable horse hopping competitions. By focusing more on the egotistical, rich, bed hopping lunatics of Rutshire and their petty rivalries we get a much more interesting and varied set of characters to hang the story off. Some excellent set piece social engagements and genuinely amusing moments.

This one does qualify as a guilty pleasure. The TV series is better though - takes all the good parts and distils them into 8 snappy episodes.

[Lucy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed these books. Who doesn't enjoy a raunchy book set to the backdrop of competitive showjumping? A really easy read and something lighthearted - perhaps the ultimate holiday read. Bear in mind, that the writing is of the time, it's not PC, but by no means is it bad. I would say the Rivals is the better book, the storyline is much more engaging, but definitely read Riders first because it provides a lot of context for Rivals. If you're looking for something to read that's not too heavy-going but just good fun (although it does get strangely dark in places), these are the books for you.

[Caron Latcham · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really enjoyed both these books, I have read them before, but bought the whole series of Jilly Cooper books in December. I haven’t watched the series on tv so can’t compare to the books. I still enjoyed revisiting and enjoyed the storyline which still packs a punch, quite often you think you know what will happen and then you get the twists which throw you and you keep guessing, I would recommend a read.

[Margot McMaster · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun!


Escape to another world and another time. Great memorable characters and well written. Riders is possibly better but Rivals captures big Media in Britain perfectly. Not much seems to have changed.

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was very consistent with the show. Very entertaining. It is a bit spicy and somewhat sexual - but it does resonate with the 80s vibe. This was a long audible read and worth it if you are interested in mindless entertainment.

[Tracey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love this series

Read this book years ago and just finished re reading it! Loved it from start to finish can’t wait to re read the rest of the series

[Paschalis]

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[Karen Hunsley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fell in love with Rupert Campbell Black!

[Julie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. Pure escapism.

[Alison Long · Rating 2 out of 5]

Riders was brilliant, Rivals I found so boring

[Joanne Adoe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tralalelo tralele if yk yk

[Marty Schaeffer · Rating 5 out of 5]

These were my 20th century guilty pleasures reading. I recently re-read Rivals and it actually holds up. The technology has changed, but the villains are still villains.

[Tanmayi · Rating 4 out of 5]

this is a 2 part book. The first is focused on show jumping while the other is on TV production house and politics surrounding it. There isn't much linkage between the two except for one or two characters and some bits. The 4 stars is for the firt part on riders. Very few fictiom writers create so much depth of the sport while also delving on all the drama, scandal and complications of famous people. I thoroughly enjoyed reading about the world of show jumping. specifically I found the race scenes created suitable tension and grip on the readers so it was well written ! I liked most of the characters and their storylines as well as their clashes. it evoked the same emotion in me that it would have , had I known a real Rupert Campbell Black or Billy Loyed or Jake.

[Alice Hamilton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Full disclosure, I just read Rivals so I could catch it before the tv show came out (which I LOVED). Reading this book is worth it for the cover alone. And for being able to use the phrase “a raunchy romp” in this review. Just soapy fun except one main storyline which is just mad probbo no matter how you look at it, and the fact it’s 47000 pages long