Bouquets and Buckles

Crimson Ridge

by Elliott Rose

My plan was to visit my boyfriend back home in Crimson Ridge for the holidays. Except, my surprise trip, after shutting up my florist shop for the festive season, only ended up revealing the worst kind of betrayal.

Now, I’m hiding from the guy I just caught cheating on me, while stranded with a flat tire and a snowstorm approaching.
All it took was a slip of my thumb, a press of the wrong contact name in my phone.

Instead of dialing my best friend for help, I accidentally called my life-long cowboy crush.

My best friend’s father.

Lucas Rhodes is a man I haven’t seen in twelve months. Not since last New Year’s Eve when he drove me home… alone.

If we get snowed in together on his ranch tonight, how am I supposed to resist my every teenage fantasy when he’s looking at me like that? Bouquets & Buckles is an interconnected stand-alone, novella set in the same world as the Crimson Ridge series.

Genres: Romance, Westerns, Novella, Cowboy Romance, Christmas, Forced Proximity, Holiday

193 pages, Paperback

Published July 29, 2025

About the author

Elliott Rose is a bestselling author of romance on the forbidden and deliciously dark side. She lives in a teeny tiny beachside community in the south of Aotearoa, New Zealand with her partner and three rescue dogs.

Find her with a witchy brew in hand, a notebook overflowing with book ideas, or wandering along the beach.

Join her reader group The Cauldron for exclusive giveaways, BTS details, first looks at character art/inspo, and intimate chats about new and ongoing projects.


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Reviews

[Giulia ❀]

DNF 27% ugh they didn’t even TRY to resist each other

[Heather myfriendsdontread · Rating 4 out of 5]

Idk, apparently being snowed in just really does it for me. Every time I read that trope I gobble it up.

Couple that with a best friend’s dad, or dad’s best friend, or ex’s dad, and I’m in literal heaven.

I think the only real complaint I have is that I wish it was longer. Sometimes with these novellas the conversations are so short and the scenes change so fast that it feels incomplete. Like sections or sentences are missing. Even another 10ish pages probably would fix that.

[Paloma FC (in my reading era) · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 / 5 ⭐⭐⭐
4 / 5 🌶️
Spicy chapters: pretty much all of them after chapter 10

Lucas (MMC's) and Skylar (FMC)

Pros:
Short Christmas novela with lots of smut and spicy chapters 🌶 🔥 🥵 and a very manly (older) cowboy MMC.

Cons:
This book is almost identical to "Chasing the Wild," just slightly changing the plot 🤷🏼‍♀️🤔


There is very little character development and/or plot, which in summary is:

The FMC Skylar was planning to surprise her boyfriend but, in doing so, finds him cheating on her with another woman on Christmas Eve. Skylar feels humiliated by this and, while sobbing, accidentally calls her best friend's dad (who she's always had a crush on) instead of her guy BFF. The MMC Lucas basically rescues her, and Skylar almost immediately starts fantasizing about him. So Skylar doesn't seem at all heartbroken about her cheating boyfriend for more than 5 seconds before she's imagining how to undress her BFF's dad 😩🙄.

And yes, I get it. It's a novella, and things need to move fast. Depth and an intricate plot are not expected and/or required in a short story. Still. I felt like the (very basic) story moved at lightning speed, and the MC's were doing the horizontal tango in the blink of an eye without much other than lust and physical attraction for each other 😬🔥 But if this is what you are looking for, you'll be a satisfied customer 😉.

Happy reading! 📚

[Cait Ireen | caitireenreads · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️/5

Stranded on Christmas Eve with a flat tire and coming off the recent discovery of her boyfriend’s infidelity, Skylar, thinking that she is calling her best friend, instead calls Lucas Rhodes, her best friend’s father, for help. Lucas Rhodes has been Skylar’s secret crush since childhood, and Lucas coming to Skylar’s rescue only increases her awareness of how attracted she is to the gruff, caring cowboy. Lucas isn’t supposed to notice the woman his son’s best friend has grown into... but being snowed in with Skylar provides the type of temptation that Lucas cannot resist.

Ma’am… this story! WOWZA. High spice, fun taboo, all spectacular. I love our leading lady Skylar! I want to be her friend!! And Lucas was the kind of ‘gruff’ I can get behind… so focused on caring for Skylar and couldn’t get enough of our girl. GOLLY GEE this was absolutely delicious and the perfect holiday novella. Elliott’s skill at writing spice and characters is second to none! It was so fun to be back in Crimson Ridge for this one hitter.

Tropes in this story:
✨High-spice novella
✨Christmas-time story
✨Best friend’s dad
✨”Until the snow clears”
✨Fun & taboo

[Nicole Crawford · Rating 5 out of 5]

If reading filthy words could impregnate me I would be with child

[Mia S. · Rating 4 out of 5]

A novella, but Ms. Rose makes me want to move to Montana and just watch all the cowboys that are ready to just break my heart, ugh take it!!! Love that Daddies are getting all the love and now mid swoon. Love the story, love the bff and of course Daddy Luke. Ugh turn it into full!

[Christi (christireadsalot) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bouquets & Buckles is an age gap, best friend’s dad, snowed in, holiday novella!

Skylar shows up to surprise her boyfriend and finds him cheating on her instead. Then she gets a flat tire with a snowstorm approaching. She calls her best friend to vent and her best friend’s dad Lucas answers instead…! Who just so happens to be her lifelong cowboy crush and is ready to save her day.

This was quick and fun enough. It’s a novella so it’s short and right to the point/tropes.

[Dora · Rating 2 out of 5]

Eh, I'm not a fan of an age gap when one of the parties involved was there for the other's entire childhood, like actively. Just doesn't rub right with me...
The smut was kinda predictable as well 🤷🏻‍♀️

[Gabrielle (Reading Rampage) · Rating 3 out of 5]

♀️♂️🚗❄️🎄😳🥃🧀🧀🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️💦🍒🌮🍆😬🥰💘

Emoji reviews aside, here are some thoughts about the Crimson Ridge series: it’s trashy and fun, the smut is well-written, and the dirty talk is great. That said, they all follow more or less the same formula, so if you like forbidden attraction, grumpy older men and happily ever after conclusions (and cowboys, obviously) and you don’t care about the ‘paint-by-number’ nature of that kind of books, you will have a great time. Elliott Rose isn’t reinventing the wheel, but she is in for the fun ride.

[Cydney · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you to Podium Entertainment for sending me an ALC! #PodiumInfluencerTeam

Bouquets & Buckles is a fast-paced holiday novella that can be read independently from the rest of the Crimson Ridge series but also can be found at the end of book 1, Chasing the Wild as a bonus short story. The audiobook was well-narrated even though I felt like the female narrator sounded a bit older than the FMC in this novella. Which is not necessarily a problem, but the FMC was so…young in the mind that it stood out.

There isn’t much in the way of plot here; this is definitely just a smutty little novella which is fine. There also not much in the way of holiday vibes outside of the classic ~getting snowed in with your crush~ vibe. This was best friend’s dad trope, and while I did appreciate the fact that the dad had a great relationship with his son (and FMC, for that matter) beforehand, it also kind of skeeved me out because he knew that woman when she was still a girl and she was his son’s best friend.

They were some freaks, though.

3.5 ⭐️s
3 🌶️
🚨 audiobook pub date: 12/09/25

[Gwen (Draco’s Version) · Rating 3 out of 5]

YEEEEHAWWWW 🤠🤠🤠🤠

[Toni · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cowboy Spice

KU read 148 Pages Novella
Seasonal but not totally festive focus
Forced Proximity/Snowed In
Age Gap - Best Friends Dad
Medium Spice

Lucas Rhodes comes to Skylars rescue after she accidentally calls him instead of her bestie the night she catches her by cheating and her car has a flat AND the show is coming thick and fast.
It's Xmas eve and he whisks her back to his ranch to ride lift the storm. Seems her bestie is away for Xmas with his boyfriend, Lucas and Am glad after to a "fling" for the duration of being snowed in only when it all ends they are both heartbroken and thankfully it's the bestie that pushes them back together.

[Paige · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 ⭐️
- best friend’s dad
- cowboy/small town romance
- forced proximity
- age gap

After Skyler has her holiday plans flipped upside down, she finds herself accidentally calling her best friend’s dad and he swoops in to provide his assistance and I tell ya what…he does indeed provide 👀

If you’re in the market for a quick holiday novella full of smutty smut smut, this is definitely the book for you. This is also very much a standalone and doesn’t tie in to the other books in the series so you could get away with reading this on its own too.

[Natasha · Rating 2 out of 5]

Small town cowboy romance
Forbidden relationship
Best friend’s dad
Age gap

It’s a novella so obviously it’s quite condensed. I would have preferred this story to have been a proper book 3 or 4, instead it felt rushed & the speed with which the romance aspect developed was unbelievably mind boggling. It went from him helping her out in a shitty situation to bumping uglies from night 1🤯

I mean if you’re looking for a fast, smutty filled Christmas novella then this book should definitely be in your tbr.

[Lauren Lara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Novella in the Crimson Ridge Series! Small town, cowboy romance. Cheating trope. Best Friend’s Dad MMC. Sweet happy ending!

[April Jai · Rating 4 out of 5]

it was a hot christmassy time and I regret nothing

[Britt; footnotes+whimsy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Audiobook update. Dual narration. Gabriel Spires and Amy Hall were great as Luke + Skylar. This holiday novella was short + spicy. Just the way I like them. I truly had just as great a time with these two in my ears as I did with my eyeballs last year. These two are a real close second behind DADDY Colt + Layla.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

This was everything I want in a Christmas novella! ie low angst and high spice! Luke + Skylar were perfect together. I love age-gaps and this one delivered in spades! These two had chemistry that could be felt leaping off the page and they had a lot of fun together. I’m a huge fan of best friends brother, and apparently a huge fan of best friends dad, too.

[♡Naz♡ · Rating 5 out of 5]

"It ends when the last snow falls."
Hmmm😏 famous last word!

[Samantha · Rating 4 out of 5]

⭐⭐⭐⭐
4 stars.






➕ What I liked :



Christmas vibes…. Kind of.

Curvy heroine.👍

A curvy heroine that is more or less confident🙌👍…. And she is written more or less like any other heroine of any other size which is great! 👍👏…. And the heroine does not compare herself in a negative way with other women and has No inferiority complex issues.👍👍👏


Kind of interesting side characters.
(Brad and Flinn.)

Rather unconventional heroine for a cowboy romance/western romance/small town romance.
( She is Tattooed,pierced and has pink hair.) 👍


No pregnancy or babies at the end of the book.

Opposite attract.
(The hero is somewhat of a introvert and the heroine is more or less a extrovert…but also other stuff that is opposite.)

The story/plot and characters had potential…But…


The good father and son relationship the hero had with his son… but also the rather good dynamic between all characters in the story. (except the heroines loser ex-boyfriend .... but he is not in the story really just in a off-page way.)


A hero that is not a womanizer/playboy.






➖ What I disliked:



The Christmas vibes are a little bit on the thin and vague side.

Even for a novella many things are too rushed...… the plot, the romance and the main characters… they all needed more depth and detail etc.
The story is too short too get a clear view/grasp of who the main characters are and to get invested in their romance and story.
The story/plot and characters had potential and if this book/story was a longer one it would have been much better…. And even better still if there was much more longing and banter.


Too much of the relationship and attraction between the main characters was based on the physical and the sexy times (which was very very plentiful)…. Almost more like erotica/erotic romance even-though the book is not "marked" as such…...there was not enough time/focus spent on the emotional development of the relationship and also what there was was very rushed but also lacking….. even if they had known each other for many years (through the heroines best friend etc.) …. they had not really known each other like two adults etc.
Why did they want and love each other?? Other than the physical/sexual parts of their attraction and relationship? This is not focused on enough even for a novella.

Even for a novella …. Everything is just a little too superficial/shallow in so many different ways (including the skin-deep/physical kind)


Very repetitive.
(The overuse of the word girl among many other things.)


There was too much focus from both main characters on the age difference… and there was some light daddy kink that was a little cringey.
And some of that focus from the hero just made it almost on the edge of being dubious/predatory among other things…
Maybe it would have been less so if the age difference was not so big and/or the heroine was a little older than she was ...(her age is not told but from what is mentioned in the book she is around 22-23)… or/and that the main characters had not known each other like they did through the heroines best friend or had the history they did.

There are many sex scenes in the story but they were written in a repetitive way... not bad... just too repetitive.

A little too many clichés.



Believability/plausibility issues‎ etc.
(That the heroine would close up her shop for the holidays as early as she did… when New Year's is a busy time for florists not just Christmas… The heroines business is 1 year old or a little more…. And as new business owner that runs everything by herself and has No employees etc. .… it would not be smart financially to close up her shop for the holidays as early as she did… because again New Year's is a busy time for florists not just Christmas.

That the hero would have so much free time to spend with the heroine… when he more or less runs a ranch by himself …when his son and his sons partner are not there to help out.

That the heroine would get over her ex- boyfriend so fast (even if he was a cheating piece of shit) and be so enthusiastic/eager for a hook up with her best friends father…. That would only make sense if there was No love or real feelings whatsoever in her relationship with her ex-boyfriend and/or if she settled for a loser like her ex-boyfriend just to be in a relationship which is 👎🙄😑… or if as a revenge thing or something like that.)





Formulaic character description/visual appearance and choice about the hero.
(Tall and hulking hero that is also muscular and handsome.)

[Luce · Rating 3 out of 5]

Smutty novella with barely any plot, not much else to say!

[readingwithjoii · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute, mostly spice.

[Christina Garcia · Rating 4 out of 5]

4⭐️

Love that this novella was included in the audiobook for Chasing the Wild. This was a very spicy short best friend’s father romance novella. Elliott Rose definitely likes the age gap trope, but she does it well so…

[Kath · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5⭐️

this seems like a summary of chasing the wild and i feel it's starting to get repetitive now at this point (though i'm still curious about sage's book). this is a fast read with little to no plot but has a lot of sexy scenes per chapter. also, insta-lust and i think good for skylar for moving on that fast lol.

[Melinda · Rating 5 out of 5]

The entire Crimson Ridge series is phenomenal and this novella was no exception! It was so filthy yet sweet, just how I like it! Leave it to Elliott Rose to make me all hot and bothered for a Zaddy Cowboy 🥵🥵🫠🫠 Oh daddy Rhodes, you sir are fineeeeeee!

This novella is for those looking to wear the damn hat and ride the cowboy. It’s quick, steamy and had me swooning 😍 Sky wear that hat for all us girlies 🫠🫠🫠❤️❤️

[Trinity · Rating 4 out of 5]

Author Services
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5/5 🌶🌶🌶/5

TW - cheating (FMC catches her boyfriend with someone else), alcohol consumption

CW - spit play, role play, light degradation, light somnophilia, edging, forced orgasms, “Daddy” (once)

Tropes - christmas, age gap, best friend's dad, forced proximity, age gap, cowboy romance

Representation - queer scs

No one loves eating pussy more than the man that is Lucas Rhodes.
That is all.



I was paid to provide a breakdown of the TW/CW of this book which can be found on the author's website

Scale:
⭐️ - would've DNF'ed / continued out of spite
⭐️⭐️ - shit, but whatever
⭐️⭐️⭐️ - meh, could've been better
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ - lit 👅
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ - loved it, inject this shit into my veins 🤪

🫑 - no smut
🌶 - no point
🌶🌶 - mediocre at best
🌶🌶🌶 - standard smut, hot
🌶🌶🌶🌶 - 🥵 okay, some CW
🌶🌶🌶🌶🌶 - fuck me 🥵🥵 CWs / filthy with a side of filth - see Poison / Room Twenty-Two: Hide and Seek/ The Naughty List / The Naughtier List

[A · Rating 4 out of 5]

Star Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5
Spice Rating: 🌶🌶🌶
HEA: 🌟.5/3
❗️Safety and Small Spoilers Below❗️


📌 Triggers: Cheating (not between MCs)

📌 HEA: Said ILYs. Epilouge picked up one day after the final chapter. No talks on moving in together or anything like that. But do have plans to grow FMCs business together.

📌 No Cheating/Sharing

📌 No OWD

📌 No OMD: FMC finds her boyfriend cheating on her the same night that she reunites with MMC.

📌 Separation: MCs agreed to keep things casual until Brad (MMCs son/FMCs best friend) came home because FMC didn't want things to be awkward. So there is some separation when he returns. Brad gives them his blessing, and they're able to finally commit to each other.

[Paige (paigersturnspages) · Rating 5 out of 5]

READ THIS RIGHT FKN NOW!!!

[Bryanna · Rating 5 out of 5]

The perfect holiday romance!!

[Hail Quigley · Rating 4 out of 5]

My first Christmas romance of December 🫶🏼

This was a super quick read which obviously did not allow for the slow burn tension I would usually prefer but the forbidden romance totally made up for this. The spice was also a heavy and contributing factor. Do I even remember where the Rhodes’s ranch fits into the Crimson Ridge series? No and that’s okay. Overall, this met all my expectations for a smutty cowboy Christmas read xx

[Lannie (mostlyfated) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Now THIS is exactly what I wanted to read after the first book of this series. I LOVE everything about this story, romance, and spice. My only complaint is that it is too short and I wish Lucas and Skylar could get their own full length book! 🙌🏼