WILD RIDE: Stone Creek Legacy

by June Wilder

He broke her heart to chase the rodeo. Now he’s back, broken, and about to discover the secret she’s kept for six years.
Ryder Stone doesn’t do "still." He lives fast, rides hard, and never looks back. But when a bull named Widowmaker crushes his leg and his championship dreams in Las Vegas, Ryder has nowhere to go but home. The Stone Creek ranch is the last place he wants to be—especially when he realizes who will be handling his recovery.
Elena isn't just the town’s only physical therapist. She’s the woman Ryder left behind in a cloud of dust and ambition.
Elena has built a good life. A safe life. She fixes broken bodies, but she knows some hearts are beyond repair. She has no intention of letting the reckless cowboy back into her heart, no matter how good he looks in a hospital bed or how much the heat between them still burns. She has to protect her world.
She has to protect Leo.
Ryder thinks the pain of physical therapy is his biggest challenge. He’s wrong. The real storm begins when he looks into the eyes of Elena’s six-year-old son and sees a ghost of himself.
Ryder is training for a comeback that could kill him. Elena is fighting to keep her secret buried. But in Stone Creek, the truth always has a way of rising to the surface.
Can a man who runs from reality learn that the greatest ride of his life isn't in the arena, but right here at home?
WILD RIDE is the emotional second volume of the Stone Creek Legacy. Expect a gritty, heart-wrenching second chance romance with a secret child, a grumpy injured cowboy, and the healing power of love.

Genres: Westerns, Second Chance

154 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 30, 2025

Reviews

[Jac K · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 Stars

I read this solely because of the cover… didn’t read the blurb… didn’t read a review… literally judged a book by the sexy AI cowboy on the cover. Turns out the plot was similar to a book I read not long ago, Stetson's Storm.

Ryder left everyone in his dust several years earlier to make a name for himself in the rodeo. Including his long-term girlfriend… and someone else. He’s injured, broke, and comes home to rehab to a chilly reception because he completely cut them all off even his brother.

The Good-
➕ The writing was solid. The descriptions of bull riding… spot on. It made me miss my years in Colorado hanging with cowboys.
➕ The cover 🔥

The Not-So Good
❌ Ryder isn’t super likable. He abandoned her and was sleeping with buckle bunnies within a month that doesn’t scream deep love, and he’s planning to abandon them again until the very end.

Bottom Line- I wanted to like this but there just wasn’t a lot going on. I wish Ryder and Elena would’ve interacted more. Maybe rehashed things, like she could’ve brought up how quickly he moved on or how he planned to never return. THAT would’ve been entertaining to read… not him rehabbing.

[Tracey Cramer-Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

The detail and intensity of the opening scene blew me away. Then, a flawed and broken Ryder gripped my attention. His inner dialogue and thoughts as he grappled with going from on top of the world to a painful, narrow existence kept me turning the pages well into the night. However, several issues interrupted my enjoyment. Elena would not have been both a medical doctor and a physical therapist (especially at 26 years old). The timeline did not always make sense (I’m thinking of a scene having to do with his pain meds). Ryder strongly suspected Leo was his child in an early chapter and yet did nothing about it (which I expected because that chapter ended with “the rules of engagement have changed”). He doesn’t confront Elena or try to get more information about Leo and/or see him; instead, he finds a sneaky way to figure it out weeks later. I get that Elena was hurt, and she was there to provide a professional service, but I never warmed to her. Perhaps it would have helped to have some of the scenes/chapters in her POV (there was only one, at the beginning). Perhaps also for the same reason, the heat between the characters felt like residual attraction from their past, rather than about who they were now, six years later. All that said, Ryder’s actions and realizations at the ending grabbed me by the throat again (and I mean that in a good way) and I couldn’t stop reading.

[Joelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just Four Stars

I enjoyed this very short story, but wished it had been a bit lengthier. That's why the four stars. Mmm NJ

[Judith C. Kempf · Rating 5 out of 5]

Star Rider

What a wonderful story. I hated for this story to end but I am so glad it ended the way it did Sweet

[Nancy Friedman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good clean read

Such A great story about what is truly important in life! This is the second book in the series I read and can’t wait for the next

[Blair · Rating 1 out of 5]

AI writing.

[Pamela Schunke · Rating 5 out of 5]

good book

This book is a real page turner. It was very enjoyable and kept my interest. I Stayed up too late reading it! Lol.

[Elena Myers · Rating 5 out of 5]

wild ride

This too was a really nice read. Especially since my name is Elena and I was born on September 14th. This one was really special for me.