Radici del Cuore (Wild Briar Creek Vol. 1)

Wild Briar Creek #1

by Florrie Hardy

Josie
I came to Wild Briar Creek to save the town’s struggling festival.
Ethan Callahan is determined to stop me.

He makes it clear I don’t belong here. That this land, this town, everything in it is his to protect.
Too bad I’m not backing down
.
Because the more he pushes, the harder I push back. And somewhere between the arguments and the sparks, this stops feeling like a job… and starts feeling like something I can’t control.

Ethan
I don’t trust outsiders. And I don’t trust Josie Harper.
She wants to change things. My town. My family’s legacy.

Not happening.

But the harder I fight her, the closer she gets.
Under my skin. Into my head.

Because Josie isn’t just a problem.
She’s a temptation I can’t seem to walk away from.

In a town built on loyalty and tradition, some battles were never meant to be won. And once you’re tethered to someone… letting go isn’t an option.

Genres: Amazon, Westerns, Romance, Western Romance, Cowboy Romance

326 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 1, 2026

Reviews

[Julia · Rating 3 out of 5]

When you are looking for a little mindless read, this will fit the bill. There is a music festival, a grumpy rancher, a girl with father issues and a corporate promoter that wants to take over the town. The characters communicate, sometimes. They have passion, though it is a little clunky. They fall in love. The end.

Okay.

[RoseVE · Rating 5 out of 5]

Integrity

This is a great story of making tough decisions. Josie has been working toward success in her company in Nashville for years. If she can get the Wild Briar Creek music festival to go bigger and more commercial, she'll get her promotion. But when she goes there and gets to know the community, she knows that approach will never work there. Ethan has been organizing the festival ever since his father passed away. He started the festival to honor his uncle who loved music. Her boss Rachel and the primary sponsor come to Briar Creek to present their plan to the town. Josie must decide whether to join them, or present her own version of the festival. She decided to do what she thought was right and presented a community driven design. Ethan, who already thought Josie would be the enemy, came to the meeting late, saw her standing with the on the stage and jumped to the conclusion that she had betrayed him and left. When his sister finally explained what really happened, that she had been fired for standing up for the community, he apologized to her. She presented her plan to the city council and they hired her as the festival coordinator. She decided to stay in Briar Creek, take the job, and stay for Ethan. He wanted her to stay. Her former employer tried to use her for using a plan that was developed while she was still employed there. She provides proof that it was developed after she left. And some negative publicity from a magazine article pressures the company to drop the suit.This was a good story with a woman struggling with making the right decision. It turned out to be the best decision she ever made. It's a great story.

[Meg · Rating 3 out of 5]

non è la silver ma leggibile
proposto dalla barra unlimited, l'ho preso sia perchè dopo la silver sono sempre curiosa di scoprire se c'è altro alla sua altezza sia perchè di queste serie ci sono gia' tutte le 4 storie in italiano
tutto sommato per il genere cow boy è un libro leggibile, qui più che il mondo del montana o texas siamo nella parte rurale del tennesse e la storia è legata ad un festival musicale
i personaggi sono definiti quanto basta, eccetto che alcune parti non vengono chiarite (tipo la fine della storia precedente di lei, o quella del padre di lui solo alla fine) e ci sono alcuni errori di versi e lessico (non si capisce se hanno tradotto con ia o translate); comunque anche il titolo......
anche la parte hot ha alcuni passaggi che sembra di star leggendo di altri personaggi...........
più che epilogo ci sono due capitoli avanti nel tempo....
tre stelle e mezzo

[Jenni Jay · Rating 2 out of 5]

I liked the moral decision trope of this book. Does she choose work and career over someone she’s falling for?

Falling for in less than 24 hours. Chapter after chapter of her wondering if she’s falling for him. And then 48 hours later she’s fallen.
It should be:
I think I could call for him
I might be falling for him
I am falling for him
I’ve fallen for him

She kept thinking she was falling but then it was all about her decision. There were some plot holes that didn’t make sense. Her boss, who had all this respect for her, is now just harassing her?

This book could have ended at a good spot. There was added drama that didn’t really add to the plot. It could have ended on a higher note, instead it just dragged out and got redundant and boring.

[Amy Norton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Book 1 follows intimidating rancher Ethan, who’s juggling too many plates while trying to honour his dad’s memory, and Josie, sent to Wild Briar Creek to assess the festival for potential corporate expansion.

I enjoyed the plot, but some points felt unnecessarily repetitive. I’m all for consent, but in a spicy romance, the intimacy sometimes felt a little stilted. Ethan repeatedly needed reassurance about Josie’s enjoyment, only for her to suddenly become very bossy and dominant. Nothing wrong with that dynamic, but the shift didn’t always flow naturally for me.

[kerry jones · Rating 3 out of 5]

⭐⭐⭐☆☆ Classic Tropes, Predictable Premise
​The Good:
Delivers exactly what romance readers expect—a clear dual-POV, high tension, and a fast-paced clash between a protective local and a stubborn outsider.
​The Bad:
It relies heavily on familiar enemies-to-lovers clichés. "Saving the festival" and "protecting the town's legacy" feels a bit generic, giving us little to distinguish it from dozens of other small-town romances.
​Verdict:
A fun, quick setup that promises good banter and heat, but lacks a truly unique hook to make it stand out from the crowd.

[katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 ✨

Tethered by Florrie Hardy had me hooked from the start. The atmospheric setting, slow-building suspense, and emotional moments kept me turning the pages. While the pacing dipped slightly in places, it was an engaging read with a mystery that kept me guessing.

If you love eerie, character-driven stories with plenty of tension, add this one to your TBR! 📚👀

[Sabrina · Rating 2 out of 5]

Every time Josie starts to write her work report she's like, "but I was starting to fall for the man who would make this the hardest," or some very similar sentence and they've spent like 45 minutes together. She also keeps acting like she can't just tell her boss that either she shouldn't make the judgment call or this one is a no. It's like she's in the mob, not event planning. 

[Valerie Mollart · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent start to a new series

I really got into this book in the first few pages. Enjoyed the tension between the 2 lead characters and I love a family ranch setting. Can’t wait for the next book.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

An enjoyable small town romance

Solid writing and storytelling. An enjoyable small-town cowboy romance story, with a little hate to love you setup that eventually transitions to some spice.

An overall good read.

[Lynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

tethered

Awesome book. Great story and characters. Can they make it work even tho they appear to be in opposite sides? Or is one of them just not listening. Recommended read. Enjoyable

[Christina · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a bit slow-to-start for me, but once I got into it, I was completely hooked! Josie and Ethan fit together perfectly. Once they stopped assuming the worst of each other and started trusting and working together, they were an amazing, unstoppable team.

[Hannah Seizys · Rating 2 out of 5]

it was cute but a little underdeveloped in my personal opinion. ethan and josie were attracted to each other, there was some tension, and then bam they fucked, fought and then got back together. i feel like their relationship arc wasn’t as flushed out as it could be. 2.75/5

[carolyn sim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great big country heart

Loved this, it was a cosy read and I read this fast as I needed to know what happened. If you want a warm cowboy romance then this is for you

[Rachel Prince · Rating 1 out of 5]

boring

DNF so boring. Even the sex scenes were boring. Literally nothing happens. She goes to a music festival, likes it. The end.

[ells · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was alright, nothing amazing or groundbreaking but I enjoyed it. I liked the storyline. It did sometimes feel very this, that, this, that instead of it being described.

[Gina · Rating 2 out of 5]

Eh...wanted to really like it. The story was good but then just kind of slowed day.

[Ardella Doerr,RN · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great Read

Wonderful heart warming western! Ready for another great book to be started…! Love these western stories that create a warm place in your heart!