Escaping the pain of the loss of her wife by burying herself in her work as an ER doctor is no longer an option. Completely burnt out, Maddison Hernandez is close to making a tragic mistake that could end her career and cost someone their life. With her sanity on the line, the extended vacation she’d reluctantly booked to the sleepy town of Austin, Nevada, can’t come soon enough. But when Maddie meets Devin at the Wild Horse n’ Retreat, she will need to come to terms with more than she anticipated.
Devin’s life couldn’t be more different than Maddie’s. It’s simple, wholesome, and she’s surrounded by nature and those she loves. She has an affinity with horses and works with them to help emotionally troubled kids. Alice is one of those kids. But having had her heartbroken by her ex and abandoned the idea of adopting a child, Devin has vowed never to get too attached to anyone ever again. Can she stop her heart from breaking twice as Alice grows closer to her and her feelings for Maddie deepen?
Emma Nichols lives in Buckinghamshire with her partner and two children. She served for 12 years in the British Army, studied Psychology and an MBA, and published several non-fiction books under another name, in sports peak performance, before dipping her toes into the world of lesbian fiction.
Emma's bestselling lesbian romance books are: Finding You, Remember Us, The Hangover, Forbidden, Ariana and Madeleine.
Just a sweet, lovely lesfic romance to make you feel good! Kindle Unlimited.
It's your typical casual lesfic fare, but in the best ways. Doctor 'Maddie' Maddison Hernandez is early 40's and grieving the loss of her wife almost 2 years ago, while throwing herself into emergency room work at the Bellevue hospital in NYC. She also struggling with a slight alcohol reliance on her downtime. She knows she is headed for extreme burnout, and has taken a month off to head to a ranch in Austin Nevada to try and heal her soul and body. What she doesn't expect is the attraction to cowgirl Devin, and the lifestyle so different from her own.
Devin (late 30's) is your classic country gal, with a big heart, love of horses and children, and a perfect family and social life to boot. But heartache from missing a lady love partner to live her perfect life with. It's all Far removed from the closed off, busy, competitive lifestyle Maddie is used to in New York. Attraction ensues, with both women trying not to fall, knowing it will only end in heartbreak by the end of the month. There's an adorable 10 year old girl that is in need of help and love, that also helps tie the two together, as well the usual horse ranch and small town community spirit that enamors. I could easily see this being a lesfic hallmark movie, in the best ways!
It's just comforting warm feel good drama with the right amount of angst and tension overall to entertain for 3ish hours it goes for. So I would recommend it, for a great little palate cleanser or just something reasonably stress free, yet endearing.
Emma Nichols won my heart with the Duckton-by-Dale stories and completely blew me away with Elodie. So now, after the Dales and Sancerre, she took us readers to the US and from New york City to Austin in rural Nevada.
The writing reminds me of "Summer Fate" and "Blind Faith", but even more of Elodie and her mesmerising insight into the way the human mind likes to create illusions to keep us from facing our reality honestly and avoid emotional pain keeps fascinating me every time.
The other thing that amazed me is the honesty, whith which she describes the worldwide all too common situation of doctors, especially in the emergency services. I have been there during my training as a paramedic in the early 1970s and can vividly imagine how much worse it must have become since. Drowning your stress and frustrations in alcohol was already very common then in medicine (hospials and emergency services especially).
But back to the story ... Maddie is burned out and desperately in need of healing from her emotional pain. Distracting herself with too much responsibility and work doesn't work any more as her body finally has reached its limits and demands its due. She makes the effort to try and give it a rest and to distance herself from the stress she has made her life.
Devin is (almost) content with her life and the ranch, her family and her horses, but she's trying to hide her scars from the destroyed dream she'd built on quicksand against her insight a while ago. The two of them meet ... and sparks will fly. If they let them, that is.
The romance is slow burn but sizzling hot. Stir in a young deeply hurt girl and motherly instincts and the plot thickens. Emma Nichols treats the story in her special humourous but caring way and, like her other books, brings it to a very satisfying conclusion. I highly recommend this book.
I’ve often said kindle unlimited is the hallmark channel for lesbians that we wished existed. This book further confirms my belief. This is a good thing.
Cute story. I definitely relate to the medical worker burnout :-/ Makes me want to find my own healing.
It’s not Shakespeare but it isn’t trying to be. And that’s okay. This is the hallmark channel, not masterpiece theater. We all need some hallmark in our lives.
I may have started looking up trips fo Nevada while reading this book...
Loved the setting on a ranch in Nevada and the horses.
It was kind of insta-lovey and the writing sometimes not clear enough. For example, characters all of a sudden being there and relevant to the situation without any mentioning of them arriving on the scene or having been there previously. I also skipped over some of the inner dialogues because they kept repeating the same things multiple times.
A NYC emergency room doctor takes a trip to a ranch in Nevada to help alleviate her burnout. She meets a rancher there and sapphic sparks start to fly. This is a great story with personal healing, romance, found family, and lots of horses. I read this in one day b/c I couldn’t put it down. Definitely recommend.
How is it even possible to make such a straightforward plot so engaging? Simple Emma Nichols wrote it!
Rock My Heart is a story of loss, hope, letting go, love and family. Emma has crafted a bittersweet and poignant love story set in another stunning location.
Emma’s skill at creating authentic characters and dialogue never ceases to impress me.
Rock My Heart has some of the most heart wrenching scenes I have read which are written and described so well even I shed a tear or two! So be prepared to experience a whole range of emotions when you read this book.
This is yet another exceptional novel by the very talented and gifted Emma Nichols and is a definite must read.
Rock My Heart is a story of loss, hope, letting go, love and family. Emma has crafted a beautiful and poignant love story set in another stunning location.
Emma’s skill at creating authentic characters and dialogue never ceases to impress me. Maddie and Devin a poles apart with completely different lifestyles
The plot has some heart wrenching scenes which are written and described so well even I shed a tear or two! So be prepared to experience a whole range of emotions when you read this book.
Rock My Heart is another exceptional novel by the very talented and gifted Emma Nichols and is a definite must read.
Well this definitely pulls at the heart strings. The emotion in this story was written really well, especially the chemistry between the two main characters. I read this in two sittings and only put it down to get some sleep. If you are after a read that fills your heart, then this will do it.
This book captivated me from page one. There are so many ways to heal from loss, although all things take time. You walk around with the guilt of being alive and there is no one who can understand. Maddie, an ER doctor, lost her wife and even though it has been almost two years, still is having trouble coping. Even trying to bury herself in work, doing seventy hours a week, is not working. Devin, a rancher who loves where she is. Her family’s ranch, the horses who are her life, the small family community, her friends. But Devin is broken inside. The dreams of her own family taken away. When Maddie finally takes a much needed month vacation before her sanity is lost, meets Devin at the ranch she is staying at for a few weeks, sparks fly. But neither one of them is ready. This is such a sweet, wonderful story of how one person, a child, can alter how one thinks in life. Sometimes to get over grief, you need to be willing to say goodbye. Great job!
Rock My Heart was a sappy Hallmark style lesbian romance, and it was pretty enjoyable. It was a bit insta-lovey, as all good hallmark movies are, with sizzling tension, and loads of emotional drama. The characters were fairly well done, although they did feel a little cookie cutter. However, I’ve never been a fan of insta-love. If done 100% right, im don’t mind it, and Rock My Heart didn’t quite sell me on the romance being a forever type of thing. Overall this was a mildly enjoyable lesfic romance. 3.5/5
Oh, wow! I loved this book from start to finish! It is my first Emma Nichols book and now I am a complete fan. I thought the writing was some of the best I have read and I loved the plot. I have nothing to say except if you haven't read it, you should! It was worth the wait, as it has been on my list for some time.
Excellent story overall, but lack some key development
I loved the story; I'm a huge fan of found family stories, particularly involving kids. The two main characters were very well developed, I felt like I knew them pretty quickly. They both went through some growth and overcame their fears in a way that was riveting and fully engaging to read about. I didn't get a very clear picture in my mind of what they looked like, I felt it could have used a bit more description when it came to what all the characters looked like. It's hard for me to fully picture things playing out on my mind as I read if I'm having to make things up, then continually readjust as it went on. Alice was a great character too, however I felt she could have been way more developed. First, I didn't know her age until the epilogue, and it was hard to determine from her dialog because she is a foster kid, so developmental things like how she talks could vary greatly for her age in a way a kid from a stable environment might not vary. For the record she's ten, so if you're about to read the book, now you know. Other than a few emotional outburst and one pretty understandable incident she shows basically no signs of trauma, which doesn't really track. She reads more like a orphan from a stable family environment than a kid who spent ten years in and out of the foster system with an mother who is a drug addict and possibly a prostitute, and various step father like figures who were not very good people. She doesn't act out, she warms up to strangers extremely quicky, she allows herself to be emotionally vulnerable almost immediately with adults she barely knows...which doesn't really make sense for a kid who's been abandoned and neglected by various caretakers. I've had some experience with kids from rocky backgrounds, and Alice doesn't really fit the bill. We also don't see her grieving hardly at all when she experiences extreme loss. I get that there's only so much the book has time to show, but those things could have been touched on and referenced. If a little more time had been spent with Alice's character, considering how integral she is to the story, I would have give this book the full five stars. This is definitely worth the read, and I'll read more by this author, I suspect their writing will only get better, and I really loved the heartfelt goodness of this novel.
This book tells the story of a burnt out ER doctor, working ridiculous hours in a NYC hospital while grieving the loss of her partner of many years. When exhaustion takes over, she decides to take a leave of absence and go to a remote horse ranch in Nevada to decompress. During the month of her stay, Maddie finds the peace she needs to let go of her partner, to find peace in her passing and to rest and relax from her demanding career. Devin is the owner of the horse ranch and a good to the core woman who falls hopelessly in love with Maddie. The book is very well written because Emma Nichols is an excellent author. The wording, the dialog, the sentiment expressed in this story is amazing. I was actually crying in parts of the book and was rooting for Maddie and Devin all the way. I highly recommend any book by this author, but this particular story is one of my favorites.
OMG! The chemistry between the 2 MCS, Maddie and Devin is off the chart! But will they ever get together. Maddie is a busy ER doctor from NY who is trying to deal with her guilt after her wife's death 2 yrs ago, plus with the stress of her job. She decides to take a month long vacation at a WildHorse Retreat in Austin, Nevada. Devin helps her parents run the ranch, and is nursing a broken heart from a visitor that promised more but disappeared from her life. She also helps mentor foster children, and Alice is her latest. Can Maddie and Devin find love and include Alice? There is so much to overcome. Another complex and heartwarming story from Emma Nichols. I give it 5 stars!
Devin has a gentle strength and so much love to give. She must learn to trust again. Maddie’s strength lies in her dedication to her profession and trying to recover from the loss of her wife, Lizzie. Alice is an old soul needing the safety and love of a family that Devin and Maddie (and all of the other characters) can give. She’s had a fractured childhood that can only be healed with love, trust, and respect. An excellent read! I unequivocally, heartily, and enthusiastically recommend this and any other works by by Emma. Thank you Peace
Beautifully written, as ever, Rock My Heart tells the story of a burnt out New York surgeon, Maddie, who hates the country, being checked in to a ranch “a million miles from nowhere”, Nevada. There she meets a handsome rancher woman Devin, who is everything she is not. A real opposites attract and slow burn. There are some very rich descriptions so you actually feel you are standing in the landscape, and are part of the world of a ranch. The characters are warm, well rounded and delightful and include a young foal. What’s not to love? Do yourself a favour and grab a copy.
Maddie was just living live. Stressed out over worked and to many thing that has happened. She takes a month long vacation to somewhere quite, peaceful and less stress on a retreat. After a few days of sleep she started to fill normal. Devin a ranch hand on her parents retreat wants a family. She teach children from the foster care how to ride horses but gets attach to quickly. They have the pull and drive they do love each other but Maddie has to go back to work. Will she stay or go back a beautiful love story
No pain so great that peace and quiet and horses can’t fix.
This was a beautiful story of people coming together as a family to help each other heal. Plus there were horses and kissing and longing and lust and maybe some of that other “L” word…love? Can a driven, workaholic ER doctor from NYC find love with a laid back cowgirl from Middle-of-Nowhere, Nevada? Read the book and give Emma Nichols a chance to tug at your heartstrings.
The healing power of horses and a one true love. That is magical. All the hardships that Maddie,Alice and Devin has suffered in their lives that can be eliminated by the right people that surrounds and supports each other. And even having other friends and family and community in that mix, along with the horses, powerful stuff right there.
An amazing book with hard hitting content and really issues and fears.
This is a very good book. The characters are very well written and likable. The horses are a big part of the book provides healing and love. The interaction between the characters and the horses is very sweet. Very sweet romance and new beginnings with adoption of Alice. Thanks for another winner.
This was a great book, with only one exception I noticed. In my area of the USA, barrels (3 of them in a triangular shape) are only used in Barrel Racing. Poles are used in the event described here (weaving in and out of 6 poles in a line) and it's called Pole Bending. Other than that, this book is very good! I still give it 5☆.
I loved the maturity and depth to both Devin and Maddie. I loved that they were relatable and hated when the story ended. Growing up riding, I found the story very entertaining. Now I want to find this retreat and spend a month their myself. The other characters in the book were fascinating as well. I would love to read more about the folks in Austin, Nevada.
This book will have you in all the feels. Get your tissue and get comfortable because you will not want to put this book down. Let Devin and Maddie take you on their adventure as they explore life together and apart. Will their love be enough? Add this to your must read list!!
Maddie worked as an emergency room doctor in New York City. Burned out and devastated over the loss if her partner she needs a break before she makes a big mistake. Taking a month to rest at a therapy horse ranch in Nevada gives her a new life with the possibility of love and family. Will she be brave enough to gamble her heart?
Emma Nichols has written a sweet, fulfilling story about love, loss and starting over. The world doesn't always give you what you want or need. Sometimes it's hard to even continue moving forward but that's the only way you can go... forward to whatever life holds for you.... if you'll let it....
The title is spot on! This was such a wonderful story and journey of healing. You know while reading it there was only one outcome for Maddie & Devin, the question was how they got there.
Alice was a pleasant addition and I am hoping for a follow-up to see where they take it.
A down to earth connection, with all the characters with there foibles and needs.
This is the best book I have read in a long time. So many women just jump into the sexual piece. It is the wants and the hand holding, that makes us want to need the physical and mental connection.
Horses, hot cowgirls, Doctors, did I say horses. This is a steamy story for all horse and cowgirl lovers. If you've ever had a horse get sick you will feel the angst.