Roping My Rival (Sons of a Legend Book 1) by R.M. Neill

Years of coming in second place and now Warren is being asked to consider Dane as a roping partner. But, all the competition never dimmed the secret mutual attraction these men feel and when they have to work closely they discover maybe there's something special worth fighting for.


From the blurb:

When does hate turn to love? Before or after he ruins my life?

Warren Burke

It’s not that I hate Dane Walker. It’s more like a deep, deep annoyance.
Kinda like when your sock slips in your boot and you can’t fix it until you get home.
You put up with it until you’re in private.
That’s what it’s like with Dane.

He keeps beating me. I want to rub his face in it and win just once. I wouldn’t even be mean about it. I’d do a happy dance and shake my ass before doing something stupid… like kissing him.

When I finally win following an unfortunate series of events, it’s as his partner in the ring.

This wasn’t supposed to happen. My time for glory finally arrived, and now I have to share it with the man who always has my number, always the slipped sock in my boot.

I should hate him.
But then he kisses me.

And now I hate him a little less.

Dane Walker

Warren Burke thinks he’s better than anyone else because his dad was a rodeo superstar.

I hate his dumb laugh. I hate his stupid, sexy smile the most. I want to punch it off his face just so I can touch him. My sister would be sad if I hurt someone on purpose, though. So, I never throw a punch… unless you count punching someone with your mouth when you press them against the wall.

Except now I’ve made a bigger mess. I’m sleeping with my biggest rival.
And I don’t hate it.

But it might cost me everything when he learns my secret.

Roping My Rival is the first book in the spin-off series from Kissing Ridge Cowboys. Found family vibes, forced proximity and care taking with food. Cameos from the original Kissing Ridge series are plenty...even Lewis the groundhog.

CW: mention of unaliving, gambling addiction, loss of parents


SNik's review:

First in series (Sons of a Legend), spin-off from Kissing Ridge Cowboys series. Rivals to partners to lovers. Hurt/comfort. Found family. Slow burn. Dual POV. Heed content warnings. 

Warren doesn’t love coming in second place to Dane in their rodeo events, but when Dane rubs it in each time it makes Warren hate him even more. But, there is an underlying attraction that comes out when they attempt to do team events and can’t avoid each other any longer. 

Both these characters had difficult pasts and it was really nice to have their backgrounds and motivations explained. I really appreciated Warren’s emotional maturity and his ability to ask for the respect he deserved, and so it was a little harder to connect with Dane when he didn’t communicate as directly with Warren. The supportive Burke family was wonderful and reading how Dane and Warren slowly work towards something long term was sweet. Looking forward to more of this series for sure.

Heather's review:

I love when authors start at a current point and then unwrap the characters like an onion... peeling back and explaining why the character behaves the way they do and what motivates them.  This is definitely the case with Roping My Rival and I was truly sucked in from the start.  I loved watching them interact and grow slowly and carefully and learning so much about themselves along the way.  The story is sweet, steamy and flows in a way that you just don't want to stop reading!


Roping My Rival is currently available as an e-book and can be read as part of your Kindle Unlimited Subscription