Hey everyone, I hope you’re all doing well with the festive season upon us! Today I’ll be reviewing the third book in the Polo Season series, which is Ride Free. I’ve read the second one and had the author Jessica Whitman actually publish a guest post on this blog, so if you want to check those posts out before this one, it’s linked here (Ride Free Review) and here (guest post). I want to quickly mention that although it is the third book in the series, you do not have to read the previous novels to understand the story line- it is a companion series like Anna and the French Kiss. In saying that, you will pick up minor spoilers.
I also want to say a massive thanks to Allen and Unwin for sending me an ARC of this, I really appreciate it! This does not mean that any of the opinions I’m about to state have been influenced by receiving an ARC.
Goodreads Synopsis:
Antonia Black has always known her place with the Del Campo family-a bastard daughter. And it will take a lot more than her skill with horses to truly belong within the wealthy polo dynasty. In fact, she’s been shuttled around so much in her life, she doesn’t even know what “home” means. Until one man shows her exactly how it feels to be safe, to be free, to be loved.Enzo Rivas knows Noni is way out of his league. After all, he’s the stablemaster, and she’s the boss’s sister. But he can’t see the hurt in her eyes and not want to protect her. And he can no longer deny the electric tension jumping between them. Yet just when he’s ready to risk it all and change their relationship forever, a secret from her past makes him question everything he thought he knew about her…
Like the last book, it’s set primarily in Argentina which I really liked. Often, I’m reading books either set in the United States or England, so Ride Free was definitely more diverse in setting and in characters. However in saying that, there was Spanish in the dialogue which I didn’t understand, so it would have been nice if they incorporated a glossary of terms at the back. I did wish that they did because often I found myself skipping over lines of text. They did have an appendix, which explained the game of polo, which I found extremely useful, I just wish I had found it earlier on…
I liked the character of Antonia Black, and her backstory. I felt like she had great depth to her character, and her life was explained well. We got a look into many parts of her life before living with the Del Campos- the life with her mother, and the life with her lover. We also got to know the back stories of other characters, which I found quite interesting!
I liked most aspects of the book, but I didn’t really like the love triangle. Wait, let me rephrase: I really did not like the love triangle in this book. Antonia’s heart was jumping from man to man, and actually considered ending up with someone who once abused her. When someone tells you they’ve changed, and will not abuse you, that may be true for a certain amount of time, but will change back to being the perpetrator. This guy that Antonia was considering ending up with, abused her mentally and emotionally by throwing a child into the mess and held her at gunpoint. I’m all for crazy psychopathic characters, but I really dislike it when people are willing and actually consider ending up with their abuser. Don’t forget, she was in a love triangle- where the other guy was heaps better than the abuser.
I also really liked the incorporation of Kat, the protagonist in Wild One. I don’t read many companion series, but when I do, I’ve realised that I get really giddy when past characters come. IDK… Do you?
I’m not going to spoil anything, but to me, I personally felt like the epilogue was quite abrupt, and felt really jumpy from the rest of the book? I personally felt like it was quite a cheap finish, something Jessica Whitman just threw in there for the sake of it.
I really thought I would enjoy this a lot, considering I did enjoy Wild One, but I sadly did not. I ended up giving Ride Free 2.5/5 stars. I hope you all enjoyed this review, and have a very lovely, joyous season celebrating with family and friends!
Until next time,
– Anna x.
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