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Out of the Gate

Out of the Gate

A Small Town Second Chance Romance
Contemporary RomanceRomance
Published
2021
Language
English

Synopsis

Ava Wilson has carried a quiet torch for Dermot Harding for as long as she can remember — a family friend and fixture at her father’s ranch who left to serve in the army. When Dermot finally comes home, the easy familiarity between them is still there, but so is everything that has changed in the years apart. Thrown back together to train a promising racehorse, the two rebuild their friendship one early morning and shared chore at a time, and the line between old comfort and new longing grows harder to ignore. A short prequel novella in the Gold Rush Ranch world, this is a gentle, low-stakes friends-to-lovers story that fills in the connections around the Ruby Creek racing scene before the main series gets going.

Prose complexity
2/10

Vibe

HeartwarmingEmotionalHopefulCozy
Friends to LoversSecond ChanceSlow BurnFound Family
Spice level
2.0 avg spice

Genres

Contemporary Romance Romance

About the author

E
Elsie Silver

A #1 New York Times, Sunday Times, and Globe and Mail bestselling author, Elsie Silver writes sassy, steamy, small-town contemporary romance. Born and raised in Canada, she lives just outside Vancouver, British Columbia, with her husband, son, and dogs — and the rugged ranch towns of her home province shape the settings of nearly all her books. A lifelong romance reader, she came to writing at her mother's urging to reclaim an identity of her own, drawing on an earlier background in copywriting...

Characters

Ava WilsonProtagonist

A rancher’s daughter who has long harbored feelings for a returning family friend.

Dermot HardingProtagonist

A member of the Harding family who comes home from the army and reconnects with Ava over a racehorse.

All characters in Out of the Gate

Frequently asked questions

  • Is Out of the Gate a full-length novel or a novella?

    It's a short prequel novella set in the Gold Rush Ranch world, not a full-length book. It runs much shorter than the main series novels.

  • Where does Out of the Gate fall in the Gold Rush Ranch reading order?

    It's typically placed at 1.5 — a companion novella read alongside or just after the opener, Off to the Races, rather than a numbered main entry.

  • Who is the couple in Out of the Gate?

    It follows Ava Wilson and Dermot Harding, a returning soldier, in a friends-to-lovers reunion romance.

  • Do I need to read Out of the Gate to follow the Gold Rush Ranch series?

    No. It's a bonus story that enriches the world but isn't required — the main novels stand on their own without it.

  • What's the tone of Out of the Gate?

    It's a gentle, lower-heat, slow-building reunion romance — cozier and quieter than some of the steamier full-length books in Elsie Silver's catalog.

  • Do I have to read the Gold Rush Ranch books in order?

    Each book centers on a different couple and works as a standalone, but reading in publication order (starting with Off to the Races) gives the clearest picture of the recurring Ruby Creek cast and the ranch's ongoing storylines.

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