Quiz: Which cowboy MMC would you ride into the sunset?

We all have a type, and apparently for half of BookTok, that type is 6 feet of attitude in worn Wranglers. So saddle up, darling–by the time we're done, we'll have matched you to your perfect ranch-hand book boyfriend.

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1. Pick your ideal first scene with him:

A. He's silently fixing a fence while you watch from the porch–eight years of mutual loathing simmering between you

B. He's the cocky bad boy bull rider being introduced as your "assignment" for the summer

C. You just ate dirt falling off your horse and he's hovering over you, suddenly very interested

D. You're snowed in on his mountain ranch and you really shouldn't be looking at him like that

E. He's the morally grey tracker you're hiring to find your missing sister in cursed wilderness

F. He's leaning on your bakery counter, tipping his hat, looking at you like he's tasted your name

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2. What's your forbidden flavour?

A. Best friend's older brother who happens to also be your boss now

B. Your father is his agent (and has explicitly told him to stay away from you)

C. Your literal brother's best friend who's avoided your flirting for years

D. Your ex-boyfriend's father (yes, that kind of forbidden)

E. Lies between you so thick the mountain itself could collapse

F. Your sister's ex-boyfriend, which is somehow worse than a stranger

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3. Pick a pet name to hear whispered against your throat:

A. "Teddy baby"

B. "Princess"

C. "Darlin'"

D. "Angel" / "Good girl"

E. "City girl"

F. "Sunshine"

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4. What's his secret softness?

A. He's a single dad and the way he loves his daughter will ruin you

B. He hates milk and nobody understands how serious this is

C. He plays guitar and cries in therapy and is healing

D. He's been emotionally wrecked for years and convinced he doesn't deserve you

E. He's bankrolling his family's ranch through the world's most dangerous crime boss to pay for his mother's medication

F. He's been pining for you for years while everyone around you was none the wiser

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5. Pick your ideal setting:

A. Wyoming. 8,000-acre ranch. Sunrise over the pasture. Coffee.

B. Small-town rodeo circuit, dive bars and motel rooms with one bed

C. Texas, sprawling family ranch, honky-tonks, late-night barrel racing

D. A cabin on top of a mountain. Snowstorm closing the roads. No service. No witnesses.

E. The Sierra Nevadas. Generational curses. Your life, possibly.

F. Willow Grove, Tennessee. Small-town gossip. A bakery called Darlin' Delights.

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6. What does he look like?

A. Pornstache. Glasses for reading. Dimples. Built like he hauls hay for a living because he does.

B. Long hair he ties back in a ponytail. Jewellery. Filthy mouth. Cowboy hat as a personality.

C. Golden retriever cowboy energy. Probably picks up a guitar at parties. Twin to his brother.

D. Forty-two, weathered, calloused hands, looks at you like he wants to ruin you

E. Rough, broody, gravelly voice, the kind of dangerous that ticks all the red flags at once

F. Six feet of pure temptation wrapped in worn Wranglers — his words, not ours

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7. Pick a third-act conflict:

A. He's a workaholic and won't ask for help and you've had it

B. His agent (your father) finds out and his career is on the line

C. He's still grieving his parents and convinced he can't love anyone fully

D. His son comes home and finds you two together

E. Something is hunting you both in the wilderness and he's been lying about why

F. Your sister moves back to town and your entire family will lose it if they find out

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8. What's the kink situation?

A. Slow, tender, the man has stamina and he calls you baby through every second

B. Cocky dirty talk, body shots, jealousy at the bar

C. Filthy mouth in bed, switches between sweet and feral depending on his mood

D. Daddy kink, breeding kink, "good girl"–he's read the manual and written notes

E. Survival sex while the world is literally ending around you. Carry on.

F. Mirror scenes. He'll talk you through every second. Rumours about him are true.

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9. Pick a vibe for your love story soundtrack:

A. Zach Bryan, sad and tender

B. Lana Del Rey, sad-girl-on-a-bull

C. Taylor Swift's folklore and country guitar

D. Hozier's Cherry Wine, dimly lit

E. Ethel Cain's whole discography, ominous

F. Maggie Rogers, longing built into every note

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10. What's your dynamic?

A. You hated each other for years. Now you’re his and his daughter's whole world.

B. Babysitter x bad boy. You're meant to be keeping him in line, not letting him bend you over a hotel sink.

C. Brother's best friend. You've flirted shamelessly for a decade. He's finally cracked.

D. "I shouldn't" said while doing it anyway. Repeatedly. Across 500 pages.

E. Grumpy x grumpy. Touch her and die. Trust no one. Survive.

F. Slow burn that combusts. He yearns. Loudly. To himself. For years.

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11. Pick the energy you're after for the in-between scenes–the parts that aren't spicy or angsty:

A. Domestic. He fixes things. You bicker over the dishwasher. His daughter calls you both her parents.

B. Loud. Dive bars, road trips, getting kicked out of motels at 2am.

C. Soft and chaotic. Late-night drives. Singing along to country radio. Family dinners.

D. Quiet. Coffee on the porch. Just him, you, and the mountains.

E. Tense. Always alert. Always watching. Always armed.

F. Sweet. He's leaning on your counter pretending to need pastries when he just wants to see you.

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12. Final question. What does he say to seal your fate?

A. "I've got you, baby."

B. "Welcome to the wild side, Princess."

C. "Life's too short to live it only half alive. So live it with me, darlin'."

D. "You own my black fucking heart."

E. "You're mine. Through and through."

F. "For you, I would do anything, I would give up anything, if only you let me love you."

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Mostly As: Gus Ryder

Lost and Lassoed by Lyla Sage

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Wyoming rancher, single dad, eldest brother of the Ryder clan, and the man responsible for half of BookTok's pornstache renaissance. Gus is grumpy, broody, blue-collar, and so emotionally constipated that he hasn't quite figured out what he wants from life—or who. He doesn't ask for help. He doesn't take days off. But when he calls you "Teddy baby"? You're done. Go forth and read the trope cocktail of grumpy/sunshine + single dad x nanny + best friend's sister + enemies to lovers, and try not to get into a parasocial relationship with his moustache.

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Mostly Bs: Rhett Eaton

Flawless by Elsie Silver

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The face of professional bull riding. The golden boy. The man who gave us "you wear the hat, you ride the cowboy" as a cultural moment. Rhett is cocky, troublemaking, ponytailed, jewellery-wearing chaos with a filthy mouth and the world's most aggressive opinion about milk. He'll call you Princess like it's a threat. His brother Cade is grumpier, sure, but Rhett is the one we all fell for first, and that one-bed scene is seared into our collective consciousness.

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Mostly Cs: Ryder Rivers

Ryder by Jessica Peterson

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The healing-arc cowboy. Golden retriever exterior, broken-boy interior. Twin to his brother Duke, baby of the Rivers family, and the man who plays guitar, references Taylor Swift, and goes to actual therapy. He's been keeping everyone at arm's length for years, and his best friend's wild little sister Billie is the one who finally cracks him open. She falls first. He falls harder. The man yearns and communicates. Green flag of the year.

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Mostly Ds: Colton Wilder

Chasing the Wild by Elliott Rose

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Possibly the grumpiest cowboy ever committed to a Kindle file. Forty-two, rugged, brooding, possessive, and absolutely convinced he doesn't deserve a single nice thing, least of all his son's twenty-five-year-old ex-girlfriend, Layla. Then they get snowed in on his mountain ranch and it gets very unhinged. Daddy kink, breeding kink, "good girl," seventeen-year age gap, the words "I want to be ruined by you, Colton Wilder"–it's a lot, treasures, but we don't kink shame, we kink cheer.

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Mostly Es: Jensen McGraw

Death Valley by Karina Halle

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The morally grey one. Sierra Nevada rancher and wilderness tracker, family money tied up with one of the world's most dangerous crime bosses, and the man Aubrey Wells hires to find her sister who vanished in the mountains three years ago. Imagine Yellowstone with the volume turned all the way up on the dread–grumpy x grumpy, touch-her-and-die, only-one-sleeping-bag, survival horror, and a cowboy keeping more secrets than the mountain itself. Read with the lights on.

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Mostly Fs: Hunter Calloway

Small Town Smokeshow by Holly Renee

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Six feet of pure temptation wrapped in worn Wranglers. Small-town Tennessee cowboy with a reputation a mile wide and the kind of slow-burn longing that makes a whole town hold its breath. He's been quietly fixated on Maggie–younger sister of his ex, bakery owner, the one woman he absolutely shouldn't want–for years. When they finally crack? Possessive, worshipping, mirror-scene-coded, "for you I would do anything" energy. The man yearns publicly. Down bad supremacy.

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Buy from Amazon: UK