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⭐⭐⭐⭐☆ 4/5
I went into the Holding Ground audiobook expecting a fairly standard single-dad-meets-city-girl story, the kind you've heard before.
And in a lot of ways, it is that story.
But it's told with so much warmth and small-town texture that I didn't really mind.
This is book one in Piper Rayne's brand-new Mercer Family series. It's the kind of opener that makes you want to stick around for the whole family.
Here's my full Holding Ground audiobook review, spoiler-free.
Listen to it if: you want a cozy, low-stakes small-town romance with a grumpy single dad, an adorable kid, and a slow-build kind of chemistry.
Skip it if: you've read one too many "buttoned-up outsider shakes up sleepy town" plots and need something that reinvents the wheel.
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| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Title | Holding Ground |
| Author | Piper Rayne |
| Narrator(s) (audiobook) | Jason Clarke, Callie Dalton, Connor Crais, JF Harding, Aaron Shedlock, and Jill Smith (duet-led full-cast narration) |
| Series | The Mercer Family, Book 1 |
| Genre | Contemporary Romance |
| Subgenre | Small-town romance, single dad, forced proximity |
| Audiobook length | 8 hours 36 minutes |
| First published | September 2026 |
| Publisher | Piper Rayne Inc. |
Elliott Mercer has been raising his daughter Baylor alone for five years.
Ever since her mom left, he's kept things simple.
Just him, his girl, and a town where nothing much changes.
Then Emelia Greene shows up.
She's polished. She drives the kind of car nobody in this town drives. And she's got a plan to change the very things Elliott loves about home.
To make it worse, she rents the guest cabin right behind his house.
She's not supposed to be kind. Definitely not supposed to be good with Baylor.
And she's really not supposed to become the person Elliott finds himself talking to at the end of his dock every night.
Problem is, she's only in town for three months.
It's a premise you've probably seen before. Grump meets sunshine, small town meets outsider, temporary stay meets feelings that don't want to stay temporary.
But it's book one of a new connected family series. There are clearly more Mercer siblings waiting in the wings, which gives this one extra pull if you like series that build a whole world.
Elliott is your classic protective, slightly guarded single dad.
He's built his whole life around not letting anyone else in, mostly to protect Baylor, partly to protect himself.
That kind of guy is easy to root for once someone finally starts chipping away at him.
Emelia is the more interesting swing.
She's an outsider with an agenda, which usually makes a character a little hard to like at first.
But the setup leans into her softening around Baylor, which is the fastest way to a romance reader's heart, and it works here.
Baylor herself seems to be a scene-stealer.
Early readers keep bringing her up as their favorite part. A well-written kid character can make or break this whole single-dad subgenre, and she sounds like she pulls her weight.
How that slow burn actually paces out is the kind of thing you feel while you're in it, not something a blurb can tell you. That's part of the fun of pressing play yourself.
The thing that sets this apart from a generic small-town romance is the found-family angle layered underneath the main couple.
It's not just Elliott and Emelia. Baylor's part of it too, along with the town of Echo Lake and a whole cast of side characters. Early readers describe them as the kind you want spin-off books for.
That town-first approach is a Piper Rayne signature, and it's clearly carrying over from their earlier sports romance series into this one.
Here's my honest gripe, though.
The core setup, guarded single dad, outsider woman with a ticking clock on her stay, is extremely well-trodden ground in this genre.
If you've read a handful of small-town single-dad romances already, the shape of this one won't surprise you.
What sells it is execution and voice, not originality of premise. Go in knowing that and you'll enjoy it a lot more.
Holding Ground is a full-cast production. Jason Clarke leads as Elliott, Callie Dalton leads as Emelia, and Jill Smith, Aaron Shedlock, JF Harding, and Connor Crais round out the rest of the town's voices.
That's the right call for a small-town cast this size. You get a clean read on whose head you're in during the main POV switches, and the wider cast means side characters don't all blur into one generic voice.
Listeners who've been through it early have pointed to Dalton bringing out Emelia's warmer, guarded-but-kind side. Clarke, meanwhile, leans into Elliott's protective, watchful energy.
That tracks with what the characters are supposed to be on the page, so it sounds like a solid casting match.
At 8 hours 36 minutes, this is on the shorter side for a small-town romance.
That's a plus if you like a book you can finish in a weekend of commutes, and a minus if you were hoping for a slower, more drawn-out burn.
Pros:
Cons:
Good fit if you:
Not a great fit if you:
Holding Ground isn't reinventing small-town romance, and it doesn't need to.
It's a warm, well-cast opener to a new series. There's a hero worth rooting for, a kid worth loving, and a town that sounds like it's going to keep giving Piper Rayne plenty to work with.
If you're already a fan of this kind of romance, this is an easy one to add to the queue.
That's my honest, spoiler-free Holding Ground audiobook review.
A lot of audiobook apps sweeten the deal for new listeners in one way or another, so it might be worth peeking at your usual platform before you buy the book outright.
Give the sample a listen and see if Elliott and Emelia's voices pull you in the way they did for early listeners.
How can I listen to the Holding Ground audiobook free?
Some audiobook platforms offer a free trial or introductory credit for new members. This can depend on the platform and your location, so it's worth checking the app directly. You can also check whether your local library offers it through an app like Libby or Hoopla.
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Who narrates the Holding Ground audiobook?
It's a full-cast production led by Jason Clarke and Callie Dalton as Elliott and Emelia, with four more voice actors covering the rest of Echo Lake (see the full list above).
How long is the Holding Ground audiobook?
It runs 8 hours 36 minutes.
Is Holding Ground a standalone or part of a series?
It's Book 1 in Piper Rayne's new Mercer Family series, so more connected books are expected to follow.
Do I need to read anything before this one?
No. This is the first book in a brand-new series, so there's nothing you need to read beforehand.
