🌟🐴 Book Review: Trail Rides and Starry Eyes by Katrina Emmel 🐴🌟

Looking for a sweet, slow-burn romance set against the rustic charm of the countryside? Trail Rides and Starry Eyes delivers all the cozy vibes, heartfelt moments, and starry-eyed love you could want.

What it’s about:
When city girl Emily visits her family’s ranch for the summer, she doesn’t expect to fall for the rugged, kind-hearted cowboy Luke. Between dusty trails and quiet nights under the stars, they discover that love often finds you when you’re least prepared.

Tropes You’ll Love:
🐎 Small town/countryside romance
💞 Slow burn
✨ Opposites attract
🌌 Starry night vibes
❤️ Healing & new beginnings

Katrina Emmel’s warm storytelling makes this a perfect feel-good read for anyone who loves heartfelt, down-to-earth romances with plenty of charm.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

#TrailRidesAndStarryEyes #KatrinaEmmel #SlowBurnRomance #SmallTo

in 1 word: FLUFF

twas cute and wholesome, swoony at parts, and i loved both characters! imo the book should've been longer for more developmental scenes btwn cassidy/wilder (more scenes of their tentative friendship in btwn the strangers / lovers stage)

If you love soft, swoony YA romances with starry skies and small-town vibes, this one’s for you. Set on a Wyoming ranch, it follows Cassidy—ranch girl through and through—and Wilder, a teen actor sent to "prove he’s cowboy enough" for a role. What starts as reluctant partnership turns into something sweet, real, and quietly life-changing for both of them.

This is a feel-good, slow-burn romance with just the right amount of sparks, heart, and hay. The setting is vivid, the characters likable, and the emotional payoff is worth the wait.

✨ Think Kasie West meets Erin Hahn.
✨ Read it if you love: opposites attract, coming-of-age, or cozy, cinematic love stories.
✨ Skip it if you’re craving heavy drama or twisty plots—this one’s about warmth, not whiplash.

🌟 Final Thoughts:
A wholesome, starry-eyed ride through first love and finding yourself. Gentle, hopeful, and heartwarming.

Fun and cute read. The author does a great job at describing things which made it feel like I was at the farm too. The book made me laugh out loud couple of times. It was fast paced and no boring parts in the story.

Super cute story about teens. I read it really quickly as a little palette cleanser between books and it made me feel good enough to keep me out of a slump. They were so sweet :)

What a wonderful book! I have no words to describe how much my heart was warmed by each word the author put here. Simply perfect! It will live in my mind forever.

Cassidy lives with her family on their ranch in Wyoming. She can't imagine always living on the ranch, but she also can't exactly imagine living anywhere else, because the ranch is all she's ever known.

Wilder is a teenage actor looking for his leading role to take him to stardom. When his casting agent lands him a role in a Western, with claims that he was "born in the saddle," this California boy is sent to the ranch to quickly learn the ropes (literally).

The two teenagers have a spark almost immediately, but Cassidy knows he is a Hollywood heartthrob who is only here temporarily. Wilder, while suave on set, has a hard time coming up with his own lines to tell Cassidy how he feels.

I thought the story was cute and a quick read, but there were some plot holes. Some sections drag on with a lot of details and then other parts will jump days or weeks ahead. Example: At one point, they are locked in a barn and then it switches to later, when they are out of the barn and simply mentioned that her mom rescued them. What did they do other than practice knots? How long were they in there? Did anyone notice them missing?

Also, Cassidy is 17 and with her family seemingly strict and old-school (no phones & clean shirts at the dinner table) so I was a bit surprise when she sets out with Nash to go on an overnight camp in the woods alone and also at the end when she makes a decision that really any 17-year-old wouldn't/shouldn't make on their own without first consulting her parents.

Thank you to NetGalley and Delacorte Romance for this e-arc in exchange for my honest review.

This was a really sweet and fun YA small town cowboy romance. It was sweet and I just really loved the FMC. Such a fierce kid - her whole life is on the ranch and the way she just belongs there is awesome. The MMC is adorable and made me swoon - he's so naïve when it comes to ranch life but he's so eager also. It was a really great pairing. The chemistry was there, the banter was sweet, I loved the forced proximity, and the pacing was on point.

Will be one I need for my shelf!!

I really enjoyed this book. I was a little nervous about how the trend of cowboy romance would translate into the YA realm, but it really was a lot of fun.

Wilder Nash, a young actor who has been cast in an upcoming western tv series, heads out to Wyoming to learn how to ride like a real cowboy. Cassidy Sterling, who has grown up on the ranch, is responsible for teaching him.

Cass and Wilder were likable and they really came to life on the page. would like to see some more of their other relationships develop too! the adventures on the ranch were so enjoyable and the romance is a great example of what YA romance should be—yearning and angst while they’re just trying to figure out who they are.

Thank you NetGalley and Random House for the ARC!

3 stars ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

This was a super cute and funny read. Western romance with some funny moments mixed it. Wilder is a Hollywood actor who comes to Wyoming to learn how to be a “cowboy “for a movie role. He meets Cassidy who is there to help teach him and decisions need to be made! It was a very cute YA romance. Highly recommend.

🐎A big, big thank you to Katrina Emmel, Random House Children's Books (Delacorte) and NetGalley for the opportunity to read Trail Rides and Starry Eyes in a digital format. I will share my review to Goodreads, Amazon, and Barnes & Noble upon release.

🐎Cassidy and Wilder's cute, slow-burn, opposites-attract story is perfect for cozy YA romance readers. The charming characters and the small town vibes being confronted with Wilder's Hollywood personality made for some fun moments. Wilder's transformation was one of the sweetest parts of the story. My favorite theme of the story is rethinking your future and dreams - such a common theme of adulthood and learning to be resilient.. The character growth was top notch. Their chemistry felt really authentic and not rushed, which I really appreciated! This one is told from dual POV.

🐎Perfect for fans of: Kasie West, Kristy Boyce, Erin Hahn, Sarah Dessen 14+

🐎Major Themes & Tropes:

- opposites attract
- dual pov
- slow burn (no spice - just kissing)
- YA cowboy romance
- self-discovery, identity
- value of hard work and being humble
- rural life v. Hollywood fame

4/5 stars!

This book is a very wholesome, feel-good YA romance that’s equal parts cowboy charm and Hollywood sparkle. Cassidy is grounded and independent, Wilder is cocky but endearing, and watching them clash and connect on a Wyoming ranch is pure comfort reading. The story has just the right mix of sweet romance, small-town vibes, and personal growth. If you’re into slow-burn chemistry, stargazing, and finding your path in unexpected places, this one’s a total heart-warmer.

This was cute and lighthearted! I liked how it was different from most cowboy romances and less misogynistic.

Trail Rides and Starry Eyes was a very cute YA romance. I really liked Wilder's character and how he changed over time while at the ranch. I liked how Cassidy and Wilder's relationship grew over time. My biggest issue with the book however was how Cassidy seemed to desire seeing more of the world than just thr ranch but her grandfather's resentment kept her from wanting to leave. I really wished that some of the middle had been cut and instead we got to see how being on the set may have impacted the choices that Cassidy and Wilder made for their futures.

This was a sweet and easy to read romance. The names of the animals were cleaver and I loved the farm vibes throughout.

Sweet and swoony. A recommended purchase for YA and HS collections where dual POV romance is popular.

Trail Rides and Starry Eyes is a feel-good YA romance. The agent of a rising dreamy actor fudges the truth about his client’s riding experience.

Cassidy lives in Wyoming with her family and completed online school while helping her family on the ranch. The isolation makes her wonder about life outside of her family’s ranch.

Cue the dude ranch scene where a California boy grows up— learns to do real life while falling in love.

I enjoyed how the book was told from both perspectives so you can see the evolution of the characters. There are no dramatic fights, the kissing scenes are chaste, and each character grows. Win— win for the reader.

I would recommend this for middle school age and up. This is a sweet teenage romance on a horse ranch.

Such a cozy, cute, butterfly filled read! I can’t wait to pickup a physical copy of this one!! I think this author nailed the plot and perfectly depicted these characters

I loved this sweet novel, with lush descriptions of a ranch where I'd very much like to spend the summer, thanks. A quick pace and smooth-reading sentences complement the lightning-bolt nature of falling in love (or at least into a very hard crush) as a teenager! The ranch and horse details are perfect, and the animal names are absolutely adorable. Readers will fall for Silver Stallion Ranch, and its residents - both human and animal!

Trail Rides & Starry Eyes is an enchanting YA romance that effortlessly blends the rugged charm of ranch life with the glitz of Hollywood dreams. Katrina Emmel crafts a story that's both heartwarming and inspiring, making it a must-read for fans of contemporary young adult fiction.