Trail Rides and Starry Eyes

Sparks fly between a small-town rancher yearning for more and a hot-shot actor on the verge of a big break in this feel-good romance. As an only child, Wyoming native Cassidy Sterling, 17, will someday inherit her family’s Silver Stallion Ranch, along with its cattle, horses, “mini-velociraptors” (aka chickens), and defiant goats. She worries, however, that life on the ranch might not be enough for her. Meanwhile, in Los Angeles, actor Wilder Nash, also 17, plans to “break out from kiddy actor fame into the big leagues” with a lead role in a western TV series—but he must first convince the show’s producers that he’s an experienced horseman. Luckily, Wilder’s agent—also Cass’s uncle, whose decision to forsake ranching divides the Sterling family—arranges for Wilder to moonlight as a summer farmhand at the ranch, complete with riding lessons and cowboy training from Cass. Complications arise when starry skies and campfires ignite romantic sparks between the teens. While Wilder struggles to express his own unscripted feelings, Cass frets about their romance’s approaching expiration date—and what it will mean to her family should she follow Wilder to Hollywood. Alternating narration from Emmel (Near Misses and Cowboy Kisses) delightfully wrangles disarming repartee, farm animal hijinks, tight plotting, and an intimate western setting into a swoony love story starring a mostly white-cued cast. Ages 12–up. Agent: Jordan Hamessley, JABberwocky Literary. (Dec.)