Review Detail

I'm not a horse girl, but I still found myself swooning.

Even If It Breaks Your Heart by Erin Hanh is a YA contemporary novel that combines romance with horses. The only thing keeping nineteen-year-old Case Michaels together after the death of his best friend, Walker, is a list Walker left behind of things he wants Case to accomplish in his absence. So far, though, Case hasn’t even been able to continue riding bulls in the rodeo circuit, something he’s done his entire life, balking at the thought of competing without Walker by his side. But the list? Case is determined to follow it to the letter– and he follows it all the way to Winnie Sutton. Eighteen-year-old Winnie Sutton just wants to keep her family together. She graduated high school early to work long shifts at the Michaels family ranch so she can support her younger siblings and a father who’s more than happy to let Winnie fill the responsible parent role. If she sometimes sneaks out to ride the horses herself and forget about life for a while– well, that’s no one else’s business– until the day she crashes headfirst into Case Michaels. Case sees her riding skills and immediately ropes her into competing for the ranch and becoming his friend. Winnie and Case couldn’t be more different, but Case can’t help but be inspired by Winnie’s badly-hidden passion for riding and competition. And there’s something about Case that makes Winnie want to try grasping onto a dream for herself, whether that’s a shot at a rodeo trophy, the annoyingly handsome rancher’s son who won’t leave her alone, or maybe both.

I know I'm not always the biggest fan of contemporary novels, but this one had all the high notes I love to read about. The characters had depth. The romance was swoon worthy. And though the setting is a little more niche in constantly being at a rodeo, I still found it engaging.

The only thing that I wished was different, was the inclusion of a few more scenes with Case and Winnie. And I know this book was supposed to be a slow burn, but it was so slow and drawn out that I almost lost interest at times. Yet, I stuck with it. And I was pleasantly surprised to find myself liking a book that was completely out of my usual forte.