gorgeous romance with deep characters and an understanding of grief, cute motifs and a really fun idea. thanks for the arc!

What a thoughtful book about grief, not just the grief we feel at lost of a person, but grief over lost dreams, the grief we will fill as we transition from childhood to adulthood, and more. The first 20% of the book I was unsure if Case, the male MC, would find a way through, but the unfolding of his story was really perfect. I loved that while this book is billed as a young adult romance, there would still be a strong story of self-discovery and friendship even if you took the romance out. I also loved the setting of a ranch in the Texas panhandle. As a former horse girl myself, I loved the trail riding and barrel racing throughout the book.
One thing I will note, the main characters in the story are 19 and behave like 19-year-olds. There is underage drinking, significant risk-taking, and a "fade-to-black" sex scene. I will probably recommend this to my high schoolers more than middle schoolers. But, I think in the right circumstances I would give it some 8th graders - especially those who need a mirror for their own grief.

Erin Hahn is a MUST read author in my library. Her natural ability to create characters with heart wrenching stories make her books page-turners. Even if it Breaks Your Hearts is tragically beautiful.

This story is the journey of Case and Winnie growing-up in completely different lifestyles. Their paths cross on the ranch, and a "list" gives them the push to slowly, find happiness and love. I rooted for both Case and Winnie in their daily struggles, and their happily ever after.

This is a story all ages can enjoy!

Thank you, Wednesday Books / St. Martins Press.

Case and Winnie are two teens in Texas both dealing with heavy things. Case is trying to move on after the death of his best friend and bull riding competitor by completing a list left by Walker. Winnie by being the matriarch to get two siblings with a mom no longer there and a dad that didn't give any crap. She always has to turn down her own dreams because of it.

But Case sees potential in her when he catches her barrel racing. As they become friends, they help each other in ways no one else can. They have a good connection.

I love this cowboy romance!

I’ve enjoyed Erin’s adult books, so when I saw her announce a YA book with a rodeo theme to it, I knew I just had to check it out. Real rating of 3.5.

Case and Winnie are from completely different worlds but both struggling in their own right. Case is wealthy but still mourning his best friend’s passing while trying to balance competing a bucket list his friend left him and if he wants to return to bull riding. Winnie is barely scraping by while caring for two younger siblings and training horses for Case’s family. Their friendship and eventual relationship build over the course of the book as they try to find their true calling in life at their young age.

I liked the story well enough and appreciate more authors diving into the world of rodeo. However, there were a lot of details that were incorrect in this book that as a rancher and graduate of Texas Tech myself I couldn’t quite look past. The University of Texas does not have a rodeo team. They had a rodeo club very briefly but they were never competitive. Texas Tech does have both a great nursing program and rodeo team, but you can’t just immediately go into nursing school. You spend 2 years obtaining a regular bachelors while completing nursing school prerequisites, but nursing school isn’t until years 3 and 4. It just felt like the author could’ve researched that a little better. It also felt like qualifying for the NFR was a walk in the park for the characters when in reality it’s a yearlong hustle to as many rodeos all over as possible to qualify. And just going to and winning some local rodeos is definitely not going to get you there. Okay, soapbox rant over.

The story itself was good and I did think there was a lot of relatability to young adults. There’s a lot of vulnerability in it and I liked how Case was comfortable in his goals despite them being considered traditionally “feminine”. The grief theme was very relatable and it was handled well in my opinion. I liked Winnie and her siblings as characters and her fierce independent streak that she struggled with.

Overall, I liked the premise, but do think it could’ve been executed a bit better with some more thorough research. I’ve really enjoyed Erin’s previous books and did this one despite some of the facts being mixed up.

Thanks to NetGalley for an eARC of this book. Erin Hahn has done it again. I have fallen in love with her newest characters and their story.

We have Case Michaels, the third, and Winnie Sutton. Case's best friend, Walker Gibson, and Case were bull riders, always the best at each rodeo, taking the top two places. However, Walker died a week before his 18th birthday of a terminal illness, and with the pandemic raging at that time, he wasn't able to get a lung transplant that would save his life. Now, Case is working to move on after his death. Before Walker died, he made a bucket list but turned it into a list of things that he wanted Case to accomplish since he would never have the chance. One of those is to befriend Winne Sutton. They went to high school together, and she had been working at Case Michael's family ranch for over a year, but he had never noticed her before. He has not been making smart choices and runs into her one morning as a punishment from his dad; he has to muck out stalls.

Winnie has had a hard life. Her Mom walked out not long after her little sister, Garrett, was born, and her Dad has been an absent parent, working a night shift. So, Winnie has been taking care of her two younger siblings for the last ten years. She graduated high school early and has been working to help support her family, but making ends meet has been hard.

Case is struggling to go on after his best friend's death, and Winnie is trying to make ends meet while she is raising her two younger siblings. Case sees her practice barrel racing with a horse called Queen Mab and sees the two are natural together. Since he comes from a wealthy family and doesn't know her background, he thinks she should be barrel racing on the circuit and doesn't understand why she would turn down an offer.

Case messes up repeatedly, trying to befriend her, but eventually, he starts growing up and trying to be a better version of himself. Winnie also learns that it is ok to rely on others and that she doesn't have to do it alone.

Can they become friends? Will they become more than friends? Will Case learn to live not in the shadow of his dead best friend? Will Winnie actually learn to rely on others and be free to go after her dreams?

This book has several sad and happy moments, and it will make you cry. But it is a beautiful story and one definitely worth a read and a reread at least a few times more.

Rating - 4/5 stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Date Read - December 1, 2023
Publication Date - February 1, 2024

*I received an E-ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review* - Thank you @erinhahn_author, @stmartinspress and @netgalley!

You might not get this vibe from the title of this book or even the cover, but Even If It Breaks Your Heart is such a sweet book. There are heavy topics and trigger warnings, but there is still sweetness that shines through.

Side note, I loved the Joanna Gaines reference that was thrown in there!

This book has some major character development and growth that makes you feel like you are actually part of the character’s life, experiencing it first hand. I absolutely SWOONED when Case showed up with wildflowers! There were definitely moments that had me giggling and other moments where I was sitting there crying.

If you like slow burn, enemies to friends to lovers with younger characters who have bigger problems, Even If It Breaks Your Heart is the book for you.

Get excited to read Even If It Breaks Your Heart, available February 6, 2024! 🎉

*Please check trigger warnings*

this was cute! i liked this book and the overall vibes! it was a good time and i enjoyed the writing style and characters!

Thanks to NetGalley, Wednesday Books, and Erin Hahn for an ARC of this book!

Even If It Breaks Your Heart is a cute cowboy coming-of-age romance set on a Texas ranch and in the rodeo community. I found it to be sweet and dealt with some pretty serious topics, like grief, as the MMC mourns the loss of his best friend at the age of 17, and poverty, as the FMC struggles to be the primary caretaker for her family.

I did feel like the characters were a little flat - there was something about them that made them feel like the 2D creations that they were and not like real people tugging at your heartstrings. It could have been a five star read with just a bit more "oomph" given to Case and Winnie that drew readers into the story and made them forget it was fiction.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
I really enjoyed this book Erin Hahn never disappoints.

Every time Erin Hahn has a new book releasing I pray 🙏🏻 I’m approved on @netgalley because she’s one of my favs!
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🐎 Even if it Breaks Your Heart follows Case and Winnie, two teens dealing with heart break, sadness, and disappointment in their own way. These teens are dealing with a lot. An unlikely friendship just might be the ticket to healing…
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🐎YA romance
🐎rodeo stars
🐎heartfelt
🐎friends to lovers
🐎ranch setting
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I really loved this one.
If Erin Hahn writes it. I’m going to read it!
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Thank you @netgalley and @wednesdaybooks for the opportunity to read this book. 😍

I was in the mood for a story along the lines of one of my favorite TV shows, Wildfire. This was the perfect way to feed my love of YA, horses, heartbreak, and HEA. I wanted to hold Chase in a hug from the very start of the book. It is so hard to watch someone you love suffer, especially when they are so young and full of life. This made Chase want to literally grab life by the horns, and continue bull riding in his friend's memory. At his barn, he meets Winnie, a girl who has a hard home life, acting as a mom to her younger siblings because their dad works night shift and is absent. Her passion is riding horses, and she has alot of potential as a barrel racer. Together, they form a bond and become friends, and then slowly become something more. They each fight their inner demons to be able to reach happiness. This was a really good book, and Erin Hahn has a new fan, and I will be reading more of her books! 4.5/5

A heart-buckling ride of a romance by beloved author Erin Hahn, Even If It Breaks Your Heart is about two teens finding out that sometimes, the hardest part of discovering what you want is getting the courage to pursue it.

Thank you Wednesday Books and Netgalley for sending me a review copy in exchange for an honest review! I enjoyed this book. This was a cute and sweet cowboy romance. I liked the setting because it’s set in North Texas. I don’t live in North Texas. I live in Southeast Texas but I still liked reading about the setting even though I haven’t ever traveled to North Texas. Rodeos, Barrel Racing, Bull Riding, NFR, PBR are mentioned in this book. I’m familiar with the Rodeo because I’ve been to the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo before and there’s Bull Riding and Barrel Racing in that. I used to watch PBR (Professional Bull Riding) on TV a lot and I also used to watch NFR (National Finals Rodeo) on TV a lot because I wanted to watch something different but I don’t really watch it on TV anymore. I would recommend this book. You don’t have to know anything about Rodeos, Bull Riding, Barrel Racing, PBR or NFR in order to read this book.

All my thanks to NetGalley, Wednesday Books/St. Martins Publishing for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
By the time I finished this, I felt the words, "Just please read this book...." should be printed directly in front of its title.
An absolute heartbreaker, but also every bit a heart warmer that leaves you sighing and smiling along with the tears.
Erin Hahn possesses a true gift for creating lead characters that immediately take hold of you and put you in their cheering section all the way through to the last sentence.
So don't even try to resist the two troubled young Texans at the heart of this story. Case Michaels is a
champion rodeo bull rider whose life has come undone by the cancer death of Walker, his lifelong best friend and fellow rodeo star. He's also the son of the owner of a vast tourist ranch, .which puts him directly in the path of (and at odds with hard working ranch hand Winnie Sutton.
Winnie, through no fault of her own, functions as the parental adult-in=the-room for her siblings, due to a long gone mom and a neglectful father with little to no interest in parenting. So in addition to working at the ranch and practicing barrel racing on one of the horses she tends to, she's also the main caregiver to her brilliant gifted 10 year old sister and her 14 year old brother who' s drifting into truancy and failing grades.
While Case struggles to find his place in the world beyond staying 8 seconds atop a furious bull, Winnie's dream of champion barrel racing stays on hold as she cares for her siblings and mostly absent father. And then the two of them develop a friendship which, as you might have predicted, grows stronger every day and maybe into something more.
Emotions run high and and as Winnie and Case's stories progress (and start to coalesce), you may feel the urge to always rush up to both of them for a group hug. Yes, prepare yourself, it's that kind of book.
Let me not forget that besides the heart melting romance, author Hahn also includes some truly thrilling rodeo sequences, rendered with attention to the amazing skills, perseverance and courage required of the riders.
That's quite a package for one single book, which, for me, put it firmly in 5 star territory.

I should start by saying I’m an Erin Hahn stan and think she’s criminally underrated. I was tossed an ARC of her debut years ago and I’ve been on this train ever since. That said, when I received the galley for this one, I put off reading it. Not because I thought it would be bad (impossible) but because I read the description and the title and if there’s one thing Hahn can do better than most, it’s break your heart. If you are not emotionally ready for teens dealing with things way way above what’s fair, this might not be the book for you. BUT if you’re still in after reading the description, this is a treasure. It’s sweet and harsh all at once. You feel what the characters feel, whether that’s abject loss or the thrill of riding in the rodeo. It’s real life but in a book with a happy and hopeful ending.
Hahn has a knack for writing teenagers as people. They’re not always right (most of the time, they are wrong) but they’re also not just thinking like adults we’re supposed to believe are 18. Winnie Sutton is flawed. Case Michaels is very flawed. They grow together in a way that’s really wonderful. This is a story of survivors and realizing you can have the life you want, not just the one you were dealt, if you find the right team. More than that it’s about living life on your own terms, in a healthy way with whatever dream you currently have. And, it’s done in a way that hurts and heals and makes you yell at your kindle because life isn’t fair and they’re just trying their best.
I read EIBYH in one sitting on my couch which is debatably an unhealthy way to read it but I needed to get to the happy ending and man, this burn is slow. Deserved and earned slowness, but slow. Overall, this might not be my favorite of Hahn’s books just because so much of it hurts to read, but I think it might be one of (if not) her best. There’s something in the way she tells this story that makes your heart ache, makes you angry at both characters and the world and then three pages later makes you swoon. It’s so very real in the best way.
I’ve heard thatHahn is taking a break from YA after this one but I hope she gets to come back to it at some point. Not that I don’t love her adult romcoms (I _do_), but these are books I want teens to have.

Even If it Breaks Your Heart was a beautiful novel - it quickly draws you in with two fantastic main characters - Winnie and Case - who are both struggling. Both haunted by the past, feeling lost in their present, and unsure of their future - they form an amazing friendship and learn to open up and rely on each other. And in typical Erin Hahn fashion there are plenty of moments to make you laugh and plenty to make you cry. And Winnie's little sister Garrett is adorable. I've read most of Erin Hahn's novels and this may be my new favorite. This novel was a heart-warming "sad rodeo" that I want to read all over again. Thank you to Wednesday Books/St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the chance to read this novel.

📚 Even If It Breaks Your Heart
✍ Erin Hahn
📖 YA Fiction/Romance
⭐ 4.5/5
🌶️ closed door

🙏 Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press and Erin Hahn for the advanced copy of Even If It Breaks Your Heart. All opinions are my own.
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🎯 What I loved: Hahn has a seamless way of integrating both depth and intrigue into her characters and this was so true with Winnie and Case who both faced immense challenges and had fascinating back stories. Both characters carried heavy burdens but this story was bursting with hope. I loved the setting and the pace of this book and that while there was a romance, more focus was ultimately on the main characters' development and them finding a way to experience joy amidst grief. It was sweet, authentic (and the rodeo components were so well researched!) and in true Hahn fashion, addressed important social issues while remaining true to the stories of Winnie and Case..

🙅‍♀️ What I didn't: I found the rodeo competition scenes so well written and was looking forward to experiencing some of the more pivotal competitions through the author's lens but the big competitions actually took place after the story concluded, so they weren't included. But I really enjoyed this book!
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Read if you love:
*YA western romances
*barrel riding and rodeo sports
*love after loss
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See also: Flawless (but it's a lot spicier!), Float Plan, You, With a View

Oh man, this one is a doozy in the best way.
Case and Winnie are both absolutely going through it, which makes their friends to eventual lovers so dang sweet.
Winnie’s the eldest child of 2 parents who aren’t really parents who’s been spreading herself thin for a decade to be the parental figure her younger siblings deserve. I love how resilient she is and how much she loves her siblings. Also, her younger sister is a real treat.
Case Michaels is a rodeo star and the son of the wealthy and toxicly masculine man that owns the ranch that Winnie works at. At the beginning of the story, he’s only months out from losing his best friend to a terminal illness who left a bucket list of sorts for Case to complete for him. Erin Hahn writes the perfect emotional bit also swoony men, and I think Case may be my favorite to date.
Case and Winnie fit so well together, and I really loved that this wasn’t a rich boy saves poor girl situation. They help each other through mutually rough life phases and are each other’s biggest cheerleaders.
This is YA, but I honestly think that if the blurb appeals to you, this would be enjoyable at any age.

I'm not crying, it's just raining on my face!

I am such a fan of Erin Hahn's YA novels. The characters feel read and alive and they are fighting tooth and nail for the future they want, and nothing, not their families, not their pasts, not their circumstances or their grief is going to stop them.

Case Michaels is a bull rider whose best friend has died and he is dealing with the grief and the loss. He's got a list that Walker made for him, though--tasks to complete--and a competition to win for his best friend. Winnie Sutton is a barrel racer--or she would be if she had the money for fees or a horse or hey, even a saddle. But instead she's a trainer at the Michaels ranch and is the main parent figure for her two younger siblings. Case and Winnie collide and pull each other out of their fears and grief and anxieties and inspire each other to go after what they really want. I inhaled this book in one day after having the ARC for months. I think I was just waiting for the right time so I could tear up 50 times in peace. 4.5 Stars.

Heat level: 1 (closed door)
CW: terminally ill childhood best friend's death before the book begins, dead or deadbeat parents, language.

Thanks to the publisher and netgalley for this ARC. EVEN IF IT BREAKS YOUR HEART comes out February 6, 2024.

Erin Hahn has quickly become one of my favorite authors, because her books always deliver. Her characters are relatable and multi-dimensional, and her stories are fun and unique. Even If It Breaks Your Heart is no different, and I absolutely loved it!

The main characters in this book, Case and Winnie are both such great characters to get to follow around. Case is struggling with grief and trying to figure out what he actually wants to do with his life. His ways of coping with said grief are not the most constructive or healthy, but that makes his character arc that much more satisfying. Winnie, on the other hand, knows what she wants to do, but struggles to do anything about it because she is having to basically be a mom to her two younger siblings because of her present-but-absent father. I love how they each have their own very unique struggles, but they are able to be there for one another in the ways that they need.

The supporting characters aren’t quite as strong in this book as in some of Hahn’s previous books, except for Winnie’s siblings, Garrett and Jesse. I love them both so much, and I want to just hug them and never let them go! Sweet babies🥰 It is even more heartbreaking to read Winnie’s story because I completely sympathize with what she is going through.

I don’t know a lot about horses or bulls, or really much about rodeo life in general, but this book made me feel the excitement that these characters felt. I loved getting to be in Winnie’s head when she was barrel racing. Her love for the sport made me want to go to a rodeo! I would love to see barrel racing in the flesh now! Bull riding still sounds terrifying to me, but I would maybe want to go watch that at least once now.

I am from Texas, and the description of the setting was lovely. I’m not from the panhandle area, but I am from North Texas, so there are definitely certain similarities. I love when I can really visualize myself in a setting, and I felt Hahn did a great job immersing the reader in this world.

I thought this book also dealt with grief in a gentle way. It took us through the beginning stages through the end, and it was a bittersweet ride. Both Case and Winnie had things to grieve, and watching them both work through their individual situations was very interesting and well-written.

This was a lovely book with a sweet love story and wonderful family ties. I would absolutely recommend this to anyone looking for a small town, slow burn romance with grief, rodeos and family dynamic storylines. Well done Erin, well done!

My Rating:
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I gave Even If It Breaks Your Heart 5 Stars!