Hi friends, as part of the blog tour hosted by TBR & Beyond Tours I’m excited to share my thoughts on Near Misses & Cowboy Kisses by Katrina Emmel. Thanks to the TBR team for having me on tour and to Delacorte Romance for providing a digital ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

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TL;DR: Near Misses and Cowboy Kisses was a fun contemporary YA featuring a sweet summer romance with relatable teenage characters who were easy to empathise with and like. It also made me want to go and experience an Oregon Trail summer experience and bask in Nebraska’s natural trails! Overall, it was a fun and easy read and an enjoyable debut!

As I was reading Near Misses & Cowboy Kisses, I immediately thought of how much a younger me would’ve loved to read this book. Not only was the Oregon Trail a big part of my formative gaming experience, but as a young hopeless romantic, I’d always loved the idea of experiencing a breathtaking and beautiful summer romance. 🤭 Beyond that, as someone who grew up moving frequently and whose high school experience involved three moves in four years, I related so much to Riley’s experience!

The summer before senior year is nothing at all like Riley expected. Not only is she not spending time with her besties in California, but her whole life is being uprooted to the last place she wants to be—Nebraska. Riley is understandably upset and frustrated and she displays that through her grumpiness and lack of excitement at being dragged into a family trip for a good portion of the book. Change is hard for anyone to deal with and as a teen, sometimes it feels even more “life ending”, which Emmel illustrated well through Riley’s behaviour. But the way Riley’s thoughts and feelings about the “Great Upheaval” changed over the story was natural and realistic. This was reflected in her relationship with her family, who she so clearly loves and it was nice to see her reconnect with them by the end, but also with Colton, who’s not as bad as she initially thought. I also really loved her passion for art and what she wanted to pursue as a career! It was very cool. 😊

Colton was her opposite in many ways and their relationship could not have started any worse. He’s a working teen who’s passionate about the Nebraskan wild he’s grown up in. He takes great pride in his family’s business hosting Oregon Trail experiences and I loved his relationship with his mother so much! It was very sweet 🙂 I have to admit that his initial harsh judgement of Rylie rubbed me the wrong way but as we get to know him more, it’s clear that he’s just a teen who gets his words wrong sometimes and then doesn’t know how to make things less awkward, lol. He’s used to being alone and is shy but respectful, hard-working, passionate and has a great heart! I’m so glad this was in dual perspective so we got his POV too.

What starts as a rather contentious relationship between Riley and Colton due to quick judgments from poor first impressions slowly becomes a comforting, heartwarming and wholesome romance. I loved how their harsh feelings for each other thawed as they spent more time together and learned to see beyond their physical appearances and that initial impression. As teens, they don’t always communicate in the best way but it was totally realistic and I’m glad that they eventually got on the same page with how they felt for each other. At times it seemed to tip over the line into ‘instalove’ but they also went through a lot over the two weeks. Ultimately, I found their romance sweet and swoonworthy! 💜

If there’s anything I wished had been done differently, it would be the ending. While it was technically satisfying and they get their “happy for now”, I kind of wish that the story hadn’t ended so abruptly. Coming in at less than 300 pages, this was a pretty short read and the ending made it feel even more so. I’m not always a fan of epilogues but it would’ve been nice to see what happened after the summer. I wanted to see what it was like for Riley in her new school but also whether they decided to stick it out or not. It’s a small “complaint” and defo a personal preference but overall, I thought this was a great debut! I’m keen to see what Emmel writes in the future.

Do you have Near Misses & Cowboy Kisses on your TBR or does it sound like a book you’d enjoy?

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