Winn’s only entertainment for miles is boys: boys rustling cattle all day before attending classes at night, incredibly cute boys like Zack and Teddy. How will she endure an entire semester with so much deprivation—and temptation?
- Torn between two hot cowboys: Yeah, enough said.
- Dude ranch setting: Escape wherever you are and ride horses with Winn Riley and her boys in Montana.
- Authentic teen voice: Meg Cabot’s signature blend of cynicism and vulnerability is endlessly entertaining and accessible for all kinds of young readers.
- More to come: Come back to the ranch this summer, when Winn’s story continues! (Pub Date: Dec 08 2026)
3+
This time, we follow Winn's move from New York to Nowhere, Montana. Because of her brother's actions, the whole family needs to move into the campus of an all-boys school, away from anything. And that makes Winn the only female student enrolled. She has never fallen in love, and that isn't in her plans—she needs to focus on becoming an FBI agent. Suddenly, she's surrounded by cute, smart guys who see her as an oasis.
To be honest, my first problem with this is how no other teacher had a daughter in that school. Because it sounded all too easy for Winn to go there, so I would have expected at least someone else. And it's not like they're that far away from civilization, they're not on the Moon, so she could be going somewhere else. Since this isn't so much the focus, I eventually let it go.
But then comes the second problem—Winn is insufferable. You could call her unique but to be honest she sounded to me like Cher from Clueless but living a whole different life. As in, her world didn't make sense considering her ways. This made it impossible for me to relate to her or even sympathize with her, when I couldn't trust a single trait of hers and thus I couldn't see where it really hurt for her.
And so we have our third problem. The attempt at a love triangle is too weak. It's not even that we already know who her cowboy is supposed to be. But I couldn't take the other one seriously. A lot of the time, I could only see Teddy as a ten-year-old kid. How is that competition? And this impression made it very awkward any time there was a hint of romance between him and Winn. Why is she attracted to a brat?
I think this book needed more excitement. We had two possibilities of conflict, but even if I had taken Teddy seriously, Winn never did, so that never really became a conflict. The second one would have been Winn's special status in that school, where she can't even take extracurricular activities—why isn't her mom worried about her college applications? And just like that, the conflict never fully developed. I wouldn't exclude the possibility of a second book, actually.
I know all I did was point out problems, but I just didn't think there was any need to repeat all of Cabot's qualities. So going past her amusing writing style that always makes for a quick read, I'd like to say I was happy to see that her stories didn't fall behind the times. We've got a diverse cast that isn't there just to fill quotas or overcompensate anything. Also, even if it's been so long since her last time writing from a teenager's point of view, Winn and all the other teenagers seemed like they were living in the present.
So, would I recommend this one? Absolutely. Even though there are issues, Cabot's writing has this charm that makes you just smile while reading, a magic you won't find so easily in others. It's the kind of book that doesn't take itself too seriously, and that's exactly what you need sometimes. I hope she has more YAs in reserve because now I remembered how they make me feel, I need MORE.
Honest review based on an ARC provided by Netgalley. Many thanks to the publisher for this opportunity.
Rating: 3 out of 5.
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