Cowboy romances are something I can’t say no to these days, so I had to accept the invitation to join the blog tour for By the Bootstraps. This book is out in the world today, so I thought it’d be perfect timing to tell you all about this book and what I thought!
A big thank you to Netgalley and Berkley for providing me with an eARC to read and review. This doesn’t affect my opinion in any way.
A cowboy romance enthusiast discovers that everything’s bigger in Texas—even love—in this swoony novel from beloved author Alexa Martin.
Fueled by a love of romance novels, Luna Starr was destined for a life with her head in the clouds. Her delusional tendencies serve her well…or at least they used to. When life throws her a curveball, she decides it’s time to turn her cowboy fantasies into reality and purchases a tiny farm in Celestial, Texas. After all, don’t all heroines try to outrun grief?
Tate Jacobs hates cowboys, which is a small problem, considering his family happens to own the largest ranch in Celestial. Life might not have gone the way he wanted, but as head coach at his old high school and the town’s best (and only) handyman, he’s figured out how to stay busy and keep his head down—until the new girl in town shows up. Luna’s new property is a bad accident waiting to happen unless someone helps her with her DIY home renovations.
As Tate and Luna spend more time together fixing up her house, unexpected feelings and undeniable chemistry bubble to the surface. Luna might’ve moved to Celestial to make her cowboy dreams come true, but somewhere beneath the vast Texas skies, she discovers that love in the real world can be far better than she imagined.
Review
By the Bootstraps pulled me in and didn’t let me go! Celestial, Texas was everything I was hoping for in a small town romance. It gave me a lot of Friday Night Lights vibes and I couldn’t get enough. The setting, the story, and the side characters fit this story perfectly.
Luna, our main character, moves to Celestial after her mother passes away for a clean slate. She kind of knows that she needs to process everything that happened, but she just doesn’t think she can do it yet! So what do you do at that point? You buy a house and renovate it! Let me tell you things get messy, but Luna’s attitude and sarcasm fixes it all. In many ways Luna is very realistic and I loved that. Things didn’t just become okay because she was in a different setting. I do feel like she really grew as a character throughout this story and it was amazing to read.
Then we get the love interest, Tate. He seemed like your typical grumpy romance main character, but there’s a lot more to him. Living in a small town takes away the opportunity to tell your own story and I can’t imagine how hard that is. There was definitely some drama with his family, but we see some of that resolved in this book. I will say that I’m convinced romances should always be dual POV. I mean, By the Bootstraps is a five star read for me, but Tate’s POV would’ve brought this book to a whole other level.
The romance between these two was filled with tension that neither of them were willing to give into at first. We definitely get a bit of a slow burn and two people with a lot of hurt trying to move on. We have an amazing best friend and group of girls that Luna gets close to as well. I’ll never say no to an amazing friendship in a story! Alexa Martin also deals with grief and family in such a great way. It hit me in all the feels! By the Bootstraps is one of my favorite romances of 2026!
I’m really hoping that By the Bootstraps won’t be the only book that takes place in this small town. There are so many side characters that I’d love to see get their own books. Have you read any cowboy romances lately? Let me know in the comments. I’m always looking for more of them!
