Showing posts with label Horses. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Horses. Show all posts

Tuesday, 14 March 2023

Adam

Finished March 13
Adam by Jennifer Ashley

This novella is the first in a series set around a small Texas community and a family who trains horses and does stunt riding. Adam left town a few years ago to work in Hollywood, but he's recently had a bad accident and has come back home to recuperate and recover. 
He is surprised to find that his high school girlfriend Bailey is also back in town and working at his family's ranch. She trains horses and is starting to do stunts herself. Adam is conflicted about the situation. He still has feelings for Bailey, but his recent accident has left him wary of the possibilities of harm that come with the job. 
As the two get reacquainted and Adam catches up on what Bailey has been doing these past few years, they grow closer and Adam finds that he might once again need her help to move forward, whether with her or not. He also has the time to get to know his brothers as adults.
This is a light and easy romance with problems resolved easier than one might expect in real life. 

Tuesday, 3 August 2021

Cuckoo's Flight

Finished August 1
Cuckoo's Flight by Wendy Orr

This story follows on Swallow's Dance, picking up with the granddaughter of Leira from that story, Clio, who is now at a similar age that Leira was at in the earlier story. Set in the Bronze Age on the island of Crete, Clio's mother and grandmother are potter's. Their communities, and others on the island are threatened by raiders who come to kill and ransack. Clio's father Hector is a sailor and a horseman, and she has shared his love of horses. But recently she had a bad fall and now one of her legs is permanently injured and she can no longer ride her horse Gray Girl. Hector has thought about this and has been building a version of a chariot where Clio can sit and be pulled by her horse, nearly as good as riding her. 
With the threat of raiders more imminent, the decision has been made to send the ships out to trade at the very beginning of the trading season in the hope to gain better goods in return and be back earlier in case of an attack. Clio and Hector have depended on Petros, a goatherd and his family to help look after the horses, which are located near the town but outside its walls. 
Unbeknownst to them, Mika, a young girl from the fisher community has been watching them, aching to do what Clio can with the horses, while her brother Dymos harbours resentment at the townspeople who live better lives than he does. 
As we follow the plot through Dymos actions on his feelings, Mika making herself known to Clio, and the threats on the town, we see both girls grow into their strengths and make themselves vital to the defence of their community. 
There is much here on family and the community working together, whether building defences or fighting the raiders, and an outcome that will change many lives into the future. But the core story is one of the two girls are their passions and worries as they face their destiny. Clio must trust her instincts and do what she can do help her friends, old and new. Mika must dare to break away from her family to go where her heart and duty leads her.
I loved both girls as well as many of the other female characters here from Clio's mother Selena and grandmother Leira to the representative of the goddess, The Lady, and Clio's friend Delia. This book brings history alive and shows how the girl learn new skills and come to believe in their futures with more hope and self-determination.

Thursday, 3 June 2021

Taking the Reins

Finished May 24
Taking the Reins by Katrina Abbott

This teen novel is the first in a series set at a high end boarding school (Rosewood) in the United States. The central character is Brooklyn Prescott, who has returned to the country after living in England for the last two years. Her father is involved in government security and the name she goes by is not her real one, a precaution arranged for her safety. 
She is a bit nervous about some of the celebrity-related and wealthy girls she'll be going to school with, but also eager to make a fresh start. She feels that she has been less outgoing and popular than she would prefer. She finds that even though it is an all girls' school, there is plenty of interaction with the nearby all boys' school which caters to a similar demographic. 
The school does has some quirks though, like the requirement to participate in the school through doing regular work at the school. When she finds that she has been assigned laundry work, and that her shift conflicts with the dressage club that she's been pining to join, she must try to find a way to make it work. 
There is lots of socializing here, and we hear more about that than the studies, and we also begin to see the hierarchy that has developed at both schools and the way that the students interact even outside of sanctioned times. 
With romance, a bit of suspense, and lots of action, this book is a quick read. 

Monday, 12 October 2020

The Wars

Finished October 8
The Wars by Timothy Findley

I picket this up when I saw that it was on the list of books that had been banned in Canada in the past and I realized that I owned it. It was a fantastic read, as are all of the books I've read by Findley.
The main character here is Robert Ross, a young man from a privileged background that enlists impulsively following the accidental death of his sister Rowena. He holds guilt for not being with her to ensure her safety and Rowena's death sends his mother deeper into alcoholism.
Robert is shipped out west for training almost immediately, and while at Lethbridge looks for someone he can, finding it in an older officer, Eugene Taffler. It is also at Lethbridge that he begins spending significant time with horses as they capture wild horses to use in the war. His journey back east prompts introspection and it is only when onboard the ship to England that he gets close to another officer, in his case this is Harris, from Nova Scotia, a young man on his own, who soon gets ill. Robert takes over Harris's duties dealing with the horses on board the ship, and has a difficult experience when one of the horses is injured during rough seas. When they dock, both he and Harris are able to watch the offloading of the horses, as they swim ashore.
The prologue of this book shows a moment later in the war when Ross is again involved with horses and it is only near the end that one learns the context of this scene.
Robert has a strong moral and ethical center and it is this that causes his experiences in the war to affect him significantly. His wealth and upbringing have sheltered him, and caring for his disabled sister has given him a lot of empathy for those more disadvantaged than himself.
We watch the various events leading to his mental breakdown with sorrow as we know that his pain is real.
The scenes at the front were vivid and detailed and one got a real sense of the horrific situations these young men faced. Other traumas, from assaults on Ross himself to injuries from those he cared about were brought to life in a similarly vivid way.
This story is told by a person decades later, who is doing research on Robert Ross and what really happened to him and what led to the incident that ended the war for him. Their interviews with the nurse that looked after him and with the woman who was a young girl in the private hospital he spent time in more than once really exposed the personality of this young man. The scenes of his parents back in Canada were also meaningful in how they showed his background.
A great read.

Saturday, 30 May 2020

Under a Silent Moon

Finished May 24
Under a Silent Moon by Elizabeth Haynes

This is the first book in a series featuring DCI Louisa Smith. The author is police intelligence analyst and she brings that viewpoint to the book, using various pieces of documentation to show the casework that is happening here, which brought a really interesting and novel aspect to the book.
The case here is Louisa's first as the commanding officer, and she is determined to do it right. She is disappointed in the DI assigned to her team, a man that she has a past with and who doesn't always act in the most professional manner. One of the key players on her team is Jason, the analyst who is the one that puts together the various bits and pieces of information to show patterns and timelines. He is Canadian which was of natural interest to me, but his nationality isn't a big part of the story. Louisa's team is made up of a number of interesting people, and we get only glimpses of most of them. I look forward to more books in the series showing them in more depth.
The case here is of a young woman found murdered in her home. She was working on a horse farm and lived in a cottage on the grounds. Her employer discovered her body and called the police. There are a lot of things going on around this young woman, who led a very open sexual life, with multiple partners and a good deal of experimentation. Many of her past and present lovers are looked at here, including the artist daughter of her employer. One of her employers is also involved in organized crime and has been the subject of many an investigation but never convicted. He is an obvious suspect as well, but the team is also keeping an eye out for evidence to do with his broader activities.
Another woman died the same night as the murder, seemingly in an act of suicide, with her car found upside down in a quarry nearby. She lived with her husband just across the road from the farm, and early in the case the team is able to make a connection to the young woman.
I really enjoyed seeing this case unfold, the mistakes that were made, the way that Louisa wasn't jumping at the obvious but trusting her instincts that more was happening here. A good read.

Saturday, 5 May 2018

The Life She Was Given

Finished May 2
The Life She Was Given by Ellen Marie Wiseman

This historical fiction work has two timelines. The earlier one starts in the summer of 1931 at a horse farm in the state New York. Lilly Blackwood is nine years old, and is aching, as she often does, to leave her small attic room for the world beyond. Lilly has lived in this room all her life, being told that it is for her own protection, as others would attack and hurt or kill her if they saw her. She isn't allows to eat with her parents, and must abide by her mother's strict rules.
Her father has broken some of them. He has taught her to read, and he has supplied her with books besides the Bible that her mother has her study daily. Occasionaly he lets Lilly out to the attic room beside her own, to allow her to stretch her legs and walk more. But he has never let her go elsewhere in the house, and she only sees the horses the farm raises through her small barred window.
Her father has also given her a cat, one she has had since she was three. The cat is the only creature who gives her love and who touches her affectionately.
Now, Lilly has noticed a circus in the field beyond the barn, and wonders what lovely things they have. When her mother comes to her room one night after she has gone to bed, and insists that she dress nicely for a private trip to the circus, Lilly can't believe it. Lilly's father is away, but she is told that he is waiting at the circus.
But Lilly's world is about to change drastically, and as she gradually realizes that night, her mother has no intention of bringing her home again.
The second storyline begins in 1956, with a young woman named Julia. Julia Blackwood has left home after her father's death and an argument with her mother, but now finds that her mother has died as well, leaving her to inherit the property. As Julia moves back home, and begins to explore the house she grew up in, looking at rooms she wasn't allowed into, she also finds a lot of questions. What is the strange room in the attic about? Who is the strange girl in the clippings that her father has kept in his office?
As the storylines begin to converge, we discover a tale of terrible cruelty, of abuse and neglect, of secrets and lies. This is a story of terrible betrayal and of abuse in many forms. and of a woman learning to move beyond her past.

Sunday, 19 February 2017

The Burial

Finished February 18
The Burial by Courtney Collins

This historical fiction novel takes place in rural Australia in 1921. Jessie is a woman who has had an eventful life, even though she is still in her twenties, but we come into her story at a major turning point. The narrator is Jessie's baby, a child that is not alive as it narrates the story.
We gradually learn of Jessie's life as the story is told, her own birth, her childhood, the way she left her family and the life she left it for. As her story begins, we know she is desperate, we know she is a horsewoman, skilled in dealing with horses. And we come to understand what has driven her to this night, in the dark and rain, at the side of the river as she digs a hole in the dirt.
As she flees her life up to now, she is followed. First by one man, and then by two, and then by more. The first man she has known recently and he doesn't understand why she has left the way she did, at least not at first. The second man she knew long ago, and thought lost to her. The rest are just men, looking for a dream.
I enjoyed Jessie as a character, but also the way the story unfolded, and the prelude which is echoed in the final pages of the story. I liked the people she met, others who lived in difficult circumstances, some who chose to stay and some who chose to find their own way.
I also found it interesting that it was inspired by a real life woman bushranger, Jessie Hickman.
This is an amazing debut novel, one that stays with you.
For readers who loved The Outlander by Gil Adamson

Sunday, 18 December 2016

Quality of Care

Finished December 17
Quality of Care by Elizabeth Letts

Clara Raymond is an obstetrician driven by true care for her patients and a drive for perfection. One evening as she is working, a pregnant woman and her husband arrive unexpectedly. All three are surprised to see each other. The couple was just passing through town when the woman had some symptoms that caused her concern. They had no idea that they would encounter Clara, but are pleased to see her. Lydia is a childhood friend of Clara's, one who saved her life during a terrible accident. Gordon is Clara's college boyfriend, whom she hasn't seen since their breakup. She knew they were married, but having mixed feelings for both, hasn't seen either of them in years and didn't expect to. Clara is there to attend a delivery from a young teenage mother, and after evaluating Lydia's symptoms and looking her over, admits her for observation, not thinking there is any reason to be worried. But when things go tragically wrong, Clara feels it strongly because of her personal connection. The aftermath sends Clara back to California, where she grew up and where questions about her father remain unanswered. She doesn't expect that it will be easy to track down the woman she needs to talk to, but when serendipity brings her to Eleanor's doorstep, and she finds herself taken for someone else, she goes along, falling back into old patterns as she reconnects with her past and finds answers not only about her father, but also about the accident that nearly took her own life.
This book is a page-turner, and the character of Clara is well-drawn in her intensity and passion. Thoroughly enjoyable read.

Saturday, 18 October 2014

Made That Way

Finished October 16
Made That Way by Susan Ketchen

This teen novel is a sequel to a book that I haven't yet read called Born That Way. The main character in both books is Sylvia.
Sylvia is 14 and as the book begins is awaiting the delivery of her own horse, sent to her by her grandfather in Saskatchewan. The stable owner where Sylvia has been doing her riding is a woman named Kansas and Kansas has some particular ideas about horses and their behaviour that Sylvia's new horse doesn't always meet.
Sylvia has Turner Syndrome and her health issues related to this are a big part of the story.
Sylvia is also obsessed with unicorns, dreaming of one, and associating her new horse and sometimes even herself with a unicorn.
Sylvia's mother is sometimes a bit intense, and her father controlling, but overall they seem to pay attention to her concerns. She feels a bit of an outcast at school and looks for ways to find a niche for herself there. Her cousins Taylor and Stephanie are both older than her, and Taylor and Sylvia end up getting hurt in an accident.that changes Taylor's life significantly.
Lots going on here. This book will appeal to those girls interested in horses, but also give insight into a different outlook due to Sylvia's condition.

Monday, 30 September 2013

Band of Angels

Finished September 28
Band of Angels by Julia Gregson

This novel begins in Wales in the mid-1850s where Catherine Carreg was allowed to grow up freely, running around with the young son of the local drover Deio, riding horses and spending lots of time outdoors. But now she is growing up and her parents are restricting her to more ladylike activities, something she finds hard to adjust to. When a medical tragedy hits her family and Catherine is the only one on hand, she realizes how helpless she is and determines to overcome this lack of knowledge.
With the help of young Deio, Catherine makes it to London and gets accepted into training with Florence Nightingale. When the opportunity arises to volunteer to nurse in the Crimea, Catherine is eager to test her skills and help in any way she can.
Deio, a master at training horses, is also drawn to the Crimea, but has no idea of the reality of the conditions there and is in over his head.
Both young people can not forget each other despite their drives to prove themselves in the world, and they reconnect under horrific conditions.
Gregson did a lot of research for this book despite little historical material being available. The conditions of the hospitals and the lack of acceptance of the nurses is shown graphically. Gregson gives us a glimpse of the politics behind this first nursing endeavour, and disease, malnutrition, and lack of resources that were the reality.