The Girl With The Broken Heart

The Girl With The Broken Heart by Lurlene McDaniel, 273 pages

“Kenzie Caine is enrolled at Vanderbilt University, with the goal of becoming a veterinarian. When she lands a summer job caring for and helping to rehabilitate abused horses at the Bellmeade Estate stables, she is over-the-moon happy. One place she does not want to be is at home with her parents. Since the tragic death of Kenzie's younger sister, her mother has unraveled and her father has lost Kenzie's trust. At the stables, Kenzie is in her element. But a serious heart condition limits her ability to complete the more physical aspects of the job, so her employers have tasked the charming Austin Boyd with helping her. But Austin has secrets. And as Kenzie and Austin become closer, those secrets threaten to harm their relationship, as well as reveal other startling truths.” I admit, I had guessed at some of the secrets early on in the story, but not all.  This was a good story for teens who like a good romance, mixed with a little action.

Riding Lessons

Riding Lessons by Jane Smiley, 183 pages

Ellen has a mind of her own and doesn’t always behave the way she should but she tries to behave most of the time so that she can keep taking riding lessons.  She loves horses and riding and especially jumping.  She is excited when she meet a new horse, Ned.  Ned seems to talk to her and Ellen is always happy when she gets to see him.  She wants nothing more than to own a horse of her own someday.  This is a great book for kids who love horses.  It’s historical, but not much in the story is dated.  It’s definitely realistic, but has a more slice-of-life feel to it.

Winter's Tale

Winter's Tale by Mark Helprin, 673 pages

Winter's Tale is a strange story strangely told.  In a New York that never was, surrounded by a hurricane-like cloud wall that partially insulates it from the outside world, there lives a white horse able to leap tall buildings in a single bound.  After the horse rescues a thief named Peter Lake from the vengeful gang leader Pearly Soames, the two form an instant bond.  To finance his escape from the city, Lake attempts to burgle the mansion of a wealthy newspaper publisher, only to unexpectedly encounter the publisher's lovely, dying daughter Beverly.  The two fall instantly, deliriously, magically in love, a love which transcends death and reaches beyond the stars.

The narrative is broken into pieces by numerous flashbacks, subplots, digressions, and mysteries.  Some of these pieces fit together better than others.  Oddly, the novel Winter's Tale most resembles may be Gravity's Rainbow, only where Pynchon's work is suffused with paranoid pessimism, Helprin's sparkles with enchanted delight.

Two If By Sea

Two If By Sea by Jacquelyn Mitchard, 401 pages

“Just hours after his wife and her entire family perish in the Christmas Eve tsunami, former police officer Frank Mercy pulls a little boy from a submerged car. Not quite knowing why, Frank doesn’t turn Ian over to the Red Cross. Instead he makes up a story about where the boy came from and takes him home, where Frank realizes that Ian has an otherworldly gift—an extraordinary ability to transform lives beyond anything he’d ever imagined. Awed and confused, Frank confesses Ian’s secret to Claudia, a beautiful champion rider who is training for the Olympics. They join together to fight the sinister forces gathering to take Ian back. In a final confrontation, Frank and Claudia will risk everything—their love, their family, their very lives—to save this boy they now love as their own son.”  I really liked the book, even though it was kind of dark and the ending was a little unsatisfying.  However, I would give this to people who like thrillers and supernatural books.

Two if By Sea

Two if by Sea by Jacquelyn Mitchard
448 Pages
March 2016


"Just hours after his wife and her entire family perish in the Christmas Eve tsunami in Brisbane, American expat and former police officer Frank Mercy goes out to join his volunteer rescue unit and pulls a little boy from a submerged car, saving the child’s life with only seconds to spare. In that moment, Frank’s own life is transformed. Not quite knowing why, Frank sidesteps the law, when, instead of turning Ian over to the Red Cross, he takes the boy home to the Midwestern farm where he grew up. Not long into their journey, Frank begins to believe that Ian has an extraordinary, impossible telepathic gift; but his only wish is to protect the deeply frightened child. As Frank struggles to start over, training horses as his father and grandfather did before him, he meets Claudia, a champion equestrian and someone with whom he can share his life—and his fears for Ian. Both of them know that it will be impossible to keep Ian’s gift a secret forever. Already, ominous coincidences have put Frank’s police instincts on high alert, as strangers trespass the quiet life at the family farm.

The fight to keep Ian safe from a sinister group who want him back takes readers from the ravaged shores of Brisbane to the middle of America to a quaint English village. Even as Frank and Claudia dare to hope for new love, it becomes clear that they can never let Ian go, no matter what the cost. A suspenseful novel on a grand scale, Two If by Sea is about the best and worst in people, and the possibility of heroism and even magic in ordinary life."

A real mess of a book.  I hope that some serious editing occurs before it is actually printed.  There are so many things going on, a Tsunami,  Magical children, sinister strangers, romance, and horseback riding.  Mitchard doesn't maintain a consistent plot line and the book needs to shed some of the elements to become more coherent. 

Blood Meridian

Blood Meridian, or, The Evening Redness in the West by Cormac McCarthy, 351 pages

The kid set out for the West, fleeing violence at home.  He found a place with the Glanton gang, a band of murderous Indian-hunters paid by the scalp.  He did violence and violence was done to him, and whether there was more of the one or the other is impossible to say.  With Glanton rode the expriest, who was never a priest, and the judge, though what he is a judge of is never revealed.  The kid became the man, and was swallowed up by darkness.

What is written in the blood and fire poured out across the West?  Cosmic wisdom?  Gibberish?  McCarthy asks his questions amidst a pounding, numbing succession of atrocities.  A novel of terrifying ideas, not for faint hearts.

Centaur Rising

Centaur Rising by Jane Yolen, 258 pages

Ari and her family are shocked when their pony, Agora, gives birth to a centaur.  Kai is a sweet, bright boy who grown fast and learns quickly.  Because they are concerned about him being exposed to the public in a negative way, especially before he is old enough to handle groups of people, the family tries to keep it a secret.  However, this means that several of the people who board their horses on the farm remove them which seriously cuts into the family’s income.  They were having a hard time getting by before so they’re not sure what they will do now.  And when a nosy child of a boarder finds out about Kai, their whole plan could be shot.  This was an amazing realistic fantasy story.  Except for the centaur, the rest of the story is about families and human nature and it’s incredibly well done.  This will appeal to a variety of young fantasy fans.

Gee Whiz

Gee Whiz by Jane Smiley, 261 pages

This is part of a series, The Horses Of Oak Valley Ranch. In this story, Abby’s brother, Danny, has brought a horse name Gee Whiz to board at their ranch. Throughout the course of the book we find out that the horse actually belongs to Danny, but he thinks that their father won’t approve so hasn’t told him. Danny has also received a notice for the draft and will probably be going to Vietnam soon. One of the elderly people at Abby’s church has been ill and Abby has been worried about him. She’s also trying to decide what to about two of her horses, True Blue and Jack. Someone wants to buy Blue, and Abby isn’t sure that she’s ready to sell. Jack, who she partially owns, is probably destined to be a race horse, but she and her family can’t afford what the training will cost. Jack’s other owner wants this to happen for Jack and Abby isn’t sure what to do. The series is really about Abby, who is growing up in the late 1960s but, except for a few references, the time isn’t obvious. Kids who like stories about growing up or horse stories will probably like these stories.

Blackveil

Blackveil by Kristen Britain
664 Pages

Karrigan is back in the the fourth book of the Green Rider's Series by Britain.  This time she is one of the people chosen by the King to accompany the elves back to the forest Blackveil to find out how it has changed in the centuries shut behind the wall. In a hostile land, Karrigan must her her ability to travel through time to prevent a hostile force from gaining control of the sleepers and corrupting them beyond repair.

Considered to be high fantasy this series remains fairly strong.  I read the first four novels so that I could read the fifth novel which comes out this year. 

High King's Tomb

High King's Tomb by Kristen Britain
642 Pages


The third book of the Green Rider series finds Karigan G'ladheon again embroiled in intrigue and magic. Britain's series remains strong and enjoyable. 

While on routine errands, Karigan is searching for a way to repair the breach of the wall that holds back the evil of the forest Blackveil.  As the book progresses she finds it apparent that she is destined to be a part of a larger conflict in which she must stop a rogue group from unleashing an evil that would destroy the kingdom.

Green Rider

Green Rider by Kristen Britain
504 Pages


This first book of the Green Rider series begins with Karigan G'ladahon running away from the school she has just been suspended at when she stumbles across a dying messenger.  As he dies he makes Karigan promise to deliver the message he is carrying.  She accepts and finds herself thrown headlong in a series of dangerous adventures with people out to kill her and dependent upon the messenger's horse, who seems to know more than any horse should.

An entertaining start to a pretty good series, this book was a good example of fantasy fiction. 

Breeding Ground

Breeding Ground by Sally Wright
372 Pages

When is a mystery not a mystery?  When it is this book.  Supposedly this book is to be part of a series set in Kentucky in the 60's where the protagonist, Jo Grant becomes caught up in murder while maintaining the family horse farm. The problem is that two thirds of the book are spent developing the characters, community and situations before the murder even occurs and then the murder is almost immediately revealed. 

If the patron is a horse fan it might be of interest but most likely it would be better to direct them to other mystery series such as Francis or Rita Mae Brown for the mystery/horse combo.

The Sword Edged Blonde

The Sword-Edged Blonde by Alex Bledsoe 308p

Private Detective/Sword Jockey Eddie LaCrosse starts out this adventure searching for a missing princess.  Before he can wrap up that case, he becomes embroiled in another mystery that requires his returning to his homeland, renewing old acquaintances, and facing old memories that were deeply buried.  He must prove that the wife of his childhood friend didn't kill her child.  The only way to do this is to retrace his steps from years ago and face truths he previously avoided.

I've been reading the series willy nilly and while it doesn't really matter if you read them in order it helps to get the back story that is referred to in almost every volume.  This is the first book of the Eddie LaCrosse series and I finally get the full story of Eddie's past.