The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater

The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

#BecRereads2018

Still gorgeous, and brilliant. This is also one of the 10 books I'd grab before being stranded on a deserted island. I have a feeling those 10 books would be more like 25. . .

This is one of my favorite standalone YA fantasy novels. It just has so much texture, depth, and heart. Plus it's brutal, which is always a hit with me.

Previous review still stands.

Book 219 read in 2018

Pages: 409

PREVIOUS REVIEW:
Brilliant. Gorgeous. Frightening. Fierce.

The definition of love. The explanation of longing. The reason why humanity is enthralled by that which cannot be tamed or owned. The exploration of loss. The justification for facing down fears and having courage in light of unimaginably poor odds. The argument for both digging up your roots and letting them grow deeper. This story is everything all at once.

Riders by Veronica Rossi

Riders by Veronica Rossi
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

SECOND REVIEW:

I reread this book before reading the sequel, Seeker. This time around, I listened to the audiobook, which was fantastic. I'm glad I listened, because I couldn't remember enough to move forward with the second book. I hate that feeling of confusion, and it was nice to revisit this story. I really enjoy Gideon's POV and sense of humor.

FIRST REVIEW:

I received an ARC of RIDERS through a Twitter contest and quickly fell in love. This story isn’t even published yet, and I’m anxious for the next one. I would beg Veronica Rossi to let me beta read book two, if that didn’t seem so desperate and stalkerish.

If you were a fan of UTNS, which I was (a serious fan), then you should know this story is absolutely, completely different. The contrast makes me want to fill my review with useless adverbs and adjectives, just to try to explain it to you. If you read a sample of both, I don’t believe you’d guess the same author wrote the stories.

I love that, because RIDERS is its own, different, fantastic story with a unique voice. It snuck its way into my heart with interesting characters and an amazing premise, which goes to show that a good writer can bring something new and different to every story.

I won’t summarize the plot, because everyone else will. Instead, I want to say that Veronica Rossi writes beautifully flawed characters that I adore and relate to. If you wrote a list of Gideon’s flaws down on paper, he wouldn’t seem like the kind of guy I’d want to be friends with, but he captured my heart (and often my sympathy), bit by bit, with the non-apologetic way his mind works. He reminded me that actions matter, but you also need to look past those to see a person’s deeper intentions, if you really want to understand someone.

The story shifts back and forth between past and present, and I really enjoyed how it all came together. Despite all the struggles and hardships, I want to be one of the boys and have my own horse, and I think that says everything. It’s a world I hated to leave and can’t wait to return to.

Pages: 384

"A Forbidden Rumspringa" by Keira Andrews

This very well written story focuses on two young men living in a strict Amish sect in northern Minnesota.  Isaac is eighteen and feeling pressure from his parents to start courting a girl so that he can soon marry and start his own family, but he knows he's not ready.  For one thing, he hates farming and must learn some other sort of trade so that he can support himself.  His father sets up an apprenticeship with carpenter David Lantz, a quiet twenty-two-year-old who has become the head of his family after his father dies in the field of a heart attack.  He works hard to support his mother and four younger sisters but is being pushed to join the church and get married.  Although their sect does not allow "rumspringa", Isaac and David take a few prohibited trips into the "English" world where they see movies and eat junk food.  Soon, their friendship turns to love and both must figure out what they are willing to give up, or not, in order to be together.

The details of  strict Amish life and the toll it takes on those who do not or cannot abide by its rules make this much more than the average forbidden love story.  Both Isaac and David have older brothers who could not conform, and their actions have had large influences on them and their desire to please their families.  The terrible angst and guilt these two young men felt was palpable to the reader as was their surprise at falling for each other.  This book was a gripping read, and I can't wait to get ahold of the rest of the series.  224 pages (Kindle edition).

"Dog & Pony" by Jair Marlowe

Josh Bennett is the producer of a local morning show on WPUD in Milwaukee.  Sometimes he appears on camera to cook, put out fires (literally), and break up fights between guests.  New co-host Tyler Dash is only there to get six months of experience before moving on to a bigger city and station.  He's very conscious of his looks and behavior, so much so that he refuses to come out of the closet.  When he and Josh become involved, Tyler does everything he can to keep their relationship quiet but Josh refuses to hide and gives Tyler an ultimatum that may break both of their hearts.  This turned out to be a very funny story with great secondary characters in the other morning show employees and Josh's parents, whom he visits often on their farm.  The show sounds like something I would watch just for the quirky guests.  There were some typos and misspellings, but overall the book was very enjoyable.  175 pages (Kindle edition).

Promise Canyon by Robyn Carr

Posted for Diann Stark

Audio Reading time: 9 hours, 46 minutes. 352 pages

Clay Tahoma is known as a horse whisper, he is now Virgin River's new veterinary assistant. He loves the area, it reminds him of his Navajo roots and he's been welcomed everyone in town, except Lilly Yazhi.

Lilly is Hopi, and she has had her share of strong, silent, traditional men within her own aboriginal community, and she's not interested in coming back for more. She doesn’t trust Clay, she also can't deny his gift for gentling horses, but she's not about to let him control her. There's just one small problem—she can't control her attraction to Clay. Clay proves to her that he wants an equal, not someone to control. As Clay and Lilly are trying to figure out their attraction to one another it seems there are some interesting things going on in town.  Hope McCrea, the town busybody, suddenly dies and bequeaths her entire, extremely sizable legacy to the town, naming Jack Sheridan as executor. Suddenly Virgin River’s residents become very greedy and Jack sees a new side to the town.

Black Beauty by Anna Sewell

This novel, published in 1877, is narrated in the first person as an autobiography told by a horse named Black Beauty. It begins when he is a colt on an English farm with his mother. As a young colt, his life was free and easy. His owner was kind and he was fed well and treated well.  It got a little more difficult when he was trained, but as it was done with kindness and gentleness, it wasn’t traumatic.

After his training, he was sold to a Squire, who was also kind and gentle and took good care of his horses. Beauty was a riding horse and carriage horse. He was happy there, but one night a drunken groom rode him so hard and recklessly that he fell and hurt his knees. He was then sold, because he was no longer fit for service in a nobleman’s stable.

His life continues through a succession of owners, some kind and others cruel. Throughout, he gives the horses perspective on how animals are treated, and the morals and characters of the people around them. The book reflects London society at the time, with mention of reforms in animal treatment being advocated by some, and the realities of poor men trying to make a living and working their horses too hard because they felt they had to.

 

255 pages
copyright 114 years ago

Lean on Pete by Willy Vlautin

Charley is 15 years old. His mother went away when he was a baby. He and his father move around a lot. He has no other family except an aunt he knew when he was a child. But he doesn’t know where she lives now; when he was 11, his Dad got mad at her, and that was the last Charley ever heard of his aunt.

Right now, he and his Dad live in Portland, Oregon. His Dad stays gone a lot, leaving Charley on his own with nothing to do, and often, nothing to eat. Charley starts hanging out at a nearby race track. He meets an old man named Del Montgomery who agrees to let him work for him, tending his horses and stalls.  One of the horses is named Lean on Pete.

Then one night Charley’s philandering Dad is assaulted by an irate husband, and eventually dies from his injuries. Charley doesn’t know what to do or where  to go, so he keeps working for Del, until he finds out that Del is going to send Lean on Pete off to be slaughtered. Charley steals Del’s truck and trailer, loads Lean on Pete up and sets off for Wyoming to find his aunt.

304 pages