Wyatt Blaine desperately seeks a reason to continue. Devastated by the senseless deaths of his wife and son at the hands of a drunk driver, he remains unable to forgive, and to love again. Searching for a sense of peace, he decides to revive his late wife's equine therapy program for troubled teens at the Blaine family ranch. By honoring her memory in this way, he hopes to find the sense of closure that has long eluded him.
Book club book for July. And as one member pointed out – one of the few books we’ve read that had males as dominant characters (or even was written by a guy).
This book been compared to Nicholas Sparks. I don’t really feel it is in the same league, but I enjoyed the story over all. It was a quick read. I had heard of equine (horse) therapy being used with autistic and Down’s syndrome children and adults. However, I had never heard of it being used for those with emotional issues. So that aspect of the novel was interesting.
I didn’t get as connected to the main characters – Wyatt and Gabby – as I did to some of the more auxiliary ones like Ram (Wyatt’s father) and Aunt Lou (the Blaine’s cook/house manager). I felt they were more interesting and less predictable.
I did have a few issues with the book. In a few places, the time sequence was off. That always annoys me. Also, I was disappointed by Ram’s letter at the end of the book and confused by the three year wait for it. That just didn’t make sense to me. Finally, the title of the book is mentioned in Gabby’s thoughts, but I didn’t really understand it.
All in all, though, it’s worth the read.
I have this, but haven't read it yet. I'm surprised by the lack of male main characters. I don't make a conscious effort to pick books with male leads, but that seems to be the norm for about 80-90% of the books I read.
ReplyDeleteYou should read it. It's a decent read. Nothing real in-depth or soul searching about it. Just fairly good reading.
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