I have found a new Boarding School + Horses series to read!
Yay! I finally got this book, it was a trial to get it (first Amazon didn’t have it the regular way, then I had to get it from their marketplace, and finally after a few weeks I got the book!). I guess the other books will also be hell to get, this edition (the one with the ribbon) is the only one that is available at all, and only at the marketplace. Oh well, it will be a fun quest.
Let me get started on what I thought of the book. I was really interested in the whole boarding school + horses part. I love the Canterwood Crest series, and I was really looking for a new series now that I am almost done with that one. I think I have found it with this one. It has several elements that I also saw in Canterwood Crest (the dare, the who can you trust, how Dylan acts at times), that is also a reason why I gave less points for this book, at times I felt like I was reading CC. And yes, I know that CC is the one who came after this one in publication, but I did read CC before this one, and that is why. I am sure if I had read this series first and then CC I would have removed points as well.
This book is all about Dylan (it seems each book switches POV, the next book is about Malory, and it isn’t until book 5 that we get Dylan again). I have to say I really liked Dylan, though I didn’t always like her attitude. I found her a bit snobbish and annoying. At times I just wish she had spoken instead of keeping silent. Other times I wonder if she is intentionally saying those cruel words or if she is doing it accidental.
But most of the time she was an interesting girl, hardworking, dedicated to what she loves, a girl who loves friendship, a girl you can trust, a girl who will bring happiness to a party. She had a fun kind of humour, though I think that most girls didn’t appreciate it at all times.
I loved her when she was with her pony Morello, she really has a connection with him and I was just awwwing every time they bonded and did lessons.
Then we have a whole bunch of side-characters, including a few I didn’t like all the time. I am not entirely sure what I think of Lynsey, at times she seems the mean queen, with Patience as her sidekick, but at other times she also shows a different, kinder, side. I hope we will see more of her, maybe learn a bit more about her in the later books. Maybe she is just like Heather in the CC books, I do hope for that at least.
Malory. Meh, she was so-so. I am getting kind of pissy though at characters who expect people to just know that something is bothering them, or that they are somewhere for a reason. Hello!!! People are still not telepathic. If you have something on your mind, if something bothers you, tell them! Don’t go boohoohooing when they get angry or when someone speaks their mind on how you do stuff. I can totally imagine why people would react like they did in this book.
Lani and Honey were my top side-characters in this one. I really loved both of them, and I hope that we will see more of them in the next books when they will be getting the spotlight.
I didn’t always like Dylan’s aunt, I found her a bit too strict and a bit too much towards Dylan (if she did it towards everyone else, I wouldn’t have minded, but this just stood out, it even stood out so much the others noticed).
The horses, the lessons, the barn, everything about that was fantastic, I could just imagine myself walking around there and enjoying a relaxing time. I really loved the descriptions of all the horses/ponies, I still have to look up some terms, but in general I know what all the various horse-related thing means.
The boarding school setting? I loved it, it is one of my favourite settings in a book and Lauren Brooke did a great job on describing life there.
All in all, I will be sure to get the other books (if I can find them), and I would recommend this book to everyone who likes horses or boarding school settings.
Review first posted at http://twirlingbookprincess.com/
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