Thursday 2 October 2014

Fire Storm by Lauren St John (Young Adult, 8/10E, short 'n' sweet review)


September 2014, 224 pages, Hardback, Review copy

Content: idiocy, a bit of teen romance, foul play, a bit of humour, tissues needed

Summary from Orion 
What if victory cost you your life - the concluding novel in The One Dollar Horse trilogy by prize-winning Lauren St John, in which Casey and Storm compete at the Burghley Horse Trials.
Teenage eventing star Casey Blue has it all - fame, her champion horse Storm and a boyfriend who loves her.

Then Kyle West walks into her life. The country's hottest equestrian coach is also drop dead gorgeous and Casey knows right away that she's in trouble. But who is Kyle and why are there so many unanswered questions about his past? And what is his connection to Anna Sparks, Casey's old rival?

As the Burghley Horse Trials approaches, it becomes clear that what is at stake is not just the Grand Slam but Casey's life.

Nayu's thoughts
She who has it all can lose it all. The reason for the less than perfect grade is the fact that Casey is an utter moron in this book. She loses sight of what initially was most important to her - honesty, friendship, loving Storm, and made both myself and a friend not enjoy the book as much as the others in the trilogy. To be fair my friend disliked it way more than me. There's something about seeing characters going off the rails big time which makes a compelling read. Casey makes mistake after mistake after mistake. (I could go on, but I won't!)

Some of the mistakes were sad because as a reader I knew information Casey didn't, info which broke my heart when Casey made the mistakes. These were mistakes which made me a bit teary eyed, because if Casey was her normal self, not her fame seeking, swollen head self she'd have picked up some of the clues and acted on them appropriately. I can't stress enough how much of a moron she is. You will yell (quietly) at the book when you read her gross errors of judgement. They are crazy individually, but to do all of them at once makes it phenomenal. All that glitters is not gold! 

I couldn't sign in relief when she finally came back to reality because she was in more danger than ever, with seemingly no way out. I never gave up on the characters Casey abandonned, I kept hoping they'd be there for her at the end and...you'll have to read it yourself to find out. The ending was really good, apart from the fact the trilogy is now over. This horse book fangirl is hoping for a sequel!

Find out more on Lauren's website.

Suggested read 
Check out the other books in the trilogy which starts with The One Dollar Horse (Young Adult, 10E/10E)

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