Tuesday, 21 April 2015

The Saddle Club: Horse Crazy & Horse Shy by Bonnie Bryant (Children's, 9 years +, 10E/10E, short 'n' sweet review)


September 2014, Bantam Press, 304 pages, Paperback, Review copy

Content: peril, grief, humour, tissues needed

HORSE CRAZY: Twelve-year-olds Carole Hanson and Stevie Lake have been best friends ever since they met at Pine Hollow stables. So when thirteen-year-old Lisa Atwood shows up for her first lesson dressed in fancy riding gear - and acting chummy with the snobbiest girl in town - the girls aren't sure she'll fit in. But Lisa soon shows herself to be a quick learner, and Carole and Stevie can't help but admire her natural riding talents. Soon the three girls are fast friends. They begin to make plans for the MTO, the long-awaited Mountain Trail Overnight campout for the students of Pine Hollow. There's just one problem: Stevie's parents won't pay for it unless she improves her grades . . .

HORSE SHY: The three members of the Saddle Club are together on the long-awaited Mountain Trail Overnight. They are having such a perfect time that nothing - not even Veronica, the richest and snobbiest girl at the stables - can spoil their fun. But the impossible does happen. A tragic accident, caused by Veronica's carelessness, makes Carole lose the one thing she loved most in the world. Is her grief enough to make her give up riding forever?

Nayu's thoughts
I absolutely adore this new to me horse series! It is full to the brim with friendship and family drama, having each girl at some point keep secrets because they are afraid what their friends will think, only to find out in the end that their friends don't care and are there to help them. I think I read the books out of order, so it was nice to read book 1, Horse Crazy, and learn how the Saddle Club was formed which had puzzled me a little with the content of one of the other books. 

There is a lot of humour which is needed when there is a smidge of tragedy in Horse Shy. I cried at the tragedy and when there was a resolution because it was so touching and by this point I knew the characters so well. I really liked how the owner of the stables had a soft side, it made a hard situation a bit easier to cope with. I hope this series continues to expand because I want to keep on being with these horse loving girls!

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