Riding Lessons Review

Riding Lessons by Sara Gruen
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Let me start by saying I basically enjoyed this book even though it hit a raw nerve for me. I know conflict is what keeps a story alive, but it seemed that many of the plot twists were contrived for this purpose. The protagonist’s clever and witty interior monologue often made me smile, but her actions were often frustrating. I am not being a spoiler by letting you know the character’s father was suffering form ALS. This is revealed in the first three chapters that set up the rest of the story. My own father endured this dreadful condition. The way this character responded to that circumstance felt cowardly to me. Still, there are many life lessons to be learned in what is essentially a very fine effort my Sara Gruen



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Author  The Cowgirl Jumped Over the Moon. Winner at the Equus Film Fest 2017

Romance. Adventure. Horses - what more could anyone want in a book?

Review: by Jacqui Broderick of Lavender & White Publishing

Gemcie McCauley seems to have everything. She is a rider at the top of her game, making an unbeatable team with Marshal, a handsome Irish bred stallion, until an horrific accident changes everything.

 Fighting back from a dreadful injury she finds she has lost not only her nerve, but also her horse and husband to her arch rival, Domanique La Fevre. 

Reeling from the cruel blows Gemcie returns to her mother's home where she tries to pick up the threads of some kind of life and recover from her mental and physical injuries. Unable to settle to any kind of life Gemcie heads back to her roots and the mountains where she was conceived. Struck by the beauty of the wilderness and longing, for once in her life to be totally alone she feels drawn to life on the trail and persuades her hosts to let her ride the John Muir trail. 

When a black bear attacks and injures her horse she is rescued by Brady, a loner who lives in the mountains, working for the Bureau of Land Management. On a journey of discovery about herself Gemcie finds herself falling in love with this tough, yet gentle man. 

Brady though is not without his own problems and after he is forced to kill the bear that attacked Gemcie he abruptly ends their relationship, sending Gemcie back to civilisation. I was as devastated as Gemcie – their relationship seems to be so perfect.

During her time in the mountains Gemcie has learned a lot about herself and is determined to get her beloved horse back. Domenique has never got on with Marshal and after badly injuring him in a competition it looks as if his career is over. 

Gemcie, with a team of supporters nurse the horse back to health then begin the impossible and fight to get her riding confidence back in order to be able to pay huge vet and livery bills. She has to ride – and win – in order to be able to keep him.

This is a well written book, Ballou brings her characters and backgrounds to life in often tear jerking detail. Gemcie is likeable, readers will both empathise and sympathise with the situations she finds herself in. Ballou uses her text well, describing both the worlds of the wilderness and horse shows with convincing detail 

Readers cannot help but love this book. I was gripped from the first to the last page where Ballou brought all of the strings of her remarkable story to a hugely satisfying conclusion.  

by Jacqui Broderick of Lavender & White Publishing

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Adventure-travel writer, Linda Ballou, shares Great Outdoor days in L.A, as well as a host of travel articles on her site, along with information about her travel memoir, Lost Angel Walkabout-One Traveler’s Tales, her historical novel Wai-nani, A Voice from Old Hawai’i and her latest action-adventure novel The Cowgirl Jumped over the Moon at-www.LindaBallouAuthor.com.