OK -- this book was purchased for the You’re Such an Animal September Release Challenge, but after this thread, I think I may keep this one to read. After all, I've already released 3 copies of this for this challenge already! (see my post in the release challenge thread)

Warning: my review contains spoilers!

So . . . how to write a journal entry for this book? First of all, the beginning was reminiscent of A Time to Kill (to me). Obviously, it's different, but to have an opener be so violent and horrifying is upsetting. It's interesting to me that I don't even like animals, but horrible things happening to them has always upset me. Secondly, I'm still confused about why the "traditional romance novel crap" was thrown into what was otherwise a pretty well-written book. The author certainly could have told us that Annie and Tom had sex without describing it in graphic detail. I just didn't understand it. I've read my share of romance novels, but the descriptions (and that includes all the sex descriptions) were so out of place and unnecessary that it took away from the story. Makes me think of when my husband watches a musical (under duress) -- just as he's getting into the story, they break into song! This interrupts the flow of the story for him. In the same way, the author threw those descriptions in as if he'd just lifted them from a romance novel. I didn't buy it nor like it.

From a "novel" perspective, this was a great story. Well told, mostly believable, plenty of "technical" talk about the subject but not too much to lose the interest of a non-technical reader, descriptions clear enough that you could see things happening or picture the Montana sky. The story of the health of the horse being vital to the emotional health of Grace was a great allegory (analogy?), and I loved the way the mother/daughter relationship unfolded. The author certainly did a bit of armchair psychology; talking about Annie's relationship with her parents, Grace's perspective on Annie's job, etc. But for the most part, these helped tell the story and explain the motivations of the characters.

The overuse of the word "alright" for some reason really irritated me. It seemed to be all over this book!

I really felt sorry for the dad (Robert). Not so much because of Annie's affair, but because he's such a genuinely nice guy who tries so hard, and he's really brushed aside for sake of the story. I appreciated his relationship with Grace more than many of the other relationships, and would have liked to have heard more about it. Clearly in Grace's life, that relationship was more meaningful, but I guess that wouldn't have followed the story as well. Or the book would have been longer.

All that to say, I liked it, except for the end. I thought it was very unbelievable and actually kind of dumb. Like the author didn't know how to get out of the story. Did killing Tom off make it easier for Annie to stay with Robert? It just seemed kind of weak compared with the rest of the book. And the events leading up to it were just as contrived. The character we came to know as Grace wouldn't really have thought about burning herself in the cabin. Been upset, sure. Ridden Pilgrim in an out-of-control way? Sure. But she wasn't suicidal. It seemed like that was the best the author could come up with in order to have Pilgrim have an encounter with the wild stallion. And believe me, we didn't see that coming (she said, sarcastically). I think there were probably other ways Pilgrim could have gotten up there with the wild horses without Grace becoming suicidal.

I am now a bit interested in seeing the movie, as rumor has it the book's ending is "fixed" in the movie :)

I'll report back when I do!

RELEASE NOTES:

Left in the handicapped stall in the Ladies' Room. This is quite possibly the biggest stall I've ever seen in my life. The picture doesn't do it justice; but suffice to say that there was so much room in there that I could leave it on the floor without thinking something icky could happen to it!

This is release #5 of set 4 in the September Release Challenge, and #3 in the Release one in the Ladies' Challenge.

If you are new to BookCrossing and find this book and this site; welcome! Enjoy the site, the book and hopefully the BookCrossing community. I hope you'll join BookCrossing (doesn't cost anything to join!) and if you do, please consider using any previous reader of this book, or me, Antof9, as the member who referred you. If you are an old hand at BookCrossing, thanks for picking up the book! Either way, I hope you'll journal so all the previous and future readers can track this book's journey. Thanks, and Happy Crossing!